"Betrayal? I was never sincerely loyal to you in the first place. I am only a revived corpse, a ghost filled with hatred! The reason I have clung to this wretched existence is for revenge, and... for my son. But I never belonged to Tartaros."
Silver Fullbuster took a few steps forward and stood opposite the demons, loudly speaking the words he had held in his heart all this time.
At this moment, standing before the demons, Silver Fullbuster felt proud and unrestrained for the first time.
Finally, it was finally his turn to point at these demons and curse them.
He had finally turned the tables!
And all of this came from Marco, Fairy Tail's Guild Master, the Guild Master of the guild his son belonged to.
After learning that his son Gray was in Fairy Tail, Silver Fullbuster had constantly paid close attention to Fairy Tail's news and learned everything he could about the guild.
Naturally, he was very familiar with Fairy Tail's stance, and with Marco, Fairy Tail's most famous member.
That was why he had taken the initiative to warn Marco at the start.
His original intention had been to tell Marco to run quickly and not clash head-on with Tartaros.
But what he had not expected was that Marco not only intended to clash with Tartaros head-on, he had actually won.
He had genuinely killed Mard Geer, the King of the Underworld.
This made Silver Fullbuster ecstatic, and it immediately made him decide to openly switch sides.
"Master Marco, I am Gray's father, Silver Fullbuster. Simply defeating Mard Geer and these demons is useless. You have to go to their headquarters and completely destroy Hell's Core. Otherwise, they will keep reviving!"
Silver Fullbuster looked toward Marco and loudly revealed Tartaros's secret.
"You damn bastard!"
Kyôka charged toward Silver Fullbuster in fury.
Although she knew what she was doing might be futile, she could not restrain herself.
This man was far too hateful!
Buzz!
Sure enough, just as Kyôka had thought, her attack was futile.
She never managed to touch Silver Fullbuster at all.
Marco had already appeared directly beside her, one hand gripping her neck and lifting her into the air.
"Very good, Mr. Silver. Meeting you really is an unexpected joy for me! Although you've become like this, seeing that you still possess your own mind, I think Gray will be very happy too."
Marco smiled as he spoke to Silver Fullbuster.
Crack!
Marco directly snapped Kyôka's neck.
Flames surged from his hand, burning even her head to ashes.
"Let's go. We're going now."
Marco paid it no mind as he spoke, casually tossing Kyôka's remaining body aside.
After casually killing the similarly tactless Kyôka, Marco directly signaled for Silver Fullbuster to lead the way and take him to Tartaros's lair so he could destroy that Hell's Core.
"By the way, what is this book? That King of the Underworld seemed to care about it a lot."
As Marco spoke, a book appeared in his hand. It was none other than the one Mard Geer had been holding the entire time.
Mard Geer had clearly cared about this book greatly, treating it like a treasure, and Marco had naturally noticed that.
So when he killed Mard Geer, Marco had first taken the book into his own hands. He was also very curious about what this book did.
"That... is the Book of E.N.D. It is the object that seals the strongest demon, E.N.D. And that E.N.D. is the nominal Guild Master of Tartaros. Mard Geer, the King of the Underworld, was not actually the Guild Master."
Silver Fullbuster gave him an explanation about the book, which surprised Marco greatly.
This book was actually that important?
[Ding! Mission triggered!]
[Mission Name: Tartaros and the Strongest Demon!]
[Mission Details:]
[The demons of Tartaros have attacked! They intend to find their creator, Zeref. The demons each harbor different thoughts. Some wish to return to Zeref's side, while others wish to completely replace Zeref's position!]
[Mard Geer, the King of the Underworld, created Tartaros under the borrowed name of the "strongest demon, E.N.D.," but in truth, he used it to serve his own ambitions. Yet the true identity of the "strongest demon, E.N.D." is shockingly none other than Fairy Tail guild member Natsu! Eliminate Tartaros and protect Natsu!]
[Mission Progress:]
[Mission One: Eliminate Tartaros — Incomplete.]
[Mission Two: Protect the Book of E.N.D., which is connected to Natsu's life, from destruction — Complete.]
[Mission Rewards:]
[Mission One: Random Gold Cloth.]
[Mission Two: Blood of God.]
Just as Marco was wondering what this "strongest demon E.N.D." was supposed to be, the system timely appeared and issued a mission.
After reading the information revealed in the mission details, Marco could not help feeling lucky.
Fortunately, he had grown curious about this book and spared it when he killed Mard Geer.
Otherwise, he might have taken Natsu down along with him.
But this really could not be blamed on Marco.
No matter how resourceful he was, he truly could not have imagined that Natsu would have anything to do with this so-called "strongest demon E.N.D.," much less that his life would be connected to a book.
That was far too absurd!
'So Natsu was actually also a demon created by Zeref?'
The shock brought by this news was so great that Marco did not even have time to be surprised by the appearance of another drop of Blood of God.
Marco already had one portion of Blood of God in his possession, but he had never used it. Because it was far too precious, he had always been conflicted about where to use it.
Now that another drop had appeared, he had more choices.
Buzz!
With a serious expression, Marco sealed the Book of E.N.D. inside Crystal Wall, then placed it close against his body beneath his clothes, using the Gold Cloth outside to protect it.
