Novel The Void Wolf

do we get a chapter today?

 

Dropping it right now.

 

Chapter 31

Spoiler: Read More

Ira, Harper, and Samantha all stood on the lift.

"Well, we live just across from the Bluebird if you decide to drop by."
Ira said as they waited for the lift to arrive on the second floor.

"That's the one that was almost robbed right?"
Samantha looked surprised. Ira chuckled and glanced at Harper before answering.

"Yeah, that one. Oh! Since you're my Handler you should come to my wedding at the end of the week."
Ira had a look of realization before he invited Samantha. She wanted to refuse at first but realized she didn't have much of a choice. If she caused Ira to be upset she could be swapped out for another person at a whim. Her only advantage was that Ira was still unknown to most people and he didn't seem to know or care what a Handler was. For some reason, she didn't feel intimated even knowing the boy she stood next to was the human equivalent of an Elder Dragon.

The lift stopped on the second floor. Ira and Harper stepped off while Samantha stayed on.

"I'll be there."
Samantha nodded while smiling. The lift departed leaving Ira and Harper on a floor filled with mercenaries. People were running back and forth, the whole second-floor area buzzed with activity. Ira spotted Lance and his party and walked over with Harper. Well, it wasn't like he just found them, he could distinctly smell a trace of their scents when he walked in the building.

"Hey! I-"
Gerald called out excitedly but stopped himself.

"How's it going?"
Ira chuckled as he passed through a small crowd and stood in front of them.

"That's you isn't it?"
Sarah whispered as she pointed to the ranking pillar.

"Yeah."
Ira responded as he grew serious and continued talking at a lower volume.

"You can't tell anyone it's me. I have to conceal my strength so my enemies don't find out."
Ira continued. Lance and the others showed earnest expression at the grave statement. What could Ira be worried about that caused him to hide his strength?

"Hahaha. No, I'm just fucking with you. Tell whoever, I don't care."
Ira burst out laughing. What could cause him to hide his strength? The answer was nothing. Lance and the others relaxed their expressions.

"Real funny, Ira."
Lance said in a normal voice, a few people heard him and sent hidden glances toward Ira while they began to eavesdrop.

"Hey, you're up there Harper."
Ira said as he read the pillar. Coming in at rank 60 was Harper, of course, it was overshadowed by Ira's abrupt journey to the top. Harper proudly nodded as she looked at the ranking.

"I never did see your status card, did I?"
Ira said as he held his chin. Harper pulled out the status card and handed it over. Lance and his party took a second look at Harper, her looks were just as eye-catching as Ira's, they just didn't pay much attention at first.

"Is this your sister, Ira?"
Lance asked as he looked at the weird dots between Harper's eyebrows.

"Something like that."
Ira replied absentmindedly as he looked over the card.


"Nice. Avery's got you learning a bit of everything. Good job."
Ira praised as he handed the card back, Harper smiled cheerfully as she received the card. He turned his attention back to Lance and his group.

"Ira...Could we spar with you?"
Lance asked a bit hesitantly. Ira was younger than him and clearly far more powerful, he was a little uncomfortable with asking but he knew it would benefit his party greatly. The "few" eavesdroppers doubled, right now everyone was looking for anyone information on "Ira" and a few people overheard Lance's party when the rankings changed and they'd seemed to know who it was.

"Yeah, It's not every day you can spar with the number one."
Valerie added in, the other nodded in agreement. The eavesdroppers now suspected the kid with the black hair was the one named Ira and as a result, the rumor spread throughout the room.

"We can spar, but only if you come to my wedding. It's at the end of the week."
Ira chuckled. Then he wondered if he could actually bring people to his wedding. He guessed the Valkyries either wouldn't mind or kill all of his guests for trespassing, but the latter probably wouldn't happen. Maybe.

"Sure!"
Gerald shouted in agreement instantly, he'd definitely wouldn't miss the chance to bring his wife. The others also nodded showing they were attending.

"Alright, then we can spar quickly. After that, I have to go get a prosthetic arm made."
Ira said as he stretched his arms. Harper was kind of curious to see how strong Ira was too.

"Up to the fourth floor then?"
He asked with a bright smile. A small group of people who specialized in stealth decided they would follow "Ira" and Lance's group up to the fourth floor and see if he really was the number one.

...............................

Back in the Thynne Manor, servants and assistants were constantly running around. This was the first wedding where everyone from the family would be in attendance, whether they wanted to or not. A "normal" wedding was overseen by a priest with a more or less standard celebration after. Valkyrie weddings worked a "bit" differently. Ceremonial swords, a blessing from the Matriarch, and a few other peculiar things. Casey and Avery sat in the white pagoda while a few attendants stood to the side.

"You should get everything for Ira before he arrives."
Avery said with a faint grin. Knowing Ira he would assume that her family would have everything covered before he showed up. An attendant hastily wrote a note.

"Avery...You're different. Is it because of him?"
Casey raised an eyebrow as she took a sip of her tea.

"Yes, Mother."
Avery responded without hesitation. No trace of girlish embarrassment could be seen on her face.

"Well. That's good. I remember when I met your father. It was a marriage of necessity. His looks weren't bad and he was intelligent, but that was it, I can't say I felt very strongly about him. It is a shame Aldis couldn't talk to him a little more. A few of your aunts feel regretful you had to go through that. "
Casey said indifferently, clearly, her words about Aldis meeting his dad were just out of politeness and the regrets shared by Avery's aunts weren't shared by her and Lauren.

Avery remained silent. The reason why Aldis would never meet his Father is because he was dead. As to how he died?

"Do you regret killing him, Avery?"
Casey asked with an evaluating expression.

"Not at all, Mother."
Avery responded immediately. A strange conversation took place on the pagoda, yet none of the assistants or servants flinched. Most people in the household were familiar with the event. 11 years ago Avery's father, Ibrahim Grant, bore witness to the Valkyrie training regiment which could only be described as cruel. After the black pillar incident, a family meeting was called, during that time the females in training were in attendance, but the happy daughter he once knew became cold and indifferent.

He hounded Casey for answers before she informed of a few things Avery went through, much to his dismay. Anyone of them would completely break the will of a normal adult let alone a child. He bided his time before attempting to take Avery and Aldis away under the cover of the night. To his surprise, his plan ended when he went to get Avery. He was instantly discovered by the sleeping females and caught. He attempted to reason with Avery. A girl shouldn't have to live through so much brutality, right? That would be the rational consensus.

That consensus wasn't shared by Avery. "You're a traitor to the family and you'll die like one." were the exact words she said before beheading her father without blinking. A few hours later the situation was discovered by the Valkyrie supervising the training. Upon discovery that her husband had been killed, Casey's only response was "Well, that's a pity.", along with some praising words for Avery's decisiveness. She had very little love for her husband and even less when she found out he tried to take Avery.

"Very good. Anyway, you have a selection of dresses to choose from."
Casey smiled as she signaled the assistants who in turn signaled the servants. A few moments later a dress rack was brought out, showcasing a huge amount of dresses in different styles and colors.

"Ah, Avery I almost forgot. You haven't had your awakening yet, so I encourage you to show some moderation on your wedding night. Your Grandmother wishes to see the bloodlines bond, but there is no need for haste."
Casey gave meaningful smile.

"I'll listen to your words, Mother."
Avery's grin became a bit more noticeable.

.................................

Inside one of the public Mercenary Union training areas, private rooms were expensive to rent, so Ira decided a public room would do just fine. Lance and his party stood in a formation. Valerie and Zella stood in the back, Sarah stood in front of them, and Lance and Gerald stood in the very front. The idea was to have the mages cast spells from the back, Sarah to attack any openings, and Lance and Gerald to perform crowd control. Harper stood off to the side in a spectator area with wide eyes and Ira he stood opposite to Lance's party. He had rolled his sleeves up and took off his boots, it was strange to the others, excluding Harper, but they decided to just accept it. Ira also encouraged the party to use real weapons, to which they reluctantly agreed. A few people "covertly" stood gathered up in the spectator area to watch. If this boy was really number one, they had to spread the news as fast as possible. Ira noticed these extra eyes before they even arrived in the sparring area, but didn't really care if they looked or not.

"I'll try to hold back as much as possible, so whenever you're ready just go."
Ira said as he moved his feet apart. Lance wanted to tell Ira not to hold back but felt that would be a terrible idea. Which it would've been, Ira could move faster than the speed of sound, a B+ party would die without any resistance if he didn't hold back. Though it wasn't a fluid movement, he could go in any direction, but couldn't maneuver well. He wasn't running at at high speeds, but combining his gravity manipulation and strength to move. His gravity manipulation had to be his strongest power at the moment. He understood the reason behind it was the influence of The Void, which allowed him to bend the laws of the world.

Lance signaled his party and they moved accordingly. The two mages spread out, Sarah readied an arrow, and Lance and Gerald moved forward.

Fwip!
An arrow flew towards Ira, he simply raised his hand up and caught it. Catching an arrow wouldn't be difficult for skilled warriors, but Ira caught it barehanded. Lance and Gerald ran ahead as Valerie and Zella began chanting.

"Guard Breaker!"
"Arc Slash!"
Gerald used a skill as he swung the mace downwards while Lance brought up the flank and swung his sword. Valerie and Zella finished their chants.
"Frost Bolt!"
"Fireball!"
Ira moved in a way that almost looked like he was levitating and avoided the incoming swings. He caught the frost bolt and crushed it in his hands, and directly smacked away the fireball. He then lunged forward and uppercut Gerald who helplessly went into the air. He grabbed his ankle and swung his body toward Lance.

Bang!
The pair started to fall backward, but Ira wasn't done. He grabbed both of them by their collars and threw them toward Valerie and Zella.

Whoosh!
"Woah!"
"Watch out!"
Lance and Gerald didn't realize what happened and before they knew it they were in the air about to hit their allies. Lance crashed into Zella, while Gerald managed to divert his body a little, but still hit Valerie. Ira grinned as he walked toward Sarah who readied three arrows and was aiming at him.

"Triple Shot!"
She released all three arrows and they sailed together toward Ira while covered in a white light. They flew faster than normal arrows and had better stopping power. What Sarah didn't know was Ira had magic arrows shot at him on a daily basis by Valkyries, how would her arrows compare? He snatched the trio of arrows out of flight with his hands. Sarah began backing up and went to grab more arrows.

"Rapid Draw!"
Her hand was covered in white light as she rapidly shot arrows toward Ira. The following scene looked rehearsed as each arrow was easily caught by Ira. Sarah kept reaching for arrows until she realized there were none left, Ira dropped all the arrows he caught onto the floor and continued towards her. She drew a dagger and charged toward Ira, she went to stab him, but he grabbed her arm and tossed her into the air. Lance and Gerald recovered and ran towards Ira with weapons in hand. Gerald swung his mace from the side only to receive a kick in his abdomen, laying him out on the ground. Lance swung his sword furiously, in response Ira lightly dodged and found an opening. He placed a palm on Lance's chest and-

Bang!
He was sent recoiling backward. Then he caught Sarah by the leg as she fell back down and tossed her into Valerie who appeared to be standing up again.

"Ah!"
Sarah yelped as she crashed into the already disoriented Valerie. Groans and coughs filled the sparring area, along with Harper's giggles. The whole sparring match didn't even last 2 minutes. Those "hidden" spectators were stunned, but not for long as they ran off to spread the news. Harper smiled as she ran up to Ira.

"That was cool."
She giggled in amazement. Ira just ruffled her hair before he turned to Lance's party who were ruffed up. Disheveled hair, bruises, and scrapes were shared by each of them. It wasn't all bad, they could see more than a few flaws in their formation that they would work to correct.

"Jeez, you sure you were holding back?"
Gerald lightly touched his bruised jaw. Ira laughed as he put his boots back on. Sarah also pitched in.

"Yeah, you seem to like throwing people."
She recalled being tossed into the air pretty easily. Valerie and Zella also nodded in agreement, they were both were hit with human bodies and it didn't feel too good. Lance tapped his chest and looked at Ira.

"What was that skill you used to push me?"
He asked curiously. Ira thought for a second before answering.

"It's like this."
He waved his left and a pastry appeared in it. He stretched out his hand and the pastry floated up for a few seconds before falling back into his hand.

"I can briefly alter gravity."
Ira chuckled before eating the pastry.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

While he chewed Lance and the other looked at him in disbelief.

"So can you fly?"
Gerald asked excitedly. Ira wiped his hands off as he shook his head.

"I can jump really high, but I need to make contact with something to use it. It's a bit hard to explain."
Ira said as he contemplated about his ability. He still didn't have a handle on matter alteration, but he could skillfully employ gravity alteration. It seemed to only work in bursts and he could only adjust the input of power for each one. All of a sudden, Ira had a bright idea about matter alteration.

"Anyway. I have a house right across from the Bluebird, it's not too far from here. At the end of the week stop by in the morning. We can all go to my wedding. Let's go, Harper."
Ira said abruptly as he turned to leave. Lance and the others seemed to realize something that put them in awe. They personally knew Ira, the highest ranked mercenary. Eventually, they would find out if that was good or bad.

...............................

Charles stood in the middle of his trashed store muttering under his breath. Chalk markings were everywhere, from the floor to the walls. Dozens of pieces of metal equipment were warped and unusable. The alchemical tools were scattered and the overall shop was in total disrepair.

"...Isolate the unstable reactions and try to put the dominant traits into regression...or at the very least dormancy."
Charles theorized to himself. One had to give him credit. He seemed to found a loophole in the soul contract, while he couldn't replicate the formula, it didn't state that he couldn't make his own based on the knowledge he gained. Although Charles had been obsessed, he never had been so dedicated to something where he was willing to gamble his life. There were no safe ways to test soul contracts for loopholes and those stupid or desperate enough to do so usually ended up dying.

Creeeaaak

The metal door to the entrance creaked loudly, which was strange because Charles was sure he locked-

"Oh! Someone's been busy."
Ira forced his way into the store, while Harper followed behind. He surveyed the surroundings and easily came to a conclusion.

"...Charlie. Charlie. Charlie. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk."
Ira shook his head as he clicked his tongue. All of a sudden Harper raised her arm and a giant translucent hand appeared from the ground and grabbed Charles.

"Heuh!"
Charles shouted as he felt the air being squeezed out of his lungs. Ira slowly walked over as he read different chalk markings decorating the walls. He found a chair and pulled it to the center of the room. He then sat down in front of the restrained Charles.

Vssshing.

Ira pulled his sword from the scabbard and stabbed it into the floor. Then he waved his left hand and-

Thump!

The body of a woman fell onto the ground and it was even warm as if she had just been killed.

"Aueck!"
Charles shouted reflexively, but it was stopped by the giant blue hand that held him and ended up sounding like a cough. Ira ignored him and grabbed the woman's body by the arm. He picked up the sword and cut the arm off, allowing blood to spill onto the floor. He then held the freshly severed arm in his hand and went into contemplation, before grasping the sword by its blade.

He closed his eyes as he held both the sword and the severed arm. Slowly the arm began to change into a dark grayish color and gained a metallic luster. He then shook it the arm and see it lacked movement. The most common prosthetic arms lacked human qualities, only those with a lot of money to spend could afford to have human-like arms crafted.

Charles eyes almost popped out of his head and not because of the pressure from the hand squeezing him. Wasn't the ability Ira displayed something all alchemists would wish to see? Was it not Transmutation?

"Woah!"
Harper peeked over Ira's shoulder and shouted in surprise. Ira paid no attention as he placed the sword down and began placing his fingers on specific parts of the severed arm. The wrist, the knuckles, and the finger joints. After he was done he shook the arm and to the continued surprise of Charles, the hands and fingers moved incredibly realistically.

"Nice!"

Ira nodded satisfactorily and waved his left hand over the woman's body, leaving only a small pool of blood. He then waved his left hand again and-

Thump!

The body of a man fell onto the floor. It was Ira's, now deceased, brother Sebastian. He placed a hand onto Sebastian's body and slowly he turned into a dark metal statue. He waved his left hand over it and stored the metal body. Ira thought he could get someone to melt it down and make it into a sword later on. A strange and even demented idea, but Ira thought it was similar to how people keep the ashes of their relatives in urns. The only problem would be those people usually didn't brutally murder their relatives. Ira sheathed the sword and clapped his hands together. He stood up and put his hand on Charles' forehead.

A strange and even demented idea, but Ira thought it was similar to how people keep the ashes of their relatives in urns. The only problem would be those people usually didn't brutally murder their relatives. Ira sheathed the sword and clapped his hands together. He stood up and put his hand on Charles' forehead.

"Aeuegh! Ack! No!"
As a result, Charles began crying and squirming wildly but stopped after a few moments when nothing happened.

"Oh. I guess it doesn't work if you're still alive."
Ira moved his hand away and chuckled. He turned to Harper and nodded, in response, she released Charles, who dropped to the floor deflatedly.

"Is the array for the arm done?"
Ira asked with a friendly smile.

"...Yes...It...just needs to be...placed."
Charles wasn't in the right state of mind. He had no doubt that he would've lost his life if Ira's ability worked while he was still alive.

Thump!

Ira dropped the metal arm in front of Charles.

"Then finish it and bring it to my house when you're done."
He smiled as he turned to leave. Harper giggled as she followed him to the door.

"Oh and next time you try to make something based on that formula without telling me. I'm gonna kill you."
Ira laughed as he and Harper left the store. Charles picked up the prosthetic with shaky hands and carried it into the back of the shop. Even though he was obsessed with the formula even he had to admit something was wrong. After he saw a small bit of the formula he was strangely compelled to it. It was some overwhelming fixation that he had no control over, but when he was brought close to death he seemed to have sobered up.

"Wait...He said 'without telling me'..."
Charles paused in consideration. Apparently, his near death experience didn't sober him up enough.

................................
*w/n: 7k chapter coming soon

 

Lol, i know ira is badassery in human form. but he doesn't have alchemy skills, so will Charles be his alchemy buddy?

~Thanks, i love it!

 

Chapter 32

Spoiler: Read More

The end of the week arrived smoothly for Ira. He ran some "errands" with Harper, and Charles dropped off the prosthetic. On the other hand, the week went by a bit more hectically for the Kingdom. Those who previously eavesdropped on Lance's party began spreading information on Ira. By the end of the week, anyone who boasted a position of power knew that Ira could be identified quickly by his black hair and yellow eyes. Though the Intelligence director already knew what Ira looked like, they had to temporarily change their plans after confirming he was the strongest Mercenary.

As for Ira himself? He sat at the dining table on the first floor of his house, and of course, Harper sat next to him. Currently, he was reading the black book; it was apparent that the sigil of two wolves on his left hand were seals of some sort and he wanted to find a way to remove the next one. Other than annoying whispers only Ira could hear, the book didn't yield much, for now. With a wave of his left hand, he put the book away. Harper's head was on the tabletop, showing she was busy napping. Ira reclined in the chair and closed his eyes.

"Keeper of the third moon."
He said under his breath as he seemed to be searching for something. Deep inside the emptiness consciousness, there was a small, spherical, red stone. It began growing and growing until it could no longer be called a rock. It grew so large it was evident it was the moon. Ira tried to interact with it, he didn't know what it would do, and the boy he would meet during bouts of unconsciousness wasn't forthcoming with information.

Ira continued concentrating on the moon and all of a sudden it began spinning very slowly. He could feel it activating; it began to exert its influence, he could feel his body showing some small signs of change. Not just him, Harper immediately shot up and stared at Ira. She felt something was happening, her blood seemed to stir, and the source could be traced to Ira. One of the three circles on her forehead turned red in color. It wasn't just Harper who felt it, within the Capital all beastkin and even dark elves could feel something strange, and no matter where they were, they all looked in one direction.

Eventually, the feeling stopped as Ira opened his eyes. Traces of red could be seen at the edge of his yellow irises. It faded, restoring his original bright yellow eyes. Under the influence of the third moon, his irises seemed to change to a red color, similar to the boy. Ignorant of the phenomenon he just caused Ira smiled at his discovery.

He began putting two and two together, as he pulled out his status card.

Name: Ira
Rating: S+
Growth Capacity: SS+
Bloodline: Unknown
Blessings: Unknown, Keeper of the third moon (Ulta Majoris)
Mana Capacity: Low
Passive Skills:
Supernatural: Strength, Agility, Reflexes, Senses, Regeneration, Endurance

Predatory Instincts

Kinetic Vision (Inactive)

Greater: Metabolism, Beast Manipulation, Night Vision, Physique

Self-Adaptation

Temperature Regulation

Aging Immunity

Bloodline Resonance

Genetic Mutation (Inactive)

Lunar Force Empowerment

Partial Lunar Force Control

Advanced Swordsmanship

Expert Martial Arts

Primal Awareness

Active Skills: Short-Range Teleport, Call of the Third Moon (Inactive), Run Amok (Inactive), Nothingness(Sealed), Matter Alteration, Gravitational Alteration, Quickdraw
"Partial Lunar Force Control."
He couldn't help but chuckle excitedly. If there were three moons, did that mean the Lunar Force was split into thirds?

"What was that, Ira?"
Harper asked with scrunched eyebrows.

Instead of answering Ira looked at the three circles on her forehead. Traces of red could still be seen on the highest one. The red circle seemed to measure 17 millimeters, while the second was around 8 millimeters, and the final was 4 millimeters. If that was representative of the original sizes of the moons, did that mean he held a majority of the Lunar Force?

"You'll see soon."
Ira said while almost trembling in excitement. He looked towards the front door and stood up.

"Go grab the arm."
He said as he walked to the front door. He opened it just in time to see Samantha's hand in the air, behind her stood Lance's party. They visited throughout the week for details about the wedding and the exact time to go.

They all wore dark colors, the girls, Samantha included, all wore midnight blue sundresses. Lance and Gerald both wore a black tail coat, white button-up, black trousers, and black shoes. Gerald's suit looked a bit funny on him, considering he was 6'5 and 275 pounds. It was a miracle the suit fit at all. Everyone looked at Ira strangely, he was underdressed, to say the least. Noticing their expressions, Ira spoke up.

"They should have something for me to wear when I show up."
He shrugged. Harper came out of the house with a box in her arms. Inside was the prosthetic Charles worked on. Ira grabbed the box with his left hand and stored it away.

"We have to make a quick stop first."
Ira grinned as he led the group away. Their destination, towards the deeper part of the commercial district.

........................................

Under the guidance of Ira, they arrived in front of a large smithy. Around twenty Dwarves stood guard outside of it, each dressed in thick armor with either an axe or a hammer at their sides. Above the smithy was a broken hammer insignia which almost made Lance and his party stop in their tracks.

"You do know where this is, right?"
Lance looked at Ira curiously.

"Yup. I just need to grab something."
Ira responded. As they went towards the smithy, the Dwarven Guards grew cautious and shouted.

"Halt!"
Two Dwarven Guards blocked the way. After they had recognized Ira, they eased up.

"It's just you, Go ahead. No entry for your friends though, Tel-Goron doesn't like strangers in his smithy."
The Dwarf made way for Ira and Harper. Lance and his party couldn't help but be even more surprised.

"Tel-Goron!"
Gerald shouted in disbelief. Samantha's brows raised, she seemed to have heard of him before.

"Isn't he a famous blacksmith?"
She asked after she remembered a few details.

"That's an understatement. Any weapon Tel-Goron makes can cause an uproar. He rarely sells, and when he does the price is too high for ordinary people to even think about."
Lance added as he watched Ira and Harper walk into the smithy. Tel-Goron, a great Dwarven Blacksmith, not even at the height of his years. He was in his 40's and already was deemed as a genius by the Dwarven clans. He roamed from region to region looking for inspiration; he felt as if he had more to gain. The Dwarven clans supported his decision and allowed him to move under the stipulation of an armed escort at all times. So how was Ira familiar enough with him to walk into his smithy?

A few weeks ago, Tel-Goron was attacked by a squad of would-be kidnappers. Something that was more or less normal for him, the criminals were easily killed until "accidentally" fired a crossbow bolt toward Tel-Goron, Ira "appeared" at the right time and blocked the bolt before Tel-Goron was killed. Tel-Goron and almost all Dwarves took debts seriously, so when he "coincidentally" ran into Ira in the Capital, imagine his surprise.

In reality, that never happened. The "errands" that Ira and Harper ran were nothing more than him looking for a blacksmith to melt down the statue and make a sword out of it. After hearing about Tel-Goron, Ira found his smithy. Waited for until night, when most of the Dwarven Guards were asleep, and instructed Harper to fiddle with their memories. It wasn't difficult since the attempted kidnapping was an experienced shared by all the guards and Tel-Goron himself. All she had to do was weave Ira into their memories, so to speak. The hard part was getting them all together; Ira had to knock out the stragglers and avoid killing the ones that attempted to fight back.

Ira was more than impressed with her illusion ability and asked for an explanation, but Harper wasn't a scholar. She could only describe a pile of napkins stacked on top of each other, pouring enough juice to stain all the napkins, but not soaking the napkins thoroughly. Though it was simplistic Ira understood it a bit better. If she overdid it, they would either go insane or realize it's a fake memory.

While Ira and Harper walked deeper into the smithy, he contemplated finding someone to train her in magic. He'd most likely have to pay for it though, seeing as most mages would probably have a higher resistance to illusions.

They passed dozens of weapons lined up, some unfinished some looked to be complete. Further, in the workshop, a short, stocky, bearded man, wearing a brown apron and some worn leather boots, polished a dark gray sword that sat on a table next to a saber and some armor. It was Tel-Goron, he looked up and smiled upon seeing Ira.

"You're the talk of the town these days."
Tel-Goron smiled amicably; he had a deep and gruff voice that filled the room. Harper's eyes briefly flashed blue; she made small repairs to the illusion she placed in his mind.

Lies can easily be unraveled by finding out new information, and she actually could feel the illusion slightly weakening upon mention of Ira's name being spread in the rumors. Luckily, it was too weak to cause any harm, and she just tampered with his memories for good measure.

"I've noticed."
Ira returned a friendly smile as he went to examine the weapons. Tel-Goron stood next to him and began explaining the details.

"Your weapon is a typical longsword, so it's a bit longer than the silver bastard sword you use. Needless to say, you can use either one hand or two, especially in your case. I should also mention the sword is far denser than normal, it's a bit of a bitch to use for anyone accustomed to lighter swords, I'd say it weighs between 15 and 16 pounds. The saber, on the other hand, is as light as can be, weighing in at a half pound. Also, both weapons have black leather scabbards."
Tel-Goron explained as he looked at Ira with questioning eyes. Ira noticed it and was prepared to knock him out at the first sign of trouble.

"That metal statue you provided is unlike anything I've seen before. It's too easy to change the hardness, flexibility, or weight just by adding a few more metals. The Saber is made with Windsteel, which is usually put into throwing knives because of its lightness, but doesn't have a lot of practical use in swords. The Longsword is made from Greatsteel, which is used for heavy armor and heavy weapons. The metal you provided was a perfect bonding agent for both of the materials."
Tel-Goron began to go off topic as he looked on with admiration.

"Forgive me, I just wanted to know why you'd waste such a precious metal on a statue in the first place?"
Tel-Goron wanted to ask for larger supply to send to the Dwarven Clans for analysis, but he knew it would be impolite to, after all, he already sent a few tiny samples back after obtaining Ira's permission and he thought was already enough. After hearing his question, Ira relaxed, Tel-Goron was real close to being beat half to death if he asked the wrong question.

"I found it like that."
Ira raised his hands defensively.

"I see."
Tel-Goron took it as Ira not willing to speak about the source of a precious metal, so he did not pursue the matter. Instead, he changed the subject.

"With the leftover metal, I made a few pieces of armor, like you asked. I have a set of lightweight armor with female specifications. This was also created with Windsteel, the total weight of the armor shouldn't be more than ten pounds, but should protect just as good as any armor weight ten times that amount. I've opted not to create some parts, leaving a chest plate, gauntlets, greaves, and a tasset belt. If you find a bit more of that mystery metal, I'd be more than happy to make something for you or Harper there."
Tel-Goron smiled widely, as he finished his explanation on the armor. He wasn't lying about being more than happy to create some more. He was excited to see all the possibilities of the mystery metals, he felt as if he just touched upon a small trace of what it could its become.

Ira waved his left hand and collected everything on the table except for the longsword. He undid the scabbard holding the silver bastard sword and stored it away, equipping the dark longsword in its place.

"Thanks a lot, Tel-Goron."
Ira smiled brightly as he patted the scabbard.

"Don't mention it. I owed you after you saved my life. Now if that's all, I have the strangest craving for steak."
Tel-Goron waved his hand with a smile. Ira shot a glance at Harper upon the mention of steak. It seemed she accidentally leaked in her own desires with the illusion, but it was something small, and there wasn't really anything to be worried about.

After a few more exchanges of words, Ira and Harper left. Lance and his party noticed Ira had a different weapon. As Ira led them away from the smithy, Gerald spoke up first.

"Did Tel-Goron make that for you?"
He whispered with a careful look.

