Quest for the Eighty-Eight Keys

Chapter Ten: Nyx

The river that ran through Blume Town was beautiful, especially when the setting sun reflected onto the water that gently ran past the houses, at least, Nyx thought so. Standing at the window in his and his partners' hotel room dressed in a pair of sweatpants and no shirt, the young celestial wizard crossed his arms over his chest as he stared out at the river.

The silence that had filled the hotel room was broken by Lust's deep voice asking, "aren't you tired of staring at that river?"

Nyx didn't bother to look at him, instead answering, "aren't you tired of wearing colored contacts?"

He heard Lust huff, "goes better with my hair than my actual eye color."

Nyx turned the upper part of his body to look back at his partner, seeing that the blue-haired man was standing in front of a mirror, putting in one of his colored contacts. Nyx scoffed, "no, they don't. You look like a Mary Sue."

Lust shot him a glare as Nyx turned back to the window. He turned his head to look at the silver key on the table beside him. It was Columba's key. They had gotten hold of it the previous day and had yet to decide who would get the key.

Terra had passed up the key, saying that she didn't want it, thus leaving Nyx and Lust to decide who would contract Columba. Nyx didn't understand why Terra never collected Celestial Spirit Gate Keys for herself. As far as he knew, she didn't have any keys of her own. It made him wonder why she even called herself a celestial wizard. Sure, she could use Celestial Spirit Magic, but she never used any keys.

Nyx looked back at the river outside, managing to spot a few fish swimming through the water. He heard the shower in the adjacent bathroom turn off, signaling that Terra was finished with her shower. As the two men waited for their leader to emerge, Lust asked, "how many of those four do you think died?" Nyx shrugged. He didn't want to be reminded of the four young women who they had tortured over the course of a couple of weeks. He was hoping that the other man would take the hint that he wasn't in the mood to talk, but then he remembered that Lust wasn't the sharpest knife in the kitchen. The long-haired man continued, "Terra did a serious number on the queen. I doubt that bitch was alive when those Sabers and Fairies found her." He then chuckled before adding, "I know that the sisters didn't survive."

Nyx didn't respond. Memories of torturing the blonde Fairy flashed through his mind. He grimaced slightly, not liking when he was reminded of how he tortured the poor mage. He wasn't sure if she survived, but he did know that if any of those four had a chance of survival, then it would have been her.

Thinking about the mages who they had tormented made him return to a question that he hadn't been able to answer since he joined up with Terra and Lust. Why were they doing this? He knew why he stayed with Terra and Lust, but he didn't know why they were on a mission to take over the Celestial Spirit World. The plan had come out of nowhere with Terra having told them that she wanted to conquer the Celestial Spirit World and Lust was immediately on board. But, why? Nyx had never heard a reason be given by either of his partners and he hadn't been able to figure it out.

He also couldn't help but marvel at how bad of a job they are doing. They had been on track to completing their goal of collecting all of the Celestial Spirit Gate Keys so that they could take over the Celestial Spirit World, but they were quickly pushed far backward when Fairy Tail, Sabertooth, and Crime Sorciere sent mages to save their friends. Terra had managed to grab the keys that were taken from the captured celestial wizards, however, she soon lost them when one of the S-Class mages from Fairy Tail caught up with the three of them. Terra, Lust, and Nyx had managed to get away, but they lost the keys to the take-over mage in the process of escaping.

Nyx gave a silent sigh. It was pointless. He highly doubted that they would be able to succeed now. If you asked him, Nyx thought that it would be best if they gave up now. He knew that Terra and Lust wouldn't listen to any argument that he had, but he found it hard to believe that neither of them was able to see that their goal was unreachable now.

He turned his head when he heard the bathroom door open. Steam flowed out of the open doorway as Terra walked out, dressed in her usual clothing of a cropped tube top and baggy pants. He watched as the pink-haired woman sat on of the beds and question her two right-hand men, "which of you found out if there was a magic shop here?"

Lust pointed at Nyx as he brushed his long, blue hair and Nyx turned his whole body to face her, answering, "there is one. It's a few blocks north and pretty big. I'd say that it'll have at least one key."

Terra nodded as Lust spoke, still staring into the mirror, "hey, Nyx, I'll let you have Columba if you'll get me any keys that the magic shop has."

Nyx looked at the older man and responded with a furrowed brow, "why? Can't you go look for some keys on your own? If you want them, then go get them yourself."

Lust chuckled before he answered, "because that's why we brought you along with us." He then turned to look at Nyx and added with a sickly sweet smile, "we didn't have to take pity on you. We could have left you behind."

Nyx scoffed and opened his mouth to retort when he was interrupted by Terra, "go, Nyx."

The younger man glared at Terra, weighing his chances of escaping with little injuries if he refused. Deciding that he didn't want to fight with her, he grabbed Columba's key and made his way over to the hotel room door. As he passed Lust, he heard the older man mutter, "good boy, William." Hearing that name, Nyx turned on his heel and punched Lust in the jaw, sending him sprawling across the floor. He then turned back around and headed out of the door, making his way to the magic shop.

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I just wanted to write a quick chapter about Nyx before the following chapter. I hope that you enjoyed this short update.