Her fingertip trembled as she pointed at herself, her face full of disbelief.
"You, you actually know who I am? That is impossible, how could you know me?"
She was on the verge of losing it. This so called Destroyer clearly did not follow any normal script.
She was a proud executive of Grimoire Heart's Seven Kin of Purgatory, a newcomer who had not even properly shown herself in the magical world yet… how did she get exposed the very first time she appeared?
Calm down. That is absolutely impossible. I have never met him, so how did he recognize me?
"Right, that is it, it must be from the Council's Magic Academy.
I have been studying in the Academy this whole time, maybe you saw me there.
Actually, you see, I am also undercover, investigating the Deliora incident.
My objective is the same as yours."
Watching Ultear desperately spit out one excuse after another, sweat pouring off her forehead, Kabe mercilessly shook his head and cut her off.
Then he grinned, showing eight white teeth, and teased:
"Nope. It was in a dark guild I wiped out.
I saw it very clearly in one of their documents.
You, Ultear Milkovich, subordinate of Hades, one of Grimoire Heart's Purgatory Kin."
"Guagh!"
Ultear nearly choked on her own breath and passed out on the spot.
She had worked so hard undercover inside the Magic Development Bureau for years.
Now, with two Councilors forced to resign, she was just about to use the credit for recovering Deliora to move up.
And now some damn subordinate dark guild had quietly kept her information on file, and it just happened to end up in this bastard's hands.
Looking at the now completely rattled Ultear, Kabe gave a smug little laugh and silently gave himself a thumbs up.
He had, of course, been completely talking nonsense just now.
He was only laying groundwork for what he wanted to say next.
"Ahem. You, you just said her name is Ultear? Ur's daughter?"
Just as the two of them were facing off, while Kabe was still thinking about how to keep messing with this woman, Lyon - who had lost half his life to that one punch - was finally dug out of the rubble by Yuka's frantic efforts.
He had barely taken a single breath when he heard that line.
Ignoring Yuka trying to hold him back, he forced himself to cut into their conversation in shock.
Kabe turned around, genuinely surprised, and looked at Lyon, who was barely managing to sit up with Yuka's support.
Right now the guy was miserable to the extreme.
The face that could barely count as handsome before now had a huge swollen lump on the left side.
Blood was running from his nose and mouth, and he was missing several teeth.
Even so, he forced down the dizziness and shakily stood up.
Eyes dazed and full of joy, he leaned on Yuka's arm and stared hard at Ultear.
"It really does look like her. It is, it is exactly like the portrait I saw when I was a kid."
"Oh, worthy of being the senior disciple. You have even seen her picture.
That brat Gray asked me about her and could not even describe what his teacher's daughter looked like."
Lyon's steps faltered again. He stared at Kabe in astonishment, apparently realizing that Kabe also knew Gray.
But compared to that annoying junior disciple, all of his focus right now was on this senior sister he had only heard about in stories.
"That is right, not just portraits. I also heard Ur talk about you two, mother and daughter, many times."
As Lyon spoke, he seemed to recall something, and his eyes suddenly grew wet.
"This is great. Really great. If Ur knew that the daughter she thought was dead is actually alive, she would definitely be happy."
"You, what did you say?"
Ultear's expression froze.
Kabe clearly saw her pale hands clench hard at Lyon's words, her fingers going white from the force.
Because of his injuries, Lyon did not notice any of this. He just kept rambling on and on.
"Where have you been all these years?
If you are alive, why did you never go back to reunite with Ur?
She has spent who knows how many nights crying alone in her room because she missed you.
You two really should see each other."
"That is enough, stop talking."
Ultear squeezed the words out through her teeth, as if each syllable hurt.
Lyon stared at her in confusion, wanting to say more, but Kabe raised a hand and blocked him.
"Judging from this, there is a pretty big misunderstanding between mother and daughter.
You got any alcohol here? With a few drinks, maybe it will be easier to talk."
"Misunderstanding? How could there be any misunderstanding between them?"
Lyon exploded immediately.
"To hell with it, I will let the earlier stuff pass, but this is our master and disciples' private matter.
You, an outsider, have no right to interfere."
Just looking at Kabe made his face throb with pain. He had a lot to say to Ur's daughter and did not want to waste his time arguing.
"You give someone a little respect and they get cocky. What, do you not want the other half of your face either?"
Kabe glared at him. Yuka, who was holding Lyon up, flinched instinctively.
Lyon was full of unwillingness, but for the sake of what was left of his face, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to keep his mouth shut.
After warning Lyon, Kabe looked back at Ultear, whose emotions were starting to spiral as well.
He could not help thinking that, as expected of people who trained under the same master, both of them had something wrong with their heads.
He cleared his throat and extended an invitation to Ultear.
"I happen to have some intel on the Magic Development Bureau.
How about you listen to it in front of Ur?"
"Ur is already dead."
Ultear did not move.
"The person is dead, but the ice is still there."
Kabe answered casually. Then he stomped lightly.
Before anyone else could react, the entire floor of the temple hall suddenly cracked under his foot and collapsed downward.
Because the temple had been abandoned and poorly maintained for years, that one stomp brought the whole floor down.
Lyon, Yuka, Sherry, every last one of them lost their footing and screamed as they dropped into the darkness below.
Even Ultear, who had been teetering on the edge of going full blackened, had not expected him to do something like this.
She let out a cute little "ah" and then felt her feet empty beneath her as she pitched forward.
Fortunately, at the critical moment, Kabe reached out and grabbed her, keeping her from sharing the same fate as the other three unlucky ones who slammed straight into the floor.
"Re - Reitei sama, I am going to kill you!"
Lyon's roar echoed from below.
"Quit yelling. If you have anything to say, come and say it in front of Ur."
Kabe let go of Ultear's waist and stepped aside.
In front of them, the giant demon Deliora, still wrapped and sealed in thick ice, was looming silently in the pit.