"Yeah, he kinda owed me a favor. I'll tell you about it some other time."
Ira said casually as he shrugged. Lance and his group had dozens of questions, but they saw Ira was unwilling to talk about it. They soon arrived at the Capital gate and saw a carriage with the Thynne Family insignia. Ira recognized the driver and nodded before he climbed in. Harper hurriedly climbed in behind him and sat next to him. Samantha followed behind and sat next to Harper, and finally, Lance's group made their way in.

The carriage had more than enough space to accommodate everyone. The carriage quickly departed.

.................................

Inside of the Thynne Family Manor. Avery was in a large room, standing in front of a tall mirror. Several servants and assistants stood near the door, and behind Avery stood Lauren and Casey.

Avery wore a long, black, sleeveless, high-collared, gown with dark gold embroidery. On her head was a small dark golden-winged circlet. Lauren and Casey wore similar colored dresses, though they had less embroidery and they weren't dressed in any circlets.

"Have all the arrangements been made?"
Lauren asked the assistants.

"Yes, Ma'am. Everything is in place for the ceremony."
One assistant immediately replied.

Lauren nodded in response and smiled. Casey moved closer to Avery and began fixing her hair.

"Gather everyone in an hour, he should at least be on his way by then."
Casey said as she grinned at her daughter. The servants and assistants bowed and left the room.

Avery's face held its natural expression of indifference, but if one was to look closer, there were signs of anticipation in her eyes.

"Avery, you should go select a dagger."
Casey said as she finished with Avery's hair.

"Yes, Mother."
Avery responded as she turned around and walked to a nearby table. Rows of small sheathed daggers filled the whole things, some looked very intimidating in appearance, and some looked exquisite. Various unique designs and carvings were on each of them. Avery's hand hovered over the table as she evaluated each one. There was one particular dagger that caught her eye. An Ivory Dagger with a Wolf's Head carved into the pommel. It seemed oddly fitting, given Ira's mysterious lycanthropic bloodline and his behavior overall. She picked up the dagger and unsheathed it. The stainless steel blade had a bright shimmer that was pleasing to the eyes. Avery placed it back into the sheath. She turned around to face her mother and grandmother.

"This one will do."
Avery smiled faintly.

..........................

A few hours later, Ira and his "guests" arrived at the Thynne Manor in the early evening. Ira and the others stepped out of the carriage, and the first thing he noticed was a large group of servants and assistants. The second thing he noticed was the colder temperature, winter would make itself known in a few days.

"Hello, If you and your sister could follow me please, the guests will be escorted to the banquet area."
A female assistant bowed lightly as she greeted Ira. A few other representatives went to accompany Samantha, and Lance's group to the back of the Manor.

"Come on, Harper."
Ira smiled as he followed the female assistant into the Manor. The inside was mostly empty, except for servants, cooks, and attendants who were still moving back and forth.

The attendant showed Ira and Harper to two rooms.

"Your clothes are inside."
The female attendant gave a bow before turning to leave.

"Wait. There should be a girl named Amy here with Aldis. Can you give her this."
Ira waved his left hand and produced a plain brown box. The female attendant was surprised to see something appear from thin air, but she didn't let it show.

"I'm not sure if she is here, but I will look for her."
The attendant took the box, that was heavier than it looked and left. Harper stood in front of the door to the adjacent room and looked at Ira.

"Go get dressed, kiddo."
Ira said as he entered the room for him, Harper nodded and went into her room. After a few moments, Ira stepped out. He wore a black, dark golden trimmed shirt with a mandarin collar. On top of the shirt was a black suit jacket with a dark golden trim around the jacket cuffs and the lapel. Also, he wore black trousers and black shoes. Harper walked out shortly after him dressed in a matching black sundress. A few attendants made their way to Ira after seeing him emerge from the room.

"Sir, shall we tidy your hair?"
An old male attendant asked. Ira looked at Harper who in turn looked at him. Her own hair was very wild at the moment, and he was no different.

"Get someone to braid her hair, and I guess I need to brush mine."
Ira responded with a shrug.

"Yes, Sir."
The senior attendant left to retrieve a brush, while the female attendants moved to Harper, and began braiding her pale blue hair. They quickly finished, leaving Harper with one long braid that hung to the middle of her back. Ira gave her a thumbs up, and she giggled in response.

The senior attendant returned with a brush and a hand mirror which he gave it to a female assistant. She walked over to Ira and slowly reached for his hair, seeing as she decided to brush his hair for him, Ira didn't show any resistance. His wild hair began to be tamed by the brush strokes, the female attendant slightly blushed as she stood close to him, the other female attendants looked a bit jealous.

If they could impress him and get a proper evaluation, their status may go up within the Manor, seeing as they were extended family. They would never think to attempt to seduce him though if they tried, it was highly possible they would be murdered by a Valkyrie or even Avery.

After some more brushing, the attendant stepped away and held up the hand mirror. Ira looked at his hair which was now brushed into place, he ran his hand over it and shook it a little, undoing a bit of the brushing. Having his hair wild was a bit of personal preference, he wasn't a fan of the nobles with orderly hair, but he somewhat understood the need for it in situations like the one he was in.

"I'm ready now."
Ira smiled at the attendants, a few blushed even more until the older male attendant coughed meaningfully. The Thynne Family was no place with those who grew overly ambitious.

"Right this way, Sir."
The senior attendant led Ira to the back of the Manor, outside there was a large gathering of people. The luxurious tables were set up in the same order as the previous banquet except for a band of musicians and a small table with two seats in the central spot where the Valkyrie table was. The currently empty, Valkyrie table was moved to the side and out of the way of it. While the change may have seemed small, the symbolic nature of it wasn't. It showed the ones gathered just how much the Valkyries valued Ira. The Valkyries would change their mind for no one except one of their own, and that was only if the Matriarch was the one to change her mind.

Ira noticed a circular marble platform stood a few feet off the ground, on top was a stone block with a metal bowl on top of it. That was most likely where the ceremony would happen. He turned his head and saw Aldis sitting at a table with Amy and a few other people. Amy smiled gratefully at Ira as she waved her prosthetic arm. It was better than she could have asked for, though it would take some getting used to. Ira just nodded with a small grin as he walked to the top of the circular stone platform. Harper was led away to sit with the females who had yet to awaken, technically after the wedding they would be sisters in law. Seeing Ira take his place on the platform, the musicians began softly playing music. A combination of a violin, a piano, a harp, and a flute were all played in a soft harmony, coupled with the setting sun, it made for a tranquil scene.

Soon an attendant signaled, and the music was played even lower. The sounds of tandem footsteps emerged from the Manor. Avery was escorted by the Valkyries, who stood on both sides of her. Lauren and Casey stood on her left and right respectively. Many people were shocked upon seeing Avery in a dress, her beauty was indescribable, even to those who grew a bit numb to the attractiveness of others after seeing the Valkyries. Even Ira was stunned, though he couldn't imagine Avery in a dress so that only added to his surprise.

Avery was escorted to the circular platform, and all the while she had a grin, the ones who had never seen her smile couldn't help but look again. As she took the platform, Ira showed a beaming smile. Causing some of the females present to stare at him a few moments too long. Lauren followed Avery to the platform and stood behind the stone block which was placed between both of them. In one hand she held a long white ribbon, and in the other, she held an ivory dagger. She put the ribbon in the bowl and began to speak.

"The bond between the two of you shall be recognized in blood, Avery."
She unsheathed the dagger and nodded toward Avery, who in turn raised her hand over the bowl.

"Ira, I'd like you to slow down your regeneration for this."
Lauren said, he raised his hand over the bowl and nodded in response.

Lauren raised the dagger and cut deeply into the palms of each of their hands, while neither of them flinched. The blood dripped down quickly and dyed the white ribbon red. When the ribbon was entirely red, Lauren waved a glowing hand over both of the wounds and easily healed them, she then placed a hand over the metal bowl.

"Fire."
She chanted softly as a small flame filled the bowl, instantly evaporating the blood and even turning the metal bowl to a bright red color showing the metal was almost at its melting point. Strangely, only the red ribbon remained untouched. When the fire stopped, Lauren retrieved the red ribbon.

"Turn put your arms toward me."
She said with a smile. Both Ira and Avery turned their arms toward Lauren, she began tying the red ribbon around both of their wrists, leaving a little room in case one of them would accidentally move their arms too far. Usually, after the ritual, it would be resistant to breaking after the ceremony, but Ira seemed to defy the very word "usual."

"And with a kiss, the ceremony is complete."
She finished tying the ribbon and stepped back. Avery and Ira turned toward each other and did as instructed, though neither of them was unwilling. They moved closer and gently kissed under the gaze of the ones attending. The music began playing louder as people rose to their feet and began clapping. Ira chuckled happily, while Avery had a full smile. They walked down the platform and went towards the small table set just for them. After they sat down, those attending the wedding finally ceased their clapping and sat down too.

The music continued to play as servants brought out dozens of carts full of food and began serving the guests. They went to Ira and Avery first and then the Valkyries, before serving everyone else. Lauren and Casey walked to the table, Lauren held a bottle of wine, while Casey held four glasses. Casey placed them onto the table, while Lauren began pouring the wine.

"Thank you...Uh, when does the ribbon get taken off?"
Ira asked curiously as he and Avery picked up the wine glasses and began taking a drink. Lauren and Casey had given meaningful smiles. Lauren had spoken before she and Casey sipped the wine.

"With both of your combined efforts, you'll be able to remove the enchantment tonight."
Lauren smiled meaningfully.

Ira almost choked on his glass of wine, causing the three women to laugh softly. Lauren filled both of their cups again before walking to the Valkyrie table. Casey looked at both of them and spoke.

"When all the guests have their cups filled, you two have to toast."
She turned and joined Lauren at the Valkyrie table. A few minutes later, everyone had their cups filled and looked toward the table. Ira and Avery stood up, raising their cups with them. The guests raised their cups in response. Avery and Ira tapped their glasses together and began drinking, the guests followed their actions.

After they had sat down again, Ira smiled.

"Let's eat."
He said enjoying the moment.

In the same row Aldis sat in, Eric was present. After interrupting the banquet last time to suggest Avery marry someone else, he was "lightly" punished by his mother, Judith. Though the word "lightly" rarely applied to anything the Valkyries did, as he was forced to spar with sisters and female cousins for a few hours, which couldn't be called a fight by anyone with an ounce of sympathy.

It was evident the beating only furthered his humiliation within the family as if it wasn't bad enough he already heard that Ira was the strongest Mercenary in the Kingdom. Currently, his guild master, the former number two in the Kingdom, and former classmate of Avery Thynne, Carter, sat next to him. Eric always sought validation from his mother and the other Valkyries, but he knew where to draw the line. He wouldn't be so dumb as to make a scene and attempt to bother Ira. Even if he were that dumb, he would be incredibly lucky to not be killed by Avery on the spot.

"I hope to be able to talk to him at some point, but I doubt today is the right day."
Carter said as he sipped his glass of wine.

Carter was a man in his twenties with a short beard and a crew cut to match. It was evident he was in shape as he had a visibly healthy body, but a gentle and heroic face. In his guild, Smallthorn, Carter always gave off an older brotherly temperament. It would seem like he was a bad person based on the way Eric tried to suggest him as Avery's marriage partner. The truth is, he never asked for that, Eric took it upon himself to suggest the wedding, to gain prestige within the family.

At first, Carter wasn't mad, he didn't even know who Ira was and only mentioned having a one-sided crush on Avery while they were in the Capital Academy together at some point to Eric. He knew she didn't even know who he was and most likely still didn't. The moment he heard Rhys was replaced by Ira, and after confirming it was the same "Ira" Eric mentioned before, he began to get upset.

It wasn't that he was scared of confrontation, it's just he didn't know what type of person Ira was, and his whole guild could be put at risk. To make up for his mistake, Carter made Eric bring him to the wedding so he could apologize and explain himself, but it would seem he lacked the chance at the moment.

Carter took another sip of the wine in his glass.

"Guild leader, I'm sorry."
Eric apologized with clenched teeth.

"It's fine. I'm sure Ira is a good guy, he probably won't hold a grudge over something so small."

"But Guild Leader-"

"Call me Carter, and like I said, it's fine. Worst comes to worst I'll give him a fight, but if he's anything like Rhys I'd be better off apologizing."
Carter's eyes showed unwillingness at the mention of Rhys. He had attempted to get her to join his guild by winning in a fight against her. To this day Rhys has never been associated with a guild or partner, so it's safe to say he lost. The truth of the matter is he nearly lost his life, luckily Rhys didn't talk about it.

"Guil...Carter, you really think he's stronger than Rhys?"
Eric asked with a little bit of suspicion.

"I'm willing to say yes, but I don't know just how much."
Carter finished his glass as he looked at Ira and Avery. If he was honest, Avery looked even more beautiful than she did when he first saw her in the Academy. Deep down in his subconscious, a small amount of envy formed, especially noticing that Avery smiled when she was with Ira.

"I need another glass."
Carter raised his cup and called to a nearby servant.

While the wedding banquet went on, a situation was quickly forming on the Eastern Border of the Kingdom.

...................

Boom!
A large rock crashed into the walls of the Eastern Valley Fortress. The reinforced stone cracked and shot debris at soldiers on the wall, most were left with light injuries, while three died on the spot.

"Someone get on those fucking catapults and return fire!"
Commander Belmond roared his commands as he looked over the ramparts, the Diavol weren't stupid, they sent a few small squads to scale te surrounding mountains, and a few messengers were caught and tortured, after learning they were going to ask for reinforcements, the Diavol stopped being cautious and assaulted the Fortress. Currently, 2000 Diavol soldiers were attacking the fort, while the others were making preparations, they decided to siege in waves. 2000 attack, while the other 8000 rest. Such a tactic didn't offer those in the fortress much respite.

"AAAAAAAAARRRGH!"
One of the three giants yelled as it slowly moved toward the fortress. Dozens of arrows and boulders fired onto the walls in a steady rain.

"Lieutenant Commander, get oil in the moat for fuck's sake!"
Commander Belmond yelled as he manned a massive ballista. Veins appeared on his neck as he lifted the 150 pound bolt and loaded it by himself.

"I'm on it, Commander!"
The Lt. Commander responded as he ran to the Fortress steps and descended to the lower levels.

Thaaaack!
With a loud snapping sound, the bolt fired from the Ballista flew towards the single Giant and bore into its shoulder.

"AAAAAARGH!"
The Giant recoiled backward from the pain and nearly fell. The formation of 1000 archers didn't falter as they continued to rain down on the fortress periodically. Large wooden shield-like barricades sheltered the soldiers from the relentless arrows, but not everyone could be so lucky as nearly a dozen soldiers were the recipients of the arrow rain. If things couldn't get, any worse 2 siege towers were assembled and were being pushed toward the fortress.

"Load the explosive jars and fire the fucking catapults you bastards! So help me, Gods, if any of you fucking miss! You better show those fucking assholes what you're made of!"
Commander Belmond nearly turned red with his vigorous screaming, his temperament served to inspire some of the soldiers, they knew the Commander was usually lax when it came to Fortress rules, but he had a hot temper. Although his verbal abuse never transcended into physical, and he even knew some of the soldiers personally.

"On it commander!"
A few men responded in tandem. They waited for the rain of arrows to finish before running to a nearby Catapult covered with a tarp. One of the men pulled the tarp off, while another assisted with prepping it. Two others moved into the fortress before returning with a large circular shaped wooden container. Inside were small black metallic orbs, each filled with explosive powder which was also known as Demon's Dust, for it's highly volatile and reactive nature.

Boom!

Another large boulder crashed into the fortress walls, and one unlucky soldier was completely obliterated, while the stone fell into the fort and crushed a catapult below. By now the arrow rain lessened in the two areas where the siege towers prepared to be stationed, they were directly over the moat. The Giant with the shoulder wound also recovered as he stepped forward and reached over the wall. One of his feet was placed in the canal, his lack of intelligence prevented from noticing the danger that came with it.

"We're ready, Commander!"
The explosives were loaded into the Catapult and ready to be fired.

"Destroy that siege tower!"
Commander Belmond drew his Greatsword and pointed at the tower. At the same time, the Lt. Commander was under the fortress uncorking half of the oil barrels and flooding the moat with a black substance. The Giant grabbed a random Soldier and crushed him into a meat paste, before eating him.

Whoosh!

The Catapult fired the explosive into the closest siege tower and-

BOOOM!

It quickly caught on fire, a few pieces of flaming debris fell into the moat below and much to the Giant's surprise it caught fire.

Fwoosh!

"AAAAAAIIIIIIIEEERRRGH!"
The Giant wailed as it went out of control and began running away from the Fortress walls and straight into the crowd of soldiers.

Plish!
Of course, they could do nothing but be crushed under the hectic footsteps of the Giant. They scattered and caused others to panic, disrupting the rain of arrows.

The second siege tower was now in place as a wooden bridge extended from it, and around twenty Diavol came charging out.

"Soldier, get me a belt of explosives!"
Commander Belmond pointed to a nearby soldier as he rushed to meet the Diavol with a group already engaging them.

"Sir!"
The soldier quickly ran off.

"Get down!"
Commander Belmond yelled as he joined the fray, the soldier immediately ducked low while he swung his sword.

"Arc Slash!"
He swung his Greatsword fiercely before the Diavol could react, beheading four on the spot. He took no rest as he deployed another skill.

"Full Charge!"
He turned his sword horizontally as one hand gripped the blade. He charged forth and pushed three Diavol to the edge of the ramparts as he roared.

"Fuck off!"
He forced the three off the wall, and they fell into the fiery moat below with horrid screams. Seeing the Commander take down seven Diavol easily the soldiers shook off their fatigue and fought off the remaining thirteen.

"Commander! More incoming!"
The Lt. Commander yelled as he rejoined Commander Belmond and pointed downwards. The Mages had long since pacified the Giant and the soldiers retook their formation and began to climb the siege tower intent on joining the fray.

"I got something nice for those bastards!"
The Commander gave a haughty laugh as a soldier returned with a belt of explosives and handed it to the Commander, who tied it around his arm.

"Lt. Commander, Take over for a second!"
Commander Belmond rushed into the crowd of Diavol that were fighting against the soldiers and kicked one of the Diavol in the stomach causing him to lurch forward and kneel. In a moment of inspiration, Belmond stepped on his shoulders and leaped forward onto the head of another Diavol, causing the Diavol, not strong enough to support the mass of a large human with his head, to break his neck. Jumping from the Diavol's neck, Commander Belmond grabbed onto the wooden bridge connected to the siege tower.

"Crazy bastard."
The Lt. Commander mumbled under his breath as he watched Commander Belmond's strange tactic.

Commander Belmond climbed up and was met with three Diavol who made it up to the siege tower bridge.

"What are you looking at!"
He roared angrily as he swung his sword and cleaved the closest one in half. The two didn't waste time as they began swinging their swords. Commander Belmond shifted the sword to receive the incoming blows.

"Hah!"
He yelled as he forced the pair of Diavol back towards the wooden staircase. Suddenly he tossed his Greatsword toward them, they easily ducked and mockingly smiled at Commander Belmond who was also laughing for some reason. They looked down to see an explosive belt tied to the sword and when they looked up, Commander Belmond was already running away.

BOOOM!

The second siege tower erupted in smoke as it snapped in half and those who were climbing the wooden staircase were killed. A massive explosion happened behind Commander Belmond as he leapt off the bridge and onto the fortress. Just as a soldier was at the mercy of a Diavol blade, the Commander landed on the Diavol with a flying knee and saved his life. Commander Belmond grabbed the back of the Diavol's head and placed his heel on the back of his neck.

"HAAARGH!"

Splish!

Commander Belmond ripped his head off with a loud yell as the fortress wall seemed to descend into silence. He looked on as blood dripped down his face, at some point he appeared to have received a head wound, but he didn't even notice.

""""""WOOOOOOO!""""""
The Soldiers who witnessed Commander Belmond's display were spurred into action, they would make sure they survived long enough to tell this story to their Grandkids.

The Diavol remaining on the wall could do nothing as they were more or less stranded and lost morale before they were killed by the relentless soldiers.

"LET'S FINISH THESE BASTARDS AND GET A DRINK!!!"
Commander Belmond yelled as he tossed the severed head over the wall and picked up a sword from the deceased Diavol.

""""""Commander!""""""
The Soldiers cheered as they hurriedly began returning fire onto the Diavol formation. Commander Belmond smiled as he turned to the Lt. Commander.

"Lieutenant, who were you calling a crazy bastard!"
Commander Belmond chuckled as he then turned to see the Diavol temporarily retreat. They would most likely spend the rest of the day tending to the wounded and reorganize the formations, giving the soldiers in the fortress some much-needed rest.

"Commander Belmond."
The Lt. Commander was in no mood to smile at the moment, he realized the Commander was pushing himself to make sure morale didn't drop. Sensing what he was going to say the Commander shook his head.

"If I didn't show I'm willing to die, how could I ask these men to lay down their lives?"
Commander Belmond smiled as he placed his hand on the Lt. Commanders shoulder.

"Now let's get a fucking drink before those roaches come back!"
He laughed as he went towards the fortress steps.

"Crazy bastard."
The Lt. Commander shook his head before following behind him.

.....................

In the Kingdom's easternmost province, a haggard soldier charged into the Governor's office. He was the last surviving messenger, after escaping an ambush set by the Diavol by diving into frigid waters and was carried down a river, he finally made it to Greensborough. The province sitting on the eastern border.

"Hey! What happened?!"
The Governor's guards ran over to help the soldier up as he was nearly collapsed from exhaustion.

"Diavol...Invading...Need...Reinforcements...They...Had at least...Ten Thousand..."
The fatigued soldier passed out as soon as he relayed the message.

"Hey! Someone go inform the Governor!"
The Soldier yelled as he and another picked up the fatigued soldier and went to find a healer.

Less than an hour later a message array, usually used to send job requests to the Mercenaries Union, was used to send a reinforcement request to the Kingdom's Military Center.
......................

"Ehek...Ehek...My King."
General Holchester coughed as he kneeled in front of the King, after expending his life force, his health wasn't the best, and also he dropped from an S status rating to an S- and to the dismay of the best healers, he was expected to drop to A+ by the next year. Though he was resilient to last this long, his only hope of healing his lifeforce would be through sap from the Ancient Tree of legend. An Elven myth told the story of a sentient tree that existed since the conception of the world and in fact, was the first tree to ever grow. The legend said that the sap had mythical properties and could heal or empower even the weakest of people if they earned its blessing.

"General Holchester, what's the situation?"
King Windsor ignored the General's cough and spoke solemnly. He did notice the General's deteriorating health, but the General was reluctant to talk about it.

"My King, the Diavol launched a surprise siege and attacked the Eastern Valley Fortress, they are currently still defending. The Governor of Greensborough sent a battalion to help support, but the estimated amount of Diavol is around ten thousand."
General Holchester reported.

"I see, it would seem they are bent on taking it this time. How long would it take to recall our large force from up north and assist with the defense?"
King Windsor asked.

"My King, it would take a week at the very least. The teleportation arrays can't support hundreds at the same time, and then there is the need to power it with mana crystals."
General Holchester responded. Another man who was kneeling next to General Holchester decided to speak up. It was the director of the Kingdom's Intelligence Organization, that "technically" didn't exist, Director Samuel.

"My King, I'd like to suggest we put out a Mercenary request. There is a new Mercenary at the top of the list that we've had eyes on for a while, he's the same we suspected to have a connection to the black pillar incident. He goes by the name of Ira. If we could get him or anyone from the top three to assist we'd have more than enough time to gather enough manpower to defend the fortress."
Director Samuel spoke slowly, the Diavol surprise could be blamed on his lack attention. Although the Diavol were extra cautious and he probably wouldn't have caught the traces of a siege, the responsibility still fell on him.

"Then let it be done, we'll set the payment at 150,000 Gre for assistance and 50,000 for each significant merit. Also, allow them to use the Capital's teleportation array to get to Greensborough. Have the Union Leader hold a briefing for the top three by tomorrow and Director Samuel, I'll need a detailed report on that boy by the end of the week."
King Windsor ordered. Hearing about a boy with a connection to the black pillar gave him a strange feeling, deep down he felt nothing good could come from that boy's assistance, but he didn't show it on the surface.

"My King."
"My King."
General Holchester and Director Samuel bowed before leaving the King's Hall.

"My King, if that boy was involved with the black pillar incident maybe we should-"
Minister Rubin was interrupted by King Windsor.

"Rubin, if he's as sharp as he's made out to be, not many people could restrain him. We'll manage the situation as it comes."
He stared off into the distance as he tried to shake the creeping feeling.
............................

Meanwhile, the wedding feast continued in good spirit as the sun was nearly gone and gave the sky a color alternating between a soft orange and a dark blue. Those who knew the truth about Ira were more than happy at the marriage. Even Lauren was excited to see what the Valkyrie bloodline would produce when mixed with Ira's blood. Though she would refrain from pressing the matter until Avery's bloodline was active, which she guessed to happen during the middle of winter, she could push it further if a conflict were-

"Grandmother, a large conflict has occurred on the Eastern Valley Border."
A Valkyrie whispered to the Lauren after receiving the news from an attendant. Lauren smiled as she sipped from her glass.

"Perfect. We'll discuss the details tomorrow."
She was filled with elation for what was to come. She had a new ability that began to develop, it was something akin to noticing what she called the sparks of war. She could tell something big was going to happen and when it did, the Valkyries would use it to grow. She turned to a nearby attendant and sent a signal, in response the attendant walked over to Ira and Avery who were in the middle of a conversation.

"I could definitely win in a fight against you now."
Ira said a bit proudly.

"Until my bloodline awakens, I'll refrain from indulging you."
Avery retorted.

"So when it does, try not to lose again."
She added on, causing Ira's eyebrows to twitch. He was reminded of when they decided to see who could kill the most when the assassins attacked. He unwillingly had to accept his loss.

"Ah, that reminds me. Do you remember when I first got into the Capital and you loaned me some money?"
Ira asked with a grin.

"I faintly recall that, yes."
She said as she finished her glass of wine.

"Well, I did say I would get you something."
Ira waved his left hand and produced a Saber in a black scabbard and gave it to Avery.

"You did say that didn't you."
Avery received the Saber and evaluated it. It was so light she thought it would be too fragile to use, but she could also see that it was firm and the edge was sharp that it would probably cut through most things with little to no resistance. She handed the Saber back to him so he could store it.

"There's some armor too, but I doubt this is the best time to pull it out."
Ira chuckled as he received it and waved his left hand over it.

"Thank you."
Avery said cooly. Her reaction would appear unenthusiastic to those who weren't familiar with the Thynne Family, but Ira could tell she was sincere.

"Don't mention it."
Ira tried to wave his right hand but forgot the ribbon connected them. He laughed as he accidentally caused Avery's arm to wave, she began to laugh softly.

"E-Excuse me."
A purple hair attendant with brown eyes spoke up and interrupted them, causing Avery's smile to immediately fade. The attendant bowed and handed over the Ivory Dagger.

"F-For t-the clothes. The feast isn't complete u-until you two leave first."
The attendant's hands shook as she handed over the dagger to Avery, who received it with a curious glance.

"Clothes?"
Ira asked as he watched the interaction take place.

"How else would you get your shirt off with the ribbon connected?"
Avery explained.

"Oh."
Ira said in response as he finished the rest the food on his steak. All of a sudden he looked up.

"Oh!"
He chuckled in realization. The female attendant began to blush as she was partially embarrassed, she knew the implications behind the dagger.

"It's a part of the ceremony is it?"
Ira asked as he finished his glass of wine and stood up.

"A metaphor most likely. Shedding your former selves, joining as one, something along those lines."
Avery once again explained as she stood up with him. The attendant stood to the side and was wondering why they were so casual about it. Was she wrong to be the only one embarrassed by the situation?

As Ira and Avery began walking, everyone's eyes landed on them. Lauren and the other Valkyries raised their cup toward them and made the last toast.

"Good Health to you."
She said as she finished her glass.

"""Good Health to you."""
All the members of the Thynne Family repeated the line, the other guests were caught off guard a bit, but still toasted.

A few attendants stood in front of the couple to escort them inside of the Mansion. Among the guests, those who were slightly embarrassed were Amy, Samantha, Lance, Sarah, Valerie, and Zella. They knew what was next after the marriage and then were even more embarrassed as they unconsciously pictured it. Gerald just had a friendly smile as he finished the wine and turned to face Lance and the others.

"Don't be perverted guys."
Gerald made an uncharacteristically accusatory joke.

"Hey-"
"That's-"
"We didn't-
"It's not like-"
"Why would-"
They all spoke at the same time causing themselves further embarrassment. Harper looked unaware of what was going on and watched Ira leave. Seeing Ira and Avery enter the Manor, Lauren stood up.

"I thank you all for coming. The servants will escort you around the Manor as to not disturb my Grandson in law and his wife. If I don't call for the families again within a week, you are all free to return to your respective provinces."
When she said "Grandson" the pride in her eyes was apparent to everyone. It showed her actual grandsons the favoritism she had for Ira, seeing as she rarely showed such feelings for anyone that wasn't a Valkyrie. Slowly the guests began leaving, except those who lived in the Thynne Manor. Samantha and Lance's group started moving but stopped when they noticed Harper staying there.

