Silver's Motives

(Jason's POV)

"What do you mean?" I asked him

Silver walked up to me, "Let's talk elsewhere." He said as he snapped his fingers

Suddenly, we were teleported somewhere else. We were on some rocky cliffs on top of a mountain. Did he use teleportation magic on us? It makes sense. He used it multiple times before, I wouldn't doubt it if he was proficient in it.

"Where are we?" I asked

"Somewhere without anyone that will eavesdrop." Silver said, "Anyways like I said, I have crushed Tartaros from within."

I looked at him confused, "What are you even saying?"

Silver walked over to the edge of the cliff and stared at the horizon.

"Do you have any idea what it feels like to be killed, reanimated as a walking corpse with magic power, and be coerced to serve the ones who killed you and your family?" He asked

I shook my head, "Can't say I do."

He looked at me with a serious face, "Well, it isn't a nice feeling." He said, "Years ago, my town was attacked by a Demon of Zeref, Deliora. He rampaged all over and wiped out the entire town, along with its people. I was among them. My wife, my son, and I all died in Deliora's attack. The last thing I could remember was my wife's lifeless body as I bled out from my wounds."

I looked at him, I could tell that he was in pain due to that. I can't say I blame him, his town and family were all killed. It is certainly a traumatizing event. But there is one thing that he got wrong about that.

Maybe I'll tell him later.

He continued talking, "Next thing I know, I was woken up in a room filled with corpses." He said, "Apparently, I was an experiment performed by Keyes, one of Tartaros Demons. He wanted to see how long the Human corpse can remain reanimated. The majority of the experiments crumbled after days, weeks, and sometimes months. Not me, I managed to stay standing for much longer than he expected."

I nodded, "You survived this long due to your drive, huh?" I said, "You felt so angry at the Demons that your desire for revenge fueled your lifeforce."

He looked back at the horizon, "Exactly." He said, "I was driven by revenge. I grew stronger, my magic power increased. And because he was amused by this, Mard Geer granted me the power to slay devils. I don't understand why he would give a human the power to slay his kind. Maybe it was on a whim...or perhaps it was a way to keep the demons in check. It was his biggest mistake. Over the years, I grew stronger than they expected. But no matter how strong I would grow, I was still a thrall, given life by Keyes' curse."

He crossed his arms.

"I needed to figure out a way to break my link to Keyes. If he died, then I cease to exist." He continued, "Even if I didn't care about anything and I kill him, I still had the other demons that were released. I made it my mission to destroy every demon, therefore destroying Tartaros as a whole. I didn't care how I did it. No matter how many lives I took in order to cement my loyalty to Mard Geer, it didn't matter. At the end of the day, I wish to break free from Keyes and destroy everything they worked for."

It all slowly began to make sense. Something told me that he's the reason the Nine Demons haven't fully recovered.

"I even went ahead and partially demonized myself in order to sever my link to Keyes. It was still risky, so I froze him, keeping him alive long enough for me to figure it out." He continued, "Fortunately, luck was on my side. Something happened. A sort of event. All of the demons, except Mard Geer, were suddenly weakened. With this, Mard Geer hatched the Conversion plan. He wanted to gather enough magic power to convert it to curse power and restore the Nine Demon Gates' power. Not only that, he wished to do the same thing in order to attempt to resurrect E.N.D. Hence, this whole ordeal happened."

I looked at him, "What happened? Did the conversion go through?"

He shook his head, "No." He said, "I sabotaged it. I used the conversion's curse power to sever my link to Keyes, turning me into a Hybrid. Half-Human, Half-Demon. However, my human side is dead, leaving my Demon side allowing me to walk the earth without Keyes' Necromancy."

"Keyes is dead?" I aked

"Oh yes." He said, "And so are the other Demon Gates. I used the Conversion to absorb their Curse power, their very being was used to fuel my demon side."

I widened my eyes, "E-Even Kyoka and Seilah?!"

He shook his head, "No, not them." He said, "I was about to get to that."

"What?" I said

"After I killed the other Demon Gates and retrieved Mard Geer, I saw him." He said

"Saw who?" I asked

"Zeref." He said

Zeref? The Black Wizard himself? What was he doing over here? And how is Silver not dead?

"He took Kyoka and Seilah in their book form. He also took Mard Geer as well before I could absorb him." He said, "He told me something about keeping them on the shelves safely. Also, he mentioned how Deliora and Lullaby would like their new bodies."

I raised an eyebrow, "He took them back to Alvarez then." I said, "And what did he mean by Lullaby and Deliora? Did he resurrect them?"

Silver clenched his fists, "Apparently so." He said, "My mission is not over yet. I have to slay those demons too. No matter what, I will complete my mission. And after I am done, I will rest. And be reunited with my family."

I understood why he was willing to go so far for this. A man is driven by the loss of his family and he'll go to great lengths to achieve his goal. In this case, it is to eradicate the demons.

"Yea...." I said, "But there's something you should know..."

"No, there's something you should know." He told me as he looked at me with a sly smile, "We're not alone."

"Huh?" I said

He pointed past me, "He's here."

I then felt an immense magic power behind me.

I turned to see Suzaku slowly walk towards me.

I widened my eyes in shock, my body trembling with anxiety as I began to breathe rapidly.

"Y-You!!!"