Fire, Blood and Stars

Chapter 37

Both Zeref and Gray reached the demon at the same time. Zeref immediately looked up at Deliora and wagged a finger, ready to ground him, when Gray's voice rose to a high pitch.

"Resurrection first, parenting later!"

Zeref looked slightly confused for a second. "Oh, yeah, right. Freeze that water."

Gray did as he was asked immediately, and the water that contained Ur's soul was frozen.

Zeref nodded approvingly. "Good. Now reshape that ice into a human body. Make sure to give it nerve endings, muscles and whatnot to allow your teacher to control it."

Gray closed his eyes, arms crossed in a position that was similar to, but not quite, Iced Shell. His brows were furrowed in concentration. This would take some time.

Happy with that, Zeref looked at Deliora with the Sad Eyes of Disappointment.

"I expected better, son. Don't you remember any of my lectures on the ecosystem? You cannot simply wipe out a lot of people from a species." Deliora looked down at his feet as Zeref continued, "Now, you are going to stay on this island and think about what you've done wrong, okay?"

Deliora broke down crying, his teardrops like buckets of water. Zeref patted his knee. "Now, now, don't cry, Deliora. Your mom and I still love you, but what you did was not nice. So, you're grounded for ten years. No talking to your friends, no internet, and absolutely no devouring souls."

"What?" Deliora looked at his dad with imploring eyes. "Ten years?! Dad, I was stuck in a block of ice for twelve years!"

Looking at those eyes, Zeref sighed. "I'll bring it down to three months if you can bribe him to forgive you", he said, pointing at Gray, who was still working on Ur's body.

"Bribe?", asked Deliora.

Zeref shrugged. "You killed his family, so I doubt he'll forgive you out of the goodness of his heart."

Nodding, Deliora waved a claw, turning the ice into an exact replica of Ur, made of ice, of course, complete with nerves, bones, muscles and everything else.

Ur did not wake up.

Gray opened his eyes, turning towards Deliora. He scowled at the demon, but didn't make a move to attack him.

"Now, Gray, Deliora has something he'd like to say to you."

Deliora lowered his head as he mumbled, "I'm sorry, Mr. Gray. Also, uh, I heard all that stuff you were venting out to me, and I really want to apologize for paining you. So, could you please tell me what I could bribe you with so that you forgive me?"

It could have been a great apology, Gray thought, if not for the phrasing of the last line.

"Bribe? Bribe?! What the hell do you mean? You killed my family, and you think you can bribe me with anything?"

Deliora would've given up, but he remembered his father's words from before.

'Remember, Deliora, when people say they can't be bribed, they're lying. They just don't know themselves what they can be bribed with.'

So he thought. This man had some issues, and he had told them all to Deliora while he was frozen. He had information! Now, what could he bribe him with- Ah! His inferiority complex!

"How about I teach you Devil Slayer Magic? Then you can bridge the power gap between you and Uncle Dragneel!"

"Nothing can bribe me- say what now?"