Chapter Seven
Acnologia returned with a fresh kill. There was a burning fire with a stand already set up to roast the meat in his hand. The blond girl was curled up on the soft furs he used as a bedding. Exhaustion was evident on her dirtied prone form.
Humans were so weak. Shaking his head, he dealt with the meat and rose elegantly to his feet. He moved to lean against a jagged wall, not minding the sharp edges of the stones biting into his back. The long cape he wore not only provided him temporary cover but it protected him too. His arms folded across his broad muscled chest.
The celestial mage had her eyes closed but from her uneven breathing, he knew she was awake. He simply waited for her to acknowledge him.
The crackling fire and the sounds of the meat roasting filled the silence in the air. The girl shifted and winced. Her facial features scrunched up together to display her discomfort. He had to wonder how humans like her survived on her own. Of course, she had her spirits watching over her but from what he examined about her personality, only one word came to his mind; reckless. She was reckless.
Finally, sighing, the blond opened her eyes and focused brown orbs on him. Instantly, he noted how the firelight reflected from her eyes, causing them to shine like jewels.
"You're not going to say anything?" she questioned him, but fatigue was laced in her voice.
He had serious questions for this female and a fury he had yet to set aside. He had to come to a verdict, either let the girl live or die. Dying sounded like a good option, he could rid himself of her and move on with his life. Living, on the other hand, was another story.
His body tensed, abdomen muscles pressing against his folded arms. Realization was swift as his eyes shut to conceal his emotion. For the first time in a long time, perhaps even centuries, he was unsure of something. From the moment he felt her magical aura, the trespasser continually astonished him.
He decided to let things play out. He remained quiet while his eyes stayed shut.
He heard her inhale air. "Okay, I get it."
His response to her was his raised eyebrows.
She lifted a shaky hand to her face. Her pointer and thumb pinched the space in between her eyebrows. "Silence."
"I'm pretty tired from a long day of events." It wasn't like he cared what she endured. He had the young girl in his possession, her well-being shouldn't concern him.
"By the way, thank you," she whispered. Her gratitude got him to respond. Instantly, his eyes shot open as he stared at her. But she wasn't looking at him. Her attention was on the roasting meat and the fire.
Why was she thanking him? He must have voiced his thought.
"You saved me."
"I did not," he replied immediately.
Her smile was small, just the briefest lift of her lips in one corner of her mouth. "Technically, no but if I was out there in this condition, I wouldn't last long."
She finally realized her condition. Any more training on her part would magically exhaust her.
"That doesn't mean you're safer here," he admonished her. Constantly, he was reminded of humans' frailty and this girl was no different. Just because she was in the dragon's den didn't mean that he granted her sanctuary. She was his captive.
"I know." Her remark astounded him.
Acnologia stepped away from the wall while slowly unfolding his arms. Her eyes shifted to him as he took his time getting to her. He halted by the bedding, leaned forward, barely catching her next response. "Please."
She blinked her eyes before they widened. "What-what?" she asked.
"You whispered 'Please,'" he told her. "What is it you want me to do?"
From the emotion that flickered across her face, Acnologia could see that the celestial mage didn't expect him to be easy on her.
"Noth-nothing," the girl said while she slightly shook her head. Her cheeks turned red despite her tiredness.
He backed up, giving her a moment to collect herself. "Why do you say please?"
"It's normal," she told him, "for people to say please when they make a request."
The dragon shape shifter's lips formed into a smirk. "But I don't ask for things. I order them."
She exhaled a breath while resting a hand to her head. She closed her eyes as she mumbled, "That you do."
He stared at her, patiently waiting for her to look at him again. She wearily rested her arm at her side, her eyelashes drifted upward.
"Please can I eat food and get some rest? I promise to answer all your questions tomorrow."
