A/N : Hello my fellow readers, wiErD here and I got another chapter for you guys in this new story.
Hope ya like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own FT nor any of its elements. Hiro Mashima owns them all by rights. Support the official release.
- Demon Problem -
It's been three days ever since Sayla had tagged along with Natsu. So far, the journey isn't as bad as he viewed it to be since she doesn't talk that much about killing and stuff. He expected her to spout her distaste towards humans and sorts since she used to hate them during their fight against each other. However, that is not the case as he saw her seemingly obedient to him which somewhat gave him an edgy feeling.
Well, the reason why she wouldn't do anything bad was because she was her master and since he doesn't want to harm other people, she undoubtedly complied as well.
He had to wonder though, if she was ever given the freedom to do anything, would she stay the same? Or would she follow her own chaotic carnage towards the humans once again and return back to Zeref.
That one thought worried him for quite some time now.
If he hadn't been E.N.D. then she might still continue her fight against his friends right now.
Sliding his thoughts about his companion aside, another wave of pain went up to his head as if it was tearing him apart from both sides. This has been happening to him for quite some time now ever since his time with Zeref back at Magnolia.
He doesn't know if it has something to do with his power. Maybe curses and magics aren't that compatible with each other, seeing that curses came from the negative emotions from humans and that it was different from magic some cases and origins.
It was just an assumption though... He didn't care where it was coming from but as long as he can resist it at times then he wold be okay with that.
Plus, there's still a matter concerning about his desertion.
If Fairy Tail noticed his sudden disappearance, there's no doubt that his friends will try to come get him back no matter what.
"Master... There's a small town nearby." Cutting his train of thought, Sayla spoke in earnest as she noticed a small town just a few kilometers away from them.
The pinkette was somehow amused at her keen sight, seeing that he can't look at that far away as her. Well, he still have his other senses to beat her out of it. Not to mention, he's more powerful than her-
..
..
-what the hell am I thinking?!' He screamed inside his head.
This is no time to be looking at the power stats of other people!
On the other hand, Sayla noticed his troubled face as she slowly turned her attention away from her direction and turned towards him.
"Is something wrong, Master?"
"N-Nothing..."
"Is that so? If you need anything, you can always use me anytime to fulfill your desires." She reminded. Natsu could only groan inwardly.
"I already told you this many times... I don't need anything and please stop treating yourself like a tool..." He scolded.
"I exist to serve Master... I also exist to return back to our Lord Zeref to fulfill his wish."
Natsu sighed at her response. Nothing will ever get inside this weird demon girl's head, no matter how many times he reminded her about things. Seriously, these demons sure are very straightforward and narrow-minded. They care nothing but fulfilling the wishes of their masters and creators in return for their disregard of their own well-being.
This girl is no exception, seeing that she doesn't value her own life one bit.
Even though she was created, he still views it to be a life. A living existence. He doesn't care whether they're demon or not. He just hated anyone nonchalantly disregarding the value of their lives like that so easily.
"For the last time, don't call me Master! I have a name!" He screamed in irritation.
"Saying your name like that casually feels like a disrespectful manner..." She reasoned.
"Where the hell did you learn that?"
"From the humans... Their literature sure packs a lot of interesting information and stories."
'Oh great, another book lover.' He thought.
"I don't want to hear it..." He quickly ended the topic as he continued his focus in front of him and eventually walked again. Silence took over the atmosphere as the two trudged along the side of the road without exchanging words to each other after that.
..
..
..
A few minutes later, they finally arrived at the small town itself. It wasn't that big or anything grand like Magnolia since the buildings are mostly shacks and old houses of the people living there. Only a few stores are seen in the area and it was somehow governed by a small guild that Natsu didn't know of. The flow of people around this town simply consisted of simple people as they generally wore farmer clothes and doesn't get too much involved about the issues of the outside world.
Even so, this was a fortunate place for them to seek shelter for the time being. They can lay low at the moment as long as they don't make any scenes and scare the people here.
"This is entirely different from the town where your guild was... It's so dull." Sayla commented at the features of the town.
"Well, not all towns are grand here... Plus, I think this will be a better place for us to stay hidden for the time being." Natsu suggested while pondering in thought for a moment.
"Why do we need to hide from the humans? We can just use our powers and drive them out of town."
"Didn't I tell you that we're not involving any humans here? And stop suggesting anything bad, alright?" Natsu reprimanded. Sayla could only release a sigh in response.
"I don't get why you don't want to harm the humans... Wouldn't it be better if you could just take them all out and proceed with your plan... That would make things easier, right?" She huffed.
