Hello all! I've been busy with work and school, so it took me a little longer to find time to write. Thanks to all of my followers for reading, and to Aquos for yet another review!
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is property of Hiro Mashima. Not me. Not you.
Natsu peered down into the crystal clear depths of the pool, mesmerized by the reason why the other prisoners were too terrified to move. In a response to Natsu's earlier movement, one of the...things...that lived in the pool's depths wandered over near his cage. Its body was very much like that of a large fish, long and sinuous, with dark scales and broad, tattered fins attached at seemingly random points along its body. The body was perhaps twelve feet in length, and it undulated hypnotically, allowing it to glide quickly through the water.
The creature's head, on the other hand, was horrifying. It was decidedly non-fishlike, a bulbous mass of flesh just beneath the surface of the water, contrasting jarringly with its sleek body. The width of the head must have been almost half the length of the tail. It was covered with a haphazard array of bulging, unblinking eyes, each the size of Natsu's thumbnail. Interspersed with the eyes were dozens of some of the most hideous mouths produced by nature: that of a lamprey. They were small, only twice the diameter of the eyes, and looked like tubes edged with tiny saw blades. Some of them had scraps of flesh hanging out of them; Natsu shuddered to think about what they ate.
As the creature drifted closer, Natsu froze instinctively. Despite his love of combat, Natsu was somewhat seasick at the moment, and he would be at a disadvantage in the water. Suddenly, one of the prisoners in another cage sighted the monster and had the opposite reaction to Natsu. The man shrieked and began to thrash around, pleading for help. The commotion drew the creatures in from all around, which then proceeded to slam the man's cage with their heads, which broke into pieces under the impact. Just then, an unseen choir, the one that had woken Natsu up earlier, began to chant.
O elder lord
The time of sacrifice has come
Your acolytes have chosen
A fine wine for you
One of the creatures used its mouths to latch onto the man, who was hysterical at this point, and it dragged him down into the depths. Waiting for him were two figures that Natsu had not noticed earlier. One was a shapeless form, swathed in translucent chains that lead down deeper into the pool. The other was a fishlike man (or possibly a manlike fish) with the head of a gulper eel and a long tail that spiraled around its body. It occurred to Natsu that the chained figure was almost certainly the subject of the prayers. The bulbous-headed creature brought the man, who had fallen limp by now, to the fish man. It let go of its unfortunate captive, revealing a set of raw, circular wounds where it had grabbed him. The fish man drew a jagged dagger and brandished it. As the volume of the choir reached a crescendo, Natsu found himself desperately wanting to look away, yet he was unable. The fish man at the bottom of the pool drew the knife across the poor captive's throat, releasing a red cloud into the water. The chained figure was immersed in this blood, and began to shake rapidly. The sound of rattling chains resounded throughout the entire pool and beyond.
Szago glanced back at Lahar's fleeing form, then at Lucy's prone body. "Crap. Right when it was getting interesting, too," he sighed, putting his foot on top of Lucy's head and pressing downward roughly. "Now what am I going to do?" Szago mused to himself, "I can't kill her. Not yet, she wasn't quite disappointing enough for that. If I wait for her to wake up, her friends might arrive. Torture her? Nah, she might not wake up at all. Unless it's tickle torture, but that's lame. I could kidnap her, like her friend. That's definitely a possibility." He then dropped his spear and reached down, picked her up, and slung her easily over one of his shoulders. Just as he was preparing to leap away into the mist, Szago was hit by a burst of brilliant light. The blow knocked Lucy out of his grasp and into the air. Szago tumbled away, bouncing on the hard cobblestone street.
Loke easily caught Lucy as she fell, and gently lowered her to the ground. "Don't worry, Lucy. I'm here for you. I'll protect you," he whispered to her.
"Great. Another one," Szago growled as he lurched to his feet. "It's like the world's worst cosplay contest out here. First there was that cow furry, then a maid, a horse furry, a sheep furry, and now a...douche bag?"
"I'll make you pay for that comment," Loke said quietly, dangerously.
"Well, you are wearing sunglasses on a cloudy day. Class-A douche behavior right there. Also, whispering in an unconscious girl's ear is seriously creepy," Szago remarked.
"Szago!" Loke roared, "You're one to talk." A golden halo of light began to suffuse his body.
"You know my name? You must've been watching the fight, or, rather, watching her," Szago said, trying and failing to give Loke a grotesque wink. "From a suitably high vantage point, eh?" he added, noting Lucy's usual attire, "Right...Leo? Considering the zodiac theme naming with that hair and your attitude. Douchenozzle."
Despite knowing that he was most certainly being egged on here, Loke put on a burst of speed, rapidly closing the distance between him and his enemy. Just as he reached Szago, Loke let Regulus emit a burst of bright light. Szago, who didn't have eyelids due to his fishlike face, was immediately blinded. As Szago reeled backwards, trying vainly to cover his exposed eyes, Loke let loose a savage flurry of punches. A right jab at Szago's ribcage, followed by a left hook at his massive jaw. One, two, three, four, five punches in rapid succession connected with the fish man's pale belly. As Szago doubled over in pain, Loke brought the fish's head down onto his celestial knee. A vicious uppercut, with additional blast of light for good measure, sent Szago's head snapping backwards. The fish man fell over onto his back, writhing in pain. By pure, random chance, the thrashing Szago's injured tail swept across towards Loke's face. The celestial quickly stepped back to avoid the flailing strike, but the blood pouring from the wound splattered across Loke's glasses. He paused briefly to remove his glasses and wipe the blood from his face.
Szago took advantage of this opening to launch himself over to where his weapon lay, scooping up the spear as he passed. He whirled around to face Loke, wincing as he did so. The hits that he had taken hurt more than he anticipated, and Szago was beginning to tire. His playful mood from earlier was long gone. He needed to end this fight quickly, before the length of the battle took its toll.
Loke loosed another flash of light, intending to follow it up with an attack far more potent than his last. Unfortunately, the mere fact that Szago was holding his weapon gave the fish man a greater advantage than Loke could imagine. With a spin of the spear, Szago caused the mist to thicken immeasurably, blocking Regulus's light and shrinking Loke's line of sight. Loke looked around him, trying to discern what his foe's next move would be. Suddenly, a chill went down Loke's spine. He couldn't see Lucy from here! Predicting that Szago would go for the defenseless woman, Loke rushed off towards the place where he left Lucy. As she entered his field of vision, Loke was relieved to see that she was unharmed. He sped off in Lucy's direction, eager to be at her side. Right into a spear thrust.
My, that was the second chapter to end on a spear thrust. I wonder what Freud would say about that. Anyhow, thanks for reading. Reviews, please!