Chapter 247: A Concerned Lyra.

Hearing Kael’s words, Lyra finally managed to calm herself down a little, although the concern on her face didn’t disappear.

"Come on. Let’s go inside," Kael said. "I’ll explain everything to you."

Lyra nodded.

Kael closed the door behind him before the two of them walked toward the living room. They took their seats, but Lyra didn’t even wait for him to settle properly before turning toward him with an expectant look.

"So...?"

Kael sighed.

He knew he owed her an explanation.

So he started from the beginning.

He told her about the first time he’d discovered another consciousness living inside Ezra, back when they had been within the Verdant World rift. As Kael recounted what he’d found there, the moment he used Eye of Judgement’s ability on her, Lyra’s expression shifted slightly, a flicker of something unreadable crossing her face, but she didn’t interrupt, letting him continue.

She didn’t even look particularly surprised.

Kael noticed that.

It made sense when he thought about it.

When Ezra had come over to heal him in the past, Kael had already sensed that something about her wasn’t quite right. At the time, he had even considered the possibility that she might have some kind of split personality disorder or something similar.

But Lyra had spent far more time with Ezra than he had.

The two of them had been close for years, their bond built through countless shared moments, and Lyra had interacted with her more times than either of them could probably count. If something about Ezra had felt off, even something small, there was a good chance Lyra had picked up on it long before Kael ever did.

Since she didn’t interrupt, Kael continued.

He explained how, after discovering the other consciousness, he had assigned a shadow construct to keep watch over Ezra.

That part required a little more explanation.

Kael couldn’t simply mention the constructs without context, so he told Lyra about Varek as well, carefully explaining who Varek was and how his shadow constructs had been keeping an eye on Ezra from the shadows.

Lyra’s expression shifted several times as she listened, flickers of surprise and something harder to name crossing her face one after another, but she still didn’t interrupt, letting him continue.

Kael continued until he reached what had happened tonight.

He explained how Varek had suddenly contacted him and informed him that Ezra had been attacked.

The moment Kael mentioned that, Lyra’s expression became visibly more anxious.

"What happened to her?"

Kael continued before she could ask again, explaining how he had rushed over and eventually discovered that the attack was connected to the Dark Viper Guild.

That was the point where Lyra finally lost her composure.

She shot to her feet.

"How despicable!"

Her voice carried a fierce intensity Kael had rarely heard from her.

"To think a mighty Guild would stoop so low as to attack a single person! We need to report them to the Association. They should face the consequences!"

Kael stared at her for a moment.

He was genuinely surprised.

It was the first time he had ever seen Lyra this angry.

Her gaze burned with indignation as she clenched her fists.

Kael raised a hand.

"Calm down. There’s no reason to bother doing that."

Lyra turned toward him.

Kael’s expression remained completely calm.

"I’ve already wiped them from this world."

Lyra froze.

For several seconds, she simply stared at him.

"...What?"

Even though Lyra knew Kael was strong, the Dark Viper Guild wasn’t some insignificant group that could simply be erased overnight. They were known as one of the fastest-rising Guilds in the third district, and there was a reason for that reputation.

Over the years, their strength had grown considerably. Their influence had expanded, and the number of Hunters recruited under their banner had continued to increase.

Yet Kael had just casually said he had wiped them out.

A strange mixture of emotions appeared in Lyra’s eyes as she looked at him.

Her gaze eventually fell onto his clothes, the dried blood still clinging to the fabric, and suddenly things made sense.

So that’s why he said it wasn’t his blood.

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

That blood must have belonged to the people he had killed.

Every member of the Dark Viper Guild.

Lyra’s expression became increasingly worried.

Not because she felt sorry for the Dark Viper Guild.

Lyra wasn’t naive enough to believe that every human being deserved pity simply because they were human. Some people spent their entire lives inflicting pain on others. To her, people like that weren’t fundamentally different from the monsters she killed inside the rifts.

Why should she pity them?

The Dark Viper Guild had spent years using the media to paint themselves in a favorable light, trying to build a positive public image and distance themselves from their past.

But their history hadn’t simply disappeared.

They had once been nothing more than a gang, and even after becoming a Guild, rumors and reports of their dealings in those darker areas had never completely vanished. They might have tried to hide those activities, but that stain on their reputation remained.

As far as Lyra was concerned, a Guild like that shouldn’t exist.

What worried her now wasn’t the fate of the Dark Viper Guild.

It was Kael.

Would he be okay?

He had just wiped out an entire Guild.

Would the Hunter Association come after him?

Would they investigate him?

Would he get into trouble because of what he had done?

Lyra’s eyes remained fixed on him, her concern impossible to hide.

Kael noticed.

He stood from his seat and walked over to her.

"There’s no reason to worry about any of that."

He placed a hand on her shoulder and looked directly into her eyes.

"I’ll handle everything on my end, okay?"

Lyra remained silent for a few seconds.

She searched his face as though trying to determine whether he really meant it.

Eventually, she nodded.

"Okay."

Her expression relaxed slightly.

Then, almost immediately, another thought came to her.

"What about Ezra?"

Her voice softened.

"How is she now? Is she okay?"