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In his Etherious Form, Mard Geer proved far more resilient than expected.
Gildarts had to push his power to its full extent for ten full minutes before he could finish him off completely.
Noah looked at the battered tome Gildarts handed over and couldn't help remarking, "The title of Underworld King doesn't suit him. I'd say 'King of Resilience' fits better."
Mard Geer, devastated by Gildarts' relentless assault, could no longer hear anything. His demonic body had been crushed beyond recovery. He would not be waking up again.
Noah had no particular interest in the demons Zeref had created, but he intended to return Mard Geer to his creator all the same.
He flipped through the pages of the tome and learned what he needed to know.
As one of the tools Zeref had created for his own death, Mard Geer had never abandoned that original purpose the way others of his kind had. For four hundred years, he had diligently cultivated his Curse Power, expanded Tartaros, and recruited more Etherious to his cause. He had even developed an ultimate Curse specifically designed to overcome Zeref's immortality.
The moment a spy embedded in Grimoire Heart finally revealed Zeref's whereabouts, Mard Geer had mobilized all of Tartaros without hesitation, faithfully moving to grant his creator the release he wished for.
Whether that ultimate Curse would have been enough to kill a Zeref freed from the Contradiction Curse remained an open question.
It was one that would never be answered now. Mard Geer had fallen to Gildarts first.
Four hundred years of preparation, ended in ten minutes. There was a kind of tragedy to it.
But Noah turned to the back of the book and the sympathy faded. Mard Geer had planned to move against Ishgar after killing Zeref. He intended to conquer the continent and usher in an age of demon rule. He had even begun quietly colluding with Chairman Crawford Seam of the Magic Council, planning to use the Council's secret weapon, Face, a magic-neutralizing device, to strip every mage on the continent of their Magic Power. Without magic, they would weaken and die within days.
A thorough scheme. Fortunately, Mard Geer had brought all of Tartaros to their end before any of it could be set in motion.
"Look over there! That floating island is moving!"
Gildarts pointed in surprise at the cubic fortress that had earlier collided with the airship. Its enormous shape had begun to twist.
Noah looked. A gaping maw tore open across the fortress' surface, and a massive tongue swept through the air, pulling in swarms of Etherious and swallowing them whole.
"That's Plutogrim." Hades recognized it immediately. "It's Mard Geer's own creation. It must have sensed that its master is gone and gone berserk."
"A loyal monster," Noah said, his tone faintly dry. He turned to Gildarts. "I need to go help Gray's father. You go down and help the others clear out the remaining Etherious."
Gildarts wanted to follow and assist inside, but Noah had spoken, so he made for the town below.
Neither Noah nor Gildarts said a word to Hades. The old man's only thought now was to return to Fairy Tail and see it one last time before surrendering himself, and all the wrongs he had committed, to his former student Makarov for judgment.
Inside Plutogrim, a large number of Etherious were being absorbed into the creature's flesh. They would become nutrients for the beast, their life force and Curse Power extracted until nothing remained.
"Hahahaha! Silver, you traitor! I knew it would end like this for you!"
A feathered, demonic figure stood over the figure of Silver, whose body was bound by Plutogrim's living flesh. This was Kyoka, leader of the Nine Demon Gates. Her true Etherious form had fully manifested, and her voice carried the weight of a hatred that had been building for some time.
She held a demon tome with a pale blue cover tucked under one arm. That was Seilah, another of the Nine Demon Gates. Their bond was something beyond most relationships, and now it felt as though a world separated them.
Silver's sudden betrayal had severely wounded Kyoka, and the Ice Devil Slayer Magic he had unleashed had nearly destroyed Seilah's book entirely. If Plutogrim hadn't gone berserk and turned the tide when it did, she would probably have been reduced to her own original book form alongside Seilah by now.
"Silver, I want you dead!"
Kyoka bared her claws and lurched toward him, cradling Seilah's book in one arm.
Silver kept his expression cold and still. In truth, it would not have mattered much if he died now. His purpose had been fulfilled. Every demon he had destroyed was a victory already paid in full, and anything that came after was a bonus.
Only one thing sat as an unfinished regret. He had never been able to see Gray one more time.
He had even come to Magnolia...
Silver closed his eyes quietly as Kyoka's claws lunged for his throat.
"Ice Demon: Zero's Breaking Bow!"
The familiar voice reached him a heartbeat before Kyoka's scream did.
When Silver opened his eyes, he found Kyoka reeling backward, an arrow of ice through her heart. Her face was twisted with fury and despair, but somewhere beneath both lay a faint trace of something else. Something like relief.
The one who had saved him was Gray. His son, who had occupied his thoughts even in his final moments.
Panther Lily had flown Gray up to Plutogrim. Ice Devil Slayer Magic was distinctive enough that when Tartaros made its move, Gray had recognized his father's power erupting from inside the fortress immediately. Then the fortress had transformed into this monstrous beast, and Gray had gone straight to Gajeel to borrow Panther Lily, and they had gone in together.
With Devil Slayer Magic cutting a path through the creature's interior, the two of them had found Silver before the worst could happen.
Panther Lily swept his Musica Sword and cut away the binding flesh of Plutogrim, freeing Silver from its grip. Silver looked at the large black cat in his battle form, who stood even bigger and more solid than Silver himself, with rare genuine surprise.
"Dad." Gray's Ice Devil Slayer Magic crackled in his palm as he watched Kyoka, barely clinging to life, with sharp vigilance. "What should we do with her?"
Silver exhaled slowly. He had once been bound and enslaved by the Necromancer demon Keyes. And Keyes and Kyoka had both served under Mard Geer.
"She won't survive. Let's get out of here."
The battered Devil Slayer, whose whole purpose had been to destroy demons, felt a sudden weariness settle over him. He didn't want to fight anymore. He wanted to see Gray find someone to love, build a life, be happy.
With two Ice Devil Slayers clearing the path ahead, Panther Lily gripped one in each hand and flew them out through the hole father and son had blasted open on the way in.
Kyoka lay on the ground, breath thin, still clutching Seilah's book to her chest. But her gaze had drifted somewhere else entirely.
"Please," she said, barely above a murmur. "Put me and Seilah together."
Noah stepped out from the shadows and nodded once.
"Thank you."
The light went out of Kyoka's eyes, but her lips were still moving. "I actually thought about becoming human once, but..."
A minute later, Noah held both Kyoka's book and Seilah's book in hand. He activated his Magnetic Field Power.
Plutogrim shuddered, and then every Etherious still swarming the airship and the streets below was torn apart in a single instant, reduced to blood and ash, scattered by the wind.