It had been more than half a month since Tike arrived at Ur's house.
On this day, Ur took the four children into town to buy ingredients and other daily necessities.
Although Tike could create food himself, he preferred Ur's cooking.
To his taste, it was far more delicious than anything he made with magic. It had an irreplaceable "mom" flavor that he couldn't replicate with magic no matter how hard he tried.
While Ur carefully selected ingredients at the shop, the four children chatted nearby to pass the time.
Having spent this time together, Gray was no longer as cold as before, but he still didn't talk much. So, the conversation was mainly between the other three.
However, as they were talking, Gray suddenly took off his shirt, his movements fluid and smooth as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
The chatter stopped instantly. The three of them looked at Gray with strange expressions.
Lyon, having seen this before, held his forehead with a helpless look. "Stripped again."
Ultear quickly covered her eyes with her hands, her face full of disgust. "Pervert."
Tike, who was closest to Gray, quietly shuffled his feet, deliberately creating distance and pretending not to know him.
This scene was witnessed by Ur, who had just finished shopping. Her brow furrowed instantly. She marched up to Gray in three strides and delivered a loud knock to his head.
Thwack!
"Ow!"
The crisp sound rang out almost simultaneously with Gray's cry of pain, followed by Ur's voice, full of helplessness and annoyance.
"Gray! How can you take your clothes off in the middle of the street!"
Gray rubbed his throbbing head and complained with a look of grievance, "It's all because your training method corrupted me! Making us run naked every day... now it's become a habit!"
Lyon teased from the side with a grin, "Don't make excuses. You're the only one here who strips unconsciously. It's clearly a 'special quirk' you awakened yourself!"
Lyon's words made Tike and Ultear laugh too, their cheerful laughter echoing through the street for a moment.
Gray curled his lip, a flush of awkward embarrassment appearing on his face as he fumbled to put his clothes back on.
Tike continued to watch Gray with a smile. Suddenly, he smelled a faint scent of blood drifting from not far away. Immediately after, a figure darted out from the side of the road!
It was a tall, silver-haired woman. She scooped up the unsuspecting Tike in one motion and immediately sprinted away.
Fortunately, Ur reacted quickly. Clapping her hands together, she instantly conjured an ice wall, blocking the woman's retreat.
Tike didn't just sit there waiting to be captured, either. He opened his mouth and bit down hard on the intruder's arm. His sharp teeth pierced the skin, and blood seeped out instantly.
The silver-haired woman grunted in pain and involuntarily loosened her grip. Tike seized the moment to break free, darting back to Ur's side like a gust of wind.
Ur immediately shielded the children behind her and shouted angrily at the intruder, "You have some nerve, daring to kidnap a child in broad daylight on the street!"
The silver-haired woman clutched her bleeding arm, her expression unchanged as she gazed at Tike. Slowly, she stated her purpose: "I was entrusted by my mother to find her long-lost son, who is also my... biological younger brother."
"...?"
Ur turned to look at Tike. Tike immediately closed his eyes, carefully sensing the scents in the air.
Tike had a special sense of smell and his judgment of scents was extremely accurate; he hadn't hidden this from Ur.
Ultear stared at Tike nervously, waiting for his verdict. Lyon and Gray also tensed their bodies, ready to deal with any sudden situation.
"I don't smell any blood relation between her and anyone here," Tike said as he captured the subtle scents in the air. "But she isn't lying. She really is here to find someone."
Since that was the case, Ur tried to suppress her anger and explained reasonably.
"You've got the wrong person. Tike isn't the child you're looking for."
However, the silver-haired woman simply shook her head gently at Ur's explanation and then stated her own judgment.
"About a month ago, Mother sensed an explosion of magic power from my brother. And the location of that magic outburst," the silver-haired woman's gaze remained locked on Tike, "was a place called the Magic Development Bureau."
At the mention of the Magic Development Bureau, Ur and Ultear's faces instantly darkened.
Tike, being the person in question, asked hesitantly, "You mean me?"
He had indeed left the Magic Development Bureau with Ultear around that time. However, he had not been able to reproduce the ability from back then. Instead, under Ur's guidance, he had learned that he possessed the power to heal others.
These two abilities couldn't be said to be unrelated; they were just completely opposite.
The silver-haired woman nodded gently.
"That's right. The magic power Mother sensed came from you. However, since I arrived there a bit late and the scent had faded, it took some effort to find you."
Tike opened his eyes wide in surprise.
"You have the same sense of smell as me?"
"We..." The silver-haired woman paused, then corrected herself. "Our clan all have a relatively keen sense of smell."
"I see..."
To be honest, meeting someone with the same ability for the first time made Tike somewhat happy. But after carefully sensing the aura in the air again, he still shook his head firmly.
"You aren't my sister."
The silver-haired woman paused for a moment, then seemed to realize something and let out a hearty laugh.
"I'm indeed not a 'sister,' but it's not convenient to explain here. Come back with me. Once you see Mother, you'll understand what's going on."
Saying this, the silver-haired woman extended an inviting hand to Tike.
In response, Tike chose to shrink back further behind Ur, his small hand tightly gripping the hem of Ur's clothes, showing extreme resistance.
Although he was very curious about the "Mother" she mentioned, this woman who had suddenly appeared didn't have the warm, maternal scent that Ur had, nor the gentle care that Ultear had...
All she had was a cold and distant scent.
So, he didn't want to go with her.
"Don't make this difficult for me, brother."
The silver-haired woman put away her smile, her eyes suddenly becoming as cold as ice. Immediately after, a pitch-black katana engraved with dragon patterns appeared out of thin air in her palm.
"Since you won't come with me, I'll have to be a little rough."
She simply flicked the katana backward lightly, and the ice wall behind her shattered like glass, turning into countless crystalline fragments that drifted down. The street pavement also cracked open with a hideous gash that extended for dozens of meters.
Then, the silver-haired woman held the katana at her side, continuing to watch Tike with eyes like cold stars.
"I'm not good at holding back, so this is going to hurt a bit. Just bear with it."
Facing such obvious hostility, Ur brought her hands together. Ice-blue magic power condensed in her hands, emitting a chilling aura.
"Stop causing trouble in the street!"
The silver-haired woman didn't respond to Ur. She simply placed her fingers on the hilt of her sword and leaned her body forward slightly.
"Netherworld Style: Draw Technique—"
With a crisp shing, sword light poured out like moonlight, transforming into countless intersecting silver beams that slashed forward with devastating force.
"Netherworld Fall!"