"Because I don't want anyone to get hurt... I don't want to inflict any suffering to anyone because of me." He spoke blankly which was somehow unusual since he went serious for a moment before thinking deeply back about his time back at Fairy Tail.
Things like these came from that guild itself... He learned friendship and family altogether in that tiny place. Even in the face of sadness, he was taught with comfort and warmth of his loved ones and that made him strong right until now.
He knew that Sayla never went through the same experience as him and he didn't want to sound very judgmental towards her since she was just the same as him but raised in different circumstances. If she were to be raised in the same position as him then she would've been a different person.
And it is his job to let her experience that feeling. The feeling of friendship and care towards family. He wanted her to experience all the wonderful things he had back when he was still little.
..
..
"If that's what Master wants then I'll follow as well." She slightly frowned but Natsu felt a sign of relief washing up all over him at her reluctant reply.
"Thank you..."
"Then what are we supposed to do now? You don't want these humans to know our true nature, right? How are we able to find shelter without them knowing about us?" She asked the pinkette in curiosity.
"We'll take a job..."
"Huh?"
"Firstly, we need to take a job from this town's guild in order to make some jewels."
The course of the day continued as the two eventually went on their way towards an abandoned settlement just a couple of kilometers away from the town they just visited. Apparently, they heard rumors about a demon rampaging on the said settlement, attacking travelers who unluckily got close in the area. Somehow they managed to get a poster of the monster with a bounty on it.
So far, it's been one of the most dangerous posters in the town and the price was worth 500,000 jewels. That alone could fit an A-Class quest, judging from its price and risk level.
And since it was a extermination quest, there's nothing to discuss about it other than taking it out in order guarantee safety in that place once again. Well, that's what they thought for now since they didn't discussed it that much.
Natsu was already preparing himself for combat as he gave a stretch on his body to get it ready for battle. It's been a long time since he took a job about exterminating monsters and sorts.
Sayla was calm as usual. Not entirely revved up to the whole quest as she simply gave a uninterested expression towards the situation.
"Aren't you gonna prepare yourself?" Natsu asked.
"I don't need such adjustments... My curse is still at its peak and the enemy we're facing doesn't seemed to be much a threat to us..." She replied with confidence.
"Then I guess you're strong..."
"I'm one of the Nine Demon Gates of Tartaros... I can end any battle if I wanted to."
Natsu scoffed at her claims.
"Yeah right... I didn't think you could end any battle during your fight with my friends, huh?" He replied with sarcasm. Of course, that response simply got the demon girl to lose her confidence since she was humiliated in that fight with Mirajane who somehow able to defeat her with nothing but her Take-Over magic which was suppose to be inferior to her Macro.
"I-I was off guard! If I was a bit alert back then, I would've won over my enemies." She protested.
"Riiiiggghhhht." He drawled lazily. "Well, I'm not gonna lie, you demons sure hella strong that I had to get help from one of teammates."
"Does Natsu-sama prefer to fight alone?" She asked.
"Yes..."
"Then is it bothersome for me to fight alongside with you?"
"No..."
"Humans are so hard to understand... Their useless feelings often clouded their judgement and that makes them to do the wrong decisions... What makes them so important to you anyway?" She huffed yet again.
"It's not a bad thing to have those feelings, you know." It was then Natsu spoke in serious tone as Sayla looked at him in confounded surprise which soon turned into confusion.
"What do you mean by that?"
"It's natural for any living being to harbor those emotions that build up onto their hearts. It's what makes them so different from the others. They have the ability to love, to care and to protect those people they treasured... It forms an invisible bond between them that cannot be severed easily..." He paused before looking back at the demon girl.
"...Let me ask you this, even before back when we still haven't fought against each other, did you have this connection with your other demon guildmates?"
That question somehow made her to ponder for a moment as she tried looking back through her time with her former guildmates. And judging from her relationship with them, she doesn't have one. It was more like an acquaintance between demons and they all didn't care too much about each other as they all solely wanted to fulfill Lord Zeref's wish and kill him.
The only connection she probably had was from Kyoka but it was never the type of bond that Natsu was trying to tell her about. It was more like a follower-like type of relationship, seeing that she admired her ruthless nature towards the humans at that time.
..
..
Seeing the lack of answer coming from her, Natsu released another sigh and decided to move on.
"We're almost there... We should get ready soon." He spoke as he can finally see the settlement in the distance as he gave his knuckles a few sounds.