"Are you waiting for Ira?"
Samantha asked with a smile. Harper nodded in response as her legs swung back and forth.

"Well, Alright I think-"

"Harper."
Lauren's voice interrupted Samantha. Harper stood up and ran over to the Valkyrie table, her long braid bobbed back and forth as she ran. Samantha smiled again as she left with Lance and the others.

"Yes, Ma'am."
Harper asked as she looked up at Lauren who laughed lightly.

"You can call me Grandmother."
Lauren placed a hand on her head. Her current mood was one of jubilation, so she didn't mind showing a little more affection.

"Y-yes, Grandmother."
Harper didn't know much about the Valkyries, but she knew they rarely smiled.

"I may decide to personally train you soon."
Lauren showed an angelic smile that was absolutely stunning, but to Harper, it looked like the smile of a monster.

"Y...Yes, Grandmother."
Harper's face looked pale, the training with Avery was horrible in her opinion, but compared to the stories she heard Ira tell her about the Valkyrie training it was a walk in the park. Seeing her reaction, Lauren guessed what she was thinking and laughed, but she didn't offer any words to calm Harper down.

................................

Inside the manor, the attendants led Ira and Avery to her room, the curtains were down, and no light from the outside poured in at all. Only a few candles just barely lit the large room.

"Should you need anything, a few female servants and attendants will be on standby."
An older female attendant familiar with such practices said in a formal tone. Usually, a few servants would be present on wedding nights, but Ira warranted special attention. Lauren took note of his supernatural endurance during training and decided should he need additional..." assistance," the attendants and servants should be more than capable.

Ira nodded with a smile as Avery shut the door.

"You know-"
Ira began talking but was interrupted by Avery who started kissing him, with Ira showing absolutely no rejection, they both moved to the bed as their breathing became louder.

Vsshing.

Avery drew the dagger and tossed the sheath away into a corner, and immediately began cutting off Ira's clothes. Ira kicked his shoes off and instead of waiting tore her dress with his bare hands. The breathing grew increasingly louder and louder until a sudden soft moan and a brief moment of silence. The red ribbon slid off as the sound of breathing, and constant moans filled the room.

Outside of the room, the female servants found it hard to sit there with straight faces. About three hours later the sounds quieted down just as it became night. The servants were preparing to switch shifts when an older female attendant appeared.

"It's been three hours, are they finally-"
Before she could finish her question, the sounds grew louder and interrupted her. The three stood in an awkward silence, that wasn't so silent before the older attendant spoke up.

"You're free for the rest of the night, make sure you're back in the morning with breakfast."
She smiled as she turned to leave.

"Yes, Ma'am."
"Yes. Ma'am."
Both of the servants bowed lightly before leaving, the very "active" couple to their own devices.

.........................

The next morning came with a distinctive sound.

Knock. Knock.

The attendants, who were also Avery's extended family, would serve breakfast to Avery every morning that she stayed in the Manor. After they knocked they would usually hear Avery say "enter," but after a seemingly eternal silence, they knocked again.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Enter."
Finally, Avery answered, and they pulled a cart into the room. There was an additional attendant with a few female servants. They looked at the wild scene of in front of them. The clothes Ira and Avery wore the previous day were all but torn to shreds. Avery sat up and stretched her whole body, today her muscles seemed extra tense. The servants began collecting the scraps of the clothes to dispose of.

"Hand me the ribbon and the sheath."
Avery said as she stood up, she was currently wearing a black brassiere and black underwear as per usual. A servant picked out the red ribbon from the tattered pile of clothes and then retrieved the sheath from the corner and handed it over to Avery. After receiving it, Avery placed the items on her vanity before she walked over to the food cart and lifted the top to the tray and began eating like her following her daily routine. At that moment Ira abruptly stood up and stretched, and to the surprise of the people in the room, he was completely naked, and as if to show off his virility, his lower body stood with him.

Ira rotated his shoulders with a yawn and walked over to the tray seemingly unbothered. He saw three extra plates on the tray and also began eating.

"Miss, Your bath is-"
The attendant came out of the bathroom and was struck speechless, much like everyone else in the room. Avery finished her food and nodded.

"R-Ready."
Realizing it was impolite to stare, the attendant averted her eyes.

Avery said nothing as she walked to the bath, but not before showing Ira an inviting grin. Ira hurriedly finished his food as he followed behind her and closed the door.

The speechless attendants and servants had given each other looks of confirmation before they began tidying up the room, the sheets that held a distinctive crimson stain were removed and replaced. The attendant began to speak when-

"Woah, that's cold!"
A loud laugh could be heard from the bathroom. Silence returned, albeit briefly as the loud sound of water splashing once again stunned everyone. Ignoring the increasingly loud noises coming from the bathroom, the servants completed their duties and left, only leaving the attendants who couldn't ignore the sounds if they tried.

After what some would consider an abnormal amount of time spent in the bath, Ira and Avery emerged together with wet hair. Thankfully, Ira stepped out with a pair of black pants on. Avery went to sit in front of the vanity as the two attendants went to brush her hair.

"Ira, could you bring the Saber over here?"
Avery asked indifferently.

Wsssh.

Ira appeared next to the attendants brushing Avery's hair, startling them, they quickly adapted and resumed brushing. He waved his left hand and passed the Saber to Avery. She silently accepted it and then grabbed the red ribbon, before she tied it around the handle of the Saber. Ira chuckled as he watched her tie the ribbon. An attendant went to hand a hair tie to Avery when he finally spoke up.

"I like your hair like that."
He shrugged as he went to sit on the bed. In response, Avery raised her hand to stop the attendant from giving her the hair tie. Avery stood up and walked over to the closet retrieving a gray jacket, a white button up shirt, a pair of black pants and black leather boots.

Knock. Knock.

Avery continued getting dressed while Ira waved his hand and dropped a pair of black leather boots and a black shirt onto the ground. The door opened, and a female servant spoke.

"Miss, someone is here to see your husband."
The female servant reported dutifully.

"Are you ready?"
Avery asked as she finished putting her clothes on. Ira smiled and put his shirt on.

"Yeah."
He stood up, and they both exited the room.

........................

The first thing Samantha noticed when the pair came down was that both Avery and Ira had wet hair. She tried to keep her professional temperament and refrain from letting her mind wander. As she set on the couch, she turned her eyes to the papers in her hand.

"Oh. If it isn't my Handler, Samantha."
Ira hopped into the chair across from her as he rested his legs over the armrest. Avery sat next to him and evaluated Samantha, she wasn't jealous of suspicious of her, she wanted to see if she was worthy enough to handle Ira's affairs.

"Y-You have a request from the Kingdom."
She said as she handed over the papers, but they were intercepted by Avery. Ira didn't react much, he just pulled a pastry from thin air and ate as he waited.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

"There is a siege at the Eastern Valley Fortress. They want you to attend the conference with the other two Mercenaries later today. The payment is 150,000 Gre for assisting and 50,000 Gre for each notable merit."
Avery said as she read the papers. She then handed the papers back and looked at Samantha while laying her scabbard across her lap.

"What makes you qualified to be a Handler for my husband?"
Avery spoke as she waved a hand to a servant, indicating she wanted something to drink.

"Well...I..."
Samantha stumbled on her words. Frankly, she was intimidated by Avery, although there were some ruthless people at the MU, they never resorted to violence. As far as she knew anyway, but Avery struck her as the type to use force if necessary.

"What I mean to say, Samantha, is that any one of the members of my extended family could easily find a place in the Mercenaries Union and serve as his Handler. I'm inclined to believe even the least qualified would be overly qualified when compared to you."
Avery said emotionlessly. The servant returned with three cups of tea and set them down on the coffee table before stepping away.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

Ira kept eating pastries unconcernedly as he grabbed the teacup and washed them down. Samantha, on the other hand, struggled to find an answer and was visibly nervous, she even unconsciously sent a few glances to Ira as if to ask for help. Avery took a sip of the tea before speaking again.

"That look in your eye...It's a panicked look, and it shows that you're weak. I've only said a few things, and you can't maintain your calm. How could I expect you to serve in his best interest if you can't stomach a few words."
Avery's face remained cold as she spoke pragmatically. Truth be told, Avery approached every situation with logic and reasoning. Her emotional spectrum was very low, other than the Valkyries and Ira, no one could expect a shred of positive emotion from her.

Samantha took a deep breath and spoke with conviction.

"If I should fail in my duties even once, I'll resign immediately, and you can punish me however you see fit."
Samantha said as she put up her best professional manner. Avery sipped her tea and let silence engulf the room, the silent pressure was disturbing to Samantha, but she held on.

"I guess that's acceptable. I'll personally kill your friends, family, and anyone that shares the smallest relation with you, and once they are all dead then I'll finally kill you, should you cause him any undue harm."
Avery placed the cup down and stood up as she fastened the brand new Saber to her waist.

"I'll be in the carriage, Ira."
Avery left after causing Samantha to be visually disturbed.

Ira stood up soon after and spoke to Samantha.

"Cheer up, Sammy. I'm sure she wasn't serious."

"You think so?"
Samantha asked hopefully.

"Yeah. How impractical would it be to kill anyone who shares any relation to you, I'm sure Avery would just stop after the murder of your family and friends. Maybe she'd kill the friends of each of your family members, but I'm sure she'd get bored after that."
Ira said assuredly as he placed a hand on Samantha's shoulder, which visibly shook. She wouldn't allow herself to regret her decision as it was too late for that, all she could do now was give it her best and hope Avery doesn't kill her in her sleep.

"Harper!"
As Ira prepared to leave, he shouted Harper's name and activated the bloodline resonance. Harper jumped down the stairs and landed with a wild giggle; Apparently, she preferred her hair in a long braid as she kept it the same as she had yesterday.

"You're a horseman, Ira!"
Harper laughed as she stood up.

"What are you talking about, kiddo?
Ira asked in response to the strange insult.

"I heard the ladies upstairs saying that you're half man and half horse, so that means you're a horseman."
Harper cackled innocently.

"..."
Samantha stayed silent in her moment of realization, but she was still too disturbed to be embarrassed.

"Come on, kiddo. Those women are too irresponsible for you to be around."
Ira said as he pinched Harper's cheek. He seemed to have a separate definition of irresponsible as he caused Harper to murder of an innocent old man and then proceeded to use her as a human dart shortly after.

On the way out of the Manor, Ira saw Amy and Aldis preparing to board a different carriage.

"Hey, Ira!"
Amy ran over upon seeing Ira step out of the Manor.

"Amy. How's the arm working for you?"
Ira smiled as he looked at her metal arm.

"It's better than I could have imagined, it even has fingerprints. I can finally go back to the Academy. T-Thank you so much."
She gave a small bow half way into the conversation she stumbled as she recalled overhearing a specific piece of gossip about Ira from the servants and attendants.

"No problem. Though, I don't think the Academy is the place for you."
Ira smiled cryptically as he waved at Aldis.

"What do you mean?"
Amy asked as she caught the change in his expression.

"You'll find out eventually. Hopefully, sooner than later."
Ira chuckled as he walked away.

"One should seize power at every opportunity."
Harper said to Amy, giving her best Ira impression before she chased after him. Amy looked at Harper strangely, she was wondering if she was the same little girl that was with Ira when they went to see her in the infirmary.

.................

A few hours they arrived in the Capital and headed straight for the Union building. As they entered, Samantha guided them to the conference hall on the eleventh floor Harper, and Avery waited outside the room while Samantha and Ira were guided in by a secretary. As they entered sitting at the forefront of the table was Albrecht. Sitting on on the left side of the long table was a man next to another man who wore glasses and on the right a hooded woman, who also wore a mask, who sat by herself.

"Ah, right on time. Please take a seat."
Albrecht stood up and held his hand out. Ira sat down directly in the middle so that Albrecht could be seen directly in front of him. Samantha sat down on Ira's right.

"Ira. These are the second and third rated Mercenaries, Rhys and Carter. Next to Carter is his Handler. I'll take it you all are ready for the conference."
Albrecht introduced them politely before surveying the room.

"I'll go with the assumption you all know that the Kingdom is paying one hundred and fifty thousand Gre each, should any of you choose to assist and fifty thousand Gre for each considerable merit. The Diavol are estimated to be around ten thousand strong, while the Eastern Valley Fortress should just be receiving the support of an additional five hundred men, and may total around eight hundred. If you choose to accept, you'll be tasked with helping defend until additional reinforcements show up. If you decide to leave halfway through you'll only receive a quarter of the payment."
Albrecht explained.

"How's the artillery support and how many of those men reinforcing are mages?"
Carter's Handler asked.

"There are a lot of catapults and ballistae, it's just the problem of getting them onto the ramparts. Also, I believe out of five hundred men sent as reinforcements, there are two platoons of Mages for a total of fifty."

Carter went into contemplation. How much could one person do and if he brought his guildmates how would it turn out?

"I'm not sure just how much one individual would be able to do."
Carter said his tone indicated he was unwilling to leave it like that but had no choice.

"I understand."
Albrecht said with a tinge of disappointment as he turned to look at Ira and Rhys. He didn't wish to see men struggle to survive when they could receive help.

"..."
Rhys shook her head and added to Albrecht's disappointment. All eyes turned to face Ira, who looked busy thinking something. Samantha took it as him being hesitant and tried to take the reins.

"I don't think-"
"I'll do it."
They both spoke at the same time. Ira turned to look at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Ira, as your handler, I don't think it's best for you to-"
"I said I'll do it."
Ira ignored Samantha and spoke again.

"I don't want to cause you to reconsider, but do you mind me asking why?"
Carter asked with a surprised expression. Rhys also looked over, but her expression was hidden by her mask.

"Because..."
Ira paused as he smiled brightly.

"I have something I want to test out."
He spoke as his eyes showed an almost corporeal anticipation that caused those in the room to reevaluate him. He couldn't hide his desire to see what he could do as "The Keeper Of Third Moon."

"...Well. I thank you all for attending this conference, Ira...The teleportation array will be open for you to use, please head there as soon as possible."
Albrecht was taken off guard by Ira's unhidden desire, the look in his eyes reminded him of the many volatile Mercenaries who were known for their questionable behavior. He decided to push it off as a bad feeling but to keep a closer watch on Ira's activities.

One by one they all stood to leave the room. Ira and Samantha headed out first followed by Rhys, Carter, and Carter's Handler.
...................

Avery sat waiting outside the conference room with Harper. Seeing Ira exit with a smile and Samantha following with fearful face, Avery stood up as she already guessed what happened.

"When do we leave?"
She asked without a change in expression.

"Today."
He responded.

"Where are we going, Horseman."
Harper giggled without knowing the context of what she perceived to be an insult.

"Harper...Nevermind."
Ira shook his head with a wry smile. Avery raised an eyebrow as she looked at Ira.

"We're going sightseeing."
Ira responded, he decided not to feed into her gimmick, or she'd continue to say it. By now Rhys was passing them and overheard the conversation, she glanced at Ira's back as she passed, which was noticed by Avery who in turn glanced back at Rhys. Their gazes met for a brief moment, while Rhys transmitted a hint of mystery, Avery gave off nothing but a cold stare.

Carter exited the room and walked toward Ira.

"Uh, Sorry to interrupt. I would just like to apologize for the behavior of Eric a while ago. When he had that outburst and attempted to speak on my behalf, I assure you it wasn't by my orders. I wish the both of you a happy marriage."
Carter slightly bowed as he finished speaking. He wasn't overly prideful about his position and conducted himself as a responsible guild head should.

"Oh...no problem. Thanks for the wishes."
Ira responded with a bit of uncertainty.

"Take care."
Carter said his farewells, both he and his Handler failed to notice Ira's questioning expression. As they walked towards the lift, Ira turned to Avery.

"Do you know what he was going on about?"

"A few months ago, my cousin Eric suggested I marry the leader of his guild instead of you. I'm assuming he was the one mentioned."
Avery responded.

"Oh."
Ira chuckled as he looked at Carter's departing back. Should he run into him outside the boundary of the Capital, he was sure to show him the extent of his "forgiveness" and his "willingness" to accept apologies.

"Well, let's go get something to eat at the Bluebird first and then we'll leave. Oh, I can give you the armor that was crafted for you when we get to our house, Avery."
Ira stretched his arms and walked to the lift. Avery and Harper followed close behind.

"See you later, Sammy."
He added as he waved his hand to Samantha.

"Yeah, see you later."
Samantha answered with worry. She needed to find a way to fix her temperament and be strictly professional, Carter's Handler made it look easy, so she thought of emulating him and Albrecht.

"That should work."
Samantha said under her breath as she clenched her fist with a newfound determination. She decided she would go to the library and polish up on tactics, geography, and a slew of other subjects. She wanted to think of it as her choice and ignore the ever looming threat of death that went by the name of Avery Thynne.

......................

After a short meal, Ira, Avery, and Harper all stopped at the house to ready themselves, even though there was currently a crisis developing and people were dying with every minute wasted, Ira didn't seem to notice or even care. They were at the dining room table, which was filled with weapons, clothes, and armor. Harper needed to change her clothes, as she still was wearing the same black dress from before. Avery examined the pieces of armor and nodded her head, they were just as good as the Saber. Ira ate pastries while sorting his Cerberus Leather Armor set.

"I'll need to buy a set of training tights to wear under the armor, they make it easy to maneuver in."
Avery said as she organized the armor.

"Do you need some cash or did-"
Ira didn't finish as he noticed Avery had a faint grin that he instantly understood. He waved his left hand, and a couple hundred dollars worth of Gre appeared in it.

"Harper, go buy some training tights, three canteens for water, three cloaks, a small one for yourself, and some pastries."
He hurriedly shoved the money into her hand and sent her off. She nodded her head as she giggled.

"I'll be back as soon as I can."
She said, not reading the context. She left a series of bright blue afterimages behind her as she arrived at the door within seconds.

"Don't use your abilities or I'll get Lauren to train you."
Ira added on. Harper turned around and stuck her tongue out, but didn't dare use her abilities anymore.

"Dummy!"
She shouted as she shut the door. Ira turned around to see Avery's smiling face.

"She'll be back in a little over fifteen minutes you know."
He smiled.

"Then you better hurry."
Avery pushed everything off the table and let it fall onto the floor. For the first time in her life, Avery disobeyed the orders of her mother and grandmother when they urged her to show moderation. Though it seemed easy enough, in theory, she was far more "active" than Ira.

Wssssh!

Ira teleported in front and lifted her onto the table. She didn't resist as she wrapped her arms and legs around him and began kissing him. And so the dining room table became used for a quick "meal."

After exactly 17 minutes Harper arrived back at the house. She was surprised to see everything so messy.

"I got everything, Ira."
She said as she looked around curiously. Ira sat in a chair with disheveled hair and ruffled clothes, while Avery sat next to him with a neat appearance.

"What happened?"
Harper asked as she looked at Ira's appearance.

"A fight."
He and Avery chuckled after looking at each other. He stood up and began picking everything up and laying it on the table again.

"Who won?"
Harper asked as she placed a basket full of items on the table. Ira smiled gloatingly at Avery as he patted Harper on the head.

"I did. Now go change."
He handed over her signature three-quarter pants, black boots, and an oversized shirt.

"Horseman!"
Harper took the clothes and ran upstairs while laughing to herself.

"Well...looks like she's not gonna let that go."
Ira shrugged his shoulders when he turned around Avery was stripped to her underwear.

"I'm definitely sure there won't be enough time."
He said. Avery didn't respond and walked closer, she reached past him and grabbed the black tights with a mocking grin.

"...Yeah, no, we should get ready."
Ira laughed as he started putting on his armor. Avery's equipped her armor quickly as it went on smoothly and shrunk to fit her physique. It quickly became a set of form-fitting armor that was both sturdy and light.

"It's light enough."
She threw a few punches and kicks as she got a feel for the weight. Ira fixed his Longsword to his waist and threw on the hooded black cloak. Avery also grabbed a black cloak and put it on after equipping her Saber. Then, Harper made her way back downstairs and grabbed her retractable staff and placed it on her belt clip, she grabbed a small black cloak and put it on. Ira waved his left hand over the rest of the supplies and stored them.

"Let's go."
Ira stepped outside followed by Avery and Harper. They walked toward the Capital teleportation array, which wasn't far from the Mercenaries Union. A pair of guards stepped forward and spoke.

"Identification."
The Guard asked somewhat politely, he heard that a Mercenary was given permission to access the teleportation array and that the person would be arriving soon. Ira waved his hand and produced his Mercenary Union card, along with his status card and the King's Entry Waiver.

"S-Sorry for the for the trouble please enter."
The Guard was shocked by the S+ rating and the even higher growth capacity.

After some vetting, by the Mages and Alchemists on site, the array was cleared for use, and once Ira, Harper, and Avery took their places it was started.

"To ensure your personal safety, please keep your eyes closed and try not to move."
The Mage politely reminded.


"3...2...1...Go!"

He signaled for activation.

A bright blue light enveloped them, as the engravings lit up, and a loud buzzing noise rang out.

WZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT

.............................

WZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT

They arrived in Greensborough instantly and were met with a room full of tense expressions.

"I'm glad to see you're here."
The Governor of Greensborough personally waited at the teleportation array for Ira to show up, evacuating his people on the cusp of winter was something he desperately wished to prevent. His tone was one of utter sincerity as he and the ones managing the teleportation array watched three cloaked figures appear.

Ira pulled down his hood, exposing his pitch black hair and bright yellow eyes to all before he spoke with a grin.

"Where's the fortress?"

................................

Commander Belmond looked into the sky and frowned. Small flurries of snow descended and the second moon was faintly visible, marking the beginning of winter. Truth be told, he didn't want to die in the winter. It was harsh and relentless, the soil would sometimes freeze so badly that the dead couldn't immediately be buried. Leaving them out without proper funeral rites could sometimes lead to undead or other malevolent spirits possessing them. So they would have to be burned. He faintly remembered the story of someone carrying the ashes of the wrong person around, or was it someone scattered the wrong ashes? In his fatigue, it all was more or less haze. What was entirely clear was the faces of his family. When he closed his eyes, they were always there. That's why he had to keep fighting.

"This fucking sucks."
Command Belmond looked ahead with his spyglass and surveyed the scene out of range of the ballistae.

The Diavol noticed the reinforcements and threw caution to the wind. They began preparing for the final siege, they prepped Hundred of siege towers and giant metal barricades on wheels. The three giants were being readied by Mages, a separate formation of at least 1000 Mages was also prepared. The catapults and ballistae were being pushed forward, as the few people in command looked to be shouting. A Diavol sat on a white horse as he overlooked the entire thing, he suddenly looked up and toward the fortress with a smile. Commander Belmond was shocked as it seemed he could see him from that far.

"Fucking hell!"
He shouted in surprise. If his eyesight was that great, it must've meant he was at least rated S-. All of a sudden the Diavol began moving.

"Lieutenant Commander! Ready the Artillery and get someone on those fucking flares! Mages to me!"
Commander Belmond shouted as he drew his sword. He preferred his greatsword, but he lost it when he blew up the Siege Tower.

Around 50 mages climbed up the steps of the fortress and stood behind Commander Belmond.

"If you can't provide artillery, could you make a barrier?"
Commander Belmond asked.

"It won't last long enough under the fire of the catapults."
The head mage said grimly.

"Fuck. Well, get ready to release a coordinated attack on my signal."

DEEESH! DEEESH! DEEESH!

Three flares were shot up into the sky, giving those in the fort better visibility.

"I want Archers evenly spread out behind the barricades. Where's my fucking artillery!?"
Commander Belmond yelled.

"Here sir!"
A soldier responded.

"I want Catapults loaded with explosives aimed at the enemy Mages and ballistae for the siege towers you understand?"
Commander Belmond asked.

"Yes, Sir!"
The soldier saluted and ran down the wall relaying orders.

"Get oil for the canal, but don't pour a fucking drop until they get close."
Commander Belmond shouted at another soldier.

"Sir."
Another soldier ran down the fortress steps and went under the fort to prepare.

Commander Belmond turned to look at the soldiers who stood within the fortress walls, numbering around 700.

"THESE FUCKERS WANT US TO TAKE IT LYING DOWN. IS THAT WHAT YOU ALL WANT TO DO?!"
He roared.

"""""""NO, SIR!"""""""
The men responded.

"THESE ROACHES WANT TO TAKE THE FOOD FROM YOUR WIVES, MOTHERS, SISTERS, FATHERS, AND BROTHERS. WILL YOU LET THEM?!"

"""""""NO, SIR!"""""""

"I DON'T KNOW ABOUT ALL OF YOU, BUT IF I SHOULD DIE, IT WON'T BE UNTIL I TAKE TEN OF THOSE BASTARDS WITH ME. ARE YOU GONNA DO THE SAME?!"

"""""""YES, SIR!"""""""

Commander Belmond put on his helmet and turned to see the Diavol bearing down on the fortress.

"THEN SHOW THESE RATS WHAT YOU'RE MADE OF!"
He bellowed as he manned a ballista and loaded it.

""""""""YES, SIR!"""""""
The men yelled in response and began taking their positions.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Hundreds of catapults were fired from the Diavol's side, and they bombarded the fortress, most crashed into the walls, but a few managed to smash a few men to death.

"Mages target the catapults!"
Commander Belmond shouted as he fired the ballistae at a cyclops carrying stone for the catapult.

Thuunk!

The bolt from the ballista sailed through the air and tore straight into the Cyclops' eye.

"Fireball!"
"Ice Bolt!"
"Wind Blade!"

The fifty Mages all launched spells simultaneously and returned fire on the Catapults before they could be loaded. At least a dozen catapults were destroyed, and around a hundred Diavol died.

"Get back and tell me when you all are ready for the next one."
Commander Belmond was happy at sight but knew it wasn't over.

All of a sudden the Diavol Mages emerged, close to one thousand, they all began chanting. It was far earlier than Commander Belmond expected, the catapults must've been to waste the Mage volley and give the Diavol enough time to finish their chants. Too bad he already knew the Mages were coming.

"Fire the Catapults!"
He shouted as he loaded the ballista again.

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.

The Catapults loaded with explosives fired into the Mage formations.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Loud explosions filled the air as the unprepared Mages were ripped apart into a bloody mist, but a majority of the formations deployed multi-layered barriers. The other Mages continued chanting undeterred.

"TAKE COVER!"
Commander Belmond roared as he dived behind a makeshift barricade.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

A rain of fire blanketed the ramparts, searing the flesh of any and all soldiers who couldn't find appropriate cover. In that single volley, close to 200 soldiers were instantly burned alive, as the deafening screams and smell of burnt flesh filled the fort. A significant amount of artillery was destroyed, but luckily the explosives were already fired or else it would be a lot worse.

"Ehek! Ehek!"
Commander Belmond coughed as he pushed the charred wood off of him. He stood up to see the damage but stumbled on half the corpse of a young soldier he had just encouraged a few minutes earlier. Ashes mixed with the flurries of snow as they slowly fell into the Western Valley Fortress. As he turned around the siege towers were all but in place.

"Commander!"
The Lt. Commander's uniform was burnt, and he had a cloth bandage wrapped around his hand.

"Yeah?"
Belmond responded as the bridges of the Siege towers were pushed outwards, in less than two minutes they would be on the walls.

"Reinforcements at the rear gate."
The Lt. Commander said with a wry smile.

"How many?"
Belmond asked as he swung his sword a few times.

"Just three, but one says he's ranked number within the Mercenaries Union."
The Lt. Commander laughed dryly.

"Well, let him in. We'll see if he's what he says."
Commander Belmond said hoarsely. In response, the Lieutenant Commander waved his arm, and the rear gate opened slowly, alarming all the Soldiers.

Creeeeeeaaak.

Three people stood in front of it.

A young teenage boy with black hair and yellow eyes, who looked more like a noble regarding attractiveness. A girl who looked to be no younger than 18, but gave off the maturity level of a woman. And finally, a small girl with light blue eyes and black and pale blue hair, along with three small black circles were on her forehead. They all wore black cloaks.

Commander Belmond was an ex-Mercenary himself and knew never to go off of looks alone if one did they usually ended up in an early grave.

"SOLDIERS! DEFEND THE RAMPARTS!"
Commander Belmond roared as he turned to focus on the Siege towers that the Diavol were beginning to pour out of.

..............................

""""""YES, SIR!"""""
Ira watched as hundreds of soldiers ran up the steps and onto the ramparts.

"Whoever kills more Diavol wins. The important ones are double."
He said as he closed his eyes and channeled his primal awareness.

"Ironheart."
Avery said, showing her agreement. A faint silver light radiated from her as her skin took on a metallic luster. Harper's six-armed phantom appeared behind her. She looked up at the moons. The two smaller circles on her head began glowing blue.

Ira opened his eyes and chuckled.

"Ladies first."

Avery took off with increased speed as she climbed the fortress steps. Harper sprinted forward faster than her normal speed and left blue afterimages, with the Lunar Force Enhancement her powers were strengthened significantly.

Ira walked forward at a slow pace. If he could use the Third Moon, they would definitely need a head start. He stored his black cloak and began walking.

