A Devil's Heart

The Strongest Guild

"Are we even sure we're in the right place?" Natsu grumbled. "We've been wandering around this forest for hours! Where is this stupid monster!?"

The request they accepted asked for a monster that was wreaking havoc in a town far away to be taken care of. Apparently, the locals even claimed it talked. This only excited Natsu when he saw the job poster in the guild, but he forgot to bring the map that was attached to the flier in his excitement. Now, they were wandering helplessly in some thick forest.

"Did you even bring the map, Natsu?" Happy asked.

"What map?" Natsu asked confusedly.

All Happy could do was sigh and shake his head. "Idiot-Natsu strikes again..."

"Hey! Who're you calling an idiot!?" Natsu demanded.

ROOOOOOOOAR!

"Eep!" Happy whimpered.

"That sounded awfully close..." Natsu mumbled. He then smashed his fist together and flames began to gather around him. "Now I'm all fired up!"

"Natsu! Wait!" Happy wailed as the fire dragonslayer suddenly sped off towards the noise.

Thanks to Natsu's enhanced sense of hearing, he was able to narrow down the location of the monster. The more he ran, the more he was able to smell the monster. It smelled terrible, but there was another scent that only motivated him further. The smell of blood was mixed in.

"SPARDA! I KNOW YOU'RE HERE!"

"Holy crap, it really can speak!" Natsu said. "Now this is starting to get interesting!"

Natsu burst out into a clearing to finally confront the monster. And when he saw his foe, his jaw nearly dropped.

The beast was massive, standing on two feet that resembled the feet of a chicken. Its skin was an ugly gray and its massive head had a single broken horn jutting out from the top of its skull. It seemed to be missing one eye, as its other one was gone with a scar coming down the opening. What made this monster even weirder was the fact that it had two pairs of small wings that protruded from its back.

"Hey, you monster!" Natsu yelled.

The creature stopped its ensuing rampage and glared hatefully at Natsu. "A human? Such a wretched scent! You are not worthy as my opponent! Begone if you want your life to be spared!

"Ha! Not worthy, eh?" Natsu laughed. His right fist lit on fire and the dragonslayer leaped towards the monster. "We'll see about that! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

Natsu punched the monster's chest with his enhanced punch, slamming the monster back several feet. But all that was left was a slight scorch mark on its chest. It let out a low grumble and its one eye lit up in anger.

"You dare raise a hand against a demon? I'll make sure your death is as painful as possible!"

"Tch. He's not even fazed!?" Natsu grumbled. "I need more firepower then. Fire Dragon Roar!"

Natu's stomach expanded briefly before he opened his mouth and released a stream of fire. It washed over the demon and lit the surrounding forest around him on fire.

"Whoops!" Natsu sheepishly mumbled as he watched the vegetation around him go up in flames. "The Master's gonna kill me..."

"Such lukewarm flames. Now you will die for invoking the wrath of Beowulf!"

"What!?" Natsu exclaimed in surprise. Beowulf charged out of the flames and swung an arm at Natus. The dragonslayer saw the attack coming and put his arms up to defend himself, but found himself being knocked back several feet when the monster made contact. His back slammed against a tree and blood flew out of his mouth.