Sayla somehow got out from her trance there for a moment and simply set aside her thoughts about his question for later and decided to prepare her own curse from their upcoming battle.
The two of them eventually reached into the abandoned settlement and could only find the area to be full of skeletal remains from the unfortunate humans that happened to be the victims a long time ago. Seeing this gruesome sight simply made the pinkette uncomfortable for some reason. In all his life he'd never come across a field of remains since the smell of death always disgusted him.
Sayla was not bothered from the sight but she still kept her guard just in case. After all, their enemy was a demon, same as them.
"These unfortunate humans sure took a very gruesome death." Sayla spoke.
"I don't want to talk about it... Let's just find the demon and head back to town." He suggested as Sayla only nodded in response before venturing further towards the settlement.
It took them a few minutes to walk further as they began to see more frequent dead remains of people in the vicinity, accompanied by animal remains as well. Whatever this demon was, it probably likes to eat meat and was probably merciless as well to its victims.
Another surge of pain went through Natsu's head yet again as he lost his strength to walk any further and decided to ease his hurting head with his hands. Sayla noticed his pain and immediately went over to him to see if he was alright.
"Are you alright, Master?"
"Damn, not this again..." He gritted his teeth in frustration, noticing that his power is acting up again.
"I think we should settle down somewhere in the time-being... You're not in the condition to fight, Master." She proposed.
"It's alright... I can still move... L-Let's just find the demon and get the hell outta here." He slowly struggled to recompose himself in which he failed to do so until the demon girl caught him in her arms and helped him to get back on his feet.
He thanked her in response as they continued on.
..
..
After a few more minutes, they walked into a dead end as the path was seemingly blocked by rocks and debris all the way to the other side. It seemed like they reached the end of the place itself but there's no sign of such a demon.
"Something's not right..." Sayla spoke in a serious tone as she could somehow detect a wrong presence in the area in which Natsu also noticed as they instantly prepared for their battle stances.
Few moments later, a lone figure soon crept out of one of the rocks from the debris as if he was revealing himself to him. He seemed to be wearing some type of robe, similar that to a cultist who worships Zeref with a mix of obsession towards the Black Mage's works.
"Well, well... Instead of encountering humans, I never thought I would be seeing demons coming right through here. Are you one of the books of Zeref?" The figure spoke in curiosity in which the two could only widen their eyes in surprise as he was able to distinguish their nature apart from the humans.
"Who are you?!" Natsu demanded. The figure only took a mindful observation towards the two until he finally noticed something different from the two.
"N-No way... ... You two aren't just normal demons... I sense a strong presence of Etherious in you two... That would mean-"
"That's right... We're one of the books of Zeref. The ones who reside in the bookshelf of Zeref himself, Tartaros." Sayla declared.
"Hey! Don't just lump me in together with that guild!" Natsu scolded.
But as they bicker at one another, the man only stifle a chuckle in the conversation as he finally put all the things in place.
"Oh, I see now... ... I've never actually thought I would meet a fellow demon who's also been created by Lord Zeref." He revealed. Natsu and Sayla were surprised yet again at his revelation as they began to realize of what he meant by that.
"Then you're-"
"My name's Bahamut... The God-Eater. It's a been a long time since I met a fellow demon from the books of Zeref." He introduced himself as he took out his robes and revealed a tall man with white hair that reaches down on his shoulders. The hairstyle was similar that of Rouge, though protruding on the opposite side and revealed his dark eyes towards the other two. His clothes consisted that of a dark vest accompanied by a same-colored shirt on his upper body. His lower part consisted that of a loose pants without any footwear as he simply walked on barefoot.
A wicked grin is plastered all over his face as he looked back at the two with anticipation.
However, Natsu wasn't in the mood for any greetings or pleasantries.
"Are you the one responsible for all those people back then?" He asked with a unusual dark tone on his voice.
"Hoh, and what if I did?"
"Then, I guess there's nothing more to say to each other... I'm killing you here right now." Natsu called out his dark red flames in his hands as it coated him wholly as if readying for battle. It wasn't the same kind of sensation he always felt during his previous fights but there's just one thing that is different from today's fight.
He felt stronger.
Ignoring the searing pain all over his head, Natsu charged in towards the man in full speed in which somehow surprises since he felt so much faster than he was from before.
Disappearing into a red blur, Natsu launched his first punch towards Bahamut in which he easily blocked as it created a huge shockwave that soon went in their vicinity, noting the intensity of their attacks.
"Flame? Interesting... I don't know what kind of demon are you but I guess you're pretty strong then... After all, we're all created to be strong enough to kill our creator."