..................

Harper climbed up the less active ramparts and equipped her steel baton, a blue dagger attached to a chain of similar color appeared on the end of it. She ran past soldiers engaged with Diavol as she swung the chain.

Whoosh!

The blue chain wrapped around the necks of three different Diavol soldiers. She pulled hard, and the dagger dragged across the neck of the first, slitting his throat and finally beheading him.

Shlish!

She pulled again even harder and the second and third Diavol soldiers instantly died in the same way. A rain of blood spilled onto Harper's face.

She began giggling as she watched Ira slowly make his way up the ramparts. She knew she had to hurry, so she used her phase shift and continued running. All the while she spun the chain easily as it shortened and extended on command. She sent her Phantom ahead of her. The phantom wielded its weapons without any mercy, and to make things worse, it's body could rotate 360 degrees. It swung the Kukris and impaled two Diavol. Without missing a step it's Halberd cut a Diavol in half while it's Greatsword and Great Axe did the same.

"AAAAIRGH!"
"EEEEAUGH!"
"HAAARGH!"
Tortured screams resounded in Harmony as the Phantom made its way across the ramparts, stunning the Soldiers and horrifying the Diavol. Harper ran through the crowds and picked off those who had the slightest lapse in attention.

Whoosh!

She wrapped the chain around the torso of a Diavol jumping from the siege tower and pulled him down while he was mid-air.

"Come here!"
She cackled as she used the chain to slam him into the ground face fist.

"Auegh!"
With a crushed nose and broken teeth, the young Diavol looked up to see a little girl with a blood covered face. Harper put her kept the chain around him as phantom blue gauntlets appeared on her hand. She walked over to the Diavol trying to crawl away. She sat on his back and raised her fist.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

She used her first covered in the phantom gauntlet to punch the back of his skull repeatedly. He didn't even have time to scream as his head was caved in. The surrounding soldiers were speechless at the display of raw brutality.

Suddenly, she felt the connection to her phantom fade. She looked up to see a large Diavol drive a spear through it. She giggled as she stood up and wiped the blood from her face, which only smeared it. She ran forward and swung her chain.

Whoosh!

The Diavol raised his spear and used it to catch the chain. As the phantom chain wrapped around the spear, he began pulling. Harper waved her hand, and a trio of phantom knives flew forward.

Plik! Plik!

Two landed on the armor of the Diavol Spear Wielder but didn't do much. A dozen more Diavol appeared on the wall behind him. He sneered as they all grabbed the chain and pulled Harper toward them. As they yanked her forward she jumped into the air, and the phantom chain disappeared, causing a few of them to stumble.

Click.

The staff extended as she twirled it skillfully.

Thack!

She smashed it into the head of one of the closest Diavol. Instead of landing she planted a foot on his head and jumped away while spinning. Hitting two more Diavol who were standing up.

Thack! Thack!

As she finally began to touch the ground, she suddenly multiplied. The Spear Wielding Diavol was shocked, but then realized it must have been fake until he watched his comrades die. They were quickly slaughtered by the numerous little girls. He began swinging wildly, he burned his lifeforce as he killed everyone one of the little girls who stood over the dead bodies of his comrades.

"Hah! Hah! Hah!"

He spun his staff as he cut, stabbed, and beat all of the girls to death. He impaled the last one on his spear and lifted her up.

"Hahahahahaha!"
She began cackling wildly to his surprise. All of a sudden he had a massive headache and closed his eyes when he opened them his spear was lodged inside of his own comrade. He looked to his left and right to see all of his fellow Diavol dead, all killed by a spear except for the three Harper murdered. He dropped the spear and fell to his knees as he looked at the bloodstained little girl who was laughing so hard tears appeared on the corner of her eyes.

Phantom arms emerged from the ground and grabbed the limbs of the distraught Diavol. The slowly began twisting his appendages off.

"NOOOOOO!"
He screamed for mercy with teary eyes as he felt the pain of his limbs breaking and being ripped off. Harper conjured a phantom knife and kneeled beside him. She raised the knife and stabbed it into one of his eyes.

"AAAAIIIIUEH!"
His amputated body flailed in resistance, but it did nothing to stop Harper. She began to enjoy the feeling of punishing people, she still could remember the torture she experienced under Glen Marbot and
the beatings the Thynne Females gave her. She wanted to exert the same power over someone else. After removing his nose, eyes, and tongue. The screams stopped. He choked on his own blood after she removed his tongue and had long since been dead. Harper stood up and wiped her bloodied hands on her shirt before bringing out her six armed phantoms. It knelt down as she climbed on its shoulders.

"Let's go! We can't let them win!"
She tapped its head. It stood up and began running towards the Diavol gathered in the distance. She conjured her phantom chain and spun it wildly as they moved. There weren't many soldiers around to witness her sadistic display of brutality, but those who did were horrified and decided to stay as far away from her as possible.

.......................................

While Harper was exploring her new found "hobby," Avery had long since been engaged in battle.

BOOM!

A stone flew onto the ramparts and crushed a group of ten soldiers in front of her cold eyes. She carried on as she ran to the closest Siege tower. The Soldiers were currently entangled with the ever growing group of Diavol. Avery charged past them and leaped onto the Siege Tower Bridge. A Diavol wasted no time in drawing his sword and swinging at her. She easily dodged it as she tossed her cloak in his face. Before he could remove she already thrust the Saber into his skull.

Plik!

More Diavol climbed the tower, and she didn't plan on fighting so many in such close proximity. She pushed the dead body onto the steps to slow down the incoming enemies.

"Unwavering Slash!"
Avery's Saber drew a red line across the support beams of the Siege tower and caused it to slowly fall. She jumped over the bridge and back onto Ramparts.

WOOOM! Snap! Snap!

The creaking of the Siege tower paired with the vivid snapping of support beams sent panic into those inside, the Siege tower fell over and crashed into the closest one.

"Get oil on those towers!"
Commander Belmond shouted. Soldiers scrambled over fresh corpses while carrying a large barrel of oil. Commander pulled the cork off and watched as the oil covered the broken siege towers.

"Fireball!"
A mage chanted and ignited the blaze. Those still in the Siege Tower panicked as the flame quickly spread. Some people jumped, and other could only be burned by flames.

"Payback!"
Commander Belmond spat over the wall before turning to Avery.

"Nice job-"
He stopped speaking halfway since she was already gone. He could see a silver silhouette in the distance slaughtering the Diavol. If an elite soldier didn't appear soon, they would continue to be killed.

"Where are my fucking Archers?"
Commander Belmond asked as the horde of Diavol grew by the minute. Below he could see Cyclopes throwing hooks onto the drawbridge and pulling.

"...Most of them are dead or too injured to fight, Sir."
A soldier responded as he watched the fiery Siege towers fall to the ground.

"Damn it!"
Belmond cursed. He turned to see the yellow-eyed boy just arriving on the ramparts.

"Hey! You mind helping?!"
Belmond barked. To the yellow- no his appeared to be red now.

....................

"Hey! You mind helping?!"
Commander Belmond barked.

Ira looked at him and shrugged. As he channeled the force of the Third Moon into his body, his senses sharpened unbelievably. Last time he tried to forcibly sharpen his senses it caused a bit of recoil leading to him bleeding, but now it seemed much easier and stronger than before.

"Get down!"
Belmond shouted as he and his Soldiers laid down. A ballista bolt came flying toward them. Ira reached out his hands, and before anyone could warn him to stop playing around, he caught it.

THUM!

The heavy bolt made a loud sound as it's acceleration was instantly stopped the tip of the bolt was only an inch from Ira's face. He held the bolt and scanned the crowd of invaders. He soon locked onto a pair of Diavol one a white horse next to an older Diavol on a black horse, they were busy talking and didn't seem to notice what just happened. Ira flipped the bolt and held it like a Javelin, he took a few steps back and then ran forward and threw it, while altering the gravity causing it to accelerate faster than normal eyes could track.

BOOM!

It tore through the air and instantly bore into the Diavol on the black horse, before continuing into the ground and kicking up a large cloud of dust.

..........................

30 seconds earlier.

"Father, the Fortress is already ours, and once we have it, we can begin our campaign deeper in."
A young Diavol, about the age of 26, sat on a majestic white horse as he conversed with a man who looked similar to him but was older.

"Yes, but war is a terrible thing. You can't always look for violent solutions to solve problems, are we so far gone we can't seek cooperation with humans?"
The Older Diavol asked as he caressed his black horse. He was one of the few people who was against taking the fortress, but as his son was a hot-blooded youth, he decided to follow him along and protect him.

"Father, the humans, will never cooperate with us, they don't even recognize us as a Republic."
The younger Diavol angrily said.

"Listen, After we take this fortress I will propose a peace treaty to the council, and then we can stop-"

BOOM!

The young Diavol couldn't even comprehend what happened and as he fell off his horse, dust flew into the air along with a warm liquid that covered his face, when the explosion happened, something fell into his mouth that had the texture of raw meat, and in his haste, he accidentally swallowed it.

Plop! Plop! Plop!

The sound of something between a solid and a liquid hit the ground around him. The battlefield descended into silence as they heard the loud sound, even the Cyclopes stopped pulling the bridge was already half way down, the sound of metal creaking filled the dead air as the bridge began to fall. All eyes turned to the source of the disruption only to see dust clearing.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!"
The young Diavol crawled backward but his hand squished something, he looked at it only to see a familiar eyeball.

"F...Fa...Father..."
He was still in shock as he remembered the thing he accidentally swallowed. Was it a piece of his dad?

"Bleugh!"
He threw up onto his dust covered armor and continued to do so until there was nothing left for him to throw up. He wiped his mouth and looked up with hate in his eyes. With his advanced eyesight, he could see a boy with yellow eyes smiling at him tauntingly. He stood up and began speaking as he looked for his bow.

"Kill them!"
Upon hearing him, the Diavol Soldiers stirred.

"Mages!"
He spat out venomously.

"I command all you mages to use the Hydra Formation for the glory of the Republic!"
He shouted harshly as he picked up his bow and arrows.

"Sir I don't think we should-"

Fwip!

He instantly shot his bow and the Diavol who began talking and killed him.

"Anyone else? Mages, you will be heavily rewarded as long as you can destroy part of that wall!"
The young Diavol added.

The Mages reluctantly assembled together, the Diavol had an experimental formation that all the Mages cast together at once for a truly devastating spell.

The problem was the backlash was too significant, the most minor were chronic headaches when used with 50 Diavol. Next was temporary blindness or hallucinations when used with 100 Diavol. The last was Insanity when used with 300 Diavol. The Mages formed into 6 groups and began chanting. The effects of using it with close to 1000 Mages were unknown, in fact, the backlash was known by individuals with a high ranking in the Republic, to everyone else it was classified. Mages were told to only use it in emergencies, needless to say, this was their first time using it. The young Diavol knew that most of the Mages might die, but he continued on as he was blinded by the thought of revenge.

.........................

Ira watched the young Diavol scramble and felt something odd from the Mages that assembled. He walked along the quiet ramparts and until he saw Avery in the distance, he focused on his bloodline and called Harper to him. He felt it would be best if they grouped up while the-

All of a sudden turned to look at the Mages, he could feel the subtle shift in the flow of the air as his instincts called out in alarm.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The Mages began glowing as the formation took shape, the air spun above their heads and as they finished the chant and a powerful magic was activated. A torrent of energy faster moved faster than anyone, including Ira, could notice.

"What the hell was that?"
Commander Belmond asked as he looked at the Mages that collapsed one by one.

"I don't know, Commander-"

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOOM!

Large white orbs bombarded the wall and destroyed Siege Towers and the Ramparts alike. People fell off the wall or were hit by orbs and died. The Five Hundred defending Soldiers had their numbers instantly cut into a less than a fifteenth of that. The wall began crumbling, as even the reinforced stone was no match. Ira looked over to see Avery running towards him.

BOOOM!

A white orb exploded near her and sent debris and bodies flying. Ira couldn't describe what he felt. He just wanted to get to her. He could see her body falling over the side of the wall where the Diavol were. His perception slowed to a crawl as a result of his kinetic vision. Everything moved far slower than before. He channeled the Lunar Force as the Gravity around him began changing. He slowly slammed his hand into the ground to get a grip, and as he pressed his legs against the stone, he lunged forth.

BOOOOOOOM!
A large explosion occurred as he leaped forward at three times the speed of sound, the soldiers around him were blown off the wall without knowing what happened. His clothes incinerated instantly along with his flesh, but it repaired at a rate faster than it was destroyed. He raised his foot up as it became covered in black mist and slammed it into the fortress wall to slow himself. He slowed down and caught Avery as he wrapped his arms around her and spun as they both plummeted toward the ground below.

Before they hit the ground, he altered the gravity around her while he took the impact.

BOOOOM!

He crashed into the ground as she lightly floated down a few seconds after him.

Ira's was currently unrecognizable, the flesh covering his whole body was completely melted, his limbs were gone, his bones were shattered, as his organs were failing, but his melted face warped into an ugly smile. Ira couldn't hear, couldn't see, and couldn't smell anything, but he could feel her heart beating. His senses began to return, and his body healed very slowly. He turned to look at Avery who was unconscious, blood completely covered her face. There were multiple wounds inside her abdomen, the debris from the blast of the white orb managed to pierce her armor and cause internal bleeding.

"Look at what they did to you."
Ira lifted his broken arm and touched her face.

"Look at what they did to you."
His hands trembled violently.

"Look at what they did to you."
His voice was full of hatred.

"LOOK...AT...WHAT...THEY...DID...TO...YOU..."
He spoke through clenched teeth, that began cracking under the immense pressure he put on them. The warm blood from her wounds slowly dripped onto him and only furthered his anger.

Slowly the sky began to darken, but no one noticed. If anyone looked up, they would see a black circle floating 200,000 miles above them. It silently expanded and could only be called foreboding.

........................

The young Diavol was shocked by the pure destructive power of the Hydra Formation, he looked at the lifeless bodies of 1000 Mages and said nothing. His eyes turned to where he saw a body land amidst the debris of the Fortress. He was sure it was the boy who killed his Father earlier.

Before he could send any orders, the Giants and Cyclopes all crouched down to show submissiveness. This caused everyone to feel puzzled until a voice shed some light.

"Gods. Have Mercy."
"What the hell is that?"
"Look at it!"

The Diavol dropped their weapons and began praying as they looked at the black circle that appeared in the sky. It was 4000 miles wide and continued to expand. A small red dot was easily spotted in the center of the black square. It appeared to also to be growing. The phenomenon was seen all over the continent causing mass panic.

An enormous red moon, bigger than Ulta Minor and Ulta Major combined appeared in the sky surrounded by a black circle. It was even more apparent by the lack of stars around it and the fact it dwarfed the other two moons.

A red hue shined onto the Eastern Valley and only the Eastern Valley. The ground began rumbling so fiercely no one could manage to stand. Even the Giants and Cyclopes weren't immune as they began to cry out.
........................

Ira laid Avery's head gently on his folded cloak and began stumbling toward the Diavol. A black mist seemed to crawl out of his pores and surround him like hair. He fell to one knee as the mist completely consumed him. Then it took the shape of a large black heart, which beat with a steady rhythm. Mist poured from it as it grew into an indistinct shape, six limb-like appendages sprouted, and a head shape emerged. Two small red circles formed on the head as the creature stood up. The black mist rapidly spread until the creature took the form of a giant black wolf with large red eyes. The mist finally slowed as the Wolf solidified into a corporeal being standing at around 200 feet. It slowly opened its mouth and emitted an earth-shaking roar.

"AOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!"
....................
*w/n: 17,422 words in total

 

~thx

 

I love the new chapter, looking forward to a even more badass Ira. also, that was one massive chapter! thanks!

Finally in the quote above, i think you missed something. 'Family was no place with those who......' ??? what did you mean to put?

~thanks

 

All fixed. Thanks for pointing that out. If you don't want to go back and read what was added, it was "no place for those who sought personal gain." I think. Thanks for reading.

 

Chapter 33 (Revised)

Spoiler: Read More

"AOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!"

The Enormous Black Wolf began walking forward. Each step left deep imprints on the ground and shook the surroundings. The survivors of the Fortress Destruction and the Diavol army all felt pure terror at the sight of it. The red eyes seemed to give off a visible bloodlust that crept its way into the hearts of all of those present.

The ground rumbled as the Wolf moved closer to the army of 8000 or so Diavol. The young Diavol who was in command of the army shook in fear. He wanted to order the Mages to force the Giants to restrain the Wolf, but he quickly remembered they were dead.

"Fire everything we have, or all of us will die! Someone get those Giants to attack!"
He screamed at his men as he drew his bow and shot at the red eyes of the wolf. He was an S- rated Archer in the Republic, and he even had the nickname "Gifted Arrow" for his outstanding accuracy and eyesight. The arrows struck the completely red eyes of the Wolf and bounced off much to the dismay of the "Gifted Arrow." Soldiers ran to load the catapults and ballista and fired.

Thack! Thack! Thack!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Hundreds of Siege weapons fired at the Giant Wolf.

BOOM! BOOM!

As the stones hit, they exploded into dust, while the Black Wolf continued it's walk forward. Soldiers gathered at the three Giants as channeled the small amount of mana they had into the mental restraints. It would cause the Giants to lose control, rendering them impossible to manipulate after, but everyone could only think of surviving.

"""AAAAAAAAAAAH!"""
The Giants eyes went bloodshot as they roared in unison, they wildly stomped as they crushed the Diavol around them. They then charged at the wolf that was a little more than twice their size.

"AOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!"

The deep roar resounded once again as the Wolf sped up, it moved from a steady walk to a slow trot, and then a full on sprint. It lowered its head and opened its huge mouth, that was lined with black fangs. It grabbed the Giants and snapped its mouth shut.

Splishhhh! Krack! Shiiiiish!

Along with a mist of blood, bone fragments flew onto the army like a rain of arrows.

"Aaaaah!"
"Noooo!"
"Run! Fucking run!"

The men abandoned their futile efforts, seeing the Giants, who seemed to only anger the wolf further, get eaten. The young Diavol also retreated in fear as he climbed onto his white horse. Seeing the men scattered the Wolf stopped its sprint and opened it's gaping maw. Black Mist poured out of its mouth as it stood still. The Diavol paid no attention, to what was an obvious bad omen, and continued their retreat. Suddenly, the slower men who were busy retreating began to float backward slowly.

"W-What?!"
"HELP!"
"Gods, no!"

Panic spread quickly as no one could escape the strange phenomenon. The Diavol, Equipment, Debris, anything in front of the Wolf that didn't have a solid foundation on the ground, such as the mountains to either side of the valley, all got pulled into the air. The young Diavol commander was no exception as he soon found himself floating backward. Less than ten random Diavol soldiers were lucky enough to escape as soon as the Wolf appeared, though they were technically deserters, it was likely no sane person would find anything wrong with their rationale.

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

The gravity that initially a slow pull backward suddenly became an unstoppable suction force that even absorbed the wind. The source of the loud noise was Wolf's jaws, inside its mouth was a black hole that drew in everything. Quickly the army and everything that came with it was devoured. The Diavol screamed in silence, as sound couldn't even escape the pull of the Black Wolf. The ground rumbled as large amounts of loose soil were picked up, and even the mountains lining the Eastern Valley experienced avalanches. After devouring the Diavol Army and part of the surroundings, the Black Wolf closed its jaws.

BOOOM!

As they shut, a giant shockwave erupted. The Black Wolf turned it's head to look at the Fortress. The couple dozen human survivors panicked as they failed to notice the Wolf wasn't looking at them, but a wounded woman on the edge of the fortress. It turned to survey the rubble and stared at a particular spot. After a few moments, a girl with pale blue hair, covered in blood and dust looked at the Wolf and nodded her head. The third red dot on her forehead glowed brightly under the red hue of the moon. She moved past the human Soldiers with a limp and shortly arrived next to the wounded woman with dark purple hair.

The Wolf turned it's head away and roared.

"AOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!"

It began running deeper into the Diavol Territory.

.....................................

70 miles away from the border of the Diavol Republic and just outside what was the Eastern Valley to humans, but the Western Valley to the Diavol, a city, called Savora, stood tall. It was a military outpost that also functioned as a city. While being stationed on the border soldiers often were bored or missed home, so the city sold goods and delivered messages to make things a bit more comfortable for those in service. It quickly became a favorite place for soldiers and civilian traders. Currently, thousands of people stood in the streets as they gazed at the Red Moon that appeared from nowhere, and the expanding black circle around it. At first, people panicked, but as nothing happened, it turned into confusion and even wonder.

"What the hell is that?" A soldier stationed at the city spoke up, causing a small crowd of people to look toward the east.

"...Is it smoke?" An old man asked as he narrowed his eyes. By now the crowd noticed two red circles moving toward the city. A red hue suddenly shone down onto the city like a spotlight, it was an ominous change causing many to grow nervous. The ray of red light highlighted the black silhouette of a Wolf, with each step it took the ground shook in response. Shock, panic, fear, the inhabitants of the city felt it all, there was no time to react they could only watch in horror.

"Gods have Mercy..."
A young man grew tearful as he thought of his parents, who insisted he not take part in any battles. He cried when he was faced with the thought of never seeing them again.

The Black Wolf abruptly stopped in front of the city and opened its jaws.

"AOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!"

No matter where they were the inhabitants could feel pure rage and hostility from the bone-shaking roar. They would have no time to react as the unrestrained pulling force ripped the earth from its very foundation. Ira paid no heed to what counted as innocent and what didn't, as far as he was concerned every life in the city wasn't worth even half of Avery's.

During war time, it was accepted that many people would die, whether they were guilty or innocent. And while it was unfortunate, it was still a part of reality. Atrocities often unspoken of shadowed any and all large scale battles, massacres, killing unarmed prisoners, burning property, and much more. But nothing on this scale had ever happened.

The body of the Wolf expanded and grew into a large Black Cloud that had the shape of Wolf's head. The Wolf-Shaped Black Cloud became broad enough to cover the whole city. It lowered its head and dug its teeth into the area that defined the border of the city. The last thing the residents would see was a dark sky.

WUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUR!

The Black Wolf's jaws snapped shut and it slowly shrunk back to its original size of 200 feet. Dust didn't even rise from the deep crater filled with what looked to be teeth marks. It sat there as if it had always been. The red haze of the moon's light faded away, as the Wolf departed from the scene of, what would soon be referred to as one of the largest catastrophes in the world.

Which would be more commonly known as, "The Savora Disaster." The tragedy which rendered a large city filled with 100,000 soldiers and civilian inhabitants, completely non-existent. The cause would be shortly reported within a couple days, by one lone army deserter who survived after fleeing into the Eastern Valley's mountains.

...........................

Exactly 6 minutes after the towering Black Wolf disappeared. It reappeared in front of the Fortress and instantly erupted into black mist before anyone could react.

WSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH!

The mist spread around and obscured everyone's sight. In the corner of the Fortress ruins, Ira appeared without any clothes in front of Avery and Harper. He seemed to have aged by a year and a half, and his hair was noticeably shorter, only reaching his ears. His eyes began slowly reverting back to the usual bright yellow, as the black circle in the sky was closed and the Massive Red Moon could no longer be seen. He ran over to Avery and kneeled down.

"I-I used my magic to push the metal out of her body."
Harper explained as she looked at Ira's slightly changed appearance. Harper closed her wounds by conjuring a phantom construct that worked similar to stitches. It was a sloppy job, but her internal bleeding was slowed to the point it was no longer life threatening.

"Good job."
Ira patted her on the head, but he didn't smile or laugh which was beyond peculiar to Harper, as long as she had known him he always smiled or laughed.

"Hold her head."
Ira said, Harper immediately lifted Avery's head as Ira retrieved the black cloak. He put it on, before removing Avery's armor and storing it with a wave of his left hand. He then kneeled down to pick Avery up and carry her through the rubble of the fortress wall.

Commander Belmond was among the dozen or so survivors, he was battered and beaten, and his leg was crushed so much he would be permanently crippled, but he still held onto the hand of the former Lt. Commander as the few men that could still stand, made their way over to him.

Snow began to fall as men groaned and coughed, some climbing out of the debris, while other lied motionless.

"Commander."
A soldier coughed out.

"Not now."
Commander Belmond muttered.

"Commander."
Another soldier said.

"What is it!"
Commander Belmond shouted as he turned to face the Soldiers. He knew it wasn't appropriate to yell at men who nearly died and suffered the same loss he did, but he couldn't help it. The soldiers didn't react and pointed up.

"..."
Commander Belmond frowned as he looked at the sky, A bright golden aurora moved with a divine splendor.

All over the continent the Aurora was just as visible as the red moon and caused just as much as a commotion. Many wondered what it meant, but they would have their answer within less than a week.

Commander Belmond looked over to see the boy, with black hair and yellow eyes, who looked slightly more mature, wearing a black cloak, carrying the woman with dark purple hair and a little girl with pale blue hair dressed in black limping behind him. Commander Belmond wanted to call out to ask if he was the Black Wolf. He was the only one who noticed the boy's red eyes shortly before the Black Wolf appeared and it didn't take a genius to put two and two together.

"Harper."
Ira spared them a single glance before looking at the Aurora in the sky. He then turned to face Harper.

"...Ira...I'm sorry...I only have enough power to change five of them...I think."
Harper replied in an apologetic tone. She used most of her mana shielding herself from the explosions and then a sizeable portion to stabilize Avery.

"It's fine. Keep the bald one alive, pick four other random ones, kill the rest."
Ira shrugged as he continued to walk with Avery in his arms. Harper nodded as she walked toward the men. They were clueless as to what was about to happen. Harper's steps became steady as her wounded leg regenerated.

"Mister, do you have any water?"
She asked as she stood near the crowd of soldiers who were distracted by the aurora in the sky.

"Sure."
The soldier handed over a canteen to Harper, she accepted it and took a drink.

"Thank you."
She said as she placed her hand on the metal baton.

"No problem-"

Shlunk!

The Soldier couldn't finish his sentence as he lost his head. Harper swung the phantom blue chain and began cutting down as many Soldiers as she could. She glanced over to see Ira getting further away, so she sped up her killing.

Shlik! Shlik! Shlik!

"Aaaah!"
"Stop!"
"Why?!"
The soldiers cried out, but they were too wounded to resist or flee, so they had no choice but to accept death as the blue chain dagger sliced their arteries and tore open their faces. Harper spun and twisted as she guided the blade into any soldier that attempted to get away.

Shlik! Shlik! Shlik!

Eventually, the screams stopped as only a silent Commander Belmond, and a few other men were left.

"...Why?"
Commander Belmond looked up at the little girl who had an innocent face. She scrunched her eyebrows at the question as she remained silent.

"...Because Ira told me to."
A few moments later she spoke. She stated her reason as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Without waiting any further, her eyes turned blue as she waved her hand over the survivors. They would soon forget how the little girl killed their comrades and only remember how their fellow soldiers got torn apart in the "explosion." They'd also forget everything about the Black Wolf and instead remember a black "creature" appearing as a result of the strange magic the Diavol used.

Harper looked tired after she was done, but she soon made a determined face and chased after Ira.

................................

Before the Golden Aurora descended, there was a talk in a realm far from the reaches of mortals. It was known as the Divine Realm. Contrary to the religious belief's of Mortals, Gods didn't just reside there, watching over the human realm. They ruled over various celestial beings, it was very similar to how mortals governed themselves. Sometimes they would even go to war against each other.

In a Golden Hall, men, women, and creatures without an apparent gender all sat at a large table. Some were dressed in furs, while other wore intricate armor or robes. Their looks varied incredibly, from those who looked Human to those who looked similar to Elves, some had horns, and others had glowing skin. Their looks were varied, but they all seemed to give off a Godly aura, most likely because they were actual Gods. There were more than twenty of them sitting at the table. One Male God who held an aetherial attractiveness stood up and began speaking.

"We all know why we're here."
He said solemnly. Some of the Gods at the table nodded.

"First, it was the creation of something that borders the taboo."
A radiant blue God slammed their fist onto the table. The taboo it referred to, was the establishment of a new bloodline. As Charles theorized, Harper tapped into one of the Origin Forces, and it was immediately noticed by certain Gods who also used the same Force she did. As the Spectral Force could rarely be manipulated by living beings, he quickly found out.

"No. The Black Pillar, it even reached our Realm."
A woman said in disagreement. The Black Pillar didn't just stop in the Mortal Realm, there was a similar pillar in the Divine Realm.

"Enough! All these events served as a reminder, the Devourer is still present!"
A God with horns and greenish skin shouted. The table broke into a fierce debate and people went back and forth.

"Don't conduct yourselves with the fickleness of mortals."
An older Male God with a serious face spoke. He had flowingly long gray hair and a gray beard that matched, but he was definitely no weak old man.

The arguments immediately stopped under his comment. He was one of the strongest Primary Gods, so they had to show him respect. In the Divine Realm there were Secondary Gods, and then there were Primary Gods. Secondary Gods were usually classified as celestial beings strong enough to earn the title of Gods or mortals who ascended into the Divine Realm and earned the title.

