The Demon's Concubine

Chapter 24

"They have another palace?" Natsu gaped at his father, not even he had more than one castle and a palace.

"Well, it's more of an estate. It isn't as large as his first two buildings, but you won't miss it once you see it."

Natsu nodded, he probably should've expected this. He'd met with Igneel, Zeref and Mavis to talk about their next plan, and he realized that he had been a bit too optimistic before.

Lucy destroying Jude's second base was a huge help, the angel's immediately retreated and they had a full day of no attacks. At first Natsu had been expecting them to just come at Tartaros, but it seems as though Jude was more concerned with finding a place to stay and handle weaponry.

It was a good idea to destroy their palace, too, but he was glad it was only Lucy who did it, it would've been too obvious and easy to prevent if all their forces were aiming for their base. He was impressed with how right she'd been, too, not a single angel or celestial soldier did any harm to her in an attempt to stop her.

When the angels didn't proceed to charge towards Tartaros, Natsu had been hopeful that it meant they'd be close to surrendering, but Igneel told him otherwise. 

"How much longer do you think they could hold out with just this estate?" He asked Mavis, the strategist already running through several probabilities. 

"If their supply is as limited as I'm thinking, they could fight at full force for about 2 weeks, and there's not many probabilities where they don't choose to attack Tartaros directly." Natsu looked down in thought. Jude should be smart enough to know that he didn't have a chance to overpower the demon forces, but the man was stubborn, so he may not let up just to make their lives harder.

"Well, Jude is actually a bit pacifist now. He wants to meet with you, Natsu, to discuss things 'peacefully.' Though, I'm simply relaying what Anna told me, so take it with a grain of salt."

There was a moment of silence, everyone gaping at the fire dragon king. 

"He wants to do what now?" That's definitely not what he'd expected to hear.

"It's definitely a trap." Zeref spoke, not even humouring the idea for a minute. Classic Zeref, always quick to make up his mind.

"Well, I'd say it's about a 50/50 chance it's not a trap, but still…" Mavis trailed off, seeming to be running different variables in her mind.

"Why would he want to talk to me? Lucy already tried that, and you saw how bad that went. Why would talking with me be any different? If he thinks I'm just gonna go up there so he can try to convince me to give Lucy up, then he's got another thing comin'." Natsu was a bit annoyed, just who does Jude think he is? He starts losing the war and now wants to try talking things out? Yeah right, he better face the consequences of his actions. 

"I think he wants to form some type of compromise. Anna said she'd spoken to him herself, she says to be hopeful. I don't know about you, but I trust her at least. I don't think Anna would purposefully put you or Lucy in any harm."

Natsu thought for a moment. Anna was close with Igneel a while back, and she'd been his own teacher and even friends with Zeref. She was sworn to loyalty over the angels, but it was unlikely that she'd betray him or her own niece like this. 

"Alright, I'll talk with him."

"It's definitely a trap, Natsu. Regardless if it's Anna's intention or not, Jude has an ulterior motive for asking you to talk with him." He couldn't argue with Zeref on that, it was very suspicious. What kind of compromise could they possibly come up with, anyway?