"At some point,
you have to realize that some people can stay in your heart but not in your life."
-Unknown
"Demon slayer magic?" Asami repeated, after hearing Keys explain the type of magic that Silver possessed and how his match with Gray was going to be one sided. That's the name of the magic that was used to freeze the Village of the Sun.
Keyes chuckled, "Yes. An ironic skill to possess in an ally. He became one of the demon gates at the behest of the Underworld King in recognition of his might."
She dodged his curse attack and questioned him, "If he really does possess demon slayer magic, then why is he on Tartaros' side?" It made no sense that a demon slayer would work with a bunch of demons unless they were planning on betraying them.
"Perhaps our powers changed his mind? Or perhaps he plots against us from within? Regardless, I'm certain my king has his reasons for recruiting such a man."
Asami kept a stoic look on her face, trying to not let Keyes words affect her. That man had still taken her husband away from them to who knows where. And it worried her even more if Silver was really against them. She had to believe that her husband could handle his own against the ice demon slayer. And if that man had any connection to Gray, she hoped that there were was no i'll intent on his behalf.
"I have a question for you, water dragon slayer." Keyes said as he sent another curse attack at her using his magical barrier particles. "What is that you feel most? Losing the one you love surely. But what would hurt worse? To slowly earn his hatred or find yourself hurt to his indifference? Perhaps the least painful way to lose him would be through death."
"Shut up!" She snapped, her blue hardening, not letting Keyes taunting affect her. "Your words have no effect on me."
"Is that a fact?" He mused.
"Gray and I have been together for years! What he and I feel for each other is far from hatred! In fact, we're even married." She said, giving him a slight smug look. She didn't get why he talking about the possibility of Gray hating her."So you might as well save your breath."
"You're unaffected." He said, a smirk on his lips. "My, what a pleasant surprise." He attacked her once more and she tried blocking it. "I see it clearly. Soon enough your beloved will choose to make the same sacrifice that his master did."
Sacrifice? Is he referring to- Her blue eyes widened and clenched her fist. No! He wouldn't. He made me a promise that he wouldn't use that spell. She placed a hand over her heart as she tightened it into a fist. Please, Gray. Don't use iced shell.
But Keyes kept on talking and revealed to her who exactly Silver was to Gray.
❄💧❄💧
Silver held a smug look on his face as he approached Gray who lied on the ground struggling to get back up. "That putrid taste in your mouth? They call that despair. I'm the wolf and you're the lamb! Now you never had a chance boy!"
Gray slammed a fist on the ground in anger, "A chance or no. I will win! Cuz I have to! You're never gonna get near my friends!" He struggled to stand up but did it, feeling determined to win this fight.
"The human hearts a stupid thing. It hopes without reason. Ice can't hurt me. And everything here is covered in it." Silver said, a smug look on his face. "That means you lose."
"Not yet. There's still one spell that I can stop you with." Gray got into a familiar stance and crossed his arms. Silver's breath caught in his throat seeing the stance the younger ice wizard was in. "You might remember this one!"
"You're obviously bluffing! I've already proven that Ice attacks can't hurt me!" Silver said, his eyes widen slightly. "Are you gonna throw away your life to prove me right?! You really won't stand a chance when you're dead!" The look in Gray's eyes didn't waver. "Why would you go through with this!? We both know that it won't work!"
"What makes you so sure?! Think back! This spell made a statue of you, didn't it!?"
"That was then! Before I learned to wield ice demon slayer magic!It's different now!"
"You may be right but if you're so sure then why do you look so scared?!" He questioned, seeing the panicked look in Silver's eyes.
"You aren't really going to do this. You wouldn't dare. You'll die!" Silver exclaimed, trying to sound not worried about the possibility of his own son dying.
"There's no question! I'll do anything to stop you!" Gray snapped harshly, not wavering in his stance.
"NO! DON'T DO IT!" Silver swiped his hand freezing Gray's entire body to keep him from completing the spell. He stiffened hearing Gray's voice from behind him.
"You killed my family."
Silver turned around away from the Gray ice clone that broke apart. "An illusion?"
"And then you killed my master too!"
"No wait!"
If I didn't let you do it before, then what makes you think that I'd let you do it now? I'm not going to let you go out like that! Natsu words echoed through Gray's mind.
Flashes of everyone of his friends came to mind to all the adventures they had. The time when he and Asami both found Haru. The sacrifice Ur made to save him when he was a kid. And the most recent sacrifice that Ultear made, that ended up bringing him back to life after their fight with the dragons.
Gray's eyes softened when Asami's face flooded his thoughts. I love you, Gray.
"I'm sorry." He muttered softly and his eyes hardened once again. His whole body started to glow. "ICED SHELL!" Silver let out a pained noise. "NOW FREEZE!"
"Ice has no affect on me! I will never freeze again!" Silver swiped the spell away and Gray stiffened when his spell didn't work. "You just gave your life away!You're iced shell has failed!"