"Listen. I know all of us felt the Red Moon appearing again, for the first time in countless years."
The God who initially spoke began talking.

"The Devourer was driven beyond the Origin-Realm, and we assumed him to be dead until the black pillar. It appears he has chosen someone to inherit the blood of the Avarus Lupum, that someone appears to also have control over Ulta Majoris and is most likely the last pureblooded Avarus Lupum in existence."
The Attractive God stated grimly. A few Gods secondary Gods heard the story but weren't alive to witness the conflict with the Avarus Lupum, the Gods who did witness it never spoke about it.

"I thought all the Avarus were dead and that the last one was chased beyond the Origin-Realm."
A God said with a confused expression.

"We didn't think it was possible to survive beyond the Origin-Realm. The massive storm that continuously flows can even kill us permanently if we were to enter it. Currently, a mortal has the ability to call in a Moon that originated from the Divine Realm, and may even hold the key to the secrets of the Origin-Realm itself. If we get it not only can we put down that vengeful dog, but we may open the door to a whole new power."
The God spoke convincingly, and all but a select few looked to be in agreement.

"So what do you plan on doing?"
A woman spoke, a hint of disdain was present in her voice.

"I propose we reopen the barrier and let the mortals receive power again. If the Avarus continues to run wild, he will stir them into action and he'll be easier to find. If he runs across anyone who worships one of us, we can initiate Divine Possession. If that doesn't work we can send a divine revelation if he causes trouble."
The God responded politely to the woman, she was originally from the mortal realm, but ascended and became a Secondary God, and what was more shocking was the fact she became a Primary God soon after. What the God proposed was to basically use mortals as hunting dogs.

"Was it not closed 1000 years ago because the humans go too close to unlocking Divinity before?"
The woman asked rhetorically with a cold and distant tone. The older male God spoke up.

"That's enough. You should personally know that the humans almost broke the taboo, as you were there. Even we aren't immune to the laws of creation and the punishments that follow, otherwise, one of us could descend right now and capture the Avarus Lupum running wild below. At least hear him out, Kara."
The older looking God spoke to her in a stern tone.

"Don't you have a daughter in the mortal realm? Removing the barrier may even benefit her and any of the descendants of your Thynne Family directly."
Another God said.

"Don't you ever speak of my family."
Kara Thynne's silver hair began to float, and her eyes turned into two bright silver lights as she stood up. The reason she was formidable and became one of the few mortals to ascend into a Primary God was that she had perfected her ability to wield any weapon. She could enter a temporary state that allowed her to rival even the most experienced Gods in combat.

"Enough!"
The Older God shouted, and his voice shook the Golden Hall. Kara sat down and returned to her normal state. Seeing all the Gods turn silent he spoke.

"Haah. Shall we raise the barrier?"
The Older God had sighed before he asked. A majority of the Gods present agreed while a few, including Kara, abstained.

"Then it's settled."
The Attractive God who initiated the meeting smiled as the meeting came to an end.

A few moments later, the Gods went deeper into the hall and stood on a floor that appeared to be as clear as glass. It showed the entire universe within the bounds of the Mortal Realm. They each channeled their Divine Power, and soon enough something happened. A Golden Aurora covered the whole Earth. The barrier served as a way to basically dilute the Origin Forces from reaching the Mortal Realm, but with it open, the power would go through unabashed. Random creatures would now receive blessings or may even awaken to a new power.

The chaos caused when it was closed was bound to be the same when it was reopened. All the events leading to the reopening of the barrier, also called "The Curtain" by mortals, could all be traced back to one person. The same one carrying the blood of the Avarus Lupum and was the last Avarus in existence.

It remained to be seen if he could weather the chaos that was to come or crumble into dust.

 

Hey! thanks for another awesome chapter that didn't foreshadow anything at all

any who, I'm sorry but right now i can't donate. i would if i could but I'm currently in high school with no part time job soo.....
there's that. sorry and thanks for the chapter!

 

Chapter 34

Spoiler: Read More

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHH!"


There was a loud and terrible screaming. Hundreds of thousands of voices all congealed into one tangible scream filled with, anger, hate, sorrow, grief, and fear.

Ira looked around the room to see Avery sleeping on the bed and Harper sleeping on a couch. While he sat in a chair next to Avery's bed. The reason they were still sound asleep in spite of the screams was, the screams could only be heard by him. Clinging to the edge of nothingness, showing a stubborn unwillingness to part. Remnants of the dead all bound together by one will, one wish, one desire, and that was to break the mind of their murderer.

They continued to scream, allowing him no rest.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHH!"

It was a pity, as Ira desperately needed the rest. Turning into the Black Wolf, calling the third moon from the void and devouring a city all caused an incredible amount of physical and mental stress. His aging immunity was even temporarily rendered inert under the stress and as a result, he looked noticeably more mature. Which could be considered dangerous, if those with immortality began aging it was a sure sign of them dying. Luckily, his regeneration had resumed, and his body was completely fixed, but he couldn't reverse his age, needless to say, the current changes would be permanent.

His mind, on the other hand, was not able to be repaired by his regeneration. He could go a couple weeks without a full sleep if he were in prime condition, but he needed to restore his mental awareness. Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHH!"

He looked at the ceiling before closing his eyes. He could do nothing but continue to listen.

Currently, they were inside of a small inn. After he had dropped Avery and Harper off, he went to report to the Governor, who also gave him some clothes. His story was that the Diavol used a strange sacrificial magic to annihilate the Fortress walls and as a result caused a strange black "creature" to appear. The Governor personally went to the Fortress to see for himself before he came back and delivered the news to the Kingdom which spread like wildfire. It was a tragedy, only Commander Belmond and four of his men survived. As for the Golden Aurora and the Red Moon, Ira gave no answers. A few people already knew he had the blessing "Keeper of The Third Moon.", so if he spread the information that the Diavol summoned the red moon, he would obviously be found out.

He couldn't think straight which made it hard to consider the situation.

"Ira."
Harper's voice immediately caused him to open his eyes, not that he was sleeping. He looked at her and noticed her eyes were entirely blue, which meant she was using her Spectral Vision. As she looked at him, the Black Circle on his chest had expanded, thousands of little pale blue lights were clinging to the edge of the black circle. Ever since the Golden Aurora shown, her powers seemed to be very different. She could sense the gray lights were wrong, but she wasn't exactly sure why.

What Harper didn't know was that the blue lights were remnants of fallen souls. The massacre of thousands of innocent lives was bound to have repercussions. If the inhabitants of the city weren't devoured by Ira and instead left to rot, it would've polluted the surrounding environment with death and caused far more damage. The reason he was faced with the tortured screaming now was on account of his lack of control over nothingness. If he had thoroughly sent them away into the void, he wouldn't be facing his current predicament.

"There sticking to you."
She said as she stood up and walked toward Ira.

"...I know."
He made a weak smile, which illustrated his exhaustion.

"I can stop them."
Her blue eyes continued to glow as she stared at him. Ira thought for a second before nodding and closing his head. Harper raised her hand and placed it on his chest, and began using her spectral manipulation. The little gray lights were slowly absorbed by her. Each one seemed to slightly empower her by slight increments. A visible blue glow seemed to overtake her as she continued to siphon the gray lights. The room began to slightly shake as she continued.

"AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghhhhhh!"
The screams in Ira's head began to slowly get quieter and quieter until they faded into whispers and then finally stopped.


Thump!

Ira fell unconscious in the chair, and Harper fell to the ground.

....................................................


They both reappeared in a foggy woodland. Thin black trees surrounded them, each one barren of vegetation. The ground itself was hard black dirt.

"Where?"
Harper spun around as she evaluated the surroundings. Ira stared forward, trying to peer through the hazy fog.

"You should know where this is."
The fog parted as a woman's pleasant voice echoed throughout the woodland. Far ahead was a white ivory table, with three seats. One was occupied by a lady wearing a black dress. Her skin was completely white, it was the epitome of the complete absence of color. Her hair was a fluorescent blue even brighter than Harper's, but her eyes were completely white.

"Oh? So you're able to look into my eyes."
The pale lady smiled as she saw Ira staring at her. Ira was slightly confused but turned to look at Harper and saw her in a daze.

"Hey."
He tapped her shoulder, and she jumped awake from her stupor. Ira looked at the pale lady curiously as he walked to the table. Harper followed behind him but refrained from looking at the woman's face, when she made eye contact the first time she grew disoriented and confused. The woman continued to smile as she watched them sit down.

"Who are you, and what do you want?"
He asked.

"I am the collective will of those between life and death and I want nothing from you."
The lady replied. She looked over at Harper and raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Is she not the one who brought you here?"
The woman asked.

"Purgatorial Embodiment."
Ira quickly drew an assumption and spoke aloud. Harper looked at him and then sent a quick glance to the pale lady. Harper had a skill that related to purgatory, but it was very much sealed the last time he checked. It seems whatever she did to lessen the screams he heard was directly related to that ability.

"Ah, yes. It seems the souls clinging to you helped unlocked her ability. She must have absorbed them, and as a result sent both of you here, granted it was likely pure coincidence."
The woman paused as she looked at Ira as she began to realize something.
"...You've killed thousands of people."
Her eyes widened in surprise, though it was hard to tell on account of the fact that they lacked both irises and pupils.

"Not only that but you...That's why the barrier was torn down. You!"
The woman stood up in surprise as the fog slightly stirred.

"Barrier?"
Ira ignored the woman's outburst and focused on the barrier.

"You don't know?"
She asked as she sat down and regained her calm. Ira shrugged in response. The woman thought for a moment and then explained.

"...Think of it this way. The forces that empower the mortal plane were obstructed by a wall. I believe your actions are probably the reason behind its removal...Even now I can feel something emanating from you...you were carrying a large amount of death, but also something much more frightening. Frightening enough to warrant an event such as the barrier removal."
The woman could feel the void's influence on Ira but wasn't familiar with what it was.

"When you say my actions are 'probably the cause' what do you mean?"
Ira thought it was strange the Will of Purgatory wouldn't know about his situation.

"I am not sure. I am sorry to disappoint you, but I am no God, I am one of many Sub-Planar entities. I operate under the mortal realm, if God's entered the Plane of Purgatory after they died, I would be far stronger than I am. I have no way of knowing what occurs beyond the Mortal Realm because that is the place that powers Purgatory. Immortals and such are the bane of my existence."
The woman began to get off track, but she then suddenly realized if Ira was the source of the barrier being removed, it meant he would be a target. She looked Harper and made a guess of her origin.

"What is she exactly?"
The woman couldn't help but ask. Ira chuckled as he shook his head.

"My sister."
He ruffled Harper's hair while she kept her head down and swung her legs.

"I ask because she is still living and this place is only accessible by the dead. Well, when the barrier had been in place the weaker Liches, Wraiths, and Banshees were unable to enter. But now..."

"Now what?"
Ira asked casually, slowly he was getting interested in the events.

"Now, all sub-planes should be primarily accessible. What couldn't enter now can, and what couldn't leave..."
The woman left the rest to Ira's imagination.
"You can guess what happens next and if you are the cause of this event, you can expect plenty of things to show an interest in you."
The woman smiled. Ira had looked at the woman in silence before he began laughing.

"Hah! So why are you helping me by telling me this?"
He asked.

"I have no qualms against you, in fact, you're helping me out in a way. A little over three hundred and fifty thousands vengeful souls were brought here. You didn't think your sister could possibly store all of them, did you? What she received was one five hundredth of the total amount. The rest..."
The woman raised her arm and gestured to the foggy surroundings.

"So while we aren't allies, we aren't exactly enemies, no?"
She looked to see Ira remaining unconvinced, so she continued to speak.
"I'm sure that as long as you remain alive, the deaths of others will follow, and I'm also sure they won't be pleasant at all. So in exchange for these ever-hateful souls, I can impart some of my knowledge onto your sister. Does that sound satisfactory?"
As the woman made the proposal, Harper looked at Ira, it seemed she only cared to hear Ira's opinion on the matter.

"...I'll agree for now, but I don't exactly trust you."
He continued to be a little skeptical of this Sub-Planar Entity, but there was no reason to distrust her as her continued existence was solely based on the death of others.

"Nor I you, I find you to be very dangerous, but as a show of good faith I will give her a substantial amount of access to Purgatory, she'll be able to manifest her consciousness here should she choose to, and if she does I'll teach her what I can."
The woman raised her hand and sent some of the fog into Harper's chest. Ira waited until she was finished and stood up. Harper briefly looked dazed before she stood up herself.

"How do we leave?"
He asked as he looked around.

"She knows. Oh, and I look forward to our future cooperation."
The woman smiled beautifully. Ira smiled in response and tapped Harper's shoulder. He believed there was another motive for the woman working with him, but he knew it was pointless to ask.

"Let's go, kiddo."
Harper nodded in response and closed her eyes.

...........................................

"Ah."
Harper exclaimed as she sat up. Ira just looked at her curiously, he had experienced something similar to this before and mentally moving from Purgatory to the Mortal World didn't affect him much. In Harper's defense, it was her first time having an out of body experience such as that.

"I'll assume you enjoyed your rest."
Avery's indifferent voice surprised Ira. He looked at her and chuckled happily.

"You could've died you know?"

"Of all people I think you're the last one who should be saying that."
She retorted as she climbed out of bed. She still wore her black training tights, which now had a few small holes in them, showing the wounds she received.

"Isn't too early to be moving."
Ira asked as he stood to help her. She raised her arm to stop him, before placing her arm on her abdomen. A faint silver glow radiated from her hand and slowly healed her wounds.

"My bloodline is awakening."
She said without much surprise. She guessed the exact cause was because of the battle, she wasn't aware of what took place after she was unconscious. Her own mother awakened to her bloodline in the middle of a fight, much to the distress of her opponents.
"What happened to the fortress?"
She asked as she finished healing her abdomen and began treating her face.

"Well..."
Ira began explaining in detail what exactly happened after the fortress fell and even included the parts about him devouring the city. He added the recent information of the meeting with the Will of Purgatory and learning about the barrier removal.

As he thought of the city, he may or may not have understood that he was a monster. Something akin to what his parents were in his own eyes. There was no excuse for his actions, and he would have no choice but to stomach them. The screams were stopped, but he swore he could still faintly hear them.

As Avery listened she quickly absorbed the information and began contemplating.

"Your actions are nothing short of genocide in the eyes of the world, if anyone finds out, you'll have to face the consequences."
Avery stated as she looked in his yellow eyes.

"I know."
Ira smiled, but it wasn't out of happiness. Avery could see that it wasn't, she could see the unique sign of separation from the world. One she had long since experienced.

"I need to correct myself. We'll face the consequences. Am I not also to blame?"
Avery raised her left hand to show her wedding ring. Her statement may have seemed romantic, but it was close to the truth, she'd be seen as a culprit for not stopping him. Harper nodded in agreement, she could understand what some of the conversation was about.

"Avery..."
Ira was at odds on how to respond. Any of his problems would also fall upon her, he began to realize he needed to tell her some of his secrets to help her prepare for what was to come.

"...After we get to the capital, we should talk about a few things."
He chuckled, but once again his eyes told a different story. He already began thinking of using the black book to find some way to make Avery stronger. Avery nodded in response and then surveyed the room.

"We should go see my Grandmother and plan the next move. Chances are she'll be wanting to speak to you too."
Avery grabbed the cloak from nearby and threw it on.
"Let's go."
She said as she made her way out the room.

...............................................

The trio made their way to to the teleportation and departed from Greensborough, as they arrived in the Capital, a large group of people were waiting there.

"Ah, Ira, we are happy to see you in safe health. We received the report from the Governor and wanted to know if we could hear your personal account of the incident?"
A man in a dark green uniform spoke in a friendly tone as he saw Ira appear. Ira looked at the people around him who seemed to be guards and smiled.

"Pay me first."
He laughed as he walked past the friendly man. Two guards stood in front of him but had no choice when they saw he wouldn't stop, and moved out of the way. Ira, Avery, and Harper all left under the watch of the guards in the room. The mages and alchemists didn't even stop to check them as the atmosphere seemed strange.

"Director."
After seeing the trio leave a guard spoke up.

"He knows something."
The friendliness retreated from the man's face as he stared at the exist. He noticed the matching rings on his and Avery's fingers and began to assume the worst. If they were involved together, it would be much harder to get to Ira under the protection of the Valkyries.

"As if the problems facing the kingdom weren't enough already."

Director Samuel sighed, he felt as if his work was cut out for him.

.....................

 

Thanks for reading and don't worry about donating it's just toward some illustrations that will come at some point. Also, you can find the chapters anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours earlier on rrl. I post it there first since it's a bit easier and people point out errors in the comments.

 

Chapter 35

Spoiler: Read More

It had been two days since the Red Moon and the Golden Aurora. News of the Eastern Valley Fortress being destroyed and a mysterious creature appearing from nowhere incited panic, but others rejoiced. After all, the Golden Aurora gave certain individuals power. Small time murderers for hire now had the potential to become Perfect Assassins. Lowly Bandits could become Warlords. And the average village boy could now be a Hero.

Within the outskirts of the Capital, a small inn sat. A boy about 5'9 in height who looked to be around 15 or 16, had short brown hair and a simple yet noble face, ran inside of it at an incredible speed.

"Clark!"
The boy entered the shotty Inn and yelled when he saw a tall brown haired teen sweeping. It was, of course, Clark. Who seemed to have grown a bit taller at 6'1 and became a bit thinner.

"Randolph you shouldn't be yelling, the owner is still sleeping-"
As Clark turned to look at the, he stopped in surprise. The reason being Randolph's body. Three days ago he could only be described as truly average and yet today he stood with a sturdier looking body. His clothes seemed to slightly stretch as if they were too small.

"Clark! You still have that status card?!"
Randolph asked.

"Y-Yeah."
Clark was still caught off guard by Randolph's change. He pulled the status card from his pocket and handed it over without thinking. Clark knew Randolph ever since he had started working at the Inn. The owner took pity on him after hearing his story and let him take up residence in a storeroom and paid him with low wages and free food. Randolph had just moved to the Capital, he had hopes of being a Renown Mercenary, but currently could only take the most basic of jobs, other than that Clark knew nothing of his past. They quickly became friends, and Randolph took an interest in the stories Clark told, mostly the ones about a boy named "Ira." As a Mercenary, Randolph had at least seen the rankings and thus took an interest in who most Mercenaries referred to as "Yellow-Eyes."

Clark told him about how Ira saved his village and stopped Assassins, of course, he left out the parts about his personal ineptness.

"Woah! Clark look!"

Randolph showed Clark the status card.

Name: Randolph
Rating: B+
Growth Capacity: Unknown
Bloodline: Human
Blessings: Divine Body
Mana Capacity: Medium
Passive Skills:
Abnormal Strength

Abnormal Physique

Adept Swordsmanship

Apprentice Martial Arts

Active Skills: None

He lacked his own card as they were expensive for ordinary people, costing up to 1000 Gre. The Kingdom gave out free ones to those who joined the academy, but it seems Randolph didn't join. Which was a little odd for someone who wanted to be a Renown Mercenary, who didn't want free training? But it seems he wouldn't need it now.

"Y-You!"
Clark's eyes widened as he stared at Randolph.

"I know! I think it has something to do with that Red Moon and Golden Aurora."
Randolph straightened his posture and stood proudly.

"You should check-"
Before Randolph could finish, someone else spoke.
"Tell that Old Bastard to come out here!"
A tall stereotypical looking thug with a balding head, straggly beard, a few scars, and a leather vest entered the Inn and shouted. Clark looked tense, this mad had been a loan shark, harassing the owner of the Inn for many weeks, he had been coming the last few days trying to squeeze more money out of the old man so he could leave the Capital.

"I-"
Clark opened his mouth, but Randolph raised his arm.

"Leave, or things won't end well for you."
Randolph channeled his inner hero and repeated a line he once heard in a story. He tried to look as intimidating as possible.

"What? Boy, I oughta beat you to death for even looking at me."
The thug stepped forward.

"Last chance."
Randolph said as he inwardly thought of how cool he looked. The thug looked at Randolph and sneered.

"Bastard!"
The thug swung his massive fist toward Randolph, who ducked and then countered with a punch.

Bang!

The Thug flew into a corner and crashed into some furniture much to his surprise, one would think he was weightless with how he sailed through the air. Randolph looked at his hand and then turned to look at Clark.

"C-Clark! Didn't you say Ira was strong?"
Randolph asked in an excited manner.

"...Yeah."
Clark looked between Randolph and the Thug who sat motionless in the corner.

"So maybe I can be as strong as him if I'm not already."
Randolph stated as he looked at his fist. He formed an idea of who Ira was in his head, based on rumors, sightings, and stories told in the slums. He set him out to overcome him.

"Hey! You gonna pay for that furniture?"
The old owner stumbled out from upstairs. He heard the commotion and waited, but when he watched Randolph knock the Thug across the room with one punch, he was shocked and annoyed.

"Sorry, I'll pay you as soon as I'm able. Shouldn't be hard now with my new skills."
Randolph said embarrassedly as he scratched his head.

"Well, It should be all right as long as you...Look out!"
The owner saw the thug rushing toward Randolph with a sharp object in hand. Randolph had no time to react as The Thug arrived and thrust the dagger he had in hand toward him.

"NO!"
Clark shouted as he held his hand up and closed his eyes. He had just made a friend and slowly thought of finding a way to become strong enough to defend the people he cared about. But now it looked as his life would be stuck in a vicious cycle.

Ding!

But looks could be deceiving. A loud sound akin to an arrow hitting a metal plate resounded inside of the Inn. When Clark opened his eyes, he saw the Thug standing in front of a Translucent Golden Shield, while he was also covered by a Golden Light. The light began to dim and then disappeared altogether while all eyes focused on Clark. Randolph snapped back to reality and delivered a swift punch to the Thug, knocking him onto the floor.

"Clark, that was unbelievable! You gotta check your status card."
Randolph shouted in excitement.

"..."
Clark still was recoiling from shock.

"Clark, hurry and check it."
Randolph said again as he grabbed Clark's shoulders.

"Yeah."
Clark stumbled after Randolph shook him. He grabbed the blue card from his pocket and checked it.

Name: Clark
Rating: B-
Growth Capacity: Unknown
Bloodline: Human
Blessings: Defender's Blessing
Mana Capacity: Medium
Passive Skills:
Conjure Shield(???) Conjure Armor(???)

Novice Martial Arts

Active Skills: None

"Clark, do you know what this means?"
Randolph asked as he looked at Clark card.

"W-What?"
Clark asked as he received even more of a shock after seeing the card. Why was he given ability now? And not when he needed them. What kind of sick joke was being played on him? The fairy tales always show an unsuspecting hero who is granted power in his time of need. So why couldn't he have gained power sooner?

"It means we can be real heroes!"
Randolph said as he laughed. The excitement couldn't be hidden from his eyes, but a bit of obsession was attached to that excitement.

"...We can."
Clark clenched his fist as he took what Randolph said completely seriously. He couldn't erase his past mistakes, but he could try to make up for them.

"Well how about you two heroes clean up the mess you made. I'll get a Guard to come take that Thug away."
The Owner shouted.

"Yes, Sir."
"Yes, Sir."
Clark and Randolph answered simultaneously. They began cleaning up the mess, while the owner left. They talked of the prospects of making a guild and becoming the best in the entire world, saving those in need and stopping those who spread evil.
..................................

Similar scenes occurred all over the Continent, in an entirely random manner. Not everyone received power as a majority were mostly left out. Whatever chose to grant people power didn't discriminate in its choice, good and evil, young and old, wealthy and poor, healthy and sick. The Kingdom noticed the influx of the power and consulted their alchemists and mages, including Charles. A few dozen had received gifts, while others felt an increase in their overall abilities. It was decided that an expedition would be held in one week time, the destination was a suspected ruin of the Old Kingdom. The need for ancient technology was greater than ever. The issues the Kingdom faced were higher than ever, from the fall of the Eastern Valley Fortress to the unnamed creature looming somewhere near it, to the rapid growth of random people. Even reports of monster becoming stronger were slowly being sent around.

While the Kingdom was at a loss on what to do, others were already moving. The Diavol were faced with the catastrophe caused by a monster dubbed "The City-Eater," the Dark Elves had their interests stirred by the Red Moon. Dark Elven Society focused on the use of the nocturnal and things of a lunar nature, and as such, they ruled over Beast People and Lycanthropes.

On the day the Red Moon emerged, Dark Elves who specialized in lunar magic felt the Red Moon empower them, albeit temporarily. The Lycanthropes and Beast People, in addition to the Red Moon's influence, felt something deep within their blood that caused many to feel fear.

The Humans ruling the Tel'ven Empire and Parvian Houses began to make their own preparations, and even the ones least expected to move, The Elves within the Great Forest, also started to prepare.

And on a small island, filled with shale and steep cliffs, devoid of any wildlife, surrounded by fierce waves and treacherous currents. There were those who had long since been dormant, but because of the recent events, they would soon make themselves known again.

..............................

 

oh? really. meh i'll continue on here i get reminders easier, plus i have no royalroadl account so i can't comment!

 

Chapter 36

Spoiler: Read More

WOOOOOOOM!

A small island rumbled. Its steep cliffs shook, causing dozens of rockslides. If animals were present, they would inevitably flee, yet no signs of wildlife could be seen. Further in the island, past the natural stone constructs, there was a large cave, which was the source of the shaking.

The cave looked natural at first glance, but as one went further and further, they would notice that it seemed to be carved out with precision. At the end of the cave was a large circular metal door.

WOOOOOOOOM!

Inside of it was a room with an incredibly large roundtable where 5 hallways converged. Soon a young woman in armor came walking out, followed by a two more. They each had different hair colors but shared the same silver eyes. They were Valkyries. They sat down on one side of the long table.

Next, a girl who looked to be about the age of 16 walked out of one of the other hallways. She had spotted amber eyes with vertical slits, a few small jewel-like scales were present around her eyes, and her hair was a vivid orange that looked like fire itself. She stepped out and eyed the Valkyries as she sat down further away from them. The truth is she was far older than she looked, she was an ancient dragon, one of an incredibly powerful lineage which held the title of "First-Flame."

A young man who looked exactly like a human with brown hair came out next. What was different was his two turquoise eyes and a third turquoise crystal eye in the center of his head. His race was known as Ersal, the crystal eye in the middle of his forehead gave him extraordinary psychic abilities. He could see into the future, use telekinesis, make astral projections of himself, read minds, teleport, and use a lot of other skills of the psychic nature.

Another young man who looked to be in his early twenties with dark blue eyes and hair that looked shimmered as if it was wet, exited from another hallway. His eyes and hair were as dark as the sea and for a good reason. He was Naiad, beings who controlled and manipulated water, anywhere with the smallest amount of moisture would allow a Naiad to use it as a weapon or as a defense. He sat down and scanned over everyone.

Finally, a girl who looked to be in her late teens walked out from her own hallway. Her hair was white, and her eyes were black, but to contrast, there was a white pupil for each. Along with four tiny white circles around the pupil. Her eyes almost looked like they held constellations. A comparison that was actually closer to the truth. She was one of the strongest of the races in the mortal realm, a Sidera. Each Sidera had a unique constellation exclusive to their particular lineage that they could use to empower themselves, and they could manipulate and control plasma.

"It seems we all are here. I'd like to skip straight ahead to the important issues if you all don't mind."
The Sidera woman spoke, her name was Lyra and she served as the head of the group. Everyone at the table nodded, signaling for her to continue.

"First, I know we all felt it. The event that occurred shortly before the barrier was lifted."
Lyra stated. Everyone showed hostile expressions at the mention of the barrier.
"Our first priority should be finding the one responsible. After we locate that person we could seek cooperation, if that person is unwilling then we may have to take certain steps to make them cooperate."
She continued, she turned to the Ersal.
"Has the Storm Wall weakened, Gicae?"
She asked. At the mention of the "Storm Wall," everyone turned their attention to the Ersal named Gicae.

He closed his eyes, and his turquoise third eye began glowing.

"It seems to be growing stronger with the release of the barrier."
He said dejectedly, the moods of everyone in the room dropped. The Ancient Dragon with a youthful appearance was the first to speak up in a voiced laced with anger.
"The Storm Wall is an unnatural thing created by those Gods! Not only did they kill off those closest to ascending, but they also confined us to this realm by increasing the difficulty of ascending, and worst of all they've kept us from our people. For all, we know all our people could be dead-"
The Ancient Dragons rage was interrupted by the Sidera.

"Thessia. As the last living heir of The First-Flame, you should act like it. It's not like we couldn't ascend at all, Kara is proof that is was possible."
Lyra reprimanded her. The Valkyries at the table all had their expressions shift at the mention of Kara.

"So...No one can breach the Storm Wall?"
The Naiad asked Gicae.

"It is steadily growing, we may have to go visit it in person for a better assessment. Until then we can only wait for it to collapse in on itself and that may be thousands of years from now. Even with your abilities, it's impossible, Kevser."
Gicae stated grimly.

