Daughter-in-law
Keith suddenly shuddered.
The face, reduced to mere skeleton, was expressionless, but the crimson light flashing in its eye sockets contracted instantly.
He realized that the necromantic mark he had planted in Yin's body had vanished into thin air!
Anger and disbelief instantly filled his mind.
Someone actually dared to touch his work!
Unforgivable!
Keith abruptly stopped in his tracks, turned around, and was about to charge forward; he had to bring this work back under his control.
However, a stream of deep blue water swept across and slammed heavily in front of Keith with a "smack".
Juvia blocked his way.
The water swirled slowly around her. She didn't know what this guy was up to, but a woman's intuition told her otherwise.
We absolutely cannot let this monster pass.
"Juvia won't let you get past Gray!"
Juvia waved his hands, and several high-pressure water jets instantly formed, like several water dragons that blocked all of Keith's paths.
Her gaze was unusually firm.
Natsu and Gajeel, who had just arrived, exchanged a bewildered glance.
The two scratched their heads, completely confused.
Did they miss some background plot details?
Keith, who was stopped, did not speak, but instead let out a chilling growl.
His large black robe suddenly billowed out like an inflated balloon.
Upon closer inspection, it wasn't fabric at all, but rather a dense array of twisted, struggling, and agonizing human faces, imprinted on the robe, looking rather eerie.
The sound of Happy flapping his wings came from the air.
"Aye, this looks terrifying." Happy shuddered.
"We're here to help."
Hearing the sound, Natsu and Gajeel looked up and saw Lily and Happy falling from mid-air.
As soon as it landed, Lily roared angrily, and its small body instantly swelled up and grew larger.
His armor also grew larger, allowing him to firmly grip the enormous blade in his hand and hold it at the forefront.
Just then, a torrent of black liquid suddenly gushed forth from beneath Keith's wide robes.
Like Cobra that have come to life, they swept towards Natsu and his two companions in a massive, overwhelming attack!
"Careful!"
Juvia reacted extremely quickly, lifting his hands sharply upwards.
Several powerful jets of water gushed out from the ground, and the recoil from the water propelled Natsu and his companions to safety.
The dark torrent instantly enveloped her completely, dragging her forcefully into Keith's body!
Natsu had just regained his footing when he turned around and saw this scene, his eyes wide with fury.
He burst into flames, wanting to rush forward and save Juvia.
"Damn it, give Juvia back!"
Natsu's fist, wreathed in raging flames, slammed towards Keith.
"Haha, don't even think about it!"
With a strange laugh, Jackal, one of the Nine Demon Gates, stood in front of Keith and clasped his hands together abruptly.
A deafening roar!
A violent explosion erupted in front of Natsu instantly, and the powerful shockwave forcefully blocked Natsu.
Instead of retreating, Natsu advanced.
He opened his mouth wide, took a deep breath, and swallowed all the flames from the explosion.
Gajeel and Lily, ignoring their shock, rushed over from the left and right respectively.
Meanwhile, inside Keith's body.
She was surrounded by murky, viscous black magic, which was trying to devour her life bit by bit.
But Juvia felt no fear at that moment; only one thought occupied her mind—this demon was going to interfere with her beloved Gray!
The thought that Lord Gray might be in danger...
His entire body became burning hot from extreme anger, and his body temperature began to rise rapidly, causing the surrounding water to become increasingly hot as well.
"Gurgle gurgle..."
Keith cannot directly absorb powerful living people; he can only absorb them after killing them first. However, this gives Juvia an opportunity to counterattack.
Enraged Juvia transformed into scalding water, violently surging and crashing within Keith's body.
"Don't even think about interfering with Lord Gray!"
Accompanied by Juvia's furious shriek, Keith's body began to undergo bizarre changes.
Natsu and the others, who were being held back by the Jackals, were astonished to see Keith's body slowly inflating like a water-filled balloon.
His body was bulging from the water flow, and it looked like his whole body was about to burst at any moment.
The Jackal, who was standing aside blocking Natsu and the others, had no intention of helping Keith in his miserable state.
