Chaos & Salamander

Chapter 72 - Saving Celestia

Natsu's POV

I had a feeling I was getting close to finding Lucy and Celestia. I've been following the dragon charm through a dense forest and the charm had begun to glow very brightly, meaning I was close. As I was following the charm, I felt the ground rumbling and stopped walking any further. The charm shined brightly before flying into my hand. This means she's here.

A second later, a huge dragon burst out of the ground in front of me. At least I thought it was a dragon. I noticed it was a diamond dragon but it wasn't a real dragon. Just another one of Nobu's monster creations but this one was different because Lucy was trapped in a bubble attached to its chest. I growled angrily at the state she was in. She looked drained of energy and her skin was paler than her usual glow.

When our eyes met, she weakly spoke two words "save...Celestia" and then the dragon took off into the air. They must be using Celestia against her. That was just like her, caring for others before herself. As much as I want to run after her, I respected her wishes and decided to save Celestia first. I could smell Celestia's scent coming from the hole. I was about to jump down when a giant water snake, with Nobu and Nightmare riding its back, burst out of the hole. They didn't notice my presence as they followed after Lucy and the dragon.

If Nobu and Nightmare are following Lucy, then I can bet Kumi and Zard are down there guarding Celestia. Without hesitation, I jumped down the hole and used my magic to slow down my landing. In front of me, Kumi and Zard were about to exit the huge cavern into a narrow tunnel with Celestia tied up in Kumi arms. They spotted me and tensed up into a fighting stance. "Natsu!" Celestia cheered. I channelled my inner rage. They kidnapped my mate and her exceed, and they are hurting her.

"Earth Tsunami" Kumi chanted as she stomped her foot. The earth beneath us bend and waved towards me. I leapt over each wave and landed a Chaos Dragon Iron Fist across her face. I quickly caught Celestia as Kumi collapsed unconscious. "Kumi!" Zard exclaimed and turned angrily towards me. A large wave of clouds burst from his body engulfing the entire cavern. I was completely blind but I relied on my other scents. Smell wasn't my best option because his scent was everywhere but I could hear his body shuffling around. I focused on the sound of his feet and anticipated where he was going to attack from.

I didn't have to wait long because he tried to attack me in the most predictable spot, from behind. Before he tried to land a hit on me, I sent a hard backward kick to his stomach. He grunted from the impact and fell a few metres away from me. The clouds surrounding us dispersed making the area clear. "How?" Zard questioned, sitting up and holding his stomach. I stomped towards him and punched him in the face. He fell back unconscious.

With both Kumi and Zard down, I untied Celestia and looked up at the hole above us. I'll need an exceed to fly back up but unfortunately I didn't bring Happy. "Are you hurt? Can you fly?" I asked Celestia. "Yeah, they didn't hurt me or anything" she replied as she summoned her wings. She grabbed a hold of the back of my cloak, and flew us out of the hole and above the trees. In the distance, we spotted the dragon that Lucy was trapped in and the water snake attacking a city. "Go that way" I pointed to the city and Celestia flew us in that direction. We're coming Lucy.