The challenging and beastly demon
Finally, Lucy thought. They had seen her potential and made her do something a bit more challenging. Fairy Tail had seen her merit as she had saved the world countless times before as part of a well-constructed team. Sure, each time she was cooperating with Natsu, Gray, Erza and other members of the guild, but this time it was different.
The guild had received an urgent request from a town far to the west by the name of Luncia. Known for its agriculture and its dairy farm, it was a place that was instrumental for the economy of its region, with food coming principally from its production. As such, they were paying big money to ensure that their problem was properly taken care of.
From what Makarov had told her, there was some vague beast preying on their animals. The latest location of the creature had been in a big cave, one it had supposedly taken residence in. Anyone who dared to enter had never really gotten out, seemingly disappearing from the surface of the Earth, never to return. As such, the citizens of Luncia needed some big guns to take care of the problem.
With a lot of its member out on missions, Makarov had placed exactly two persons as a team to take care of it: Lucy and Erza. Reminding herself of what the guild master had said about her, ''I'm sure you two can very well do it. Erza is S-Class and you have close to all of the zodiac keys. I believe you two are more than capable of dealing with that'', Lucy was brimming with confidence. She wasn't alone, yet the usual team was down to only two members and the guild master was sending her on a S-Class mission. Surely, she must have made an impact somewhere along the line.
''Lucy, snap out of it. Like I said before, are you ready to do this?'' Erza said in an overly serious tone. The voice of Erza bringing her back to reality, Lucy must have been daydreaming about the implication of this mission yet again. This was supposed to be a big thing for her, this clearly wasn't the time for losing focus.
''Y-yeah, sorry about that. I'm ready now!'' Lucy replied, trying to look as brave as possible. Picking one of her key up as well as her whip, this beast would know that its time would soon be over soon enough.
''Very well. I'll take the front as one of your summon will cover for me. Got it?'' Erza retorted, her head in the game. While she could be plenty sociable at times, this was the facet of Erza that some of the members would define as ''scary'' or ''just plain terrifying''. While Erza did seem a touch intimidating at times, this was clearly one of the time when it was required, as Lucy could feel her courage rising knowing that she was near her.
Finally entering the near cave, the entrance was simply astoundingly large, as if a dragon could easily fit in there. A bit fearful that she would without a doubt fight against something so big, Lucy began to wonder if she was up to it. Looking at Erza and her determined frown, Lucy nonetheless advanced, knowing that she'd still need to show that she was up to it.
As they advanced through the cave, a good number of large bones could be seen, with no flesh left on them at all. The clean bones seemed, from what both Erza and Lucy understood, to be from the cows, pigs and sheep that the creature had eaten. Sending a small chill through her spine, Lucy managed to keep up with Erza, her zodiac key firmly in hand.
The cave soon became smaller and smaller, until they saw a source of light emanating from the very extremity, through a hole no bigger than a normal human door. A bit reassured by that, Lucy advanced through with Erza as they began to try the silent approach.
Moving with close to no sound, an achievement considering the armor Erza wore, both girls began to look at the entrance, only to see a bunch of luxurious furniture, as if this was the actual living place of someone firmly entrenched there.
Erza, motioning for Lucy to follow through silent gesture, entered the area as she summoned a sword in her hands. Keeping the pace behind her, Lucy looked around as the rather comfortable looking place was certainly creating quite a contrast to the deformer stone wall of the cave. Her sight finally did set on one curious thing, a door that was made out of wood, obscuring a certain pathway to another area.
Making some gestures to let Erza know about the door, Lucy was soon taken by surprise as a voice echoed in the room. ''You aren't exactly invisible, humans...I smelled you away the moment you entered my cave.''
Erza, a bit less surprised, looked around to see just where this came from, setting her gaze up as a woman with bat wings came swooping down on her. Dodging the surprise attack, Erza was now on her guard, her sword up to defend herself. Lucy, all the while, knew not what was this thing as she quickly summoned Sagitarrius, the archer. With both Fairy Tail mage set up for battle, they'd be ready to bring that creature down once and for all.
The beast, setting down on a beautifully-crafted wooden table, began to look on the two with her higher position. In the few silent seconds before the hostilities would begin, both parties were inspecting the other, to get a grip on what to avoid. The beast in itself looked more like a demon, though, as her wings settled down behind her back. Her reddish skin was outlandish, as her long dark hair was accompanied by two large horn coming from her forehead. What was a bit strange, though, was that she had a very feminine shape, something that could pass as particularly beautiful in more human terms. Good curves, with her hips and breasts seemingly tailor-made to be tantalizing to the male gaze.
Unfortunately for her, she wasn't dealing with men at all as both Lucy and Erza were unfazed by her physique. The inspection seemingly over from both side, the demon was seemingly not impressed at all by what she was seeing, putting a calm face that could not hide her disappointment.