This time her voice sounded quieter to his ears. He could hear her heart rate was slowing down and see that her bodily responses were getting sluggish. Normally, he wouldn't bother talking to a human, neither would he accept their request. But there was something about this female, he didn't know what, that he wanted to keep her alive for the time being. Thus, he would allow her human body to be replenished. When she was feeling rejuvenated, he would sate his curiosity and then kill her.
Satisfied, he nodded his head. Attuning his draconic senses to the food, he observed it was done. He removed the large stick and placed her portion on another stick. He handed it to her. Wearily, she sat up, fighting back the pained whimpers from moving her injured foot.
Acnologia was quite impressed with her show of strength, especially when with a snap of his fingers, her body could be split in two. His hands clenched into fists, his nails digging into his palms. Bloodlust was rising inside him. He grabbed the meat and bit into it. The rich juiciness of the food instantly replaced his need to slaughter her.
He was feeling hunger.
The blond girl finished her food and absently licked her fingers. She placed the stick by the fire and immediately curled into the blankets of fur. He noticed the moment her breathing evened out, signifying she had fallen asleep.
When the Lucy woke up, she was greeted to the delicious aroma of food, roasted meat with grapes and sliced apples. After finishing her meal, the dragon shape shifter granted her the chance to bathe in a hot spring. The blond was relieved to be well rested, fed and finally cleaned. That was why she didn't make any qualms of telling him what he wanted to know. She thought it was better to start from the beginning.
"I'm not the strongest person on my team," Lucy said as she kept her gaze down. She touched one abraded palm with a finger. "Their magic is overwhelming compared to mine. I feel like a shadow."
The creature sat across from her, cross-legged. They were both sitting on luxurious cushions that he provided as seats and they were seated around a fire. The blond didn't mind. For now, he was quiet as he listened to her tale.
"We had won a major battle but it came at a cost." Her hand went underneath her shirt and she pulled out a container with golden pieces inside that was attached to a golden chain. Just by looking, one could tell the items were parts of a golden key. "I...I had to sacrifice one of my spirits to call upon the Celestial King."
She didn't know why she was telling the stranger sensitive information. But one fact she knew for certain was like other dragon slayers, he would be able to sense deceit.
"I realized that I had to get stronger so I left my magical guild to become stronger."
"Which guild?" he asked.
Startled, her head jerked up. "Huh? What?"
"Which guild?"
"Ummm..." She bit her lip. Her finger let go of the container on her chain. "Fairy Tail."
His eyebrows rose. "Fairy Tail? How long have you been in it?"
There was something strange in his tone that reminded Lucy about the time Natsu, Laxus, Gajeel and Wendy faced the large dragon on Tenrou Island. She clasped her hands together to hide her nervousness. "Not very long." She didn't count the seven-year sleep.
"Fairy Tail, I destroyed their island a few years ago," he stated, his handsome face was devoid of emotion.
Just like that she had too much. Her vision grayed and her world tilted.
The creature leaped forward, his strong arms curved around her small waist to keep her from falling head first into the fire. He eased her down, with a gentleness she didn't know he possessed, to her seat. One rough hand brushed the blond hair away from her face.
She asked, muffled, "Who are you?"
"That is not important." The hair at nape of her neck stood on edge. A chill went through her body.
He didn't have to say it to confirm he was Acnologia, the dragon who left her guild members and her for dead on Tenrou Island. He was suppose to be the enemy.
Lucy buried her face in her hands.
She felt a rumble vibrated through his body, an unpleasant one as he snarled. "You miss them."
"Yes," she whispered as she removed her hands from her lips but her fingers still covered her eyes. Although he had draconic senses, she grew use to expressing her feelings because Team Natsu had ways they could be ignorant about people's feelings. "Besides my spirits being family, the Fairy Tail members are also my family."
He released her and returned to his seat. The celestial mage instantly noticed she missed his warmth. She slightly shook her head in order to forget that feeling. There was no way she could feel attraction for the enemy.
