Ultear noticed a faint gaze and subtly turned her head to look at Anselion.
Anselion had already withdrawn his gaze, his eyebrows slightly lowered, and a gentle smile on his lips, looking exactly like an elegant and quiet young nobleman.
Ultear frowned slightly.
She was not an easy woman to fool; as the leader of the Seven Kin of Purgatory of Grimoire Heart, Ultear had been lurking in the Council for a long time.
Originally, her plan was to manipulate Jellal, who she had brainwashed, to complete the Tower of Paradise experiment, to find out what benefits her own Guild could gain.
Everything was progressing smoothly; Ultear, disguised as the ghost of Zeref, successfully manipulated Jellal and together they infiltrated the Council, becoming one of its members.
Originally, she only needed to quietly wait for the right moment to complete her scheme.
However, this newly appointed young Council member made Ultear inexplicably uneasy.
Anselion, like Jellal, possessed powerful magic and was valued by the higher-ups, thus entering the Council.
But unlike Jellal, Ultear could not see through this man at all.
Having grown up in a Dark Guild, Ultear's senses were extremely keen; Anselion's entry into the Council definitely had ulterior motives.
Moreover, just a few days ago, Anselion had overtly and covertly begun trying to make contact with her.
What exactly was his purpose? While Ultear was deep in thought, the discussion among the old men finally came to an end.
To the great annoyance of the three young people present, these old geezers still hadn't come to any conclusion.
They still adopted a wait-and-see attitude towards Fairy Tail, refusing to take any action... refuse to take any action... then what were you discussing for two or three hours?
These Council members were always like this; they always liked to hold tedious meetings, but when it came to making a decision, they would procrastinate and want to maintain the status quo, which greatly annoyed Jellal and Ultear, who were eager to use them... Ankh, disguised as Anselion, even had veins throbbing in his forehead. If it weren't for the Guild, how could he possibly be willing to work with these people?
After the meeting, the ten Council members dispersed.
Jellal walked towards his exclusive Council member's office, with Ultear following closely behind, seemingly to discuss something.
During this period, although Ultear appeared to be Jellal's subordinate, in reality, she was the true mastermind.
Anselion silently reviewed the information in his mind, then quietly walked past the two of them, pretending to just be passing by.
Jellal glanced at Anselion but didn't pay him any mind.
In his opinion, Anselion was just a moderately capable Council member; although young, he was not worth mentioning compared to him, a Ten Wizard Saint.
It was Ultear, however, whose expression suddenly changed slightly as she passed by Anselion.
Ultear paused, her gaze fixed strangely on Anselion's back.
Seeing this, Jellal asked curiously, "Ultear, what's wrong?"
Ultear shook her head and smiled faintly, "It's nothing."
Jellal didn't pay attention to her strange behavior and turned his head to leave.
Seeing Jellal gradually walk away, Ultear quickly unfolded the note hidden in her palm.
This was something Anselion had slipped into her hand just now as he passed by.
As her fair, slender hand unfolded, Ultear's heart couldn't help but leap when she saw the words written on the paper!
Only a short sentence was written on it, but it left Ultear in a state of shock and uncertainty.
"Miss Ultear of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, I want to make a deal with the Devil."
How could this be?!
Had this man already seen through her true identity?
It's impossible!
Ultear had always acted cautiously; even if a few Council members suspected her, it was impossible for them to catch her in the act.
But Anselion... why would he so directly point out her identity?
Ultear's expression gradually darkened. She clenched the note tightly in her hand and murmured in a low voice:
"It doesn't matter how you know, or how much you know... dead people are the most reassuring!"
Ultear's beautiful eyes suddenly turned cold. Anselion said he wanted to make a deal with her, which was perfect.
As long as he had demands, no matter what his intentions were, Ultear would find an opportunity to eliminate this menace in one fell swoop.
The note was destroyed into ashes by magic. Ultear's killing intent slowly receded, and she left the spot expressionlessly.
In the evening, Anselion sat at his desk in his office, absorbed in a stack of documents placed before him.
These were all intelligence reports about the Dark Guild Tartaros, which Anselion had managed to obtain from the Council's library by using his authority.
Anselion looked at the vague intelligence reports before him and couldn't help but shake his head with a bitter smile.
As expected of the most mysterious Dark Guild, there wasn't much useful information available in the Council's records.
According to the Council's intelligence, the strongest cadres in this Guild, like Seilah whom Ankh had met before, were all Devils!
Rumor has it that these Devils were created by the Black Wizard Zeref centuries ago, and the guild master at the helm was even said to be the strongest Devil Zeref had ever created—END.
However... rumors are just rumors. None of the information in these Council documents has been truly confirmed.
Anselion propped his head up and pondered silently.
This matter couldn't be rushed, and there was no need to rush.
There were still about two years until the start of the plot, which was enough time for Ankh to set up his plans using two identities.
At this time, his true body, Ankh, had already gone to the capital of Fiore to carry out a commission. It was said that there were traces of the White Devil there, and perhaps he could get some information from them.
As for Anselion here... the candlelight suddenly flickered. Anselion looked outside the door and said softly with a smile, "Miss Ultear, if you're here, please come in."
The person at the door did not reply. Instead, all the light sources in the room instantly went out!
Anselion's eyes flashed, and a black light instantly lit up, with a complex magical array immediately appearing before him.
In the dark room, a crystal ball, shot from an unknown location, smashed towards Anselion with great force!
Anselion spread his arms, the magic array dissolved into the air, and shadows surged like a flood in the dark room, rushing towards the crystal ball.
The Shadow Stream suddenly surged violently, colliding with the crystal ball in mid-air with a loud crash, emitting a quite intense magical vibration.
Seeing the stalemate, the curvaceous beauty in the darkness quickly retrieved her crystal ball.
Then, like a cunning fox, she rushed to Anselion's front and delivered a fierce kick to his forehead!
But before this deadly kick could land, another black shadow suddenly extended from beside him, firmly blocking Anselion's front.
Ultear turned to look, her eyes becoming even more annoyed.
The person blocking her attack was completely black and indistinguishable, a solid black shadow.
Lost Magic • Shadow Stream, unlike the common Shadow Magic found everywhere in Fiore, allowed for more free manipulation of shadows, transforming them into any desired form.
Shadows were everywhere, making this magic particularly troublesome.
It was said that Anselion, using this magic, had crippled a Mage whose magic power far exceeded his own, and even managed to escape gracefully under the opponent's frantic attacks.
Ultear's expression became somewhat grim.
Originally, she thought those rumors were just exaggerations, but now that she was fighting him, she knew that those rumors were not false.
At this moment, Anselion sat back in his seat, quite ostentatiously taking a sip of the coffee on the table, and said calmly:
"It's a long night, and I can't sleep. Beautiful lady, why don't we chat?"