Chapter 107

Father's Wish

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Magic"

Flashback

Location / Date / Time Skip

Silver laid on the ground, looking up at the setting sky. "Land… the last blow." He requested.

"Don't bullshit me!" Gray shouted back. "You're my father, aren't you!? What are you doing here!?"

Silver chuckled as Gray panted in exhaustion. "I was waiting… for you to kill me…" He confessed, shocking Gray. "I was… your father. But now… I'm not human anymore… I'm not even a demon. I'm just dead. I died 17 years ago. Necromancer… It's a curse that controls corpses… I was a corpse he collected for his experiments."

"Experiments?" Gray questioned.

"He was experimenting to see how much he could make a corpse behave like living humans." The corpse explained. "I was just one of hundreds of corpses. But I lived for so long… just to take revenge on the demon that took my family. I stayed in a demon's guild, but I killed demons whenever I could.

"I was planning to weaken the other demons to carry out my plan on destroying Tartaros. But then, I found out you were alive. And I realized my hands were too dirty to fight for you or Mika…"

"Is that why you want to die?" Gray questioned.

"I'm already dead." Silver reminded, pushing himself up. "I want to end, leaving everything to you. You can handle yourself. Forget about me, I'm just a dead man in the end."

"But you're still my father." Gray pointed out.

"No. No father would ever hit his son." The corpse declared. "Just… kill me."

"You want relief?" The wizard questioned, summoning an ice sword as he walked forward.

"Please, let me be with your mother." Silver requested.

Gray reached him and swung his sword, only to stab into the ground. "I can't do it…" He blubbered out, tears pouring from his face. "You're my guild's enemy, and you've done horrible things, but you're still my father!"

Silver smiled before the two embraced in a hug. "Either way, my body is't going to last much longer… You've become a good man, Gray. We're so proud of you."

With Juvia

"The false story ends and the real one begins." Keyes chuckled.

"Gray's father is dead!?" Juvia shouted "That's just- What are you!?"

'Can you hear me, girl?' A voice echoed in her head, the telepathy shocking her a little. 'Are you… Gray's woman?' Her face turned beet red. 'Either way, I need to tell you something. Defeat Keyes, the skull in front of you. He's not as strong as the other Demon Gates. But he is the necromancer controlling the president to activate the 3000 Face Bombs.'

'3000 bombs?' Juvia repeated.

'If you beat him, the president won't be able to move and you'll stop Face.' Silver explained.

'B-but if I do that, you'll also…'

'Oh, so you do know…' Silver chuckled. 'You have to do it, for Gray's sake.'

Natsu punched Tempester in the face, only for a torrent of wind to blast him back. "I'm getting real sick of this weather crap!" He growled.

"I never imagined I would find a human like you." Torafuzar confessed to Gajeel. "Your tenacity is almost impressive."

"And I never imagined I'd find a talking fish stick either, but here we are." He chuckled back.

"I've never seen Natsu and Gajeel struggle in a fight before." Lucy mumbled before turning to the side. "Even Juvia…"

The water user was slashed back by the staff as Keyes pointed it forward. A blast of darkness shot forward and barely missed her as a volley forced her to dodge. "I foresaw this entire tale from the start, even Silver's mutiny. Anyone could have seen it once he mastered Demon Slayer magic. He wanted revenge on us, but I relished it. I wanted that fire to keep burning, that fury ensuring my best experiment kept going for years!"

"You're playing with people's lives!" Juvia growled in anger.

"A dead father and a living son will kill each other. It's my masterpiece, more than worth every drop of blood shed." He chuckled.

"Human beings are not your puppets!" She snapped back.

"Not even puppets. Just test subjects." Keyes declared.

Boiling water swirled around her hand as she glared in anger. "You're disgusting. I won't let you continue!" She swung her hand and slashed the water, only for it to miss completely.

"You won't have a choice." He chuckled as he swirled around her. "Once you're dead, I'll turn you into my next puppet and kill your friends." Tendrils solidified and wrapped around Juvia as he reformed. "Go ahead. Kill me. But the second I die, so to does Silver."

"Juvia!" Lucy was suddenly slammed to the ground as bony hands grabbed her. "Where'd they come from?"

"Strike me down! Do it!" Keyes was almost daring his captive to attack, knowing that she wouldn't. "Human ego and emotions are your greatest weakness. You refuse to do what is logical, yet call me disgusting." The tendrils tightened and turned into a ball, before exploding, leaving only her hat to fall to the ground. "How predicable.

Keyes chuckled at his victory before his body started bulging. "What… what is this!?"

"I meant it." Juvia declared from inside the demon. "You can't toy with human lives!" The demon exploded outwards and crumbled to dust as Juvia reformed, tears falling her eyes. The hands holding Lucy faded away as the demons looked on in shock.

'Thank you.' Silver said telepathically. 'I can finally move on from this life. This means more to me than you could ever understand. I have one final request for you. Take care of my boy for me. He'll need you.'

"Keyes… was defeated!?" Torafuzor questioned in horror. Juvia coughed up a black mass and fell over, scaring her friends. Lucy rushed over as Torafuzor gained a small smirk. "It was obvious she wasn't going to come out unhurt after being in his body."

"Bane particles…" Tempester mumbled.

"Juvia! Pull yourself together!" Lucy barked as she held the water wizard.

"I want… to see Gray…" She begged as tears left her face.

"You'll see him, very soon." The blonde declared with a smile.

With Gray

Gray watched as his father faded away, tears falling from his eyes. "Rest well, dad." He mumbled. "I'll finish your story."