Demons are inherently cold-blooded.
In their view, death is death.
In the end, Hades will intervene, and they will eventually be resurrected.
Keith was stretched larger and larger, with more and more protrusions appearing on his body.
High-temperature steam even began to escape from the gaps in his body.
I'll kill you all!! How dare you lay a finger on my work!
Keith let out a final, desperate roar filled with resentment.
Bang!
With a deafening thud, Keith burst like an overinflated balloon, completely swelled up by Juvia!
Amidst the splashing scalding water, Juvia's figure emerged from the epicenter of the explosion.
Although she successfully killed Keith, she exhausted all her magic and physical strength.
"Lord Gray..."
Exhausted, Juvia swayed unsteadily, his legs gave way, and he fell backward.
Just as she was about to fall onto the rubble, a figure suddenly appeared behind her.
Gray caught her steadily, Juvia tumbled into a strong embrace.
"Sorry I'm late."
Hearing that familiar voice, Juvia barely managed to open her eyes.
Seeing that it really was Gray who hugged her, an unprecedented sense of security welled up in her heart.
She closed her eyes happily, just about to drift off to sleep peacefully.
Is this my daughter-in-law?
A slightly teasing, frivolous voice suddenly drifted over.
Silver stroked his chin, his eyes fixed on his beautiful daughter-in-law who had come to live with them, sizing Juvia up and down.
Upon hearing these earth-shattering words, Juvia's brain, which was on the verge of crashing, instantly restarted and became alert.
She suddenly opened her eyes and was shocked to see a middle-aged man's face that looked seven-tenths like Gray's!
Daughter-in-law?!
These three words are like a stimulant.
She looked like a freshly cooked shrimp, steam billowing from her head, her face as red as a ripe tomato.
The overwhelming happiness of meeting the parents came so suddenly that Juvia closed her eyes, a silly smile on her lips, and drifted off to sleep in blissful bliss, her hands still tightly clutching Gray's clothes.
"You bastard, what nonsense are you spouting?!"
Gray blushed instantly, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
He glared at his damn father.
Ur, who was following behind, was enjoying the spectacle and clicked his tongue twice with his arms crossed.
"Tsk tsk, someone's talking nonsense, but isn't he holding her really tight? He doesn't want to let go." Ur had a teasing, aunt-like smile on her face.
Upon hearing this, Gray felt Juvia in his arms become unusually hot.
He instinctively wanted to let go, but fearing Juvia might fall, he could only stiffly maintain the hugging posture, his eyes darting around.
An exasperated voice interrupted the family's warm and cozy daily routine.
"Silver, are you betraying Lord Hades?!"
The Jackal, who had just been forced back by Natsu, turned around and saw Silver chatting and laughing with the Fairy Tail members. He immediately shouted angrily.
Shut up!
Yin didn't even look at him directly, but simply raised her hand impatiently.
As a terrifying chill swept past, the arrogant Jackal, which had been so domineering just moments before, was instantly frozen into a lifelike ice sculpture before it even had a chance to detonate its Curse, utterly powerless to resist.
Gray took a deep breath, feeling he couldn't stay in front of these two elders any longer.
He wanted to put Juvia down and then go over to fight the remaining enemies with Natsu and the others, which would also ease the awkwardness.
He tried to pull it, but it wouldn't budge.
Although Juvia had fainted, her instinct to protect her food was extremely strong; she held him tightly around the waist with both hands.
Gray's eye twitched violently. He pushed harder, but still couldn't get it away.
His attempt failed again, and he had no choice but to give up.
Just then, Natsu came over from the side.
He pointed at Gray's body as if he had discovered a new continent.
"What's this black tattoo? Wait, why is the pink pig tattoo that Riyao gave you still there? Didn't it disappear?"
Natsu stared at Gray with a curious expression.
Gray was completely baffled by the question.
He was puzzled. How did Natsu see that? He was clearly wearing clothes...
A gust of cold wind blew by, and Gray subconsciously glanced down.
"Hey? Where are my clothes?!"