The massive body of the demon Deliora was turning to dust, a final act of nullification from the Anti-Magic. The freezing air was heavy with silence and the scent of burnt ozone.
Ur, leaning heavily on her artificial ice leg, stared in shock at the inert form of Blake lying sprawled on the snow. He had saved her life, destroyed the unstoppable monster, and now he was completely spent.
She didn't hesitate. Ignoring her own searing exhaustion and the pain radiating from her missing limb, she dragged herself across the snow. She reached him, her hands brushing the exhaustion-slackened features of the powerful boy.
Just then, two sets of small, anxious footsteps crunched through the snow behind her.
Gray and Lyon, their faces pale but awe-struck, emerged from their hiding place. They had witnessed the impossible—Deliora, the beast that haunted their Master's life, reduced to ash not by the forbidden spell, but by a whirlwind of power they couldn't comprehend. They ran towards Ur.
"Master!" Gray cried, his voice shaky. "Is it... is it really gone?"
Before Ur could answer, a third, more hesitant set of footsteps approached.
Ultear, who had been watching the battle from a slightly farther distance, saw the young man who had cared for her collapse. Concern for Blake, the only person who had shown her unconditional kindness in months, propelled her forward. She made her way towards the trio.
Ur looked up, intending to reassure her boys. Her gaze landed on the approaching girl.
The air froze. Ur's face, etched with battle fatigue and relief, fractured into something entirely different: total disbelief. The beautiful, dark-haired girl was identical to the child she had mourned for years.
"Ultear?" Ur whispered, her voice barely a breath. "Are you really my Ultear?"
Ultear, confused by the question, stopped a few feet away. Why would she ask that?
Ur, needing absolute confirmation, heard her daughter's ragged breathing and the familiar cadence of her name. The floodgates opened.
"ULTEAR! YOU ARE ALIVE! YOU ARE ALIVE! YOU ARE ALIVE!" Ur sobbed, pushing herself up with a burst of frantic energy. She hobbled forward and crushed Ultear into a fierce, desperate embrace.
Ultear herself was the most confused now—her mother seemed to truly think that she had died. But that agonizing thought dissolved instantly under the weight of her mother's hug. This was real. This was warm. This was what she had searched for.
She started crying, loud, wrenching sobs of relief and pain, burying her face into her mother's chest and hugging Ur back with a ferocious grip.
Gray and Lyon stopped dead in their tracks. They knew the story: Master Ur's child, Ultear, had been taken to the Bureau of Magic Development years ago and had tragically died from a fever. They exchanged wide-eyed, surprised expressions. With a maturity beyond their years, they understood this was a sacred, intensely private moment and stayed aside, letting the mother and daughter reunite in peace.
After hugging each other and crying for minutes, the raw, messy intensity of the moment began to subside. Ur pulled back, still clutching Ultear's shoulders, her eyes scanning her daughter's body.
"Ultear, are you fine? You are not hurt anywhere, right?" Ur asked frantically, her protective instincts overriding everything else.
"I'm fine, Mom," Ultear confirmed, wiping her own tears.
"That's a relief," Ur whispered, pulling her close again, shaking. "They told me you died and didn't even let me take your body home, so I still can't believe you are here now. Thank God. Really, thank you."
Ur was sobbing while saying that, but her words made Ultear frown. The confusion returned, sharper now.
"Mom, who told you that I died?"
"Sniff!" Ur managed, wiping her face. "The doctors in the Bureau of Magic Development. Do you remember when you had that strong fever? They said your power was too much for your body..."
"Yeah, you said it was because I had too much magic power and my body couldn't handle it."
"That's right. So I brought you there because they have vast knowledge of magic and I thought they could cure you," Ur explained, her voice cracking with the memory of her painful decision.
Ultear now finally understood what happened. The full, sickening truth hit her: those "doctors" hadn't just experimented on her; they had lied to her mom, saying she had died so they could take her body and continue their cruel, inhuman tests. She felt a wave of icy sickness mixed with fierce vindication. Her mother hadn't abandoned her. She had been deceived.
"Mom, I never died, they lied to you," Ultear said fiercely.
"Yeah, I realize it immediately when I see you alive," Ur said, her voice now dangerously low. A fierce expression settled on her face, even with the tears and snot, turning her into the formidable mage she was. She didn't know the exact reasons why those doctors lied, but she knew the reason wouldn't be good.
However, she didn't want to press Ultear, afraid that it might be something traumatizing for the little girl. She was just overwhelmed and happy to see her daughter return.
"Mom, I will tell you everything later," Ultear said, looking towards the unconscious mage on the ground. "But I want to ask something. Who are they?"
Ur followed her gaze to Gray and Lyon.
"Ah, right. We will talk about it later," Ur said, looking down at Blake with a soft, grateful smile. "First, we need to get him out of the cold. Why don't we take Blake to a house nearby so he can rest properly, and we can talk more there?"
Ultear's face softened. "Blake was the one who saved me when I fainted from exhaustion on the road," she explained quickly, her protective instincts taking over. She wanted him safe and warm.
Ur smiled warmly at Blake. She gently took her daughter's hand. "We owe him everything, then. Now, I used the last of my energy on that glacier to trap the demon. I'm afraid I don't have enough energy to lift him."
She turned to her apprentices. "Gray! Lyon! He's exhausted, not hurt. Treat him gently, carry him, and follow us."
The two boys, still reeling from the sight of the real Ultear, instantly obeyed. They quickly lifted Blake between them, cradling his unconscious form. Ur, holding Ultear's hand tightly, led the small procession toward one of the still intact houses in the ruins of the town. Gray and Lyon carried Blake and followed Ur and Ultear into the house.
Inside the small, relatively protected cottage, Gray and Lyon gently placed Blake on a makeshift bed near the hearth. Ur immediately ordered the boys to search for something to eat and begin a detailed, thorough inspection of Blake's injuries.
Ur then turned to Ultear, wrapping her in thick furs. She sat beside her daughter, pulling her close.
"The boys will take care of Blake," Ur murmured, kissing Ultear's head. "Now, I need to know everything. But first, let me tell you my part, so you understand why I did what I did."
Ur began the painful recounting. She described the fever, the doctors' assurance that the Bureau was the only place capable of handling a child with such immense, untamable magical power. She told Ultear about the heartbreaking weeks of waiting outside the facility, the endless stream of cryptic, cold reports.
"Then, they called me in," Ur whispered, tears returning. "They were dressed in white, they had cold eyes, and they told me... that you had died during an experimental procedure. They wouldn't let me see you or even retrieve your body for burial. They said it was 'too dangerous' due to the volatile magic that killed you. They gave me a sealed document and sent me away."
Ur held Ultear tighter. "I was broken, Ultear. I lost my only family. I thought I had killed you by being selfish and powerful. That guilt... it drove me mad. I went to the north, to the ice, where I met these two boys, Gray and Lyon. I started to train them, to raise them."
Ultear listened, her expression changing from pain to a fierce, protective love for her mother. The details of the lie were heinous, confirming everything Blake had warned her about. Her mother was a victim, not a villain.
When Ur finished, Ultear began her own, terrifying story—the strange, isolated facility, the invasive experiments, the constant pressure, and finally, her desperate escape and the two-day trek through the snow, driven by the belief she had been callously replaced.
As the full, monstrous truth was laid bare in the tiny, fire-lit house, Gray and Lyon watched over the sleeping hero, and Ur and Ultear embraced, finally reunited, and now bound by a truth colder than any ice.