I'm sorry. Gray got behind him. I came close to forgetting about the people in my life.
"What? They were both illusions?"
I refuse to die and my friends would get way to sappy if I did. And then there's... His mind flickered to his wife who he promised he would never perform the iced shell. He grabbed the bomb.
"That cannon ball? Where the hell did you get it?" Silver snapped when he saw the object in his son's hand.
"I melted the ice around it." Gray said. "Just like in the Village of the Sun."
The older man turned to see the box of cannonballs. It wasn't the dragon slayer it was you!
"Ice make:Vambrace!" A large gauntlet-like sculpture made of ice around his arm using it to enhance the speed and power in his throw as he launched the cannon ball right throw SIlver's chest.
Silver fell to the ground, defeated. "Knew you had it in you." He whispered proudly.
"Damn it."Gray breathed out harshly despite the way his eyes got misty. "Did you think that I wouldn't realize? Just how stupid do you think I am?" Silver said nothing knowing he was caught. "Damn it! Why?! Y-You lied to me! You aren't Deliora! You're my dad! I know you are!"
❄💧❄💧
"Hey girl? Can you hear me?"
Asami stiffened at the familiar male voice echoing through her head. "Is this... Gray's father?"
"Yeah. Just making sure... But you're Gray's girlfriend right?"
She blinked. "A-Actually, we're married so..." She trailed, a faint blush on her cheeks, feeling a bit flustered.
"Listen, we don't have a whole lot of time here so let me get to the point." He said. "That decrepit old skeleton you're fighting right now, that's Keyes. He's the weakest of the demon gates. You got to find a way to beat him. He's a necromancer." Asami stiffened at the name, remembering the last necromancer she defeated. "And he's in control of that old chairman. He's using that old guy's corpse to launch thousands of those F.A.C.E bombs."
"There are thousands of those things?" Her breath caught in her throat recalling how her sister had been the one to stop one of those bombs.
"Yeah. And they're gonna go off unless you can take old bones down real soon." He said.
"But... If I do that... won't it kill you too?" She asked hesitantly, knowing that when a necromancer is stopped so are the corpses being used.
"I guess Keyes told you that." He chuckled breathily. "Oh well. You have to do that. It's the only way to save Gray!"
Her breath caught in her throat feeling conflicted and overwhelmed that she was able to barely dodge the incoming attack from the necromancer. "Sir? Are you still there?" Hearing no response made her grit her teeth in slight frustration. "Dammit. The communications been cut off."
But if this saves Gray, then I have no choice but to stop Keyes.
"I foresaw this entire tale unfolding from the very start. Even Silver's eventual mutiny. Any fool could have seen it." Keyes said, attacking Asami. "He grew more powerful, mastering ice demon slaying magic. I knew that he would someday use that skill to enact his vengeance upon us. But as his creator I relished in it. I wanted that cold fire to keep burning. That righteous fury would ensure my most beloved experiment kept for years in the future. A relentless drive paired with a compelling narrative."
"You're sick! You're only playing with people's lives!" She snapped harshly, her fists tightened. She hated the way he was disrespecting the dead as if they were objects for his own amusement. His attitude reminded her of Nikko who used Toshiro for her own sadistic game.
"Yes an ironic tragedy. A dead man and a living boy writing each other's final chapter. It's my masterwork! And it's more than worth every single drop of bloodshed for it's ink!" He chuckled darkly not caring about the way her eyes narrowed into slits with a look of rage on her face.
"You can't use human lives to toy with for your own personal sick game! That's just wrong!"
He tsked. "Not toys. They're subjects for my experiments." He chuckled when she tried attacking him. "Human pain has proved to be entertaining. You've turned out to be quite the spectacle. Perhaps I can use your pain for the boy and turn your body into a corpse and make you do unspeakable things."
"That's never going to happen!" She snapped, her eyes hardened with rage.
"Such bold words." He suddenly turned his dark mist into tentacles and used them to bind her. "Don't forget if you defeat me, your precious Gray will lose his father again."
"Hang in there, Asami!" Lucy cried out seeing her friend getting tied up. Her and Haru were suddenly pushed to the ground by something heavy.
"What are these?!" Haru exclaimed seeing the skeleton like figures pressing down on them. "Ah! Skeletons!!" He freaked out trying to get out but they were too heavy.
"Do it! Sever the bond between them!" Keyes taunted her, holding her tightly.
"I won't!" She choked out, feeling her eyes getting misty at the prospect of hurting Gray by taking his only remaining relative away. She remembered the feeling of sadness and hurt when she saw Toshiro disappearing in front of her after freeing him from Nikko's grasp.
"You humans are always so dreadfully predictable. Sacrificing logic with emotion. To feed your own wretched desires and egos." He chuckled darkly. "And you call me disgusting."
Asami gritted her teeth hearing her friends crying out her name as she was being wrapped in ball by the thick black particles. The rage within her started to grow and she only had one resort left.