Before even going to blow, Erza at least tried to open a dialogue, saying ''Are you the one who has been feeding on the farm animals in the area?''
The demon, looking down at Erza, jokingly retorted ''What, the animal bones in the entrance weren't obvious enough for you two silly girls?''
Her guess now confirmed, Erza did not lose a single instant as she quickly lunged toward the demon, her sword firmly slashing ahead of her. The demon, seeing the move coming, jumped upward as she flapped her wings to stay out of Erza's reach.
Erza, quick of wits, soon changed armor as she equipped her black wing armor. The black metallic armor quickly setting itself on her body, she jumped up as she tried to slash the demon again, keeping the offensive approach she started with.
Impressed by the rapidity of Erza, Lucy ordered Sagitarrius to try and shoot the demon in her flight. The summoned archer, a highly capable sharpshooter in his own right, soon took aim as he'd need but a few seconds to unleash a salve of arrows to his enemy.
However, things were not mean to go this way, as the demon dodged close to every blow, with a minor slash hitting her on her cheek. A tad surprised by this sudden competence from a human, the demon's face began to change a little, as if she knew she had to take it seriously now. Swooping once more close to the ground, she went close to Sagitarrius with blinding speed. Getting impossibly close to him, Sagittarius had close to no time to avoid her attack, yet did so in the nick of time. Having a perfect chance to take his shot, Lucy quickly went on and said ''Go Sagittarius! Shoot her down!''.
However, Sagittarius was simply not responding to her command at all, as he looked at the flying enemy. The demon, looking at him and sending him a wink, soon told in a suave tone ''Oh, Sagittarius. Be a dear and shoot down this flying woman's sword for me.''
The sniping archer automatically obeyed her order as he went for his bow really quick, shooting three arrows in quick succession at the weapon Erza was holding. While the summoned weapon was quite resistant, it proved to be no match for the expertise of Sagittarius as it broke down in pieces, with no arrow actually hitting Erza.
Lucy, flabbergasted by this sudden betrayal of her summoned companion, looked at him in disbelief, only to see a mark on his right cheek in the form of kissing lips. Connecting the dots, Lucy knew that Sagittarius was now controlled by this demon, with her now able to command him under her power.
Despite Lucy finding out, the demon had stopped playing around as she went and tackled Erza to the cave's wall before she could even summon another weapon in order to fight. Erza, despite her general strength and speed, had not time to react properly as the air was soon pushed out of her lungs with the violence of the blow.
The demon, now confident in her momentum, had other ways to deal with this situation as she quickly shouted ''Quick my handsome Sagittarius! Pin the summoner down for me!'' Sagittarius quickly obeyed her command as he shot a good number of arrows at Lucy, sending her weak frame to the wall as the arrows pinned her clothes to the solid rock. Now helpless, Lucy could only watch as Erza had to save them both. Without the possibility to send back Sagittarius without his accord, she was their only hope.
However, the demon was rather fast in her thinking, as she began to look intensely at Erza, her eyes locked on hers. The powerful and evil woman soon began to project some kind of low light through her pupils, her gaze now bright and intense to Erza who was much closer than she would have liked.
The eyes of the demon, however, were rather fascinating, despite the predicament the S-Class wizard was in. Trying to force her way out of this situation, Erza still didn't quite catch her breath, making her a bit weaker than usual. The eyes of the demon weren't helping too, as she could feel her strength draining a bit with every few seconds she met her gaze. She wasn't done fighting, though, as she began to thrash in the hold of the powerful demon.
The demon, fully aware of what Erza was going through, began speaking in a weird mix of mockery and kindness. ''How brave and courageous of you to go and fight me, my sweet. Going on before your cowardly friend to protect her, like a loyal being. It's just a shame that you are but a lowly dog when compared to me. A proud and strong dog, but a dog nonetheless.''
A bit insulted by this remark, Erza tried to do something to attack her, approaching her head closer to bite her or perhaps head butt her, anything to make her be silent. It proved to be a futile effort as her movements were slow and predictable, with the demo toying with her as she brought her lips to her own for a quick kiss, only to destabilize Erza further.
''If you had been a man like Sagittarius over there, you'd have been mine with this action of mine, sweetie. Still, I suppose a dog like you must have loved this affection on my part...'' The demon playfully said.
''I..am not...a...dog'' Erza weakly replied, as if her strength had been dealt a huge blow by the kiss and the constant allure of the demon's eyes sapping her resources away. The demon, staying silent on that remark, simply kept on bringing the light of her eyes to Erza as she got closer, making her eyes the only thing she could possibly discern.