"It's good that you haven't been with them a few years back because I considered a few of them as enemies."
Her face went pale and goosebumps formed on her bare arms. Could Acnologia be referring to Natsu and the other dragon slayers? She remembered Natsu revealed that Zeref told him that he and other dragon slayers were being trained for the final fight against Acnologia.
Lucy was tempted to ask him the question, but she knew to do so was signing her death warrant. Although, she told her spirits not to interfere if he decided to kill her, she was still smart enough not to call for it.
Instantly, the dragon shape shifter elegantly rose on his feet. He moved to one part of the cave and opened one of the many treasure chests in his possession. He retrieved a bottle along with a golden cup. He wiped the cup clean with a cloth before pouring amber liquid in it. He accosted her and Lucy couldn't help but flinch when he hovered over her. He shoved the drink in her hands.
"Drink it," he ordered.
Her fingers curled around the cup. The vocal cords in her throat refused to work properly.
"I get it. I'm going to kill you sometime soon. When I feel like it." He pinched his nose. "Until then, stop feeling distressed and fatiguing yourself. I don't like how it smells."
Her eyes widened at him as her mouth fell open. Then she did the unexpected, she began to laugh.
The creature steadied the cup in her hands. She could feel his intense gaze on her. When her laughter died away, she looked at him to see him scowling. "Fine, I'll be all jolly until you decide to get rid of me."
"How about you act like a normal human."
It was her turn to scowl. "What's that suppose to mean?"
"You're..." It seemed he was trying to look for the right word to describe her. "Different."
"Different?" Lucy echoed. And then peels of laughter escaped her as her slender body shook. She felt strong fingers lift her chin. His green, gorgeous, eyes stared into hers, beguiling her into a sense of calm.
Her magic flared and began to pulse around her. Heat engulfed at the core of her magic but there was another darker presence that surrounded her magic, a powerful and more dominating one. A coldness seeped to where heat was. The celestial mage stiffened as her magic receded.
"Stop it," she whispered. She brought two hands to clutch her head. "Please."
"You need to calm down your magic," he said with a hypnotic voice. "When you feel certain emotions, it causes your magic to flare, furtherexhausting you since you don't have an outlet."
His voice was low and definitely masculine. It wrapped around her, making her still. She gazed into the Acnologia's eyes and she felt like she was falling into a bottomless pool of green.
"Good."
She blinked at him, the entrance broken. Immediately, she turned her attention onto the cup in her hands. "Thank you."
He paused before backing away from her. "Drink," he ordered her.
"A please would suffice," she muttered under her breath. She heard a distant growl, making her yelp before she gave into his command. She downed the liquid in a few gulps and then she was coughing at the dryness in her throat.
She heard a chuckle before turning his way.
"Not n-ice!" she tried to accuse him, except his laughter sounded enthralling.
She put the empty mug on the floor. The male never moved away from her as he towered over her. He made the normally spacious cave appear small.
"We will begin again."
Not trusting her vocal cords, she opted to bob her head.
"You said that you left Fairy Tail?"
"Left isn't the word I would use," she suddenly replied. She lifted her right hand to show him her pink tattoo. "This mark represents that I'm still a member. I'm just taking time off to get stronger."
"Did you realize you're in my territory?"
"No." Her head moved from side-to-side, making her blond tresses sway. "I just wanted to get as far away from my team members as fast as possible. They're quite overprotective of me and well, I don't want to sound like I'm bad talking them because I do care for them, but trouble finds them wherever they are."
"Really?" Was the dragon shape shifter trying to make a conversation?
"Fortunately, they're not here because..." she trailed off.
"Because?" he returned.
"Well, you know..."
"What?" He was goading her.
Color tinged her cheeks. "Let's say none of us, I'm saying me and my teammates will still be alive."
He didn't say anything to her remark but there was a slight smirk on his good-looking face.
"Tell me more about your training progress.," he suddenly demanded with a neutral expression. "And I expect you to tell me everything."