"I don't give a crap about Zeref... ... I'll defeat you here, demon..." Natsu declared as he coated his hands ablaze and formed a giant red fireball above him.
"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" Shouting briefly his spell, Natsu threw the fireball towards him in which he easily dodged sideways and regained his composure before smirking at the pinkette.
But before he could even try to move again, his body have started to move on its own as if something was controlling his body aside from his own. It was then he noticed Sayla simply standing away from the fight with a calm look on her face in which he knew that it was coming from her.
"Your body is now under my absolute control." She muttered as she flicked her finger in which caused his body to lean forward towards the pinkette who in turn had prepared his next attack on him as Natsu coated himself in dark crimson flames before launching himself towards him.
"Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!" His head enveloped in flames connected right into Bahamut's gut as eventually sent him away crashing unto a pile of debris as Natsu regained his position away from him with Sayla backing him up from behind.
Looking back at the demon girl, it was Natsu's first time seeing her Curse and judging from how well she performed it, she had the control over his opponent's bodies and command them on her discretion. No wonder why she was so confident in ending the fight back then.
Truth be told, it was a pretty nasty curse and Natsu wouldn't know if he can handle her with that power of hers.
His train of thought was eventually cut off as a large surge of pain went inside his head yet again, causing him to lose focus but was able to keep his composure in the middle of the battle as the dust cleared to where Bahamut crashed and revealed his unscratched figure.
"I gotta tell you... That thing kinda hurts. And that curse you have there is pretty problematic for me." Bahamut spoke nonchalantly while giving a few cracks on his neck and his knuckles. "But you know, this is surely strange... I've never encountered a demon trying to hunt down other demons before. I suppose you two had given up on your original purpose?"
"My purpose here is to defeat you in order to save people." Natsu spoke.
"That's also a new one right there... A demon caring for the humans? That's pretty illogical. I thought that we could be better acquaintances but I guess I'm wrong... You must be probably a defective book that is thrown away by Zeref. No wonder why you have such a caring heart for those weaklings."
"You shut your damn mouth!" Natsu gritted in anger. His emotions slowly feeding off his power as time flows.
"Hmph... Like I would listen to some defective demon... You're a disgrace on our kind-" Before he could even continue further, a large beam was shot out towards him and instantly blew him away and crashed yet again as Natsu widen his eyes in surprise to see that Sayla had taken a surprise attack towards Bahamut in instantaneous speeds the even he couldn't follow for a moment as she stood right beside him with her right hand stretching in front of her, seemingly pointed to where the white-haired demon was.
"I won't let you say anymore bad things towards my master, scum." She muttered darkly as Natsu could feel her growing anger towards Bahamut.
..
..
On the other hand, Bahamut staggered away from the crash and was simply taken aback at the surprise attack to him as he was left off guard and stared oddly at the demon female in disbelief.
"Damn you, bitch-
"Bahamut... Otherwise known as the God-Eater. You're a book created by Zeref himself as part of the collection of the demons needed to have the potential to grant his eternal wish. Your creation was successful and was to be regarded to be part of the Demon Gates as you possess a powerful curse that could bring calamity and chaos towards mankind but-
-your powers were deemed inferior and your curse was proved insufficient enough to rival the other demons, thus you were thrown away as part of his own failed experiments in the books of Zeref. Pretty ironic, isn't it? That you called master a defective. You don't even know your position in him." Sayla explained.
"You- How in the world did you know that?!" Bahamut demanded.
"Perhaps I didn't introduce myself yet to you... I'm Sayla. One of the demon books that resides in Tartaros. The Nine Demon Gates. I studied a lot of history about Lord Zeref's past experiments in creating demons. And you are just one of the other demons he casts aside as a failure in his creation. To him, you're inferior and we're the successful ones that would one day be able to grant his wish..." She paused.
"... And since you were thrown away. I assume that you eventually wind up here. Look how pathetic you've become. Compared to Master, you're nothing to him."
Despite her sharp insults towards Bahamut, Natsu still didn't get used in her new other personality. She maybe gentle and loyal at times but when matters take a little too far, she was like a killing machine and will not hesitate to crush the spirits of her enemies without a second thought.
Well, in the midst of it, he did learn something historical from what she said earlier. It seems like there are other demons that exist as failed experiments in Zeref's creation towards the strongest Etherious. It only made him think if there are more of them roaming around Fiore on their free will and had been terrorizing people for a long time.
On the other hand, Bahamut's expression was simply shadowed as the atmosphere between them began silent.