Just what was the Storm Wall? It was an unnatural disaster caused by the barrier. When the barrier was put up most civilizations collapsed because the strongest people protecting them instantly died, those who relied heavily on the Origin Forces were struck with a harsh recoil when the forces were basically diluted into small amounts. It was like instantly lowering the oxygen level for those who breathed air, except much worse. Those who could embody the forces directly died. Those who heavily relied on them could only look or in horror as they drastically weakened. Of course, those who were opportunistic revolted and killed these former powerhouses.

Unfortunately, that was the least devastating effect. The Forces that had a tangible influence on the Mortal Realm were all slowed at the same time, causing a chain reaction. The Kingdom of the humans crumbled under the onslaught of massive earthquakes, islands that once blanketed the sky fell into the sea.

Finally, the Storm Wall was created. A shockwave from the disruption traveled around the earth only to collide as it met itself causing the energy to fiercely sit at a stalemate.

The energy neither dissipated nor moved, turning into a massive storm thought to be the quarter the width of a small continent; The length of the entire globe and a height that was twice the size of any of the largest mountains.

The fate of those on the other side of the Storm Wall was unknown., Fly over it? It was impossible to fly over, above it lied many magnetic and gravitational storms, which also prevented anyone from seeing beyond it with psychic abilities. To go under it? Even the Naiad, who were at their strongest in the water wouldn't be able to escape the massive whirlpools and volcanic eruptions that raged underneath the sea.

"Perhaps the one who caused the barrier to be lifted may be the key to getting past it."
Gicae suggested.

"Can you find that person in the first place?"
The Naiad, Kevser, inquired. Gicae closed his eyes once again, and the crystal third eye began glowing.

"...Not exactly...but I can feel where that person was last. They left a trail of some sort. Everything else is...slightly distorted."
Gicae opened his eyes with confusion. The one in question was of course Ira. For some reason, he couldn't pinpoint him accurately.

"It doesn't matter. Kara's children should still be alive, they should know more than we do on what happened."
A Valkyrie said. The two other Valkyries with her nodded their heads.

"Ustia, I know you see Kara's departure as a betrayal, but there is no need to be hostile to her kin. If you harm her children and she'll find a way to kill you. Who knows what she attained while in the Divine Realm."
Lyra warned.
"We will visit the site of the event, the Storm Wall can wait for another day."
She continued. Those sitting at the table all nodded in agreement before gathering around Gicae.

Whoosh!

A glowing doorway-like entrance to the open sea appeared right in front of them. It was the Ersal's natural ability to teleport, he could travel anywhere with very little restriction, as long as he can see it. It had its restrictions though, if a place blocked his telepathy, he would be unable to travel. Such is the reason he couldn't just cross the storm wall.

They stepped through the doorway and arrived at a huge crater. Standing on the rim, they solemnly surveyed the scene.

"Gicae, do you know what happened here?"
Lyra, it seemed as if some massive explosion took place, but there were no signs of residual energy. The three Valkyries looked intrigued by the pattern of thick lines around the crater that were similar to the fangs of a beast. Gicae once again channeled his crystal eye and tried to get a look into the past.

Hundreds of vivid scenes of darkness and cries of terror appeared abruptly, causing him to stumble in shock. The others looked on while he just stood with a rigid expression. The information played back in his head, a Black Wolf, A Red Moon, and a whole city.

"Lyra, how long until you can use your abilities to their full extent?"
He asked with absolute seriousness. Lyra was arguably the most powerful of the group, especially seeing as Thessia had yet to fully mature as an Ancient Dragon.

"I'd give it a few months at most, is the person who made this that much of a threat?"
She asked gravely. After the barrier had been raised, she had seen too many of her own die because of arrogance. Her time spent waiting for the barrier to be removed allowed her to approach situations with a clear head. It was unknown if the same could be said for the ones with her.

"If that person chooses not to cooperate with us...We have to kill them no matter the cost."
Gicae spoke still couldn't process what he saw, but he had felt an incredible sense of dread when he tried to look at what took place in the past.

"Someone comes."
Thessia her amber eyes looked across the crater and could see plumes of dust, a large party seemed to be riding in from the East and their destination was the crater.

"We need not stay any longer, we'll wait for Gicae to rest and then we should try to track this person down once again."
Lyra nodded to Gicae, who reopened the doorway to the desolate island. Everyone stepped through, except for the Valkyries who gave one last look to the crater with excitement before finally stepping through.

.............................................

It had already been a few days since the incident. Lauren and Casey instantly knew it had to do with Ira. He informed them of what took place and even told them of what the Will of Purgatory had spoken of. The most important news was Avery awakening her bloodline, not only her, but a few of her cousins closest to awakening had become Valkyries. Though, Casey solely focused on Avery. With her bloodline active, she not so subtly pushed the expectation of grandchildren onto Avery. Though Lauren surprisingly said it might be too early, it was clear she was in agreement with Casey.

In the back of the Thynne Manor. Avery and Ira sat at the White Pagoda. A light snow fell onto the frozen grass, yet neither of them seemed to be cold.

Ira told her everything, from his very short memory of his childhood to the current moment, not leaving any details. After a brief silence, Avery looked at him and spoke.

"...Ira."

"It's alright."
He chuckled as he waved his hand.

"That's a lie."
She stated clearly.

"They've been dead for a while. What's done is done."
He responded maintaining his casual expression.

"I..."
Avery gathered her thoughts, such situations were new to her. It was apparent he didn't want to be consoled. Even if he did such a thing wouldn't fit her, but she felt she had to say something."...I'm the last one who should be upset with it, but what they did to you-"

Ira interrupted her.
"I don't need to be told about what they did, I still remember it clearly. I told you so we can move onto the next step."
He shook his head with a smile. Avery was still unwilling to let it go. It was a rare showcase of stubbornness, but she cared for him too much to not speak on it.

"Even though I'm the last one who should be speaking on something like emotions. You shouldn't pretend-"
"Avery."
Ira cut her off again with a slight bit of irritation in his voice. She decided not to press the issue seeing that he didn't leave the slightest bit of room to speak about it.

"Fine. Then let's discuss your powers shall we?"

She said to change the subject.

"What about them?"He questioned.

"I'm assuming the seals should unlock once you reach a certain point as to not give you more power than you can handle, point being your current condition."
Avery said seriously. Ira had aged a year in a day, exactly what his aging immunity was supposed to prevent. His youthful features had become noticeably more mature, which was a bad sign considering his regeneration prevented his cells from degrading.

"Well, I guessed that much."
He chuckled at the not so surprising statement.

"Then what about your skills? Clearly, there are some that don't register on status cards."

"Ah, like the storage."
He responded.

"That reminds me. If you can manipulate the 'Void' to create storage, isn't it safe to say that you some facet of control over it?"
She suggested.

"Wait...What..."
Ira was dumbfounded. He had gotten used to the status card and his instincts, forgoing experimentation with his abilities.

"It does sound complicated to use a skill you can't be sure exists in the first place."
Both Avery and Ira had expressions of contemplation. Avery was a lot of things, but dumb was definitely not one of them. The whole conversation clearly illustrated her intellect.

"Genetic Mutation."
She said suddenly.

"I've yet to use it. I'm still not sure how it works exactly."
He said.

"If I were to guess, it would be to change your physiology. Your Self-Adaptation changes your bodily functions, then Genetic Mutation should alter your genes..."
Avery trailed off as she realized something.
"...That means you can alter or erase flaws in your bloodline or even evolve it by adding new traits."
Her eyes widened as she looked at Ira with brand new eyes. She wasn't this surprised, even when she heard of a God-like entity reviving him when he was a child. She had just realized he carried the ability to potentially create a perfect bloodline.

"It's hard to say just how powerful our children would be."
Avery was speaking to herself as she thought of her mother's suggestion, but Ira heard it.

"I think it's too soon to be talking about children."
He smiled.

"If anyone knew about your ability many people would try to obtain your bloodline."
Avery ignored him and spoke with intensity.

"They can try."
Ira lazily reclined and stated matter of factly. Although it didn't appear so, he wasn't taking the situation lightly. While they were talking he wouldn't show his full attention, but never again would he take a situation lightly when it could endanger Avery.


"So the list of people we have to worry about increases. Gods, those who want my control over the Third Moon, those who want my blood, and those who want revenge for their fallen brethren. Haaaah."
He sighed after he listed all of his potential enemies. He committed genocide and sooner or later someone would find out. Anyone with a sound mind wouldn't let a city devouring beast in human flesh walk around freely.

"I'm curious to how you'll overcome the trials that await you."
Avery smiled with a genuine wonder.

"What do you mean? I've got a Valkyrie for a wife."
He laughed free-mindedly. Avery shook her head and gave a few soft laughs.

Suddenly, A female attendant came walking out of the manor and into the backyard.

"Pardon the intrusion, Miss. A lady by the name of Samantha is here to see your husband."
The female attendant bowed.

"For?"
Avery asked. She enjoyed spending time with Ira, but there was always an issue to be dealt with.

"I believe she spoke of payment for the Fortress Defense, and a new job."
The attendant spoke a bit nervously, she could detect annoyance in Avery's voice.

"If I take the job I'll come back here to let you know."
Ira stood up and smiled at Avery.
"Will you be on the mountain?"
He suddenly asked.

"Not yet. There are a few more awakenings expected. My cousins and I will all move at the same time. I'll be here for the remainder of the week."
She replied. Ira nodded and turned toward the attendant who took that as a signal to lead him into the Manor.

 

Chapter 37

Spoiler: Read More

"What's the job, Sam?" Ira walked into the entrance hall of the Thynne Family Manor and spoke to Samantha. She looked at him with surprise when she noticed the not so slight change in his appearance. She handed over a folder and began talking.

"This is an important one. The Kingdom is sending a recovery expedition team to the ruins of the Old Kingdom. There is a lot of money being paid for the discovery of any significant artifacts. Also, your payment for the fortress defense has been sent to the Mercenaries Union." Samantha handed over the file toward Ira. He skimmed over it, noting that the location was in the east, before handing it back.

"When is it?" Ira asked. He turned his head and looked towards the female quarters of the Manor. Soon quickened steps could be heard running toward him. Of course, it was Harper. The bloodline resonance allowed him to communicate simple commands, though it was up to her to listen. It was like how pack animals call out to members of their group.

"Well, the preliminary expedition team is to depart at the end of the week. If you join that one, you'll be tasked with clearing any threats or defending the few researchers accompanying you. There will be two more teams coming to assist but require additional time to prepare. The is the recovery team, they are tasked with delivering the artifacts to the Kingdom." Samantha seemed to be thoroughly professional as she spoke, although cracks would briefly appear in the temperament she attempted to give off.

"Ira!" Harper ran over and stood beside him before smiling at Samantha.

"Don't these things usually require more planning? It seems like this came from nowhere." Ira asked. Samantha shook her head before speaking.

"I asked the same question, and apparently this expedition is actually behind schedule. It was already in its development phase a few months ago right before the attack on the Military Headquarters. Then Glen Marbot staged an attack on the Capital, further pushing the expedition back. Now with everyone developing abilities, it's needed now more than ever." Samantha explained. Apparently, she had investigated heavily into the subject. She then paused and looked at Ira. "I don't mean to pry, but did you receive anything after the Red Moon and the Golden Aurora?"

"Not really," Ira responded with a shrug. From an outside perspective, he had a headstart on everyone with his power, with the Golden Aurora granting and enhancing the abilities of others he would have to work to stay a step ahead. He hoped there would be something in the Old Kingdom Ruins to help him, but the chances were slim to none. He could use his Genetic Mutation, but he would need to find a living being to copy from. Anything in the Old Kingdom would long since be dead.

"Let's go get my payment and then we'll get ready for the job." Ira tapped Harper on the shoulder and began walking to the entrance, with Samantha following behind. The three took a carriage and departed toward the Capital.

"I should warn you, Sam," Ira spoke while looking out of the carriage window. "I'm the one who brought the Red Moon." he continued. Samantha didn't look very surprised but then thought of what she heard from the head of the MU. He told her the rumor of a giant beast capable of destroying an army of 9000 without much effort.

"...Then do you know how that beast came about?" She didn't want to ask, but her curiosity overtook her.

"I know, but they don't. I prefer it that way." Ira looked away from the window and smiled at Samantha. He emphasized enough for her to understand. She wondered just what happened, but she could get a general idea from the briefing. Someone from the Military would be there to question Ira, and she would do the best to answer without giving away his secrets. After all, his survival was her survival.

"Then do you mind if I ask you some questions to prepare?" She asked trying to disconnect from the morality of the situation. Was it selfish to choose self-preservation over the greater good? It would depend on who you asked, but Samantha leaned toward keeping herself alive.

"Go ahead." Ira turned his gaze back to the scenery.

........................

Meanwhile, in the Diavol Republic. A council of Diavol men and women stirred. Anger, grief, frustration, and fear all collided into one vivid cry of emotion.

"We demand answers! What the hell is this Hydra Formation and why was it kept from us?!" One Diavol man said grimly. Many men and women nodded in response, some even shouted in agreement. A significant portion of the council had never been told of the formation so one could imagine their anger when it was listed as the possible cause of the complete destruction of Savora. One lone soldier was recovered in the wilderness a few days journey away from the site. He recounted the mages taking up a strange formation and leveling the fortress at the cost of their own lives, but shortly after the Red Moon and Golden Aurora appeared. Then he almost went delirious as he spoke of a massive black beast with red eyes that appeared from nowhere. It swallowed the rest of the army completely, he hadn't even watched for long. He deserted long before he could see the conclusion, hiding far away in the woods.

"Only members involved with the military needed to know. If everyone knew of it, whose to say they wouldn't use it for their own selfish purposes." The Diavol male who advocated the fortress siege was the one to defend the utilization of the Hydra Formation. His earlier manipulations were evident to most, but there was no excuse. If they were swayed by his words, then it was their fault, such was the way their government worked.

"Selfish purpose? According to the report, the Siege Commander used to exact revenge for the death of his father. Is that not selfish? He sacrificed one thousand lives for one, but it didn't end there! Too bad the insolent brat couldn't live to see what he wrought." An old but sturdy looking Diavol man lashed out. He was one of the people who pushed to take the fortress back, now he could only feel and unbearable shame in the decision.

"Enough! Bickering and arguing will get us nowhere!" A Diavol woman who looked to be of similar age to the old man reprimanded him. If anyone deserved to be punished, it would be all of them for sending their fellow Diavol to their deaths and possibly unleashing a creature that would spell destruction for others.

"Then what do you suggest?" The persuasive Diavol asked with a sly look. All eyes in the room turned to the woman. Each gaze asked the same question. They wanted- No needed answers. Something to quell the unsteadiness in their hearts. To guarantee the safety of their families and friends. Even with the apparent blessing that came with the tragedy, there was still a fear deep inside the back of their skulls. Rooted in so deep it could only be purged with the death of the creature. The woman took each and every gaze in. She could see they were genuinely scared. So she gave her best answer.

"A summit." She spoke slowly. The council erupted into a commotion.

"They'd never agree."
"The humans hate us."
"How do we know they aren't to blame for the tragedy that befell us?"
"I'm willing to bet they are laughing at us right now."

"You are right." To the many voices of dissidence, she spoke with assurance. "We won't hold a summit for the Grentian Kingdom. We will hold it for the whole continent. The Elves and Dark Elves, the three human countries, the Dwarven clans. Every race that has a foothold on this continent will all attend." The council room went quiet.

"And how do you know they'll come?" The crafty Diavol from earlier spoke. Once again, all gazes focused onto the woman.

"If even one of them were to sit out of the summit, they would have to face the political and diplomatic ramifications. I'm sure they are just as scared of the changes happening within their own borders. If things go right, we could all work together to find and kill the beast." She said with complete confidence. The room went into a small murmur, the last record of every race convening was over 1000 years ago. The times had changed, but now the events happening called for them to convene once again.

"...All in favor raise their hands." An old man said with a burning fervor. One by one, hands went up. Each hand carried the hope of an answer and a resolution. Soon all the hands in the room were raised, and some people even began to weep. They were those who had lost their family in the Savora Disaster. It was a form of tragic irony when they were the same ones who voted to take the fortress. A few had felt the Gods personally punished them.

"Then we are in agreement." The Old man nodded. It was truly a rare occasion in history when the council voted unanimous on a decision.

Soon another historic moment would occur, shaking the whole continent once again. Each race would be invited to a summit seeking to find what ground they stood on with each other, and the threat that loomed over all of them.

...............
*w/n: (Unedited) Back from the short break that I was supposed to mention in chapter 36. Funny thing is I forgot to post chapter 36. my bad

 

Chapter 38

Spoiler: Read More

In the conference room of the Mercenaries Union, a fierce round of questioning was happening.

"How did the Fortress get destroyed?" The question came from an average looking man in his mid-thirties wearing a military uniform. So average in fact, he could easily blend into a crowd and the people in the room still wouldn't be able to find him at first glance. It wasn't just because of his looks, it was his temperament. His body language seemed to naturally give off the feeling of ordinary. The problem was he was a bit too ordinary, Ira's awareness helped him notice that the man asking the questions was the same one he saw at the teleportation array.

"The Diavol made use of an unstable magic formation." The answer came from Samantha. She responded calmly giving no room for doubt. The fact she was answering instead of Ira could have added some suspicion, but it could be written off as dislike of the Kingdom. He had yet to be paid and he looked annoyed, which wasn't an act. Ira had no inclination to get wrapped up in intrigue and things of such nature. What would be the point? He just wanted his money so he could prepare for the next job and find a way to grow.

"Then where did the beast come from and do you think it has a connection to the Red Moon and the Golden Aurora?" Director Samuel asked. Well, to everyone in the room he was known as chief investigator Samuel, it was a convenient cover to explain why he had so much control over the soldiers."The answers to those questions will be nothing more than speculation," Samantha responded.

"Try me?" He said. Before the questioning started there was the insistence that it was a routine inquiry, but now it resembled a full-blown investigation."He's told me he thinks it's a result of the magic the Diavol employed to destroy the Fortress Walls." Samantha said. Of course, the "he" she referred to was Ira who sat next to her. He reclined in his chair with his hands behind his head lazily looking at the ceiling.

"Could you describe the monster's appearance?" Samuel asked. "Black skin, four legs, red eyes." Samantha immediately listed off the qualities Ira told her about.

"Would you consider too dangerous for a subjugation team to handle?" Samuel asked as he sat up, his unassuming temperament shifted into a very serious one. He tried to restrain his urge to shout at Ira and question him thoroughly.

"I would." This time Ira responded. He tilted his head to look at Samuel and grinned at him. Samuel met his faintly hostile gaze head on. "I have a bit of a personal question if you don't mind of course?" Samuel said with a bit of mockery. Ira shrugged in response, shifting his gaze back to the ceiling as if it were more interesting.

"What's your relationship with Avery Thynne?" Samuel asked solemnly. Ira chuckled a few times as his eyes slightly widened with interest, he raised his left hand and flashed his wedding ring. "She's my wife, you see." Ira smiled brightly before shifting his posture. "Now, a question for you. Where's my money?" Ira asked, maintaining his smile. Director Samuel hid his shock perfectly. Although inside a large feeling of danger assailed him. "It's been given to the head of the Mercenaries Union, The Kingdom is grateful for your service." Samuel nodded curtly and then left. The only ones remaining in the room were Ira, Harper, Samantha, and Albrecht. He sighed briefly and then turned to Ira.

"Will you be accepting the expedition job?" He asked. He also was interested in what happened at the fortress, but it wasn't his place to ask. The MU was designed to give one complete privacy, the details of the Mercenary would never be disclosed unless they wanted them to, or if they had a bounty put on them by the MU.

"He will." Samantha immediately answered in place of Ira. Albrecht nodded, not finding her rude at all. Most Handlers behaved in such a way, so it was nothing new to him "Your payment should already be prepared. My Secretary will hand it over on your way out." Albrecht said in a friendly manner. "Take care." Ira stood up and dismissed himself, with Harper following. Samantha stood up and bowed to the union head before following behind them. Albrecht retrieved a flask from his coat and poured it into a porcelain cup. "Keeper of The Third Moon," he said to himself as he took a big gulp of the alcohol.

Beneath the soil in the East. Ruins of the Old Kingdom stirred, dozens of 30-foot metallic men stood in front of what looked to be a palace. They had blanks faces, round joints, and long appendages, some were in slight disrepair, but what they had in common was each one stood in front of human remains. The bones of hundreds or even thousands of people were piled in front each of the metallic men. A crackling echoed in front of the palace. Upon closer inspection, a light could be seen beneath the chest of the men. The people who knew of these constructs could be counted on both hands.

These metallic men were known as the Polyphemus. Magical Automatons who were tasked with defending the Kingdom in dire emergencies. 1000 years ago, before the barrier caused all Kingdoms to descend into chaos, there were many powerful people. It could only be described as a Kingdom filled with dragons, to make it worse, most of them operated under pseudo-oppression. Who could go against a person who could literally kill hundreds of ordinary men without much effort? Only someone of the same ranking. So while the Old Kingdom had peace, it was an unsteady peace. Of course, not all people were corrupted by power, but the bad outweighed the good. People who refused to conduct themselves under ideals like honor and justice were numerous, they wanted to live like Kings and Gods. So when the barrier was put was up, pulling these Half-Gods from their pedestals, turning these so-called Kings into beggars, the pent up animosity from the populace erupted. Though the details of what exactly happened were buried beneath the soil, never to be seen again. Until recently when the barrier was removed, now the remnants of the past came back to life.

"Protect...The...King..." A raspy metallic voice emerged from the blank faces of the Polyphemus. All of a sudden, its face split open exposing a glowing red orb. The previous non-eyecatching metal body became a shiny gold luster."Protect...The...King..." This change wasn't limited to a single one, slowly all the Polyphemus began experiencing the same change while chanting the same mantra. "Protect...The...King..." Golden hands emerged from rubble and dirt, clawing their way to the palace. The Polyphemus doubled their numbers in a short amount of time. They stood in front of the palace and recited their sole purpose. "Protect...The..King..." The creaky voices of disembodied metal all formed into harmony. Soon they all went quiet and looked toward the palace the red orbs scanning over it constantly. Something came out of it and stood in front of them. It stood in the shadows, its form unable to be seen at all, save a faint glow. It stood still for a few moments, as if basking in the complete silence, then it retreated back into the Palace.

"Protect...The...King..." They turned back and continued their chants. Scanning over the remains of a City whose name had long since been forgotten.
................
*a/n: Short chapter, but the next chapter should be at least 10k

 

Chapter 39

Spoiler: Read More

Rhys, also known as the former number one Mercenary within the entire Grenitian Kingdom and for good reason too. Though not many people had ever seen her fight she was estimated to have an S- rating. Her silent and masked appearance made her an enigma to everyone else, people made guesses toward the reason behind her masked appearance but no one knew the truth.

Rhys stood in front of a mirror inside of a dimly lit room. Her mask sat on a table to the side while she looked at the mirror. Her overall appearance could be considered somewhat above average, but she had a more eye-catching feature and that was the two lightning scars that ran down her forehead and over her eyes, they even continued down her spine and toward the back of her limbs. The damage wasn't just on the surface, even her vocals cords were damaged making it difficult for her to speak.

As Rhys raised a hand to trace over her scars she thought back to a certain moment. She had no amazing talent for magic, but she had an abnormal affinity for Lightning. When she was younger she had awakened to her strange ability and inadvertently caused damage to herself. In fact, even the people she was closest to didn't escape unscathed. She fled from her family and friends and became a Mercenary the only thing she could be good at.

Every time she completed a job, 80% of the payment was anonymously delivered to her family. Other than that she held no further interaction with them, even when they attempted to contact her. With the first payment, they expressed their worry and sadness, saying they didn't blame her for what she did. The minuscule payment of a couple dozen Gre wasn't worth her risking her life. Over time the payments increased, and while the financial troubles of her parents and siblings were alleviated, they still wished for her to stop. Rhys paid no heed and continued on, her abilities grew and her proficiency increased. She had even reached the end of her growth capacity of S- and until recently she had thought about going to see her family for the first time in years. Until the Red Moon and Golden Aurora appeared, her growth capacity was increased and her abilities grew harder to control as they increased in power.

While everyone celebrated and grew excited at the increased strength they received, Rhys seethed with anger and despair. Her progress over the last few years had been cut in half, and to make it worse her powers kept increasing in strength. Several of her abilities had to be severely restrained. Her ability to sense positive and negative charges which allowed her to detect presences now had too much power. Metallic objects with high conductivity disrupted her senses.

Her nerve impulses were far faster than before, she now reacted to things faster than her body could keep up with. In a battle that could be a dangerous flaw, if she dodged prematurely she could leave herself exposed to a fatal attack. She also had an ability to conduct electricity, hence her weapon of choice was a rapier, once she pierced the skin of her target all that was left was to electrocute them until they died. Before the Golden Aurora and Red Moon appeared, her weapon would look unassuming as there were no visible signs of her weapon being enhanced with lightning. But now, whenever she used her conductive ability, visible sparks would be produced. To top it off, anything in close proximity that could act as a conductor would be struck by her ability.

There was one power that she feared more than anything and that was the ability to act as a human lightning rod and summon a lightning bolt. While magicians made use of lightning, it wasn't real lightning per say. Mana would be converted into lightning which was different than the natural phenomenon that was a lightning bolt. For comparison, a natural lightning bolt traveled at around 220,000,000 mph, while lightning produced by Mana could reach 0.0001% of that or 220 mph, assuming the mage was skilled enough. The problem was, lightning wasn't as deadly as artificial lightning, given the receiver wasn't wearing a metal suit of armor. It would strike at 10 to 50 microseconds and wouldn't be sustained long enough to be fatal with every strike, whereas artificial lightning could last as long as the Mage had mana. That's where Rhys came in, she could sustain the raw power of lightning for up to 10 seconds straight, it was something she used as a final resort if she was faced with death. Now, she was too fearful to use such an ability, it was definitely no longer 10 seconds and the power may be too much for her to control even with an immunity to electricity.

Rhys snapped back to reality and thought of one particular person. It was Ira, who appeared to be stronger than her by the ranking in the Mercenaries Union. She had first noticed him when he was injured at the gate, it wasn't because of love at first sight or attraction. It was because her particle sensory perceived him weirdly, at that time the particles around him seemed to be distorted. Others may not have noticed because it was a faint but to her, it was more than enough to be noticed. Then she had seen him again, his disruption of the particles around him grew stronger than when she first had seen him. She wondered what his abilities were and if he could rid her of her powers or at least help control them.

She grabbed her mask and looked at it, there was still one more day until the Ruin Expedition and she would once again see Ira. If her own situation was anything to go on, he would be even more powerful after the Red Moon and the Golden Aurora appeared.

If Ira could hear the thoughts Rhys had he would definitely laugh. The removal of the barrier did absolutely nothing for him. It was a shame really, he was the direct cause of millions of people receiving boons of power, but he gained nothing in return. Over the course of the week, he racked his head on how to gain more power since he was now at a disadvantage. He scoured over the black book and couldn't come up with much to help him.

There was a ritual that allowed one to implant a second heart of any magical creature into themselves, but that wasn't what he needed. Besides he could alter his own genetics to mirror another creature instead of obtaining another heart. Instead, he focused on his genetic mutation and attempted to find records of strong creatures he could kill. As expected, records detailing ancient and powerful creatures were almost non-existent and everything else was mostly legends and old tales. The only thing that looked promising were scattered reports of earthquakes in the far eastern deserts. He had a feeling there was something to be found or rather killed there. From a rational point of view, it was too inconvenient to travel there on a hunch lacking solid evidence. But Ira felt the urge to go, the potential to gain power nagged at the back of his mind.

"How long is the job?" Avery asked unconcernedly as she fixed her hair, causing Ira to turn to his side. Currently, he was lying in Avery's bed. Her room looked as if a hurricane blew through it, which wasn't really an exaggeration. Avery had made creative use of her wings and strengthening magic, and even though she was inexperienced with her new power she had managed to avoid totally destroying the room. A few people in the Manor thought it was hit by an earthquake as Ira and Avery applied very little restraint. Luckily, the Thynne Manor was built to withstand huge attacks so there was very little danger to the lives of those inside. The only thing they suffered was discomfort and awkwardness.

"Maybe a few months at the most. How long is your training?" Ira asked as he climbed out of the bed and put on his shirt. Many females in the Thynne Family experienced awakenings and they would need time to adjust to their power, especially with the barrier removal. Even some of the experienced Valkyries needed to go back into brief training to control the surge of power.

"It's hard to say, something like this is unprecedented for my family. If I had to guess the next time we'll see each other is after winter." Avery refrained from tying her hair up and grabbed her saber. Avery was reminded of when her Mother and Grandmother told her to show "moderation" before her bloodline awakened. Now that she was fully awakened did that mean she was expected to produce a child? She wondered when was the right time for her to conceive a child.

"That's a long time." Ira smiled as he interrupted her train of thought. Winter could still be considered just starting only a few weeks had passed since it began. Avery shook her head as she erased previous thoughts, once Ira applied his Genetic Mutation the topic could be further explored. Though up until now all of their "marital activities" were conducted with very little precaution. "Oh, before I forget. This is for you." Ira waved his left hand and produced a piece of paper he handed it over to Avery while grinning. Avery read it and then showed a strange expression.

