Gray pressed one hand against the ice while aiming the other at Silver, using his arm like a cannon barrel.
Ice Devil Slayer Magic shot toward Silver in a violent blast.
BOOM!!!
When the dust cleared, Silver stood there perfectly unharmed, both arms crossed in front of his chest.
"It's true that I can't eat my own Magic. But ice itself has no effect on me. Surely you remember by now, don't you? The terror of me... of Deliora."
Gray's pupils trembled uncontrollably.
This...
This was an opponent he could not beat.
And yet, strangely enough, fear cooled the rage that had been consuming him moments ago.
'Devil Slayer Magic is Magic made specifically to destroy demons... but it has no effect on a demon?'
'Even if Deliora really borrowed Father's body to revive himself, his essence should still be that of a demon, right?'
The more Gray thought about it, the more wrong it felt.
A faint suspicion began to form in his mind.
Was Silver... lying?
Silver slowly walked up to Gray, who had fallen to the ground, and began kicking him over and over. Then he sent Gray flying again with one final kick.
Gray collapsed face-down, his entire body covered in injuries.
"This is the taste of despair. Humans can never defeat demons."
Gray slammed his fist hard against the ice.
"Even so... even so, I have to beat you!"
Dragging his wounded body upright, Gray struggled back to his feet.
A tiny, almost imperceptible smile appeared at the corner of Silver's mouth, then vanished just as quickly.
Most people would not have noticed it.
But Gray had been staring at Silver this whole time, and he was certain of it.
Silver had smiled.
At that moment, Gray suddenly understood something. He had felt from the beginning that something was off.
When he was younger, after he first heard the news that Ur had killed Deliora, Gray had immediately gone to Ur to confirm it.
In the end, Ur and Raizel had explained the whole matter to him.
Now, all those clues flashed through Gray's mind one after another.
'Raizel said it himself. Deliora was defeated by him, Ur, and Gildarts together. But Silver never mentioned Raizel or Gildarts at all...'
'He keeps talking only about Ur. That means the chances of this Silver really being Deliora are very low.'
'But he does know that my parents were killed by Deliora... and he knows about Ur, Lyon, and Ultear too...'
He understood.
But there were still things he had to do.
Gray found a cannonball among the rubble and used Ice-Make to create a Demon King Gauntlet.
The cannonball shot forward at tremendous speed and pierced straight through Silver's chest.
Silver could have dodged it.
But he chose not to.
He spread his arms, a smile on his face, and slowly fell to the ground.
A normal person would have died instantly from a chest wound like that.
But Silver did not bleed, nor did he lose consciousness. He simply lay there, staring blankly up at the sky.
Gray took a deep breath and tried to keep his voice calm.
"You're not Deliora at all. You're my father... aren't you?"
Silver did not answer.
He only said, "Hurry up and finish me off."
"Don't screw with me! You're my father, aren't you?! Why did you appear here? What are you trying to do?!"
Silver gazed at the sky, now dyed red by the setting sun. His eyes were full of sorrow.
"I was waiting for you to appear... waiting for you to kill me. That's right. I was once... your father. But I'm no longer human."
"I'm not a demon either. I'm a dead man. I died more than ten years ago."
"A dead man? Gray-sama's father? How can something like that..." Juvia had also learned this unbelievable truth from Keyes.
Silver spoke as calmly as though he were talking about something completely unrelated to himself.
"Keyes uses a Curse that controls corpses. I was simply picked up by him and used as an experimental corpse."
"Experimental?" Gray froze.
Silver lay on the ground, staring up at the sky as he slowly explained.
"It was an experiment to test how close the dead could come to the living. I was only one corpse among hundreds, but I survived until now."
"No... I suppose it would be more accurate to say I continued moving until now."
"All of it was for revenge against the demons."
"For the hatred of having my family taken from me."
"I hid inside the demons' guild and carefully eliminated demons wherever I could. About Sun Village... I'm sorry. I didn't realize that flame wasn't a demon."
"After weakening the demon forces around me, I originally intended to put my plan to destroy Tartaros into action."
"But then, by accident, I learned that you were alive and well. That was when I realized these hands of mine had become far too filthy."
Silver raised both hands and stared at them with hollow eyes.
"For your sake... and for Mika's... I no longer had the right to keep fighting."
"So I'll leave the rest to you."
"Cut the crap! What do you mean, leave it to me?!"
Silver sat up and looked straight into Gray's eyes.
"It's all right now. I believe it'll be all right. I said such cruel things to you, and even beat you so badly... I'm truly sorry."
Gray clenched his teeth, desperately holding back his tears.
He understood now.
He understood why Silver had pretended to be Deliora.
It was to help him overcome his nightmare.
Even though Gray knew Deliora had died long ago, the demon's shadow had never truly vanished from his heart.
"Don't think about me anymore. I was already dead."
"Even so... you're still my father."
Silver's tears finally broke loose.
"No. No father beats his own child bloody after abandoning him for more than ten years."
Gray walked up to Silver with an ice blade held in reverse grip.
He raised it high—then lowered it gently.
Tears were already streaming down Gray's face.
"I can't do it..."
Gray wiped at his eyes, and the ice blade slowly disappeared.
"Damn it... damn it..."
He covered his face with one hand, his body trembling faintly.
"That, too, is humanity..."
Silver struggled to his feet, reached out, and pulled Gray tightly into his arms.
"My body won't hold out much longer anyway. So let me... let me savor this for just a little while longer."
"You've become a real man, Gray."
"You are our pride."
...
'Can you hear me, young lady?'
'Telepathy?'
Juvia froze for a moment.
Silver's voice came again.
'You're that girl, aren't you? Gray's woman?'
Ultear noticed that Juvia's face instantly turned bright red.
"N-No, how embarrassing... Are you Father-in law?"
'Never mind. There's no time, so I'll get to the point. Hurry and find a way to defeat the skeleton in front of you. Among the Nine Demon Gates, he's one of the weaker ones, but his Curse is Necromancy.'
'But... if we do that, then you'll...'
In truth, both Juvia and Ultear already knew.
Ultear had even been holding back on purpose so Gray could have more time to talk with Silver.
Raizel could have had Mira Take Over Keyes. Mira would still have been able to control Silver, perhaps even give Silver freedom.
But Silver was already dead.
It was better to let him rest.
'So you already know... Even so, you still have to do it. This is for Gray's sake too.'
Gray had overcome his trauma.
He had a good teacher, a family, and a woman who loved him.
It was time for him to look forward.