Moment later... He slowly lifted his face towards the two.
"Nothing? I'll show you who's nothing!" In an instant, Natsu and Sayla went up on their guard as they saw the sudden change of the power coming from Bahamut as his body had started to morph that of a giant humanoid monster as horns in his head finally appeared, showing off his demonic nature. His fangs went sharper as his body began to form up intricate markings with one prominent feature located at his stomach which consisted of a circle with writings seen around it.
Spikes formed around his back as his figure turned slightly dark. A pair of red glowing eyes was seen afterwards as it glared over to the two figures at the distance before releasing a menacing growl from it mouth.
"What the hell is that?" Natsu asked in disbelief.
"It's his Etherious Form." She noted until she instantly grabbed Natsu's hand and leaped away as Bahamut thrusts his giant claws down towards them, sending out powerful tremors that shook the entire ground due to its power. The two demons managed to get a safe distance away before examining their enemy for a moment as they watched it approaching towards them in a seemingly fast rate.
Sayla gritted her teeth in frustration, seeing that it would take them a lot of time to bring down this incomplete demon. Judging from his new body transformation, it seems like all of his attributes increased which kinda makes him a moving fortress.
She cannot use her Macro on her anymore, seeing that his curse is easily resisting her absolute control. After all, there's a limit to where she control anything with absolute control and this one is probably too big to control.
At this rate, they're gonna get slaughtered.
Feeling the need to use her Etherious form for the first time in days, Sayla tried to break off her limiters and end the battle as soon as she can but there's something wrong. For some reason, she can't enter into her Etherious form no matter how many times she tried to. And not only that, she can't seemed to use her Macro as well, seeing that it doesn't work on anyone even inanimate objects.
"W-What's happening? I can't use my powers?"
Seeing her confused, Bahamut smirked evilly as he turned to explain the reason.
"Haha...! This is the nature of my Etherious Form... The World Eater... Right now, you're all in my domain and I can cancel out any type of curses thrown by my enemies."
"Curses? Not magic?!" Sayla stuttered in response.
"Why do you think Zeref see me as an inferior demon? The reason was behind my powers. He tried to create a demon that can defeat his other previous creation by infusing me the power to cancel out curses. Of course, there are many other types of magic that can counter demons as well but mine was created for the sole purpose of eradicating the demons themselves. Lord Zeref knew of this and decided to deem me as a failure but-
-he was mistaken... I've developed this power on my own ever since he threw me away... I swore to myself... I SWORE THAT I'LL EXACT MY REVENGE ON HIM AND I'LL BE THE ONE WHO WILL FULFILL HIS WISH OF FINALLY DYING FOR ETERNITY!"
He screamed as if he was a madman as he laughed hysterically towards them with the same murderous intent focused on the two.
"In order to do that, I'll dispose the other demons first... ... That's includes the two of you-
Without warning, a flaming fist connected right through his cheek and sent the monster flying away from the distance in which he easily recovers before widening in surprise to see the pinkette able to use his power despite his Etherious Form being released.
"I-Impossible... How are you still able to use your curse?!"
Natsu didn't speak for a moment as he dusted off his clothes and simply urged the demon girl to stay back as he coated his whole body in dark red flames.
"Well, it's true that your powers can negate out any curses but let me tell you something... ..." He paused as the flames grew darker and hotter as Sayla could feel the intensity of the flames being poured out in the process. The heat was surprisingly hot enough to burn anything in his vicinity as scales initially began to form from the pinkette's face and also to his arms as well.
Although it was kind of brief but Sayla was able to take a small glimpse of a giant red beast seemingly morphing behind Natsu as if the flames were alive.
With his power leaking out in the process, Natsu shot off the most intimidating look he'd ever casted upon his opponent.
"Before I became a demon... ... I was a dragonslayer!"
A/N: And that's the wrap for this chapter. Hope ya like it. I kinda thought of an idea of a defective book in the books of Zeref. I mean, come on... There's a high chance for Zeref to have failed creations of his demons before he could even create the book of E.N.D. together with the books of Tartaros. Plus, I think this will be a good idea to finally get Sayla and Natsu's character development with each other as such for the former to accept the humans while the latter coming into terms with his power as well.
The early chapters will only develop the two's relationship and their lives as demons in the human world and the next would be through the Avatar Arc and possibly some conflicts between Fairy Tail and Natsu as well.
Well, look all forward to it as I post more chapter in this story. If I have the time that is. See you on the next chapter!
- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out... ... ...
