Ultear looked around at everyone holding their breath and said gravely:
"Before I joined the guild, there was a child in Grimoire Heart with extraordinary magical talent. He grew up in Grimoire Heart, and at a very young age, he easily mastered ancient magic that approached the Abyss of Magic!"
Blanc said nothing, maintaining the appearance of an attentive listener with a furrowed brow. He even nodded along as though taking it all very seriously.
"By all accounts, this child was certain to become a pillar of the guild. Strangely, though, despite my high position, I'd never heard anyone mention him. So I began investigating in private."
"But in the end, neither the written records nor my discreet questioning of the older members turned up any concrete information about him."
Lucy felt her hair stand on end and couldn't help swallowing. "That's so creepy..."
Blanc glanced at the easily startled Lucy, his thoughts wandering. You just haven't seen enough. Once you meet Mest, you'll get used to it.
"Exactly." Ultear nodded solemnly. "A child with clearly exceptional talent, yet not a single person in the entire guild remembered him."
"It wasn't until later, after several in-depth conversations with longtime members, that I finally noticed something wrong with their memories. That was when it dawned on me-someone had used memory magic on every member, erasing this person from all their memories!"
"And there was only one person capable of doing that to everyone in Grimoire Heart..."
"Hades?" Gray asked quietly.
"It could only have been him," Ultear confirmed with a nod.
"But why would he go that far? Why hide it even from his own people?" Ur frowned and asked gravely.
"I couldn't understand it either at the time." Ultear gave a self-mocking smile.
"Eventually, by piecing together the inconsistencies in