Tribulation

Chapter Eight: Privation

Breathe.

The thought was the only thing Gray could process as he was being strangled to death. Asphyxiation was definitely not the way he wanted to die. Not to mention the dull pain that he barely felt as the claws pierced the back of his neck.

He fought with all his remaining strength at the grip holding him, the effects of his struggle doing nothing in the slightest. His vision was fading, black clouding the edges as he so desperately pleaded for air.

Breathe! His body shouted, refusing to give in to death. However, every time he attempted to gain oxygen, the grip tightened. Gray didn’t know how he was still conscious enough to be thinking.

He didn’t know if he even wanted to be conscious. All it did was enable him to look helplessly at his assailant, the Etherious that destroyed the memory he had of the pink-haired Dragon Slayer.

Abruptly Gray started gagging on his own blood, unknowing where it came from. He vaguely wondered which would kill him first – oxygen deprivation or being choked by the substance.

Just as he was prepared to accept his fate, knowing that he was basically already dead, and that he failed in his job of destroying E.N.D. – a name ripped through the air with the ferocity of a dragon’s roar.

Gray didn’t comprehend the word, he only knew that it had pained his eardrums despite the numbed effect he felt from dying. E.N.D. had loosened his grip, and Gray greedily gulped a breath of air, the blood sending copper throughout his taste buds. He almost retched in disgust before he was dropped harshly to the floor, freed from death.

He coughed up the rest of the scarlet substance, his neck aching and bleeding as he gasped for more and more of the precious foundation life depended on – oxygen. He didn’t know how long he laid there, bone-tired and broken from his near-death experience before he realized E.N.D. was gone and that he had failed everything he said he stood for.

He also realized that if the blood he was choking meant that his throat was slit- he would have eight second to live.

8

He shifted his body just in time to see Lucy cry out in the pain as the demon raked his claws against her cheek. From this distance Gray saw the Etherious grimace at the action he was causing, which was odd - considering the way he had enjoyed bloodying Gray up – and managed to catch a glimpse of the Book of E.N.D. dropping from the Celestial mage’s hand.

7

Gray refocused on the former Dragon Slayer just as he reached towards the ground to retrieve the object that Gray presumed started this whole mess. All the while E.N.D. dragged his claws downwards towards Lucy’s injured arm, lifting her collapsed form by the limb. She cried out once more in agony and Gray seethed with anger.

6

E.N.D. didn’t grin, but grimaced as he stared at her. Gray was thoroughly confused. Why would this blood-loving, battle-craving demon grimace when he stared at a seemingly helpless opponent?

Gray attempted to pick himself up to go another round with the Etherious, but his body refused his command. His throat burned and stung, not to mention his gasps were still ragged and uneven, feeling as though he couldn’t retrieve enough air.

5

Then, to his utmost shock, Lucy kicked E.N.D. in the face, even as she dangled in his grasp.

E.N.D.’s head whipped upwards with the impact, causing him to take a step back from the force. He otherwise stood there, in what Gray guessed was complete shock, as the demon’s grip must have loosened somewhat, seeming as Lucy wriggled from his grasp in what distraction she had caused.

4

She then followed with another one of her infamous kicks, directly into the Book of E.N.D.

The object flew through the air, suspended as Demon Slayer, Etherious and Celestial mage watched in surprise.

Unsurprisingly, E.N.D. was the first to recover, snarling in displeasure. However, instead of lunging for the Book, as Gray thought he would, he lunged with murder in his eyes towards the defenseless blonde mage.

3

Gray watched as time slowed even further, adrenaline once again giving him strength, the fluid pulsing through his veins with the rage of a storm. He watched as a drip of blood spilled from Lucy’s cheek onto the ground, saw her flinch as she attempted to move away in a motion that jarred her arm. He viewed the way she favoured a single foot and how she instinctively attempted to shield herself with nothing but her whip.

2

Gray was on his feet. He didn’t know when or how it occurred, but suddenly he was dashing towards them both, no plan of attack, no plan of defence, not even prepared for impact. Before he registered it, magic pooled in his hands, and he was holding a bow crafted of his own ice, and a single arrow that radiated power like no other.

1

He didn’t know what he was aiming for. He just knew he was too far, that there wasn’t enough time, and that he prayed as he pulled the string to let the arrow fly. He didn’t know if his aim was true. He didn’t know if he was off by a mile.

Hell, he didn’t even know if he shot.

Because, that very same moment, his strength suddenly vanished, and all that was left of himself was a husk of his former self as he collapsed. The world faded from his fingertips as his vision blurred, head spun and he felt vaguely as if this would be the last time he saw the world. His only regret was that he wasn’t able to fulfill his father’s dying wish, the one thing he had sworn his life on.

He was dead before he hit the ground.

0