User blog comment:Miskos3/Fairy Tail Chapter 379: Tartarus Arc, Part 3: Underworld King, Review/@comment-7418318-20140404123150/@comment-7418318-20140404124731

To me too, with the possible exception of the Gate/Contract thing.

Closing the Gates in an attempt to free the Spirits and following up with a Forced Closure should have been the first thing Lucy would have done when she learned that they had been absorbed, but rescinding the very contracts is not something that Lucy would consider easily.

I guess it's possible that her desperation made her Forced Gate Closure attempts stronger than the previous ones. But the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of Lucy being willing to give up her contracts to keep the Spirits save.