Gray forced down the emotions surging inside him and deliberately slowed the pace of the battle, suppressing the demonization spreading through his body.
"My magic is Ice Devil Slayer Magic," Silver said, his eyes complicated despite the teasing tone in his voice.
"If you accept my power, you might really be able to wipe out demons, you know~"
"I can destroy demons without that magic!"
Gray steadied his ragged breathing, his voice firm. "I'd rather die than use an enemy's power!"
In his mind, the image of his ruined hometown kept flashing again and again, along with the memory of Ur giving her life to protect him.
And at the center of it all was the true culprit.
Deliora.
Demons were Gray's mortal enemies.
Even now, just thinking about demons sent a chill crawling through his body.
The fear left behind from his childhood still stirred deep inside him.
The trauma Erza had carried from the Tower of Heaven had already been soothed, but the vast shadow demons had cast over Gray's childhood had never truly disappeared.
Silver stared blankly at Gray and murmured under his breath, "That's exactly why… you're the one most suited for this power…"
Gray and Silver's battle dragged on, with neither side gaining a clear advantage.
...
Meanwhile, the strongest pair that had pushed into the palace had already come face-to-face with the source of this disaster.
Erza quickly swallowed the pill Ankh had given her earlier and stood ready, staring at Seilah as the demon blocked their path.
Mirajane had already taken on her Satan Soul form.
Her beautiful face, now sharpened with a dangerous, predatory edge, faced Seilah directly as she attacked without hesitation.
Seilah let out a soft sigh and set down the book in her hand.
Dark blue energy surged out from her body, corroding everything around her.
Mirajane's destructive beam and Erza's blade were both stopped short. At the same time, Seilah's appearance began to twist.
Her fair skin gradually turned dry and black.
Her ears grew sharp, her entire body enlarged several times over, and all kinds of eerie Curse markings surfaced across her flesh.
"So this is a demon's true form…"
Erza stared as Seilah transformed from a cool, beautiful woman into a terrifying, monstrous figure.
A chill rose in her heart despite herself.
For a human, that appearance was far too disturbing to look at directly.
The next moment, Erza's vision blurred.
Seilah had already closed the distance.
Erza's heart tightened. Battle-hardened instinct made her raise her sword to defend before she even had time to think, but the force behind Seilah's blow hit like a speeding truck and slammed straight through her guard.
"Guh…"
Erza let out a muffled groan.
Her feet carved two long trenches through the ground before she finally stopped, her hands tingling from the impact.
After turning into her demon form, Seilah stopped relying on her strange Curse and instead used raw Curse Power to crush her enemies head-on.
As one of the Nine Demon Gates, and the demon most trusted by the top officer Kyoka, Seilah's strength was beyond question.
Against either Mirajane or Erza alone, she would not fall behind at all.
Satan Soul Mirajane rushed in to support Erza, dark Magic Power wrapping around her wild attacks.
She and Seilah clashed like two prehistoric beasts tearing at each other, their battle so savage that no one else could easily approach.
Seeing this, Erza immediately Requipped into her Armadura Fairy Armor.
Aside from her Fairy Armor and Bridal Gown, this was one of her strongest sets.
At the same time, Mirajane transformed into Demon Soul: Sitri, also one of her strongest Satan Soul forms.
Like that, Erza swung her spear, ancient and pure Magic Power surging like a tidal wave, while Mirajane called forth eerie ghostly flames that burned freely across Seilah's body.
For a while, Seilah was forced back again and again.
Left with no choice, she used her Macro Curse to forcibly release more of her own strength, only then managing to continue resisting the two of them.
But from the way things looked, if the battle dragged on, Fairy Tail's two strongest female mages would soon take down this wicked demon.
All three Tartaros officers had been stopped by Fairy Tail's members, and the situation in the city was gradually coming under control.
Deep inside the palace, Ankh cut through every soldier that blocked his path and finally reached the room where King Cream had kept his treasure.
The moment he entered the hall, a harsh, foul stench flooded his nose.
Ankh looked across the massive chamber.
In the center stood a monster with ugly skeletal wings, a bloated body covered in a hard gray carapace, and a head that looked like a lump of twisted nonsense.
It looked like a child's failed attempt at sculpting with clay.
You could just barely see the shape of a Phoenix in it, but it was so warped and grotesque that it felt more like some unspeakable, Cthulhu-like abomination.
When the monster turned its disgusting, featureless face toward him, the killing intent in Ankh's eyes grew even clearer.
Its mouth was smeared with blood. Bits of flesh and half-chewed bone clung to it, while severed limbs and broken remains lay scattered throughout the hall.
"A monster like you thinks it deserves to be called a Phoenix?"
Ankh's cold voice rang through the palace.
A crystal ball suddenly appeared in his hand, then shifted into the shape of a katana.
The moment Ankh gripped the blade, his body shot forward like a streak of black light.
Dense death aura erupted around him, and a sweeping blaze burst from the sword.
"Rooaar!"
The "Phoenix" that Tartaros had created from half of the Phoenix Stone seemed to possess intelligence as well.
It roared angrily at Ankh and slammed its enormous palm down without hesitation.
Blade light and flame erupted through the palace.
The once-glorious hall collapsed with a thunderous crash. The Phoenix let out a pained cry as its body was cut cleanly in two, blood spraying wildly from both halves.
But it did not take long for the two severed pieces to start wriggling like mud. Slowly, they reshaped themselves into two separate "Phoenixes."
"What a disgusting thing…"
Ankh muttered in revulsion.
From this creature called a Phoenix, he smelled something deeply unpleasant, like the rotten stench of something half-dead and unable to finish dying.
"Wait! Fairy Reaper, be careful! You're supposed to save me! Don't drag me into this!"
Just as Ankh shifted the weapon in his hand into a spear and prepared to strike the two creatures again with the divine power of death, an unbearably shrill voice started screaming at him.
Ankh looked over coldly and saw Cream crying in utter despair, snot and tears streaming down his face as one of the Phoenixes held him in its hand.
The Phoenix seemed to understand what it was doing.
It mockingly held the tiny Cream in front of itself like a shield, frightening the king so badly that he wet himself on the spot and wailed even louder.
Save you?
Was he joking?
This entire mess was the sin of his family and his own greed. And now he still expected Ankh to save him?
"You're the one holding him. Why are you telling me to stop?"
Looking at the smug mockery on the Phoenix's twisted face, Ankh did not hesitate.
He thrust the death-wrapped spear in his hand straight forward.
Cream and the Phoenix were skewered together, the bodies of both beasts pierced through in an instant.