"Well, there's what I know." She stressed the last word. "There's what I think and there's what I've guessed. There are two things to focus on for training, physical strength and mental strength. I can't have both so I had to choose one."
He nodded, keeping silent.
"I chose the obvious for my kind. I wanted to mentally get stronger. If I can summon more than two spirits on the field, especially if their combative or they wield elemental magic, I can have the upper advantage. However, to do so means I will have to spend a lot of time honing my magic and creating a stronger bond with my spirits. It seems to have worked during my training but since I was here I felt a strange presence."
He hadn't move, but he tensed all over. What was emitting off of him that had her heart pounding?
She licked her suddenly dried lips and whispered, "It's when I felt the strange aura my magic started to react differently."
"How differently?"
"It's like my magic wanted to respond to it. Furthermore, I discovered that I was able to summon more energy than usual to transfer to my spirits and..."
"And..." He waited for her to continue.
"My spirits think I'm more than a celestial mage. They think I'm a Magical Source but that can't be." The blond shook her head in disbelief. "A Magical Source is someone who has a large amount of magical power stored in their body but they can't wield it in any form of matter."
Acnologia eyes deepened into a different color, pure gold, all dragon.
"Is that what you think?"
"But I'm a celestial mage and if I have extra reserves of power, I can give more power to my spirits."
His eyes narrowed. "When we were fighting, I faced a fake you. How is it I couldn't detect you?"
Lucy ran a hand through her long blond hair and flinched when her fingers ran into some knots. He moved closer to her as the pitiless dragon gaze dissected her face. She whispered, "Gemi and Mini, they are of my zodiac spirits and they have the ability to transform flawlessly into anyone that they have contact with."
His eyes narrowed even more. "So they transformed into you?"
Slowly, she nodded her head.
"When they disappeared, I still couldn't feel your presence."
The celestial mage searched his face. His expression was savage, freezing the air in her lungs. Her lips felt numb but she forced her mouth to open. "At the time I was transported into the celestial world."
Such a feat was considered impossible. Only one other person was transported into the celestial world and instantaneously survived, Natsu. During her escape, she took a chance with Loke to cover more distance but at the same time she felt regret because she could imagine how Acnologia hurt Gemi and Mini. Just glancing at his intensive golden dragon eyes had her shivering. She huddled into herself. Despite her fears when facing opponents much stronger than herself, this dragon shape shifter beat all of them.
He frowned at her. Placing a heavy hand on her shoulder, his fingers curled around the slender bone. Unconsciously, the blond shifted toward him, leaning into his bracing hold.
"I know it's a serious breech in contract but I think the Celestial King will understand."
"He will since he favors you."
She glanced up at him, her eyebrows tugged together. "How do you know that?"
"One of your spirits had the audacity to threaten me and the Celestial King was her choice."
Her stomach twisted at Virgo making demands to Acnologia. Lucy didn't want anything bad to happen to her spirits to a point she was willing to give up her life. To not infuriate the dragon shift shaper, she bowed her head. "I'm sorry."
"No, it was quite amusing."
She closed her eyes and put her hands over her face. Sensing that she was done answering his questions, meant he was going to have to do something to her. That probably meant her death. "My name is Lucy Heartfilia. I'm a celestial mage from Fairy Tail. I'm not powerful and I only recently discovered that I'm a Magical Source. Besides that, there's nothing else interesting about me." She removed her hands and looked up at him to see him staring at her with the same dragon eyes. "So do whatever you are going to do to me."
He lifted an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"
Her eyes drifted downward and she inhaled what might be her last breath. "I'm sure."
Zora was not the only in charge of gathering information. He was responsible for babysitting their next source of power. The little girl with hair the color of snow and sky-blue eyes had been sleeping for the past couple of days. She only woke up to take care of herself and then he put her into a deep slumber.