"Is this even possible?" She asked as she continued to read. If it worked it wouldn't be hard to imagine how strong the one who used it could become. As she continued to read she felt an almost imperceptible sense of obsession attempt to dig into her mind, fortunately for her it was easily shrugged off. Each Valkyrie had incredibly strong and stubborn will which made them immune to almost anything that had negative mental effects. "Strange. It's like it contains a curse." She said as she folded the paper and put it into her pocket.

"What do you mean?" Ira asked, clearly confused. He hated curses almost as much as he hated poison. Almost.

"You didn't feel it when you looked at it?" She inquired. By this point she had guessed the heart implant ritual had come from the black book she had seen him reading a few times, and yet he showed no obsession with whatever information he gleaned from it. At first, she thought his will was as strong as hers, but he looked as if he didn't know what she was talking about. She began piecing together the details, he said his parents stumbled upon the same book and found out about the ritual. So did that mean their minds crumbled under the obsession the information produced?

"As I read the paper it felt as it tried to create a sense of obsession within my mind," Avery explained. Ira furrowed his eyebrows and thought back to Charles, he tried to replicate the bloodline creation formula even while a soul contract was in place.

"Well, I should be more careful with it I guess," Ira said. Avery wondered if he thought of his parents, but he didn't say anything on the subject so she wouldn't pry into it. "Is it dangerous for you to use?" He asked.

"It should be fine, I'll have to speak to my mother and grandmother about it." She responded as she moved toward the door. Ira spoke up as he followed behind her. "After you get back, you're sparring with me."

Avery gave a soft chuckle in response but she didn't disagree.



Demons. Something people were called when they were truly monstrous or ferocious, but not many people knew that it was also the title of a certain species. A demon was a type of sub-planar entity which formed from corrupted human desires and emotions. So why after 1000 years of silence would Demons become relevant? With the removal of the barrier, it was obvious what would happen next.

"So...Did you find someone?" A raspy voice asked. A yellow colored gaseous being appeared to be the one speaking, its form was reminiscent of a small frog. The one it talked to was in the shape of a green colored dog.

"...I did." The dog answered as it surveyed the area. Numerous demons were appearing, and the numbers continued to grow. Before the collapse 1000 years ago it was thought that there was one demon present for each 5000 members of each sentient race, as those with intelligence usually had emotions and desires. It's just that back then those desires manifested strongly after the collapse, at a time where Demons were at their weakest. The methods of noticing Demonic possession or the qualities of Demons was more or less lost to time, though they weren't impossible to reproduce. If one were to say, eat the raw heart of a lamb, it would easily be recognized. But if one were to be possessed by a cunning Demon, one which refused to give into such a basic practices, it would be harder to recognize. Though if the Temples sent paladins and priest to bless people, weaker demons could easily be spotted, as they weren't immune to holy power.

"Care to tell me?" The Frog asked. The Dog continued to look out on its surroundings. The Demon world was a barren plane, it had long been inactive, but in time it would grow to look like a nightmarish reconstruction of the real World.

"I do not." The Green Dog voiced its disagreement. It's black eyes continued to watch Demons spawn, they were in a sort of infantile stage, lacking experience. They were the type to possess an old lady and make her crawl on the walls, something that would immediately call attention to Demonkind as a whole.

"...Fine. For one who supposed to be envious, you seem to be a bit too prideful." The Frog said. After seeing the Dog continue to ignore it, the frog floated off into the distance leaving the dog alone. The Green Dog looked around and after seeing it was alone it crawled off into a well-hidden corner. It stopped in front of a nondescript lump of dirt and began digging. In short time the dirt revealed a puddle, except the puddle, was more like a window into the human world. The process of digging was more or less a ritual to open a way into the human world, in truth those rituals varied between each demon, what was important was the intent. Another reason the Dog was reluctant to talk about what it had found. It was hard to get into the heart of a being with intelligence, and while demons may eventually grow in number it was still difficult to materialize without a summoning ritual. People with incredibly strong desire were hard to come across, many people wanted more than they had, but it's just that most wouldn't kill for it. Even if most would kill for it, could they give up a large part of themselves for their desire? If one were to be asked to kill someone for a large sum of money, most wouldn't do it while other would. If one were to be asked to give up all of their body except for their eyes in exchange for one month of living the life they dreamed of, there would likely be none willing to do so. Withholding the truly desperate and insane.

The Green Dog stared into the puddle intently as it watched its target.

"Lady Juliana." A servant stood behind a young girl with dark blonde hair who was none other than Juliana Fairfax. In the time since her interaction with Ira, she hadn't changed much, on the surface at least. Inwardly, the event she perceived as an embarrassment still bothered her. The innate narcissism that comes with separation of status didn't help to alleviate the problem. In more recent days, the days after the Golden Aurora to be specific, Juliana Fairfax had grown more distant. She had been plagued with strange dreams and would often space out, it became a source of worry for her Father, Wesley Fairfax. He had sought out many healers but they had no diagnosis, they suggested that it may not be a health problem and more of an emotional one. Of course, Wesley refused to hear it and continued to look for healers.

"Lady Juliana." The servant spoke up once more as she lightly tapped Juliana's shoulder. As soon as her hand made contact a Golden Light emerged from Juliana as she sent the servant flying back. The room began to shake as Juliana's body began hovering.

"Help! Someone...Lady Juliana is..." The servant crawled to her feet and ran toward the door screaming all the while. Delvian and a few others rushed in immediately. "What happened?!" He shouted as he watched a light similar to the Golden Aurora cover Juliana.

"I...I...I" The servant stammered. Delvian ignored her and ran towards Juliana before he reached her he was pushed back by an invisible barrier. Juliana's eyes began to emit divine rays of light as they opened.

"...He...must...be...killed..." Her voice echoed as it shook the halls of the Mansion. It was as if her words were a divine declaration sent from the Gods. There were many names for those who received messages from Gods, Shamans, Oracles, Priestess', Diviners. But this particular one would be known as Juliana Fairfax.

Meanwhile, in the plane of Purgatory, Harper stood next to the Will of Purgatory. They watched a group of people who were chained together, each one of them cried, cursed, and screamed in unwillingness, but their feet continued to march forward into a hazy fog.

"North." The Will of Purgatory spoke. "North from where you are, there are people attempting to make use of Purgatory just like you." Harper looked at the Will of Purgatory but didn't speak. She had no reason to care about what other people were doing since she was just here to learn abilities from the Will of Purgatory. "You may not care about it, but the more people manipulating Purgatory the less stable it becomes. There is a limit to how much it can interfere with the living world. Should they become as adept as you at manipulating it, you'll be directly weakened. Imagine it as you and an enemy pulling at a chain from opposite sides, the more people on their side the stronger the pull will be. As you continue to hold on you will have to exert a considerable amount of energy and should you slip up one time it will all be taken from you." The Will explained. Harper started to pay attention at the mention of her being weakened. "So teach me something then," Harper grumbled.

The Will of Purgatory smiled before she pointed toward the constant intake of people in chains. "I am teaching you, can't you see?" She asked. Harper looked at her then looked to those in chains before speaking. "You've been making me watch these people walk for hours." She said. The Will of Purgatory began to speak again, "There are seven circles in the plane of Purgatory. To even think about entering the depths of Purgatory you have to first gain an understanding. What do they all have in common?" she asked. Harper narrowed her eyes as she looked at those in chains, they wore different sets of clothes and were all different ages. Some wore clothes stained in blood and others were clean. Their expressions were ugly and warped as they cried out or cursed venomously. "None of them want to go," Harper mumbled as she watched them enter the fog.

"Correct. There are many unwilling to die and those who are are unwilling to be trapped here. You've taken the first step in entering the First Circle." The Will of Purgatory said as she placed a hand on Harper's shoulder. "Now return." As she finished speaking Harper woke up. Ira, who was sitting across from her at the table, began to talk. "So? Learn anything?" He asked with undisguised curiosity. Harper then told him about everything that happened, detailing the Seven Circles of Purgatory. Ira heard the story and then came to a decision. "You aren't coming with me on the expedition."

"Why do I have to stay behind?!" Harper spoke in an aggrieved manner. "You're not staying behind, you just aren't coming with me." Ira shrugged as he ate some pastries. "...Then where will I go?" She asked as her eyes grew tearful. Since the time she had been rescued until now, she had been close to Ira or in his general vicinity. "North. There are reports of a cult up there and that's probably who you're looking for." Ira didn't show must interest as he spoke of the job. "Anyway, you go up there, kill the bad guys, and then come back. Easy enough, right?" he said in a self-assured tone.

"Y-yeah," Harper responded before she could say anything else Ira continued. "You can get help from that woman, she did say she would help you." Ira stood up and stretched. "Well, It's time for me to leave. Find Samantha at the Mercenaries Union if you need help getting to the job." He gave Harper a huge stack of money before he ruffled her hair. He left soon after, leaving Harper to stare at the door with uncertainty. She drummed up as much determination as she could muster. If she failed to stop others from breaching Purgatory she would be severely weakened which would be a waste of the bloodline formula Ira used on her.

An hour later and at the entrance of the Capital, groups of carriages were stationed in a line. Various Mercenaries, Knights, Researchers, and Soldiers were occupying each one. Ira walked toward the group but stopped as his nose twitched. He sniffed the air briefly and then grinned. He could make out several familiar scents, but he set his sights on a cheap carriage near the front of the line. He confirmed his attendance with a representative before he made his way through the crowd and toward the carriage. Without a word he opened the door and climbed in.

"Charles, long time no see." He smiled as he looked at the sickly alchemist. The dark circles around his eyes looked as if they were made by charcoal. The gauntness of his face was also very off-putting, one would think he had been starved and deprived of sleep. Charles widened his eyes at the appearance of Ira before they sunk back down. He wanted to say 'For good reason.' in response to Ira's statement, but he refrained. "I didn't do anything." He declared in a victim-like tone. Ira looked at him and shook his head. "I never said that you did, Charles." He chuckled as he opened the curtain to the carriage so he could look outside. Charles shrunk back from the light as his eyes adjusted.

Outside, a man who looked to be the "Guide" of the expedition began speaking. "Our destination is in the East. Our research teams have recovered signs of part of the Old Kingdom. We will enter with the goal of obtaining artifacts useful to the Kingdom, with the recent developments, failure is not an option." He voice reached all ears, the last part especially. Those who were smart could see the potential chaos that could occur. "Now, I know some of you may hold thoughts of stomaching artifacts for yourself. We can overlook small things, but things deemed important will not benefit you. We will pay handsomely for the discovery of useful artifacts. Any attempts to smuggle things out will result in an immediate bounty of 75,000 being placed on the heads of those unwilling to comply. Should the person in question be very powerful the bounty will double and if they show deadlier resistance the bounty will continue to increase until they're dead. If you understand that, we can move." The guide finished speaking and mounted a horse. Just like that the expedition started, the weather was cold but the conditions were favorable and as they moved further East the weather would become even more favorable.

Underground the Polyphemus patrolled the dried out remains of a once bustling city. Standing at 30-feet tall, the process of searching seemed very counterproductive, but that didn't stop the Polyphemus, in fact, it helped them. "Protect...The...King..." The mechanical chants echoed throughout the dark ruins. Rays of red light emerged from the orbs beneath their faces, they scanned over any and everything, but the buildings that still managed to retain their structure served as an obstacle. Groups of Polyphemus stood outside of building they couldn't access due to their size, after a short period of time, the metallic skeletons being glowing with an orangish-red hue. Steam rose from the exoskeletons as their bodies reverted to a molten state. Soon the huge bodies began to compress in size, drops of liquid metal would occasionally splash the ground and fill the silence.

"Protect...The...King..." The Polyphemus continued to chant with their newly adjusted bodies. The mass of a 30-foot metal giant was now compressed to a more maneuverable 6-foot tall form. If any Mages or Alchemist could see the change they would go wild. The fact that they were automatons was amazing in and of itself. The truly jaw-dropping part was what appeared to be a limited intelligence, they could change their form under certain conditions in order to be more efficient. One could guess the previous 30-foot form was used to handle enemies numbering in the thousands, the Polyphemus appeared to be highly capable for manufactured machines. The truth was that was only the tip of the iceberg, they had many more abilities that made them formidable.

"Protect...The...King..." They forced their way into the partially destroyed buildings as rays of crimson light scanned their surroundings. They were intent on defending their "King" at all cost, it seemed to be a weakness. While it was amazing to show the ability to solve problems, they still carried out their directives even when the city was a ghost town.

"Protect...The...King..." The Polyphemus continued searching the city for any threats until a few of them stumbled upon a tunnel. Not knowing how to proceed the Polyphemus went back to the city, all except one. "Protect...The...King..." It moved forward directly into the tunnel.

It had been a week since the expedition started, the journey was smooth and very little obstructions occurred. At the moment, the expedition team was resting, although they could travel through the night it would exhaust most people. Ira sat at a campfire with Charles, who seemed more like a captive than a guest. Conversations filled the air around them, but only the source of sound at their site was the crackling of wood and scribbling. Since Charles had nothing else to do he compiled his research.

Ira was sprawled out in a lazy position, letting his head rest on a bundle of cloth. All of a sudden someone approached the campfire and stood over him. He opened his eyes and looked at the new arrival. A girl in a steel mask, adorning leather armor. Rhys looked at him through the mask but didn't speak, she couldn't help but notice he looked older than before, even if it was just slightly. As she stared at the 17 or 18-year-old looking youth he spoke up.

"You can sit if you want." He said as he closed his eyes again. Rhys sat down and looked toward Ira, she wanted to speak but it was very difficult for her to do so. Suddenly, she turned toward Charles and looked at his notebook.

"..." She pointed at it and then pointed at herself. Charles raised an eyebrow in confusion but eventually caught on, he tore a few pages and handed her a spare pencil. Rhys nodded and began writing after she finished she flashed the paper toward Ira.

[ The air around you is strange.]

Ira felt her movement and opened his eyes. He read the paper and chuckled, he sat up with some interest and looked at Rhys. "Yeah? I could say the same for you." He said. Ira could sense something was off around her, it was almost like she was forcefully compressing something. Rhys scribbled more words and then held the paper up.

[ Are you the same as me?]

Ira shook his head at her. "I'm not sure what you're asking. I don't even know your abilities." Rhys hesitated before writing on the paper again.

[ I can control Lightning, it's a part of me.]

"What, like lightning magic?" Ira asked. Rhys shook her head no. "You can control lightning without magic?" he asked curiously. Rhys nodded her head in agreement. Charles suddenly burst to life.

"How is that possible?!" He shouted, causing a few eyes to turn toward their campfire. He quieted down and asked again. "How is that possible?"

"Is it something special?" Ira asked a bit cluelessly. Charles looked at him strangely before speaking.

"Mana can be used in its raw form or converted into a natural element. To use lightning without converting mana is unheard of." He showed far more enthusiasm than Ira on the subject.

"Is it that rare?" Ira asked as he looked back at Rhys.

"Rare? It's far more than that. Based on the origin forces theory there should be a force for each element. If one could use the pure force of fire they would theoretically be able to vaporize a person, now that's under the assumption they could wield it without being destroyed themselves. You know how you can manipulate the mana that pools within in you to some extent, right?" Charles asked rhetorically, but Ira looked at him weirdly.

"You can manipulate mana right?" He asked again for confirmation. Rhys looked at him and waited for him to answer. Ira stayed quiet for a second as he closed his eyes.

"No." He answered after a brief moment. He attempted to feel for mana, but couldn't even notice anything other than what normally takes place in his body.

"What! Then how the hell..." Charles stood up and shouted even louder than before, once again drawing the eyes of those surrounding them. He sat down and tried to calm himself. An array of questions popped into his mind and he couldn't help but look at Ira with wide eyes. "How do you teleport without mana? Or use interspatial storage for that matter?" He asked with complete shock. Even Rhys showed a surprised reaction as a low gasp escaped from her mouth.

"That's a secret," Ira responded with a grin. "Anyway, why did you come over here?" He changed the subject and questioned Rhys. She held the pencil over the paper before shaking her head and writing.

[ Could you assist me in controlling or even nullifying my power?]

She held out the paper and slightly bowed her head. Ira furrowed his brows and spoke. "What makes you think I could help you with that?"

[ As I've said before, the air around behaves strangely. You seem to cancel out some of my abilities, so I thought you were the best person to ask. I have no ideas of selfishly asking for help. I am willing to compensate you for your time.]

Ira thought for a second before speaking. "Alright, show me your ability." Without saying anything further, Rhys stretched her hand toward Ira. Ira touched her hand and was immediately shocked with a small current of electricity. Other than tingling and numbness nothing really happened.

"Are you using it?" He couldn't help but ask the force was far too weak to need assistance controlling. Rhys nodded and released more power into her hand. Ira's muscles slightly contracted, but it still wasn't enough to spell danger. Seeing as it had no effect Rhys stopped forcefully controlling her power and slowly released more and more. Ira involuntarily flexed his muscle, the power didn't stop as it all poured in. Ira's fingertips were burnt black as the horrible smell filled the air, his skin began peeling under the power. He tried to cancel it, but couldn't seem to figure it out. As the electricity fried his veins and caused him to clench his teeth as his heart beat sporadically. Charles was busy murmuring to himself when the smell woke him up from his daydreaming.

"What are you doing?" Charles asked, but spark erupted from around Rhys and caused him to back away quickly. "It's too dangerous!" he yelled, but they paid no heed. The camp noticed the commotion and came to investigate only to see dangerous sparks of electricity expanding to the outward vicinity. Ira's body was rapidly repairing the would be fatal damage as he sought a way to control her ability. He felt there was something to be gained, but he failed to realize it. An obsessive glint shined in his eye as he refused to let go of her hand. Rhys was the same except her gaze was more hopeful than anything. His flesh being eroded and regenerated constantly, but he didn't seem to care. He was failing to control her ability. He couldn't help but think that control was the wrong approach, and as they continued on they drew a crowd. People gathered around them, at a safe distance of course, and watched the odd spectacle. A few familiar faces were present at the scene, Lance and his party could be found in the crowd and even Carter the leader of the Smallthorn Guild watched.

Ira suddenly opened his eyes wide as he had an idea. He figured controlling was the wrong approach so he would nullify it. Ira didn't even notice his surroundings as he tried to use the void to influence Rhys' ability. So far he manipulated the void for storage or to teleport, while both were useful they weren't extraordinary when compared to the Void Wolf's own abilities. Still, he couldn't be blamed, there was no one to teach him how to make use of his abilities and there were no ways to explore them until now that is.

A faint and barely noticeable black mist began to pour from his hands and soon Rhys could no longer electrocute him. She could feel the particles around him shifting and grew excited, she wanted to ask if it would be safe to call down lightning, but she had no way of communicating it. She decided to just go for it. Sparks of electricity became more frequent and forced everyone back, there were shouts and screams but she paid it no mind and after they moved far enough away she finally did it.

A blinding light flashed, forcing those watching to close their eyes, it continued for several seconds before the sound of thunder rendered them temporarily deaf. What they didn't see was Ira getting struck by lightning. His body was covered with a thin layer of black mist which nullified the lightning as it struck him. Everything remained silent, one by one people began to open their eyes. Some were confused and some were fearful, they looked at Rhys and Ira with cautious eyes, especially Ira. His clothes were damaged but other than that he didn't seem to have any injuries. Instead, Ira smiled with elation, he found a new ability and a useful one at that. For simplicity sake he decided to call it nullify.

Rhys grabbed a piece of paper and began writing. It was hard to tell with the mask, but she seemed joyful.

[ Can we continue?]

Ira laughed as he pointed behind her. She turned around to see a shocked crowd staring at the both of them, the Expedition Guide had a troubled expression. If Ira and Rhys were one of the various B or even A ranked Mercenaries he would've directly reprimanded them or even expelled them from the journey altogether. Too bad they weren't, he stared at arguably the two strongest people in the Kingdom and gulped. "...Um...I'm sorry to trouble you, but I'd ask for both of you to please show some consideration. W-We have a long journey ahead...and...uh..." He trailed off as both Rhys and Ira stared at him. Ira spoke up, "Yeah, my bad." he gave a friendly smile which helped to dissolve the guide's tension. After taking a visible sigh of relief he turned to the crowd, "Alright, those who aren't on guard duty should get some rest, we leave at first light." People began to return to their campsites, albeit reluctantly, but not many had the courage to approach Ira or Rhys. A very small group of people approached Ira and called out.

"Ira!" Gerald shouted loudly. Lance and his party looked at him strangely, they couldn't help but wonder when he had gotten so close to Rhys. Ira didn't look surprised to see them because he picked up the scent of the group before the expedition departed. He knew he would run into them at some point. Seeing them approach he began speaking, "Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Lance sent a few more glances toward Rhys before explaining, "We're here for the long term part of the job, we'll be staying way after you leave while the researchers...research." He scratched his head with a dry laugh. It was weird for him standing in front of Rhys for the second time, not just him even the rest of the party felt strange. Ira nodded and then turned to Rhys, "Oh yeah, this is Rhys. Rhys this Lance, Gerald, Sarah, Valerie, and Zella." He introduced them, in return Rhys nodded. "Did you guys wanna sit over at our campfire?" He asked.

Lance was still in a bit of a daze as eyes flashed with a bit of envy. Eventually, he responded "...No, we just came over to greet you, we should rest for tomorrow." He spoke on behalf of the party. Gerald and even Sarah looked reluctant to leave, but Lance was the group leader so they kept quiet. "Alright." Ira shrugged as Lance and his party said their farewells and left. Rhys briefly looked at them and then wrote on her paper.

[ I will also get some rest. As for payment feel free to name a price. I hope you can continue to help me.]

"Don't worry about paying me, you've also helped me. If you need anything else you know how to find me." Ira said as dusted the pile of cloth that served as his makeshift pillow. Rhys nodded and left, while Charles was the only one who was still near Ira. He grabbed his notebook and hastily began scribbling down notes of what took place. Ira paid it no mind and closed his eyes.

As they continued on the journey, Ira would practice his nullification ability with Rhys which also helped her with control and restraint over her own abilities, though there was no disruptive scene like before. He also met up with Lance and his party more than few times. Surprisingly, Carter approached Ira to say a few words of greeting, but other than that the trip progressed smoothly with the exception of light tremors in the ground. After three weeks of travel, they were just a few hours away from the ruins.

Suddenly the ground began shaking, startling most of the horses, but it didn't cause any real damage. As they moved closer and closer to the ruins, the tremors became more frequent, happening once or twice a week. The Guide enhanced his voice with magic and spoke as the tremor passed. "A few hundred miles east of us is the Red Sand Desert, reportedly there are frequent earthquakes. There is no need to be alarmed, we are most likely experiencing the aftershocks. Those Parvians are probably feeling much more than we are." The Parvians were, of course, the name for the humans who dwelled in the more heated climates to the East. The Telvians stayed in the colder climates to the North, and the Grens or Grenitians stayed in the mildest climate when compared with the other two.

No one panicked at the tremor since they had experienced it multiple times. Soon enough they approached a field heavily polluted with large stones, the Guide spoke up once again, "We have arrived." his words instilled excitement in many people as they climbed down from their horses and carriages. The researchers began to unpack while the Mercenaries gathered up and prepared their equipment. After thirty minutes or so, most people were ready to explore the ruins but were confused as to where it was. The Guide looked at the expressions of the Mercenaries and laughed, he walked over to a large boulder and pressed his hand against it. A magical array lit up before the boulder slid out of the way and exposed a wide hole that no one could see the bottom of. "We've deciphered encoded messages from ancient records, they detail this spot as an important part of the Old Kingdom. The site has been secured with magic to prevent intruders, but no one has explored it any further." The Guide explained. Everyone grew excited over the fact they would be the first to step foot inside the unexplored ruins. "We have to first descend, so we will have to install the climbing equipment which will take some time. The order of entry will, of course, be, S class, The Knights, Soldiers, and a few field Researchers, A class, and finally B class. If no one wishes to see up the climbing equipment we will use our own people for it." As the Guide finished speaking someone brought over various boxes of rope and set them down. No one wished to do the manual labor so the Mercs began sitting on some of the various stones and passing the time while waiting for the preparations to finish.

Ira sat atop a large rock and ate pastries, seemingly unconcerned with the things that took place around him. Lance and his party approached and had hesitant expressions. "Uh...Ira?" Lance said in a strangely timid voice. "Yeah." Ira noticed their weird expressions and responded. "We were wondering...If you could uh...Find a way for us to enter with you." He asked awkwardly. Ira could clearly see the reason why they asked him, B rated mercenaries would be the very last to enter and they would be lucky if they could find anything good. Useful artifacts were brought for high prices by the Kingdom, but things like weapons and armor were allowed to be kept for personal use. Who wouldn't want to use an ancient weapon? Still, it was selfish to ask for a chance to get ahead of others, especially since they didn't earn that right themselves.

"Alright." Ira shrugged before he hopped down from the rock. Lance and his party showed considerable excitement at his words and almost wanted to shout. Ira walked over to the hole and spoke to the Guide. "They're with me." The Guide looked confused but then caught on, "Of course. If you have a party or guild members with you, they can enter with you all the same, just as long as your group doesn't exceed ten people." He said in an accommodating manner. Ira nodded before speaking again, "When will it be done?" In response, the Guide looked over at the Labor team as they were tying the rope to a large stone. "I'd say no longer than 10 or 15 minutes." He smiled. Ira went into thought as he held his chin, he shook his head before rotating his shoulders and squatting a few times. Of course, his weird behavior caught attention from those closest to the site, such as Rhys and Carter. Before anyone could question him he ran forward and jumped into the hole. "See you down there." He said while in the air before falling into the darkness.

"What! Hey! Wait!" The Guide yelled after Ira as he peered over the edge of the hole. The fall wouldn't be light and even the strongest of people may be injured. Those in close vicinity ran forward with shock and waited. For a few seconds silenced pervaded the atmosphere before a loud thump was heard.

"Ira!?" Gerald shouted down the hole as everyone waited for a response. "What? Want me to catch you?" Ira yelled back and laughed. Lance and his party gave a few nervous chuckles as stepped away. The Guide also shook his head, during this journey Ira seemed to cause him undue stress. Rhys looked at the hole and then took a deep breath, she jumped into the hole and followed after Ira. The Guide just watched wordlessly, if they could survive then it was well within their right to jump in. Sparks of electricity lit up the hole as Rhys stabbed her Rapier into the rock wall. Her jump and stab method was effective but not as fast as Ira's reckless fall. Carter watched how she climbed and nodded his head in admiration. He spoke a few words to the guild members before he jumped in and repeated Rhys' method. The Guide was now faced with an impatient crowd of people they began to clamor for him to hurry, and while they wouldn't take violent action it was still best to appease them. After all, with hundreds of people taking part in the operation cooperation was needed to make it a success.

5 minutes later the rope was thrown down, Knights and Soldiers from the Kingdom went down, followed by the Guide and some field researchers. A supervisor was left in charge of overseeing the descent. The A rated Mercenaries descended and then finally the B rated Mercenaries.

Ira walked down a long and unnatural tunnel with Rhys and Carter trailing behind him both of them using spells for a source of light. Suddenly, Ira stopped and looked ahead. He could hear someone speaking very far away, but the voice sounded like metal being rubbed together instead of the voice of a living person. He focused his hearing and used his primal awareness which allowed him to sense a threatening presence ahead of him. "Prot....t....Ki..." He could just barely make out the words being spoken, but the way they were broken up revealed some information to him. He could tell there were multiple pathways based on how the sound traveled, he was only one person so he couldn't check them all. Rhys drew her Rapier and stepped forward, she used it to draw something on the ground.

[ ? ]

Ira returned shook his head as his senses went back to their normal state. "Something wrong?" Carter asked as he attempted to peer into the darkness. Ira sported a cheeky grin as he spoke, "There's something up ahead." Rhys and Carter tried to listen, but they didn't hear anything. "You sure?" Carter asked a bit skeptically. Ira laughed at him and then sat down, pressing his back against the cave walls. Rhys shrugged before taking a seat near him. Carter reluctantly sat down across from them, it was no point of running head on into danger.

"...So what are we waiting for?" Carter asked. The dim light he used wasn't sufficient enough to light the whole cavern so it benefits him to wait for his guild members. " I don't know about you but I'm waiting for those expedition guys to get down here," Ira said. Carter furrowed his brows and asked another question, "Are you waiting for them to bring a light source?" Ira looked at him with a confused expression. "Light source? I can see in the dark. Up ahead are a bunch of different paths, more than the three of us can go through. So there is a need to split them up." Ira explained. Carter went into thought before asking another question, "How do you know?" Ira narrowed his eyes in annoyance at Carter. "You should take a note from Rhys," Ira said with a chuckle. Though the words could be taken as offensive, Rhys didn't seem to be bothered, it was likely that even if she could speak normally, she wouldn't do so if it wasn't needed. Carter only glanced at Ira and seemingly ignored the negative comment. He had to admit he was being a bit too intrusive, he made it a point to have enough information about a potentially dangerous situation. It was a habit he acquired as a Guild Leader if he didn't properly plan he could endanger those with him. Such conditions were often stressful to those unwilling to sacrifice lives under their command. Meanwhile, Ira lacked any real preparatory habits, taking on improvisation as his modus operandi. His actions illustrated his immaturity as fight since he rarely, if ever, planned things out.

