"Mrs Deborah Laneford, pray tell, how the hell are you still alive?"
The table was silent for exactly one second after Evan's question.
In the next, Matthias rose to his feet, his right arm pulled back and engulfed in the inky black power of negative life energy as he said,
"That's it, I'm killing this brat."
His fist shot toward Evan, but it didn't even make it halfway across the table before two hands reached out to intercept it, Deborah's from his side and Eliza's from directly in front of him.
Though the two women blocked his fist, the resulting shockwave overturned everything on the table, cracking both the tabletop and the ground beneath it.
Matthias's eyes widened, his expression turning into one of incredulity as he shouted, "Deborah, Eliza, did you not just hear what this dumb bastard said?!"
Deborah's expression darkened as she looked up at him. "We heard him just as clearly as you did."
"But sit down for a moment, Dad," Eliza said immediately after, her tone cold.