Watching her doze innocently, her frame being too small for the cot, he noted that he didn't feel any different from before. It seemed the side effect from draining many magical souls of children took away his ability to feel. The others had different side effects but they chose not to talk about it.
Only a couple more days and then he would be rejuvenated with enough magical control to assess the new Magical Source's power. As it was, he was beginning to run low.
"How is our princess faring?" a calm voice disturbed the silence.
"Same as always," Zora replied. He didn't turn to greet Garif. The other male was short, slender and was always placid and polite. Zora knew that his civilized manner was a persona. The moment Garif engaged the enemy, his attitude changed into one of viciousness. Zora's theory on Garif's demeanor was he had a split personality disorder. But the Master deemed Garif as a worthy ally. And he had an interesting ability to manipulate people's minds. He mastered illusions. He could erase and create fake memories. He was a fantastic artist and he used his talent to paint images into people's minds.
"Did Lena and Taro get back from their mission?" Zora asked as he disrupted the silence. A little talking wouldn't wake their slumbering princess.
"Yes, they returned from their mission awhile ago."
The archive mage turned around to face the other man with a scowl on his face. "And you're now telling me about this?"
Garif's facial expression remained blank. "They're meeting with our Master."
"Then why are we still here?" Zora lifted his hands to gesture to the dungeon.
"The Master didn't call us all for for an official meeting. He specifically asked for Lena and Taro."
Zora became thoughtful. "Lena I would understand but Taro too." He paused before he added, "Then I take it that they both failed the mission."
The other male nodded his head in agreement.
Their Master wasn't going to be happy with the result. Most likely, Taro was going to be heavily punished since he was the muscle man behind the mission; to retrieve the Magical Source. Lena, on the other hand, was the Master's pet and he treated her like she was special. She was definitely was unique to Zora. She was the same like the others whom they hunted, a Magical Source but she earned her titled among their little group. She was the sole survivor of all the Magical Sources that were drained of their power. With a piece of her soul connected to every single one of them in the dark occult and her will to persevere, the Master made her into one of them and taught her how to use her power. Thanks to her, finding Magical sources became easy.
"They brought back some interesting news," Garif interrupted his thoughts.
Raising his eyes to the other mage, he liked to call the Manipulator, he waited to hear what he had to say. Garif wasn't the one to procure misguided information. "Lena notified me that the Magical Source is with someone else."
"Someone else? Do you mean it can be with the other extremely powerful person we felt before?"
Garif actually smiled. "Wouldn't you like to know who?"
If the Magical Source ended in Zeref's clutches, they were going to have one hell of a hard time getting back their source. The dark mage was the absolute image of Walking Death. There was a good chance their source wasn't alive.
Zora just moved his head up and down warily. "You were thinking of Zeref?"
The archive mage blinked at him. "How many times do I have to tell you not to get inside my head."
The manipulator raised a fist to his chest and bowed. "My apologies. Sometimes my mind wanders."
"But not in allies' minds," Zora commented before directing back to the main topic. "If the Magical Source is not with Zeref than who else?"
"Who else will be strong enough to put a good fight against Zeref?"
Zora cracked up a little bit. "Our Master can defeat Zeref the moment he gets the true key to unleash his full potential. That's what the Magical Sources are for. And when Master gets back his powers we will be included to reap the rewards. But I can't think of anyone else who can defeat the dark wizard unless..."
The archive mage's eyes widened with the new revelation. "No, it can't be."
"Yes," Garif nodded his head, bestowing another smile across his face. There was a glint in his dark eyes. Zora shuddered as he viewed some of Garif's split personality appearing. "The Magical Source is with Acnologia."
That put a damper on their plans.
Natsu, Erza and Gray reached another part of the forest that caused him to halt. For some reason, he sensed an ominous presence beyond the foliage of trees. It was the same one he felt earlier.
"What's wrong Natsu?" Erza asked as she craned her neck over her shoulder to see why he suddenly stopped.
