"Diabolos? The Spirit Dragon?"
Having only just been teleported to the battlefield, Ankh still had no idea what was happening in the north.
Wraith remained remarkably calm.
"Diabolos is the strongest mage guild on the continent of Guiltina. Every one of its members is a Fifth-Generation Dragon Slayer."
"Fifth Generation?" Ankh frowned. "What happened to the fourth?"
Wraith counted them off on his fingers as he explained at an unhurried pace.
"Fourth-Generation Dragon Slayers are artificial weapons imbued with Dragon Slayer Magic. They're constructed directly from draconic materials. Guiltina has alchemical creations like that, and apparently the Kingdom of Stella on your continent is also highly skilled in the technology."
"As for the Fifth Generation…"
Wraith pointed to himself, forcing a faint smile onto his gaunt face.
"We gain our power by eating dragon flesh. That's why we're also known as Dragon Eaters."
"You eat dragons?!"
Ankh sucked in a sharp breath.
Then, entirely against his better judgment, a thought slipped into his mind.
'What would dragon meat even taste like?'
At least Nebaru's berserk transformation made more sense now.
Dragons were highly intelligent magical creatures. Who knew what kind of side effects consuming their flesh might have?
"So Diabolos is a guild of Dragon Eaters," Ankh said. "Looks like you people are our enemy this time."
Wraith calmly raised one hand.
"This is a commission from the Magic Council. Everyone in the guild was quite pleased with the reward."
"You don't seem particularly upset that your companion died."
At that, Wraith glanced sorrowfully toward Nebaru's corpse and released a quiet sigh.
"Diabolos strictly forbids the use of Dragon Force. Once someone activates that power, they've already chosen the road to death."
"But…"
Wraith turned back toward Ankh.
A pale flame burst to life above his palm.
"I can finish what Nebaru failed to do."
"I have no intention of abandoning this mission."
The dim light in his eyes grew steadily brighter, hardening into determination.
"Not if I want to become stronger."
The moment he finished speaking, white flames erupted beneath Ankh's feet.
They formed the head of a dragon and opened their jaws as though to swallow him whole.
Ankh quickly stepped outside the dragon's mouth, but the flames moved as if they possessed minds of their own and chased after him.
Strangely, the raging inferno gave off no heat whatsoever.
Instead, a freezing chill seeped straight into the heart.
"Flames made from souls, capable of directly damaging an enemy's spirit," Ankh observed. "So that's the power of the Spirit Dragon. Much better than that disgusting Sticky Dragon."
Seeing yet another form of Dragon Slayer Magic made the weapon in his hand practically hunger for more.
The ghostly fire raged around him, its icy presence passing straight through his skin.
Ankh charged fearlessly through the pale flames and brought his blade down toward Wraith's head.
This time, however, the weapon struck nothing.
The blade passed directly through Wraith's body.
"It's useless," Wraith said gloomily. "I'm a ghost. The powers of the living world cannot affect me."
"Is that so?"
Divine power surged through Ankh's body as Take Over Magic activated.
A brilliant dark-green light erupted from within him.
"God Soul: Sorda, God of Souls—Take Over!"
Ankh's entire appearance changed.
A hood covered in dark-gold patterns concealed his face, while loose sorcerer's robes hid the shape of his body. The black cloak draped around him was decorated with the spectral forms of countless creatures.
His new appearance radiated an eerie, mysterious chill.
Wraith froze in surprise.
A second later, Ankh's fist slammed directly into his face.
Wraith, who had not felt physical pain in years, let out a muffled groan as he was sent flying.
Because he was still a ghost, his body did not disturb the ground or anything around him. Only the swelling across his cheek proved that the punch had landed.
Wraith held his face and stared uncertainly at Ankh, whose entire presence had transformed.
"You fight a soul with another soul."
A smile appeared beneath Ankh's hood.
He raised his blade and slowly coated it in dark-green divine power.
The entire weapon soon became translucent, taking on the same spiritual form as a ghost.
Wraith's heart lurched when Ankh suddenly charged with the blade.
He immediately dove toward the ground and vanished into the earth.
Ankh followed without hesitation, leaping straight down after him.
Now that both of them possessed spiritual bodies, they began tearing through the battlefield by passing freely through the ground and surrounding buildings.
Ankh found the experience rather novel.
Wraith was simply terrified.
When a living man suddenly turns himself into a ghost right in front of you, anyone would be afraid.
Even another ghost.
To the soldiers watching nearby, the battle looked even more bizarre.
First, Ankh had begun talking to empty air.
Then freezing white flames suddenly appeared from nowhere.
After that, he started swinging his sword at nothing.
Finally, he vanished into the ground for no apparent reason.
The soldiers of the central army could only stare blankly.
'Were battles between mages always this complicated?'
Hyberion, who had intended to come reinforce Ankh, was equally baffled.
From an outsider's perspective, everything Ankh was doing looked deeply unsettling.
After hesitating for a moment, Hyberion decided that a powerful Wizard Saint could probably take care of himself.
The front line needed him more.
After all, Cube was still drawing closer by the minute.
...
Meanwhile, the situation aboard Tartaros's flying fortress was hardly favorable either.
The legal guilds were fighting in enemy territory and remained badly outnumbered.
Although most of the Nine Demon Gates had already been defeated, many of the attackers had also been rendered unable to continue fighting.
In Natsu's battle against Franmalth, the demon had fought using Hades's stolen soul.
But the difference in combat instincts eventually decided the match.
Natsu entered Fire Dragon King Mode and finished Franmalth with a decisive attack.
During Gray's battle with Silver, meanwhile, the truth gradually became clear.
The man claiming to be Deliora was actually Gray's dead father.
Silver had been brought back through Keyes's Curse and forced to remain in the world as one of the dead.
For all those years, he had existed in a state of despair, neither truly human nor properly a ghost.
Being controlled and forced to serve demons made him despise his own continued existence even more, along with every sin committed by his hands.
That overwhelming hatred of demons eventually drove Silver to create magic specifically designed to kill them—
Ice Devil Slayer Magic.
Mard Geer recognized its value and promoted him into the Nine Demon Gates, using Silver's power to keep the other demons under control.
With greater authority came more freedom. Silver began secretly hunting and destroying demons outside Tartaros.
Then, during the Grand Magic Games several years later, he unexpectedly saw his son again.
The moment Silver witnessed Gray using Ice-Make Magic, he resolved to pass his own power on to him.
He eventually found an opportunity to meet Gray during the Phoenix operation.
Elsewhere, Juvia received a telepathic warning from Silver and discovered the weakness of Keyes's intangible body.
She destroyed him completely from within.
With Keyes gone, the Curse binding Silver was finally broken.
His soul was released, freeing him from the filthy existence of living through a corpse.
In his final moments, Silver pulled Gray into his arms.
Gray wept uncontrollably as his father laughed with pride and reluctance, unwilling to leave him behind.
Then Silver's body faded away completely and returned to heaven.
After years of longing and regret, his soul had finally found its way home.
The only thing he still could not let go of was Gray.
The Ice Devil Slayer Magic left behind became his final gift to his son.
And on that day, sobbing until he could barely breathe…
Gray lost one of the most important people in his life for the second time.
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