'This power is now yours to use.' Silver echoed in his head. 'I mastered Ice Devil Slayer magic for one reason. I knew that's what it would take to kill E.N.D.'

"Don't worry…" Gray clenched his fist as black tattoo appeared on his arm. "I'll kill E.N.D. for the both of us."

With Sting & Rogue

The Twin Dragons each threw a punch and hit Mard Geer, who slid back with a smirk. "It certainly looks like you weren't all talk when you said you had Dragon Slayer Magic…"

"I'll be taking M'lady back to our guild!" Sting shouted.

"And for that to happen, you're going down!" Rogue added.

"You know, for a pair of humans, you're the first to be able to stand against me for this long." Mard Geer confessed. "So I do understand how'd you get so full of yourself."

With Erza's Group

The women marched onward as Minerva squeezed the mushroom. "Are you sure it's this way?" Erza questioned.

"Of-of course!" He snapped back.

"I wonder if Sting and Rogue are okay…" Minerva mumbled.

"Believe in them." Erza promised. "That's all we can do for now. We've got bigger things to worry about right now."

"She worries for her friends…" Pantherlily mumbled among the Exceeds. "Regardless of everything they did during the Grand Magic Games, they might actually be good people."

"Just goes to show you shouldn't judge people right away." Lector chuckled. "You know, M'lady is actually a really good cook."

"Wait, really?" Happy asked. "You can cook?"

"Get moving or we'll be leaving you behind." Erza snapped, anger in the red heads eyes.

"Yes, ma'am." The four cats nodded.

With Natsu's Group

The two demons stared down at the standing humans. "We gotta take care of these guys fast…" Natsu mumbled, making Gajeel nod.

"I'm bored." Tempester declared.

"Indeed." Torafuzar added. "It's time we acknowledge them. Not as humans, but as Dragon Slayers." The two started glowing as their bodies transformed. "So unless the Etherious' real power is released we cannot destroy them."

"Then let's get serious!" Tempester shouted.

The two dragon slayers smirked as Natsu's body started to glowed. "Well, we're gonna…"

"Get serious too." Gajeel finished, shadows swirling around him.

"Lightning Fire Dragon Mode!"/"Iron Shadow Dragon Mode!" The two declared as the demons finished their transformation.

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"Hold on, since when could you do that!?" Natsu questioned.

"Since I ate Rogue's shadow back at the games." Gajeel chuckled. "Now I'm stronger than you and your girl."

"Bullshit!" Natsu shouted. "Me and Laki are way stronger than you!"

"Prove it! First one to take out their enemy is the winner!" Gajeel challenged. The two glared at each other before they charged their respective enemy.

Both of their punches landed as they unleashed a barrage of fists. "What is wrong with these two!?" Torafuzar questioned. "Are they human? Or more demonic?" The two humans roared and threw their fists, and somehow punched each other.

"The hell was that for!?" Gajeel growled in anger.

"That's for making fun of Laki!" Natsu snarled back.

"Is this really the time for this!?" Lucy shouted.

"Your time is up." Torafuzar declared as he stood back up. "Now you'll both lose. And meet your demise in the depths of the underworld. Dark Deluge!" Black tinted water swept through the rubble and filled whatever it could, dragging the humans along with it.

'Did shark face make a whole ocean?' Gajeel questioned as he floated in the void. 'We gotta find air, quick.' Torafuzar slammed into the Dragon Slayers and sent them flying back. Natsu swung his arms, but not even a spark came out. The demon kicked the two away as Gajeel glanced down. 'Why is that one just watching? Something's wrong here…'

"Salamander! You can't fight in this stuff! Just take the girls and go!" Natsu was floating about unconscious as were the girls, scaring him

"That's what happens when you swallow this water." Torafuzar explained. "It's lethal to humans. They'll be dead in five minutes, maybe even less since you need air."

Gajeel bolted his mouth shut and dived at the demon. 'If I take him out, the water goes too.' His punch missed as Torafuzar swum aside and raised his own fist.

"I've submerged the entire floor. You have no chance of victory, human. Deep Impact!" His fist glowed for a second before he slammed it down and punched Gajeel to the bottom. "Impressive…" The demon confessed. "Most humans don't survive the impact, let alone stand back up. But it shall avail you not. Prepare to be lost in the pitch black sea!"

'I'm faster than this guy…' Gajeel instantly turned into a shadow and zoomed behind him, transforming his arm. 'Iron Dragon Sword!' He hit his mark and started slashing his sword arm wildly. Torafuzar merely turned and punched him in the gut before another fist his face, cracking the bolts. 'He's… too strong…'

"This is the power of Tartaros!" He shouted as double axehandle caused Gajeel to sank down.

'If I could… just breath…' The Dragon Slayer said as his eyes started to fade into darkness. Levy found him and quickly pushed her breath into his mouth. 'I'm breathing…' He snapped his eyes open and found the book worm sinking.

"I'll tech you to meddle in my fights!" Torafuzar declared as he dived at Levy.

Instantly, Gajeel was behind him and slammed his arm into his neck. "Back off!" He roared, holding the girl in his arm.

Yeah, this was an incredibly emotional chapter for Gray and Juvia, and part of the reason why I love her. As for the rest of it, goddamn was this fight fun. I always respected sharks even before this show, but now? Now I know to fear talking murderous anime demon sharks.

If you're wondering why this chapter seems short, again, following the source material. If it's an embellishment from the show, I'm not putting it in. They usually don't add anything to it anyway. See ya next time.

Beta read by General Feng Xiang