"Yeah, what's wrong flame brain?" Gray also questioned. "Don't tell me you're wimping out."
"I'm not!" Would Lucy really venture this deep into the woods?
He didn't think the celestial mage would voluntarily go looking for trouble. She was usually cautious, ask questions first and attack later.
But the darkness the forest was emitting had him wondering was it a good idea to search for Lucy with only the three of them.
"Perhaps, we should wait for Happy to confirm if Lucy went this way," he suggested.
"Yep," Gray nodded his head as he crossed his arms over his chest. He, unknowingly unbuttoned the first three buttons of his shirt. "Flame brain is growing cold feet."
"No, I'm not ice pickle," the fire dragon slayer growled back at the ice mage.
"I dare you to say that to my face."
Both mages got into each other's faces while baring teeth at one another. By this time, Gray had removed his shirt. Erza marched into the middle and pulled them apart. She was trying her best not to lose her temper. "Stop acting like children, you two."
Natsu and Gray instantly changed their behaviors. "We were just kidding, right Gray?"
"Yeah," the ice mage eagerly nodded his head. "Besides, we got better things to do like look for Lucy."
"Then, get your shirt first, Gray."
The ice mage cursed as he scanned the terrain for his fallen shirt.
Natsu, immediately, turned his attention to the forest. "And how about we start making our way to the mountains?" Erza pointed out to the mountain range beyond the foliage.
Natsu's body stiffened at her idea. The dark presence was coming from the mountains and Natsu had the feeling that if they entered the area, they were putting themselves at great risk.
The wind blew around him and he sniffed the air to pick out a familiar scent. He raised his head and smelled the wind again. His teammates looked at him; waiting for him to confirm what he sensed. "Two figures are heading this way. One is Happy and the other is some unknown person."
As if on cue, he heard his name being called by his flying partner. "Natsu!"
"Happy!" The flying cat flew straight to the fire dragon slayer and gave him a big hug.
"Good to see you, Happy," Erza greeted his flying friend. Gray slightly waved his hand but his lips tugged upward in a small grin.
Another person, a friendly elderly man stopped in front of them. He was dressed weirdly, wearing tropical clothes as though he came from a hot climate. He had a green shirt with a pattern of palm trees and a striped yellow and green short pants. On his feet were sandals.
Natsu didn't say anything to the man, except he grinned, showing all of his teeth. "Yo, I'm Natsu Dragneel and these are my teammates."
Erza and Gray introduced themselves before Erza asked the old man the question that pink head wanted to know. "Who are you?"
"I'm sorry for not introducing myself. I got carried away seeing you children here," the old man replied. He sheepishly scratched the back of his gray head with a hand. "The name is Charles Yu."
Erza, Natsu and Gray looked at each other, wondering what kind of name the old man had before glancing back at the newcomer. "Your friend, the flying cat, which I must say it's rare to see one, was looking around town for a blond celestial mage who got off a train."
Automatically, Charles got everyone's attention. "When I asked your flying friend why he wanted to locate the celestial mage, he mentioned all of you were searching for her in this forest."
"Is she here?" Natsu asked of all a sudden. He put himself directly in front of the old man.
"Well, I did see her head into the forest with a guy who had orange hair and shades."
"Loke!" Team Natsu sighed in relief. She was in the forest.
"However, you should think twice about going deeper into the woods," Charles warned them.
"Why?" the red headed female questioned with a frown on her pretty face. "If our friend is there, we need to find her quickly."
"If she's out there in the woods, then..." He hesitated.
"What?" The fire dragon slayer couldn't wait for the old man's response.
"You better tell us old man! Our friend is out there by herself!" Gray growled out impatiently. Erza had to step in front of the raven head to prevent him from hurting the one who was their ticket to finding Lucy.
"The woods conceals a dark presence."