Lucy, seeing that the situation wasn't going very well, tried to get away from her predicament. As such, she struggled to get free from the arrows clutching her to the wall, succeeding in the process, although her shirt ripped as a result of her actions. Leaving her in her shorts and with only her black bra to cover herself, she readied her whip to try and protect her friend.
It seemed to be too late, though, as the resistance of Erza had faded from her eyes, with them being almost devoid of life, being completely blank. Petting her head, the demon simply said ''See, I knew you were a good dog. You just needed a reminder as well as a mistress to take care of you and your violent tendencies.''
The words of the demon echoed in the mind of Erza, who was now mindless. Entranced by the mesmerizing gaze of the demon, her vision of the world was not tailored by this being. If she said that she was a dog, then it was true for Erza who began to pant like one. Lovingly licking the face of the demon like a good dog would, Erza was committed to the new role her mistress and owner had given her. Erza was a good doggy and didn't inspire for anything less for now.
Triumphant, the demon smiled as she was ready to deal with the other one, only to receive a good deal of pain on her back, a whipping sound accompanying it. Dropping Erza in the process, the demon soon turned back to look at Lucy with anger in her eyes.
Erza, now on the ground, did not drop the new role assigned to her as she began to bark angrily at Lucy, who had attacked her beloved mistress. Just about to jump and bite her, she was stopped by her mistress who loudly said ''Stay!''. Obeying her, Erza whimpered a bit as she would leave dealing with this bad girl to her owner.
Lucy, aware of how bad her situation was, tried to put on a brave face, to show this evil demon woman that she wasn't afraid. The moment she did so, the demon stopped being angry and laughed, seemingly mocking her determination.
''So, you think you can be brave, little girl? I don't believe you at all, I'm afraid. For one who fight others by summoning creatures and that was never in the frontline during the whole fight, it's a pretty pathetic display.''
Lucy, taken aback by such a remark, tried to show her just how brave she was. It proved to be an exercise in futility as the demon soon pinned her down to the ground with some quick movements. Too slow for the demon, Lucy was soon caught in the same technique that seemed to have turned Erza into a loyal animal as the eyes of the demon began to get brighter. Caught in the intense gaze, Lucy tried to gather her will and look away, but it was to no avail as she had looked at them for a few seconds too much. Helpless, she was at the mercy of the demon.
The demon knew this very well, too, as she began to caress the cheek of Lucy, a display of the powerful hold she had on the Fairy Tail mage. Her eyes being unrelenting, she was drilling for a place in Lucy's, toying with her. ''I think you humans are funny, did you know that? You think of yourselves as all powerful, yet to demons, dragons and other powerful creatures, you are nothing but animals.''
Lucy, unwilling to become like Erza, tried to fight back in the only way she could. ''Sagittarius, Erza, you two are stronger than this. Fight back!''
The silence of Sagittarius combined with the barks of Erza cemented her situation, as the demon giggled a bit. ''Really? You don't even have the strength to fight for yourself? You still need others to do your job? In truth, I think you're just too chicken to do anything by yourself.''
The word chicken resonated in her mind, as if it was the most important word that the demon had said in her previous sentence. With her eyes becoming more and more mesmerizing by the second, Lucy had a feeble grasp on her being right now, her reality warping itself in a never-ending hole that was dug by the powerful eyes of the demonic woman.
''Is that it, your true nature? You are but a chicken, here to run at the sight of danger, only helpful to others while helpless on your own? I am right, aren't I, my feathered friend?''
Her sense of identity becoming weaker, Lucy tried to come with a few words. She needed to retort about the human spirit, about how things were never so weak as they seemed. The demon needed to know that, yet all that came out of her mouth was ''Humans...aren't...sss...*Bawk*''.
Dominated by the demon, Lucy's mind was now hers as the truth of her identity was now the property of the demon. With this at her disposal and Lucy completely entranced, the mage fully believed that she was a chicken by now.
The demon, removing herself from atop Lucy, let her get up, only to see her walk and act like a chicken as she moved her ''wings'' in ridiculous fashion. Erza, barking in approval, soon approached Lucy who began to run away from her in terror. The scene being quite similar to what she had seen happen quite often in a farm, the demon was pleased.
''Come here now, my animals. Let me show you where you'll live from now on.'' Opening the wooden door, she revealed to the two hypnotized girls a room filled with mages from across the world, each acting like an animal. ''Cows'', ''sheeps'', ''cats'' and all sort of animals were moving freely there, eating in bowls and drinking from the same source of water. Entering like the good pets they were, Erza and Lucy went in the fray, obeying the demon.
Closing the door behind them. The demon sat on her chair for a few moments, satisfied about her new addition to her ''farm''. Hungry for the flesh of actual animals, she went outside. She'd need all of her strength if she'd have to fight any other mage coming for her, after all...
