Kyoka's movements suddenly came to a halt.
The hand gripping her wrist was slender yet powerful, with visible frost swirling around the fingertips. What alarmed her even more was that the invading cold was actually causing the flow of 'Curse Power' within her body to become sluggish.
When she clearly saw the appearance of the person before her, Kyoka's pupils behind her mask shrank violently. This face... hadn't this person died ten years ago in the battle against Deliora?!
"Uru... Uru?!"
Gray's eyes widened, his voice trembling as he spoke.
The Curse of Sensory Deprivation was dispelled by the cold the moment that figure appeared. He took a staggering step, looking at that back in disbelief.
That familiar profile, that dignified voice—it was clearly his master who had long since vanished into the river of time.
The Ice Master Mage, Uru!
Gray suddenly remembered something and reached for the ice rose pattern on his back, but there was nothing there anymore.
Is this the surprise Hope gave me... Tilting his head back, Gray covered his eyes, but tears still streamed down. That bastard really has a twisted sense of humor; how could he possibly not cry upon seeing Uru again?
Recovering from her shock, Kyoka found that no matter how she pushed her enhanced strength, she couldn't break free from Uru's hand. "Impossible! How can a dead person still possess such power?!"
"Bullying children is quite classless, demon."
Uru's fingers tightened slightly, and an ice-blue Magic Circle bloomed in her palm. With just a gentle push, Kyoka was sent flying backward, snapping several large trees before becoming embedded in the Stone.
The ice covering her arm shattered, but Kyoka's entire right arm was already covered in spiderweb-like cracks, with dark purple blood seeping from the wounded flesh.
Uru turned around and winked at Gray, her eyes full of gratification. "Gray, you've grown up, and you've become stronger."
"Uru..." Gray's voice was choked with emotion. He had seen his teacher in his dreams countless times, wishing he could hear her teachings once more, and now he finally heard his master's voice again.
Uru knelt down and placed her palm on the forehead of the curled up, trembling Ultear.
Ice-blue magic flowed gently, and the spasms in Ultear's body caused by the 'Hundredfold Pain Amplification' visibly subsided.
Ultear's body relaxed, and she slumped onto the ground, gasping for air, cold sweat having long since soaked her clothes.
Ultear struggled to open her eyes. Through her tear-blurred vision was the face she thought she could only ever trace in her Memory. She wanted to say something, but her throat was choked by the grievances and longing of all these years, leaving her able to produce only broken, breathy sounds.
"Mother..."
"It's alright now, Ultear."
Uru's voice was soft, yet it carried a reassuring power as she gently pulled her daughter into her embrace. "It's alright now, Mama is here."
Ultear grabbed her mother's hand and sobbed uncontrollably. The embrace she had yearned for day and night for over a decade had suddenly become a reality.
Is it a dream?
If it was, she hoped she would never wake up... A loud bang as the Stone exploded violently interrupted this tender moment. Kyoka stepped out, her damaged arm healing at a visible rate.
Her demonic instincts allowed her to recover quickly from the shock, and her voice beneath the mask carried a twisted smile. "Not a Thought Projection... interesting... how very interesting! Someone who was supposed to be dead has actually been resurrected! I'm going to take you back and dig out your secrets bit by bit!"
Before she finished speaking, her figure suddenly vanished. The demon, her speed enhanced to the extreme, turned into an afterimage, her claws aiming straight for the back of Uru's neck.
"Watch out!" Gray cried out.
Uru didn't even stand up.
She simply raised her left hand and lightly tapped the air with her index finger.
Crack—
With that point as the center, the space within a five-meter radius instantly solidified.
Kyoka's figure suddenly appeared two steps behind Uru, frozen in a forward-charging posture, her entire body encased in transparent ice crystals.
Even the magic fluctuations around her, the splashing dust, and even the flow of the air were all frozen in that instant.
Gray sucked in a breath of cold air.
This wasn't Shaping magic, but absolute control over 'Ice' itself. How could Uru have become this strong?
Uru slowly stood up and turned to look at the frozen Kyoka. Her gaze was calm, without anger or contempt, as if she were looking at a Stone by the side of the road.
Ten years ago, she used 'Absolute Zero' at the cost of her physical body's disintegration to seal the supposedly immortal Deliora. Although her physical body was gone, her soul and spirit remained as the vessel for the freezing ice of the seal.
During these ten years, Uru, having become the ice, could not move or transmit any messages, so she had to focus her energy on that eternal, unmeltable ice.
Long years of accumulation had brought her understanding of 'Ice Magic' to an unprecedented height. If she were to possess a human body again, she could even freeze space itself.
But now, she was just a piece of ice that never melts.
Uru thought it would be like this forever, but she didn't expect her eldest disciple to come up with the 'Drops of Moonlight Project'. Fortunately, Deliora's life had long since been eroded by the ice.
When Absolute Zero was dispelled, Uru wasn't in a good state either.
If nothing unexpected happened, the shattered ice would turn into water, and her soul would flow into the ocean and slowly dissipate.
But an accident happened.
A young man named Hope took an interest in Deliora's power. When he performed the Take Over of delioras soul, he accidentally brought her along, as she was scattered within the ice blocks.
The 'Take Over' magic suppresses the will of the power's soul, so Uru had been in a semi-slumbering state.
It wasn't until she learned of Brain's true face at the magic academy that she finally woke up. The phantom behind Hope at that time was her. Unfortunately, the young man didn't pay much attention, and she didn't have the power to break free from the control of the Takeover Magic.
However, as long as Hope used delioras soul, he would eventually notice something strange.
But Uru never expected that, let alone delioras soul, even Takeover Magic would be tossed to the back of Hope's mind.
If that kid hadn't needed a demon's power to study Demon Slayer Magic seven days ago and dug delioras soul out from some dusty corner, she wouldn't have known how much longer she'd have to wait to see the light of day again.
After seeing Uru's soul through 'Spirit Vision', Hope spent three days finding a way from the 'Archive Magic' to temporarily materialize her soul and put it into action.
Because the materialization process took a few days, Hope used an 'Enchantment' to slap her onto Gray's back in the form of an ice rose pattern, calling it a "surprise" for Gray.
But Uru understood that he wasn't being kind; in reality, the kid simply wanted to see Gray's snotty and tearful embarrassing state.
After hearing the process of Uru's "resurrection," Gray's face showed three parts surprise, three parts self-reproach, three parts worry, and one part helplessness toward Hope's twisted sense of humor; his chaotic expression was as colorful as a palette.
Ultear heard that bastard's name once again, and her feelings were very complicated. She had been thinking about one day getting revenge for the humiliation she suffered back then, but now, how could she face Hope?
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