FairyTail: Etherious Blood [Book 1/2]

Chapter Thirty-Seven: E.N.D.

     Gray

     Natsu pounced at us, his eyes full of maniac zeal and hunger, as if he was a cougar charging at a helpless fawn. We all jumped away from him and he sailed right past us, but in midair he turned and waved his arm like a swinging sword. Time seemed to slow as a magic circle appeared before his hands and a sly smile creeping up his features.

    "Hell Fire," He said simply.

     A wave of orange, almost red fire, flew from the circle and flew straight at us. My skin felt like it was melting and I screamed in agony as the impact sent me and the others flying. We crashed into the ground and my head met a rock, hard. For a second everything went blank, I didn't know what was happening until seconds later.

     I stood up shakily and Lucy ran over to support me. We stood up and looked at Natsu. He was laughing at us with his giant blood red wings once again out on his back, producing a hellish blaze from it's scales.

    "Natsu! Snap out of it! It's us! Your friends!" Lucy shouted desperately, Natsu just glared down at her in amusement with his dark eyes.

    "Lucy... He can't hear us..." I said as calmly as I could to her, glaring at the demon in front of us but my eyes were locked on the E.N.D. letters branded on Natsu's chest. "He's... possessed by E.N.D."

    "Possessed?" Natsu- no, E.N.D. questioned. "No no no, I am simply reclaiming something that used to be my own."

    "By possessing innocent human bodies?" Erza shouted. "You feind!"

    "HUMAN?" E.N.D. roared with laughter. "All you humans are good for are feeding me with your stupid stories and your delicious disembodied contents. And, for the record, I returned to the body that was once my own."

     Shivers of disgust and shock made it's way down my spine. I growled and looked up at Natsu, who looked back at me in return with a menicing smile and a chuckle escaping his fanged lips. It wasn't that smile I was so used to seeing, it wasn't a laugh I was used to hearing.

    "You eat humans?" Erza gasped.

    "Precisely," Zaura said, "In old folklore about E.N.D. that we were forced to study, we found that E.N.D. was known as the most vile of the demons for his uncanny habit of sadistically killing humans and dismembering their bodies while they're conscious. It was also said that he would devour the bodies because he 'wasn't one for wasting food'."

    "Someone's been doing their homework, huh kitty?" E.N.D. smirked. "But I am also one of manners and would prefer not to talk to my food. Now, it's been centuries since I last ate and I am quite ravenous. Let's save your sorry friendship speeches for dessert, humans!"

     Natsu lunged forward at us, his wings spread out and blazing, the fire growing larger and turning hotter and hotter. It became so bright I couldn't see anything else, I heard the crackling of fire over dead ember, the cackling of our used-to-be ally, but soon heard the words "requip" and "Crash" as someone in heavy defense armor and a cloaked man hopped in front of me, Lucy, and the exceeds.

     There was a huge explosion and me and Lucy were blown off our feet. Guildarts few into the wall and slumped forward with blood trickling down his head, he fell over unconsious. Erza's armor shattered and sent the scarlet-haired woman rolling into a large burnt tree. I looked over. Guildarts was down and struggling to get up, Erza was an unconscious heap and Wendy had been knocked out from Natsu's "Hell Fire" spell.

     Natsu laughed again as me and Lucy managed to stand up. Natsu opened his mouth and uttered an inhuman roar, it blasted my eardrums and the demons around us advanced again. The demons flung themselves at the two other guild teams and the battle once again roared out over the battlefield.