Erza and Gray had baffled expressions. Natsu, however, listened intently to what the old man had to say. Charles reached into his pocket and unfolded a wrinkled paper. Immediately, Team Natsu recognized what the paper was.
"It's a job!" Happy exclaimed.
"It's been on the bulletin for ages. Anyone whose taken the job to defeat whatever lurks in the woods has never returned."
"There had to be a survivor," Erza insisted. "Or who else could post a job to defeat whatever evil thing is in this forest."
The old man scratched his head again. He appeared mortified. "You got me."
"Let me take a look at the job," the female knight ordered. Charles gave her the post and she scrutinized it.
"Well, that's strange," she muttered as if in deep thought. A hand went under her chin.
"What is?" the raven head went to look at the job posting over her shoulder. Natsu and Happy went to Erza's other shoulder and read the paper too.
"S-Class." Natsu frowned.
"Well, that explains why no one has yet to return," Gray revealed.
"When your little blue flying friend mentioned you're all in these woods searching for your friend, I had to come myself to warn you children."
"Don't worry. We might not look it but we're a strong team. We're Team Natsu from Fairy Tail," Erza replied proudly while indicting to herself and the males of the group with her thumb. Even Happy was joyful when Erza pointed at him. The little blue exceed loved to be recognized as a team player.
"Oh!" The elderly man was astounded.
"I take it Happy didn't tell you about Fairy Tail," the ice mage said while his dark eyes darted to the flying exceed hovering over Natsu's right shoulder.
Charles shook his head. "He was flying all over the place and asking people if they saw a blond girl enter the forest."
"Don't worry, leave this to us. We'll get rid of this evil and find our friend at the same time." However, it was Erza who took the job. Natsu kept quiet while he watched the exchange.
"Are you okay?" Happy asked him. Apparently, his little friend observed that he wasn't all fired up to take the job.
Natsu bobbed his head and faked his grin. If Lucy was out there somewhere in the forest, it was up to them to find her. That meant they had to take the job. "Let's go."
Erza was the one to lead them Team Natsu on their new mission.
In another colder and darker place, two cloaked figures entered a throne room. On a golden massive chair sat a large cloaked figure.
"Lena, Taro," a masculine voice welcomed the figures.
"Master," Lena replied with adoration in her tone. She bowed low to him. Behind her, Taro followed her gesture.
"I see you both came empty handed," there was a deadly hint of ice in his voice. Anyone would have felt the chills hearing his tone.
"We had no choice," Lena was the one to reply as she and her companion stood up.
"Why is that, my little sweetling." The Master obviously favored her.
"She is with another more powerful person we cannot hope to defeat."
There was a moment of quietness.
"Taro, who?" The question had been diverted to muscled male.
Taro swallowed before answering slowly. "Acnologia."
At the end of the dragon shape shifter's name silence ensued. And then the room sounded with a scream and blood splattered the ground.
The tall figure, Taro, laid limply on the floor. Blood was gushing from a deep wound in his chest.
"Ma-ster," the green haired girl said with uncertainty.
"Do not worry, my sweetling." He beckoned her and she went to him. He removed the hood from her head and gently placed his large hand under her delicate chin. He lifted her head up until her beautiful eyes were looking into his own. "I sent another person to complete the job and before you know it we will have two Magical Sources in our possession."
All Lena could do was shiver at her Master's dark promise.
A/N: I'm so sorry. This chapter is long overdue. You see, I tried my best to write the interaction between Acnologia and Lucy in a plausible way to a point I had a huge writer's block. I don't know if I did a good job -I fee like there are many parts that can still be tweaked but that would take I don't know how much time. You can tell me what you think about this chapter or story overall, or hopefully you will.
Another thing I will like to say is thank you all for your support, especially during the time I wasn't active! Your reviews during my inactive time motived me to update. Reviews are powerful! And I'm proud to say this story has the most reviews, follows and favorites for six chapters, now make that seven, because of your support. Thank you again!