Now, unless someone shattered the Gold Cloth and killed Marco, they could forget about destroying the Book of E.N.D.
Of course, up until now, the greatest danger the Book of E.N.D. had ever faced was almost being casually destroyed by Marco.
Watching Marco seal away the Book of E.N.D., Silver Fullbuster originally wanted to say that his magic could help with that too, but in the end, he did not say it.
There was no need to embarrass himself.
However, Silver Fullbuster was somewhat puzzled inside.
Why did Marco not try to destroy the Book of E.N.D. directly?
Even if it might not work, he should at least try, right?
"Give the Book of E.N.D. back!"
Before Silver Fullbuster could voice the confusion in his heart, the other demons became agitated after seeing Marco hide away the Book of E.N.D.
The strongest demon, E.N.D., also held a very special meaning to them.
According to legend, only the strongest demon E.N.D. had received Zeref's recognition.
This was why Mard Geer valued the Book of E.N.D. so much, and also the reason he had been able to establish Tartaros under E.N.D.'s name.
The many demons who followed Mard Geer and joined Tartaros were actually drawn by the reputation of the strongest demon E.N.D., by this honorary Guild Master known as the strongest demon, not by Mard Geer, the so-called King of the Underworld.
They believed that as long as they followed the strongest demon E.N.D., they would be able to return to Zeref's side.
Zeref recognized E.N.D., and they obeyed E.N.D.
This was, in a sense, taking a roundabout route to salvation.
Say what you wanted, but the logic technically worked.
Unfortunately, they knew nothing about the strongest demon E.N.D., and they did not understand Mard Geer well enough either.
In the end, they could only be led around in circles by the King of the Underworld.
In truth, Mard Geer did not understand the strongest demon E.N.D. either.
But he had never expected E.N.D. to do anything for him in the first place.
He had merely borrowed that name to first gather a "demon heart," bringing all these demons together so he could slowly train them.
After so many years, several of these demons had actually been more or less trained by Mard Geer, to the point that they had begun following his lead completely.
That was normal too.
After all, they had been together for hundreds of years.
No matter how poor Mard Geer's methods were, he should have developed some authority of his own by now.
"Die!"
Ezel's four arms transformed into four long blades.
His eight legs, which resembled octopus tentacles, all lashed out as he charged straight at Marco.
The four great blades formed from his arms slashed directly toward Marco's head.
Crack!
Marco swung his right hand like he was chopping down with a hand blade.
A series of sharp cracking sounds rang out as Ezel's four arms were severed at the same time.
The strangely shaped demon also froze in place.
The next second, Ezel's entire body burst apart, already sliced into countless pieces.
Another demon returned to Hell's Core.
Jackal, Torafuzar of the Dark, Keyes the Black Archbishop, Seilah of the Cool Moon, Franmalth of the Armored Might, and Tempester were now caught between advancing and retreating.
They could not win if they attacked, and they could not escape if they fled.
On top of that, because of Silver Fullbuster's betrayal, their lair and secrets had already been exposed.
Under the current circumstances, once they died, they would basically be dead for real.
After all, Marco would definitely go to destroy Hell's Core, and their resurrection method would completely fail.
"There's still a way..."
Franmalth looked toward Keyes, his single eye already filled with malice.
"As long as the skeleton dies, Silver will die with him. So for everyone's sake, Keyes, you die first!"
Franmalth had grasped the key.
The reason they had frozen up and lost their earlier arrogance was Silver Fullbuster's existence.
As long as this problem was solved, they would still be able to revive.
At worst, they would simply return to Hell's Core.
But directly killing Silver Fullbuster was clearly impossible now.
The deaths of Kyôka and Ezel had already proven that.
They simply could not kill Silver Fullbuster while Marco was protecting him.
They could not even get close.
The gap in strength between the two sides was as vast as a top-tier mage standing beside an ordinary person.
They were the ordinary people.
Facing a top-tier mage like Marco, they had no ability to fight back at all.
"Then what are we waiting for?!"
The moment Franmalth said this, Jackal immediately responded.
Jackal, who had just been blown around until he was dizzy, reached straight for Keyes shoulder.
This was not a friendly greeting.
If Jackal touched him, Keyes would be blown up badly too.
Jackal used Explosion Curses, and everything he touched would explode.
Buzz!!!
Keyes clearly had no intention of sacrificing himself for everyone else, so he would not sit there and wait for death.
Franmalth was right.
Although he could no longer control Silver Fullbuster now, once he died, the Silver Fullbuster he had revived would also die.
That was inevitable.
This connection was something Silver Fullbuster could neither break free from nor sever.
Jackal's attack passed straight through Keyes's body, but it did not injure him at all, nor did it trigger an explosion.
Keyes controlled Necromancy Curses and Darkness Curses.
This kind of intangibility that allowed him to ignore physical damage was one of his best tricks for dealing with sudden attacks.
"Keyes! What does it matter if you die first?! You can still revive, can't you?! We only need your ability to stop working!"
Seilah of the Cool Moon anxiously questioned Keyes.
They were not asking Keyes to never revive again.
They only wanted him to return to Hell's Core first. As long as Silver Fullbuster was eliminated, everyone would be able to live.