Chaos & Salamander

Chapter 22 - Book of Imagination

Lucy's POV

Nightmare was standing by the podium, holding the book Raserath in his hands. I took a quick glance around the room and the only ones who were still standing were our allies. "How unfortunate. All of them were useless" Nightmare said with fake disappointment and then let out a sigh. "If you want a job done right then do it yourself" he said to himself before raising his hand with his palm facing up. Dark blue flames of magic radiated off his whole body.

Behind him, a giant blob of black liquid bobbled up behind him like a tsunami. Multiple figures pushed through the black blob and materialised. One of the figures transformed into my father, the Fire Dragon King. Fear surged through my body as I saw a sword plunged into his chest and I collapsed to my knees. "I'm disappointed in you, Lucy. I expected more from you. My last dying memory will be how much of a disappointment my daughter is" he said. Even though I knew it wasn't the real Igneel, fear paralysed my body.

Everyone was paralysed in fear in front of their own fears. I glanced up at Natsu who stood beside me but he looked unaffected as he faced his father, Acnologia. His father was saying awful things to him but Natsu kept a straight face the whole time. He hid Happy behind him to protect him.

As I watched his demeanour, I remembered something Igneel told me when I was little, before he disappeared. "It's ok to be afraid. There's nothing wrong with being scared. It tells you what your weakness is. And once you know what your weakness is, you can become a stronger and kinder person" he said and I felt less scared. "Thanks Dad" I muttered and Natsu looked at me as I stood up on my own two feet. "I will face my fear" I said, more to myself, with determination. Both Natsu and I stood side by side against Nightmare.

"Interesting, my nightmares aren't affecting you two huh?" Nightmare said, not surprised. "Alright then, get a taste of Raserath, the book of imagination!" he added as he opened the book. A golden light emerged from its pages before a rainbow surge of magic energy shot up towards the ceiling, out of the book. From the surge of magic energy, a silver dragon-like claw emerged and stomped the ground in front of Nightmare. A giant silver wyvern had crawled out of the book. It let out an earth-shattering roar, showing off its strength. It was almost twice the size of a normal wyvern, but I'm not surprised since it did come out of Raserath, the book of imagination as Nightmare called it.

I was worried for my friends, Sabertooth and unfortunately Light Jerk too. They were paralysed with fear like how we found Jura earlier and the room looked like it could cave in at any moment from our previous fights. "Happy, get everyone out of here. Natsu and I can handle this" I said. "Aye!" Happy replied with determination and then flew away.

Nightmare climbed onto the back of his creation, with his arm holding the book, and was prepared to attack. "You ready Natsu?" I asked as I rolled my shoulders back and loosened the muscles in my arms. He grunted and then said "don't get in my way Blondie" before charging at the wyvern. I smirked and then charged after him.

The wyvern lifted its claw and tried to stomp Natsu but he jumped out of the way at the very last second. "Fire Dragon Roar!" I chanted and my flames hit the wyvern's stomach. When my flames stopped, the force had pushed the wyvern back, but I didn't see a single burn mark. "What?!" I exclaimed before I ducked a swipe from the wyvern's wing. "The scales are made of steel. Your flames won't do any damage" Nightmare said proudly. This was going to be more of a challenge but with Natsu here, I'm sure together we'll figure out a way.

"I wish Gajeel was here. He could've eaten the scales off that wyvern" I commented before punching the wyvern's face with my Fire Dragon Iron Fist. Natsu growled and then chanted "Chaos Dragon Power of Mayhem!" Throwing a large ball of black flames at the wyvern. With a loud roar, the wyvern flapped its wings and reflected the attack back at him. Natsu jumped out of the way before it hit him. "It can deflect our attacks too?!" I exclaimed. 'How are we going to take this thing down' I wondered.

As I was thinking, the wyvern flapped its wings at me, and the force of the wind sent me flying backwards. "GAAAH!" I screamed in pain as my back crashed into a column before falling to the ground. "Lucy!" Happy exclaimed as he flew to my side. "Are you ok?" he asked worried. I grunted as I raised to my hands and knees. "I'm ok Happy" I replied even though my back was in agony. "Did you get everyone out to safety?" I asked while turning to look at him. "Yeah I did. They're all still paralysed though" he replied. 'So, asking for help is out of the question' I thought and then looked up at Natsu fighting the wyvern. He was attacking and dodging with skill.

'How do we fight a creature that's made to withstand our attacks?' I inwardly questioned as I observed the battle in front of me. Sometimes getting an outside view of a fight can bring a new perspective. With a flap of its wings, the wyvern took flight, but it couldn't fly too high without hitting the ceiling. I noticed cracks in the ceiling above the wyvern and got an idea.

"Happy, when the time comes, I need you to help me" I said to him as I shakily stood up on my own two feet. "What are you going to do?" he asked. "Just trust me" I replied and then ran back into the fight.