-
Wendy breathed heavily as she faced her older sister as they spared with one another. She took a step back as she readied her next attack. Her only relief was that it seemed her sister was slowing down in her movement. "Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Scattering Light SkyDrill!"
Asami who was on the other side of the field stiffened, realizing she would need to take the spell head on. But her thoughts wandered to what Gajeel told her and how he ate Rogue's shadows during the GMG. She wondered if she could do the same with her sister's magic.
She shrugged and decided why not.
So, she faced the incoming attack and began to eat it as fast as she could.
On the other side, Wendy gaped at her sister who was wiping her mouth while sending her a sheepish grin. She stiffened when Asami suddenly combined both attacks and sending them right at her.
-
Everyone outside felt their breaths caught in their throats when the wrapped ball that had consumed Asami separated, revealing nothing but a small mist behind and her cape that dropped to the ground.
Haru gasped and cried out her name unable to believe that she was gone.
"How pitiful." Keyes said with a tsk.
"No way she's dead." Gajeel said in disbelief.
Natsu stared at the spot where his best friend was previously and couldn't fully process what had happened. "She can't be gone."
"This can't be real." Lucy said, holding Haru in her arms as he cried.
"Another human's tale has reached it's conclusion." Keyes chuckled in amusement. "However it'll mean nothing more than a footnote. My glorious saga!" He suddenly felt something off with his body and an intense pressure from inside. "What's happening to me?!"
"She's inside of him." Natsu muttered in disbelief and a bit amused.
"Asami!" Haru stopped sniffling and felt happy that she was okay.
"That's the craziest thing that I've ever seen." Gajeel said, staring at the way Keye's body was looking and the small cuts that started to seep through. He also looked amused and shocked.
"You can't toy with people's lives! I'm going make sure you never do so ever again!" Inside Asami's blue eyes were sharp when they opened. Around her the water started to swirl around combined with another element that started to shred everything inside.
"Water Sky Dragon: Vortex Blast!" Spirals of water and wind combined shooting out from every direction.
-
"Did she say Water sky?" Natsu muttered in question, tilting his head slightly.
Gajeel blinked. "Yeah." He wondered if what he told her got her to eat one of Wendy's attacks, which seemed more than likely since she was currently using it.
"How could I have been so careless?! I've been bested by pathetic human magic!" Keyes' body started expanding as it began have punctured holes from the wind magic.
"Gray will never lose his father as long as they share a bond!" She yelled finally breaking out from inside, tears spilling from her cheeks making her look less intimidating with the way her hair was spikier and her face covered in marks. She didn't know what Gray was feeling right this second but she knew that he loved his father and that he will always be apart of Gray's memories. "He'll always be in Gray's heart and no one, not even you can take him from that sacred place!"
Keyes's whole body was shredded to pieces leaving behind only Asami who stood in the same spot as the markings on her body disappeared along with the wind that seemed to flow around her from Wendy's Sky Dragon slayer magic disappeared.
Natsu and Gajeel both smirked knowing that Asami just like them now possessed to two elements in her arsenal. While Haru and Lucy were released from Keye's magic.
"Asami." Haru said smiling at her but it dropped when he saw the tears spilling down her cheeks despite her facing away from them and how her shoulders were shaking.
"It's over. My tale has finally reached it's end." Keyes said his whole body disappearing.
I'm so sorry, Gray. Asami choked out sobs, feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt knowing that at the same time Gray's father was disappearing in front of his son, now that the curse was broken. She knew that his heart was breaking at suffering another loss and she wanted nothing more than to be there for him in that moment but she also felt a sense of fear that he might resent her for what she did.
Loss can make a person say and do things they don't mean, so she was worried about what his reaction was going to be.
"You released me. Thank you." Silver said, his voice in her mind once again like earlier.
She sniffled knowing this were his final moments. "Sir, I-"
"It's been quite the day kiddo. You ended my suffering and saved all the magic in the world," He said gently.
"I-I don't know what to say..." She trailed, coming up with nothing. She wanted to apologize but she knew that this was his wish and still felt conflicted.
"You don't need to say anything. Just take care of my boy." He said, on the other side he started to disappear in front of Gray.
She bit her lip hearing his voice wavering, "I promise! I will!" She choked out, tears spilling from her eyes, knowing she was going to keep her promise to him and look out for Gray, even if he did end up resenting her.
❄💧❄💧
"Goodbye,dad." Gray said softly, his head lowered as his father disappeared, completely unaware of how the curse was broken. "I hope you can rest in peace."
You have to finish my story.
I mastered ice demon slayer magic for one reason. I knew that's what it would take.
I wanted to use it to kill E.N.D, a fire demon.
That is my legacy.
And I'm passing it on to you.
Gray clenched his fist as black marking appeared on his arm. A new look of resolve on his face. "I'm an Ice Demon slayer now. I swear, I'll kill E.N.D."