Chapter 9: 9. Deliora
One day, Gray suddenly disappears, so everyone in Ur's house is looking for him. Then they heard from the town people that Deliora is reported to be seen in the Northern Continent.
Ur who knows that Gray has been looking for Deliora for revenge is sure he goes to the Northern Continent to attack the demon.
Alex finally remembers this important event in the story where Gray tried to defeat Deliora with the little power he has and it caused Ur's death instead.
Though he doesn't know that Deliora appears in another continent. It actually makes him wonder how Gray goes from Ishgar to Guiltina by himself when he doesn't even have money.
Still, it doesn't really matter now because all of them know that Gray will die if they don't save him. There's no way he can even scratch a demon like Deliora with his current power, after all.
So they go to chase after him. On the way to Guiltina, Alex becomes even more curious about how Gray can go there alone.
The distance from Ur's house to Guiltina is no joke. They need to cross several countries and even cross the vast ocean. It's not a distance that can be covered by walking for a few days.
"Maybe he's hitchhiking from place to place. It's also possible that he steals money from people to pay for transportation like the ship going to Guiltina. Maybe he even sneaked into the ship without anyone's knowledge. That guy is very slippery, after all."
Lyon answers Alex's curious question. The others also think the same as it seems to be the most possible answer.
But no matter what Gray did to go there, it doesn't change the fact of how idiotic his action is. Well, he is just 8 years old, so this level of idiocy is quite normal.
Or more like they can't expect an 8 y.o to think logically like adults. Even adults sometimes do irrational things, not to mention an 8 y.o with a lot of hatred against a demon that killed his beloved parents.
It takes almost 2 days for them to reach Guiltina and a few hours to reach the town that gets attacked by Deliora, Brago.
When they arrive, Deliora is still rampaging in the town. A lot of buildings have been destroyed and many people must have died as well. There's no one in the town as the survivors must have fled.
However, Deliora still stays there and destroys the remaining structures. It really lives up to the name of the Demon of Destruction that people give to it.
"That guy really loves destroying everything he sees, huh?"
Alex comments while they run to the town to find Gray. They hope they are not too late because if they are late even by a little, then Gray might have become ashes already.
Even Alex can't be sure that they will arrive on time because everything might change with him there. He also has made a great change, so he can't think that everything will go like in the story.
Luckily, they aren't late. They finally see Gray who is still running toward the town. This means they can stop Gray before he becomes Deliora's target.
"GRAY, STOP!"
Ur shouts, surprising Gray who looks behind but still running. He doesn't have any intention to stop as his mind is clouded by revenge.
"Seems like he won't listen. Then let me stop him."
Alex gathers his magic power as he says that.
"Take Over! Beast Soul: Shukaku! Humanoid Mode!"
A 1 meter wide yellowish brown magic circle appears under Alex's feet before he starts to transform. Alex transforms into the usual Humanoid Shukaku, but the process is different now.
Instead of just transforming, he uses a magic circle. He has learned more about Take Over Magic and found out that it's better to use magic circle to transform.
The magic circle makes his transformation easier and more stable. He also uses less magic power to transform when he uses a magic circle.
Alex puts his hands on the ground and controls the soil beneath Gray that turns into sand. He catches Gray easily and covers Gray's whole body with sand, only leaving his head outside.
With Gray unable to move, they finally can catch up to him. Ur seems relieved while Lyon seems annoyed by Gray. Alex thinks of what to do with this impulsive kid when Ultear suddenly punches Gray in the face.
Everyone is surprised by her sudden action that no one expects. She almost punches Gray again, but Ur pulls her back before her fist hits him.
"YOU IDIOT! JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING? DO YOU THINK YOU CAN DEFEAT A MONSTER LIKE THAT ALONE, HUH?"
Ultear shouts angrily while Ur is holding her.
"LEAVE ME ALONE! THIS IS MY REVENGE. I LIVE TO KILL DELIORA."
"YOU? KILLING THAT MONSTER? YOU CAN'T EVEN DEFEAT ME. HOW WILL YOU DEFEAT THAT POWERFUL DEMON?"
They are bickering while Deliora is destroying the town. Their loud shouting takes Deliora's attention and the big demon now looks at them.
"Crap!"
Alex widens his eyes when he sees Deliora open its mouth. Ur realizes that something is wrong from Alex's expression, so she also looks at Deliora. Her eyes also widen as she sees the light in Deliora's mouth.
Ur moves to the front and quickly uses her magic. She creates a very thick Ice Wall that angles to the left.
Alex puts his hands on the ground, then sand comes out of the ground around the Ice Wall. He covers Ur's Ice Wall with the sand and even puts Shukaku's seals on the sand to strengthen it.
Their defense wall is finished right before Deliora shoots a very powerful beam at them. The magic beam hits the defense wall and gets parried to the left because of the angled wall.
However, it's still powerful enough to break the sand wall at the front. Luckily, Ur's Ice Wall is powerful enough to block the magic beam.
"What a power. So you think you can stop something like that, huh, Gray? I never knew that you were stronger than me."
Alex is being sarcastic to Gray because in the last few months of them living together, no one except Ur could defeat Alex in a fight.
Deliora's attack just now could break Alex's sand wall easily and even damage Ur's Ice Wall. So it's obvious that Gray can't stop that attack at all and he would have been killed if that attack was aimed at him without them there.
Gray bites his lips and his pupils are shaking because he can't answer that. He finally knows just how big of a gap between his power and Deliora's now.
Just like Gray, Lyon also seems frustrated as he clenches his fists. He doesn't have any grudge against Deliora, but his goal is to surpass Ur. However, he couldn't even react to that attack nor help at all.
Alex's sand wall may not be strong enough to stop Deliora's attack. But at least he could react fast enough and help Ur defend that beam. The sand wall also reduced the beam's power so Ur's Ice Wall wasn't damaged too much.
"What should we do now, Aunty? That guy has locked its gaze to us."
Alex is calling Ur Aunty because he isn't her disciple. He also doesn't think that it's right to call someone old enough to be his mother by her name.
He was taught that it's rude to call those much older than him just by name in his past life. That's why he calls her Aunty or Aunt Ur and she actually likes it because it makes her feel like Alex is her nephew.
"Seems like we can't avoid fighting it now. Alex, bring them away from here! I will hold that demon off."
"No! Mom, we can't leave you here."
"Ur! This is my fight."
"Hey, I can also fight him."
The 3 kids don't want to follow her order, even Alex agrees with them.
"I don't like to say this, but I also think that we can't leave, Aunty. It's not that I don't want us to escape, but we can't. You've seen how far that guy can attack. Even if we run, we will still be in that guy's attack range. Being together with you is actually the safest."
"That's...."
Even Ur can't disagree with what Alex just said.
"Aunty, I actually have an idea. Do you want to listen?"
Ur nods and Alex tells her his idea which surprises all of them.
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Ch. 59: Half-Demon