Eventually, the part of the expedition team arrived and they were surprised to see Ira, Rhys, and Carter sitting down. A few people grew nervous at the sight, what could cause the three strongest people in the Kingdom to halt their advance. Ira stood up and looked at the Guide, "There are multiple pathways up ahead and...something else...Anyway, let's take a look." His cryptic explanation only served to plant fear in the minds of others. He led them into the cavern until they stopped at 8 smaller tunnels. "Protec...The...Kin..." Ira could hear the voice more clearly now, but he was the only one who could do so. "Right, straight ahead there might be something but it could also be coming from the left." He said as he tapped his sword. "...I don't hear anything?" someone in the crowd said. Although Ira wouldn't recognize him he was listed right after Carter in the rankings. "You don't need to hear it for it to kill you." Ira shrugged as he didn't even bother to look at whoever spoke. "Listen, I'm taking the middle. You all can do what you want." Ira began to walk down the center cavern with unhurried steps. Lance and his party all contemplated following him, but Lance thought they would be in the way or overshadowed. There was no doubt sticking to him would be the safest, but it wouldn't earn the most. Rhys followed behind Ira for no real reason, the center seemed to be the simplest way to go. Seeing Rhys follow Ira, many people, including Carter, split off into the various other tunnels. Following the two strongest people wasn't worth the losses they might incur, just imagine if they had a disagreement with both of them, who could stop them if they were to steal or kill someone?

"Protect...The...Kin..." As they walked further and further into the center most tunnel the words became more clear. "Can you hear it?" Ira asked. Rhys listened before nodding, she could faintly hear something further down. All of a sudden the Caverns shook and rocks fell from the ceiling, they weren't even deadly for Ira and Rhys as they easily moved out of the way. "A tremor?" Ira asked Rhys. She could only shrug in return, they looked around but saw very little damage.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" All of a sudden a scream echoed throughout the caverns.

A few minutes earlier.

Lance and his party followed down the path of a small group of A rated Mercenaries. It was safe and they would be more likely to find things for themselves this way. At least that's what Lance thought, he had become stranger and stranger after his interactions with Ira. Though with his friends being his friends they didn't notice it, well they pretended they didn't notice. It was clear Lance was showing envy toward Ira, it was reasonable to those feelings, It was like having a friend who had the same amount of money as you become rich the next day. That wasn't the problem, the issue was Lance had become slightly more stubborn than normal. In their experience Ira proved to be very "friendly" toward them, he even sparred with them and helped them improve. So the question was, would he mind if they tagged along and maybe grabbed a few weapons or artifacts? The answer was no, in fact, Ira wanted something to help him get stronger instead of a new sword or a fresh set of armor, but they didn't ask because of-

"Lance. Do you think we should turn around and go meet up with Ira?" Gerald asked as he walked down a narrow passage. The passage they chose lacked the space the center passage had, which was worrisome especially as it continued to narrow. If they should run into something, numbers would mean nothing in an enclosed space. "No," Lance said stubbornly. "Lance..." Sarah looked like she wanted to say something but couldn't find the words. Feeling the change in atmosphere Lance turned around and looked. Everyone avoided his gaze as he looked at them. "Why don't you just take Ira as your leader since you guys want his leftovers so much?" Lance immediately regretted the words that came out of his mouth and his friends looked stunned at his harshness. They continued walking in silence for a few moments before Lance spoke up, "I'm sorry. It's just...I don't think we'll ever grow if we rely on Ira for everything-" Before Lance could finish, the cavern shook fiercely and large rocks fell below. People tried their best to dodge but the confined space only allowed those in the front or in the back to have ease of movement, those stuck in the middle were bombarded with loose stones. A large stone fell onto one lucky fellow who had both his legs trapped beneath it. After the shaking stopped a scream filled the air, "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" It continued to echo throughout the cavern and spread toward the furthest reaches.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" The Polyphemus slowly walking through the tunnel looked forward at the scream. "PROTECT...THE...KING..." Its voice became louder as its arms began melting. The humanoid like hands became a sword and a shield respectively. "PROTECT...THE...KING!!!" The unified shout sounded out from behind it. Its segmented face closed and hid the orb that functioned as its eye, it began charging forward. More metallic footsteps could be heard from the ruined city as more of the Polyphemus took up arms. The rest went to the palace site and took up defensive positions, their arms morphed into spears and huge kite shields. While deep in the palace, something walked over to a crystal and began making strange actions. A low hum sounded out as an array lit up, the array could be traced to the roof of the caverns and deep into the tunnels. After a few more moments, lights shined on the previously dark ruins and even continued into the caverns.

Ira and Rhys stood blankly as the dim Cavern became fully lit, well, it wasn't a problem for Ira since he could see either way. Even if he couldn't see he could just enhance his sense of hearing and sense of touch and be completely fine. As he turned to look ahead he could see an oddly shaped Golden metal man barreling toward him. "...What the fuck?" He could see the sword and shield on the end of the Golden Man's appendages. Seeing the Metal Man closing in with hostile and heavy footsteps, each one clearly communicating the intent to commit violence, Ira drew his sword. Rhys drew her rapier which emitted sparks of electricity. Ira looked at her and held his hand up in a gentlemanly manner. "After you." Rhys raised her Rapier and aimed it at the Metal Man who was now close of enough to be considered a threat. A flash of lightning shot out from her rapier and hit the Metal Man, causing him to stop. His momentum carried him across the ground until he tripped over some rocks. "Well, that's one way to make an entrance," Ira said before laughing. Rhys couldn't help it and began laughing underneath her mask, but it sounded more like her exhaling than anything. "And he was so intimidating before." Ira chuckled a few more times until he noticed the Metal Man getting up. "PROTECT...THE...KING!" His segmented face opened up and the red orb glowed.

Whoosh!

A heated ray of energy shot at Ira who could raise his sword to block, but the force of the blast knocked him onto his back. Rhys quickly stepped forward and stabbed her Rapier into the orb and then channeled electricity into it. Cracks appeared all along the orb until it shattered and the metal body fell lifelessly. Rhys turned around to check on Ira only to see him dusting himself off. He disappeared from where he stood and appeared behind Rhys, he squatted down and examined the metallic thing that could no longer be called a man. "What do you think it is?" He asked as he stabbed his sword into the ground and gripped the chest plate. Rhys stood next to him after recovering from the surprise of his teleportation and wrote on the ground.

[ Golem? ]

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Ira pulled at the chest plate only to see a plain cracked orb, much like the one in its head. He waved his left over it and deposited the body. Rhys was once again surprised to see Ira make the body suddenly disappear. She looked at him, wondering why he would take the body. "I'm gonna sell it to the Kingdom," Ira said to her, he could see she was curious about it.

What Ira didn't know was that the Polyphemus had a greater secret. After a Polyphemus died in the cavern a message was relayed to all of the other Polyphemus. They opened their segmented faces and the red orbs began projecting a scene. A female intruder used lightning to incapacitate one of their own and a boy even blocked one of their attacks, the Polyphemus shortly met its end.

Would the Kings Guard of the Old Kingdom be so weak? Of course not. They weren't just automatons that attacked in a predictable manner, the truth is they had been in a dormant state which caused them to reset all their battle capabilities back to the basics. Their greatest feature wasn't the shifting bodies or the rays of light produced from their orbs. No, their most terrifying thing about them had to be their ability to adapt.

After watching the projection, the Polyphemus adjusted their bodies, their legs were altered to prevent them from stumbling and give them better traction. Their metal bodies underwent alterations to grant them higher electrical resistance, and the red orbs were covered in a layer of liquid metal. Improvements were made to prevent any similar deaths from occurring in their numbers. Every Polyphemus that died strengthened the rest and to the ones who stood guard outside the palace ruins, they would soon become the Perfect Solution to any intruders. "PROTECT...THE...KING!!!" Their lifeless but harmonious chants filled the ruins of the fallen city. They were determined to carry out their sole purpose for living.
.............
*a/n: (Unedited) 10k words in total

 

Chapter 40

Spoiler: Read

“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" A man had his legs pinned underneath a rock and could only scream in agony. The atmosphere immediately became tense, and as if to increase the stress, the cavern lit up. Lance and his party watched on in confusion.

"Hey! Someone help me!" A man attempted to lift the rock, a few others saw him and assisted him. They formed a small group and tried to lift the massive stone but could barely manage it.

"We need more help!" The man shouted angrily but as he turned around the rest of the group seemed to be in a daze. "What are you..." He trailed off as he peered down the passageway.

"PROTECT...THE...KING!" A metal construct was headed straight for the group; its arms functioned as a sword and shield. It was, of course, a newly adapted Polyphemus.

The Mercenaries showed their experience as they readied themselves. The Warriors and Archers drew their weapons while the Mages began preparing spells. A combined attack of magic flew through the narrow tunnel, the Polyphemus raised its shield and took the spells head on. It was pushed back under the combined assault, but it sustained no visible damage. The Archers shot arrows at the Polyphemus, but its shield continued to block.

"PROTECT...THE...KING!" It raised its sword arm and began attacking. Those who fought in close combat moved to defend while others moved to its flank. The Polyphemus thrust its arm and impaled a woman who was too slow to dodge.

"Nooooooo!" A man cried out, but the Polyphemus paid him no mind and flung the woman from its blade. The man charged ahead in anguish and prepared to attack, the Polyphemus raised its shield, but it was a feint. The man slid under the Polyphemus and emerged on his back side. "HA!" His sword began glowing with energy as he pierced the metal plating of the Polyphemus.

"Protect...the..." The Polyphemus fell onto the ground with a clang, putting everyone into silence except for a man who held the deceased woman and wept. Before anyone could speak, they heard the heavy metallic grating that emerged as, "PROTECT...THE...KING" Another Polyphemus appeared, but it looked different from the first one. It carried two swords, and its body seemed to be thicker than before. Those who saw it didn't notice it was an improvement to the last one, how could they? They were still tense and didn't have time to note the differences.

"Fuck you!" The man spat as he charged the Polyphemus. He correspondingly raised his sword as he went for a feint. The Polyphemus crossed its sword arms as if it were defending. The man went to slide, but suddenly the Polyphemus slashed downwards. Before he could react, he was sliced in half, instantly dying. The onlookers grew speechless.

"I-It knew he was gonna feint...It...baited him." Some of the weaker mercenaries began to sweat lightly while the more confident ones looked slightly disturbed.

"Listen!" A man yelled to calm everyone. "We outnumber it, those with shields will defend while others will attempt to get around it. Got it?" Everyone nodded in response. The mercenaries who carried shields raised them and went forward. The Polyphemus didn't stand idle and had already moved to attack only to have its strikes meet with well-timed blocks. A man wielding a giant hammer slipped behind his and swung the hammer downwards. The Polyphemus legs bent at weird angles as it fell, it wasn't given a chance to recover as the rest of the Mercenaries swarmed it.

"PROTECT..." It couldn't even finish as all signs of life faded from its metal body

"Yeah, yeah. Protect the king." A woman said sarcastically before spitting on the metallic husk. The mercenaries grew confident at the apparent weakness of the constructs. It had to be said; The Mercenaries would be able to make short, work of them. The man who took the reins as the leader had nodded assuredly before he spoke, "If we work together we should be able to clear these things out. They are nothing more than a bunch of metal tin cans-" Before he could finish, he was interrupted by the metallic mantra of the Polyphemus.

"PROTECT...THE...KING." A Polyphemus who bore no similarities with the previous ones walked forward. A large sphere connected its torso and lower half, each of its limbs also held together with ball joints. Coiled springs on its calves made its legs take on a more feline shape. The once blank face was now more human like with the addition of eye sockets that emitted a red glow. A strange feeling crawled up the spines of everyone who laid eyes on it. A few of the more observant Mercenaries caught onto the changes immediately.

"...It gets stronger every time." A man said with a bit of fear. Everyone tensed up at the statement; sometimes intelligent enemies were far worse than ones that operated on instinct alone. It was unfortunate that the realization was only a shallow understanding of the enemy they face. The Polyphemus operated under a hivemind and consistently shared new information. What did that mean for the Mercenaries in the tunnel? It could be said that they no longer facing the same slow learning enemy from a few moments ago. The Polyphemus were learning rapidly, and the cause was three Mercenaries who were the strongest in the Kingdom. The dramatic shift in appearance meant the Polyphemus didn't waste a drop of knowledge. The strange feeling they felt when it appeared was because the Polyphemus showed no visible openings. Most of them were veteran fighters, but couldn't draw the connection due to the shape of the metallic body.

"We'll switch it up this time. Mages and Archers form a line behind and prepare to fire. Those of us with shields will apply the same defense tactic, while the others try to get around it, but this time we'll be attacking. Those who don't help will lose their share of whatever the Kingdom is willing to pay for that scrap." The impromptu leader ordered, instilling confidence in those facing the Polyphemus.

"PROTECT...THE...KING." The Polyphemus had repeated its creed before it began running forward incredibly fast, way faster than the previous ones, sending the Mercenaries on high alert.

"Archers!" The leader shouted. The Archers fired arrows that were enhanced with their various skills, as the arrows flew through the air the Polyphemus raised its arms and rotated them at high speeds. The once threatening arrows were turned into dust. As the Polyphemus advanced its arm stopped spinning, and it began its assault. Those wielding shields thought they were prepared, but they could barely keep up with the attacks. A woman using a spear moved toward the back of the Polyphemus and went to attack its flank, but its torso rotated 180 degrees. The woman froze in shock, but the Polyphemus paid no heed and beheaded her with a quick slash.

"Mages!" The leader shouted as not only he, but the rest of the Mercenaries grew nervous. Meanwhile, in the back of the group, Lance and his party began to slowly back off.

"Lance. We have to find Ira." Sarah shook Lance who looked to be in a daze. "Lance." She repeated as she continued to shake him.

"...Yeah, let's go." Lance awoke from his stupor and nodded. At this point, it seemed like choosing safety over profit was a small sacrifice. Someone took notice of the group backing off and wanted to question them, but a scream was heard from the front.

"Mages!" The leader shouted again, a man had been cut down in front of him causing him to have some hesitations. The Mages were in the final stages of channeling and raised their wands and staves. It had to be said that the Polyphemus held the terrain advantage as the tunnel could accommodate seven people side by side at most.

"We're ready." The Mages and Archers were just about to fire when the Polyphemus shot a continuous red beam of light from its eyes, decimating the group of ranged attackers in short time. The sudden and fatal attack shocked everyone, except the Polyphemus which continued its assault. Cutting down half of those attacking with shields with its sword limbs. Its body and arms rotated as it continued relentlessly. Seeing the wasted efforts, the leader yelled. "Retreat! We'll backtrack and find Ira and Rhys they could help us-" His words were cut short as he was cleaved diagonally from shoulder to hip. The fighting spirit that simmered was immediately extinguished as everyone began to run away. The Polyphemus gave chase and easily cut down those who exposed their backs. A surviving mage was impaled due to his inability to match the physicality of Mercenaries who didn't use magic. He coughed blood and smiled before raising his wand high.

"...Combustion." He coughed as the spell fired to the ceiling above. The explosions covered the both him and the Polyphemus in flames, but it did no real damage as the Polyphemus was already flame resistant. But that didn't matter because his real target was the ceiling. The tunnel caved in as huge rocks fell onto the unsuspecting Polyphemus. Seeing the cave in the Mercenaries ran even faster to escape the falling rocks. Luckily, there were no additional casualties among the already small numbers. Some people wanted to follow the central tunnel and meet up with Ira and Rhys while others wanted to leave directly, but as they arrived at their starting point, it was blocked by a humongous boulder.

"T-Trapped." A man said as he fell to his knees. Some were close to tears while others grimaced. Now they were faced with two choices, wait at the entrance and hope another Polyphemus doesn't arrive or seek help from Ira, Rhys, and Carter. Of course, rationally it was only one choice. No one wanted to wait for death to arrive, it would be better to seek out the option that increased the odds of survival.

What they didn't know was that the Expedition Guide and the Kingdom Knights had already formed the same idea and were currently walking through the central tunnel. Each group that split off was either killed or forced to retreat, the only ones to persevere other than Ira, Rhys, and the Smallthorn Guild were large groups of Mercenaries rated A+.

...

Meanwhile, Ira and Rhys had progressed more than halfway through the central tunnel and weren't too far from the exit. They had long since noticed the increasingly strong enemies, but Rhys pointed out they seemed to be improving.

"PROTECT...THE..." Before it finished speaking Ira threw a makeshift spear at it. The "spear" was obviously an arm that was torn off one of the previous Polyphemus. The "spear" managed to pierce the metal plating and shatter the internal core of the newly advanced Polyphemus. Ira had gotten used to the routine already, unique methods to destroy the Polyphemus only worked twice at best. They quickly became immune to the same tactics and also became stronger. Still, at this level, it was mostly an annoyance for him. What he didn't know was all the Polyphemus he faced so far attacked with the goal of dying. They were being used to perfect the Polyphemus that protected the ruined palace, but how would he know that.

He stored the body and continued down the well-lit cavern. Suddenly, he stopped and turned around, causing Rhys to do the same. She quickly learned that Ira's senses were accurate, so she knew to trust him when it came to detecting people, especially since her own detection abilities paled in comparison. Though since the enemies were metallic, it was easier to find them, even if one approached her from behind she would know. Soon she could see the Expedition Guide, A few researchers, soldiers, and some knights. They looked haggard and exhausted, the Guide approached Ira with a helpless expression. On the way he had noticed the central tunnel was clear, save traces of a battle.

He wanted to speak, but Ira held his hand up. Another group was approaching, as they inched closer it was clear that it was Lance and his party. They went around the Kingdom group and went straight to Ira and before they could speak Ira held his hand up again. The group that Lance and his party were with originally with approached Ira. A few who knew Lance's party slipped away before the retreat was even called shot them a dirty look, but didn't go any further since they had a relation to Ira.

Ira, hearing no one else approach, finally put his hand down and looked over the group, "Looks like this is it. So, you guys ran into those metal things too?" he said with a grin, a grin that everyone interpreted differently. Some saw it as ridiculing, others saw it as arrogant, and then there were those who saw it as friendly. A few people said "yes" while others solemnly nodded.

"Oh...Well, you're all welcome to follow. Just don't try to steal anything of mine." He shrugged as he began walking down the cavern. Some people were still reeling their heads over the fact that he was the strongest person there. His disposition wasn't as silent and brooding as Rhys, who caused intimidation with her silence and masked appearance. It also wasn't as dignified and respectable as Carter. To them, Ira seemed nonchalant and far too casual. Still if one were to look past his personality, he appeared to be highly capable.

"PROTECT...THE...KING." A Polyphemus ran along the cavern walls at a speed that made ranged attacks impossible. It jumped around as it approached Ira with two blade hands. Ira, on the contrary, continued walking forward as if he didn't even notice it. The Polyphemus lowered its body and pounced towards him, the springs in its legs propelled it forward as slashed downward. Ira's arms shot out explosively as he clenched the sword arms with his fingers. He pulled the Polyphemus in close and pressed his foot against its chest. Its metal limbs creaked before snapping, and it fell forward face first straight into Ira's knee. It fell on its back, and before it could get up, Ira placed a foot on its chest. He increased the gravity until as his weight was artificially multiplied. Along with its metal chassis crumpling, the glass-like orb inside of its abdomen shattered. Ira then stabbed the two sword arms into its head for good measure. Those present struggled against the same metallic monster that Ira quickly disposed of. It didn't help that he looked to be bored while doing it. He waved his left hand over it, and it faded into a black mist.

"Hey, how much are you gonna pay for the bodies?" Ira looked over his shoulder and asked the Expedition Guide.

"I...Uh...We...That is to say...I'd put it at upwards of ninety thousand Gre for a destroyed body and maybe twice that for an entire one." The man didn't expect Ira to be so forward and stumbled on his words but quickly drew up an accurate estimate. The Mercenaries present all felt the same envy, the price of one destroyed Polyphemus was more than ten times what the B-rated Mercs were paid for coming on this journey. The A-rated Mercs were paid a few thousand Gre more than the B-rated ones, even so, they still felt as if it was a fortune to be made. Ira himself just nodded, to be honest, he didn't particularly need the money but it sure as hell made things convenient.

"Ok, Rhys you try to keep up, these guys should be okay following. Oh yeah, you guys try not to fight these things head on." Ira ignored the group behind him and spoke to Rhys who nodded in response. His last line was aimed at Lance and his party, it would be best to not give them any false confidence as he was aware of the increasing strength of the Polyphemus. Ira lowered his body and planted his feet firmly on the ground. Without some much as a warning, he launched forward in a sprint. In reality, it could barely be called a sprint, he covered dozens of feet with each step. He was continuously alternating his gravity between nearly weightless and heavy with each step, it was an amazing feat, but no one noticed they were distracted by the speed he moved at.

"PROTECT...THE..." A Polyphemus charged toward Ira but could not match his momentum. While in mid-air Ira grabbed its face and slammed it into the ground, dragging it along the cavern floor and then slammed its head into the ground when he landed. In a quick motion, he stored it and continued his mad dash forward. Paying no attention to the shocked expressions of those around her, Rhys began to emit sparks of lightning, the air around crackled as she charged forward. Much like Ira she traveled in short bursts, and surprisingly she caught up to him, but his speed was considered restrained. Then again, who is to say Rhys didn't constrain her own pace.

Ira finally neared the end of the cavern and attempted to grip the face of a newly emerged Polyphemus, but it turned to liquid metal and began burning his hand. Ira drew his sword with the use of Quickdraw and separated its head from its body, after storing his body the flesh on his hand grew back very speedily. Quickdraw wasn't originally a skill that allowed one to cut through metal but due to Ira strength and gravity manipulation, the weight of the sword could be artificially increased allowing it to be possible. Ira could be considered the leading cause of increasing the enemy's power, but now he killed them too fast for any real weaknesses to be learned.

The Mercenaries who could neither match Ira's strength nor his speed moved along with hurried footsteps, lest they lose all chance at a fortune.

...

"Continue forward," Carter ordered as he pulled his greatsword out of the metallic carcass. His guildmates moved in an orderly fashion, showing no inexperience or sign of being overwhelmed. Although inwardly they grew concerned with the strengthening enemies. After a while no more Polyphemus approached, Carter and his guildmates stepped out of the tunnel to see a half-buried city. The light shined down on the empty and decrepit houses, it was strange that light was emitted despite there being no actual source, no obvious source that is. Not so far away was a palace in tremendous disrepair. Its walls still held onto a faint trace of their former majesty. Still, this power of the walls was overshadowed by the 20 metallic beings that stood guard in front of it. The appearance was vastly different from what came before, they looked like metal statues of humans, their strange attachments had all but disappeared, on the surface.

In reality, their metal forms were a perfected stage of what came before. The parts that had were compressed into a finer form, the sword arms became normal looking ones if one were to ignore the fact that their swords and shields were welded into their palms.

Carter immediately raised his hand and crouched, causing his guildmates to huddle. If it was one thing Carter could boast about it was his mind for strategy and tactics. While he may be the lowest of the top 3, he was confident no one could get the better of in him in planning, and he was right. Neither Ira nor Rhys could hold a candle to his ability to strategize.

"Listen well, you'll be split into three teams of three. Your objective is to lure and evade at least one those things. You'll be using the buildings to cover your escape, while you maintain a distraction, I'll mount a surprise attack. After I assist the first group, we'll move in teams of four to support the next, and so on and so forth. Once each group is cleared of the enemies it is responsible for, we'll reset the process, at that rate it may take us a while but we can remove them quickly." Carter explained.

"Guild leader..." A man raised his hand and called out, Carter nodded allowing him to speak his mind. "How do we get one to attack us?"

Carter was prepared for the question as if he intentionally left out the detail. "Of course that's where our Archers and Mages come in at. We'll hide in a building and attack from range to see if we can draw one of them away first. It's clear they are protecting the palace ahead, so if we don't charge them head on it is likely they'll stay put. Unless of course, they are in danger, if their lives are endangered then it'll be difficult to protect the palace. That is under the assumption they are operating with self-preservation as a secondary goal.

It's logical for them to want to keep themselves in the best condition otherwise the ability to 'Protect the King' would drop. Still, be prepared for a full retreat if things go wrong." Carter finished and went over the expression of his team. They had long since grown experienced and were prepared for all types of scenarios under Carter's lead. The plan he developed was in fact nearly flawless, it was fantastic something could be thought up in so little time. It was nothing short of genius, as the Polyphemus had simple yet complicated directives. Their minds worked strangely, not that anyone other than those who died long ago would be aware of that. While it seemed profound on the surface, it could be simplified to them noting specific things as good and bad. To figure out such things they had to sacrifice a large number if they were living beings such things would be idiotic. But seeing as they were automatons, it was groundbreaking, emotionless constructs able to adapt through experience. It was a crude but effective copy of intelligent life.

"Ready?" Carter asked his guildmates who all nodded with seriousness. And so, they prepared to enact the nearly perfect plan.

"Hey! Over here!" That is until a cheerful voice shattered all traces of the plan. Carter looked over to see Ira and Rhys standing on the other side of the small and desolate city.

"Shit." Carter couldn't help but curse.

...

As Ira and Rhys arrived at the end of the cavern, and with his eyesight, he immediately saw the enemies ahead. He saw Carter too but paid him no mind as they weren't close enough for him to care. Previously, Ira briefly thought of fighting Carter, but after various events, mainly the annihilation of a city, he dropped the thought. It would be strange if he saw Carter as a rival for Avery's limited affections, especially considering Avery's cold and distant nature towards others, and the fact she couldn't even remember him. Still, when he apologized to Ira a while ago, he had what appeared to be a trace of desire when he looked at Avery. It could be said that Ira had matured in that respect as if he chose to fight or kill everyone who wanted to court Avery, he would be busy almost every day. Carter wasn't hostile or open with his intentions so Ira wouldn't bother wasting the energy to confront a barely existent situation.

The distance between Ira and Carter was filled with dozens of half-buried and ruined buildings. If the expedition group weren't so large, it probably would've been better to just stick to the central tunnel. The tunnels all lead to different parts of the city, but the city was inaccessible seeing as it was buried by dirt. No one knew that the tunnels were formed by people attempting to escape the buried and the ones chasing them around 1000 years ago.

In spite of being in two different sections of the city, Ira could overhear Carter's planning and suddenly had a funny thought.

"Rhys, I'll leave one or two for you...probably," Ira said. Underneath her mask, there was an expression of confusion that was soon resolved by Ira's next action.

"Hey! Over here!" Ira shouted causing the Polyphemus to go on high alert. His appearance had been all but burned into their memories. They identified various things as threats and nonthreats but seeing his recent performance he had been bumped to the top of the list. In their mind, he was the biggest threat to their ability to protect. 10 of the Polyphemus immediately set off to eliminate him, their main counter for his speed and strength was evasion and counter attacks, that is if they could manage to move fast enough.

Their bodies were small in comparison to their weight; As such it was a difficult task to move such a compressed mass at the speeds needed to defend against the threat ahead. Ira drew his sword and laughed. He vanished from sight only leaving wisps of black mist and shortly reappeared closer to the Polyphemus.

Ira spun his sword into an underhanded grip as he charged forward, he locked his elbow at 90 degrees, it looked as if he was using the spear like a javelin. Which was exactly what he did, He threw his sword at the closest Polyphemus, which blocked it with a large kite shield, causing it to be embedded in its arm. It approached with the sword still stuck in its arm and used its sword-wielding hand to strike at Ira. He ducked under the swing and kicked the sword, driving it deeper into the metal arm causing a loud scraping sound. The harshness of metal cutting through metal wasn't a common thing to hear.

Meanwhile, the other Polyphemus didn't stay put, they swung mechanically and neat, if they were living beings such strikes would be highly efficient. Ira, of course, dodged the attacks, countering when he could. Each strike would send a Polyphemus crashing into a building. Finally, a few decided to use the destructive red beams to attack. It looked as if it was a limited attack since they didn't immediately start off with it. It was also possible that it drew from the red spheres that powered them, using their power would put them at a large disadvantage.

Sensing the danger and noticing the red eye sockets increasing in intensity, Ira grabbed the Polyphemus with his sword stuck in its body and lifted.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The red beams crisply cut through the air, and each hit the metal chassis of the unfortunate Polyphemus. The concentrated energy effortlessly penetrated its metal plating and destroyed its core, causing it to die. Ira waved his left hand and deposited the body, continuing his assault as he moved closer to the palace.

"PROTECT...THE...KING." 5 more Polyphemus rushed out to meet him, they would fail if they could not stop him now. Suddenly lightning struck a Polyphemus, but only hindered it at most. Rhys stood atop a roof and began her ranged assault on the ones attempting to attack Ira while his back was turned, not that he was in any real danger.

Ira began to cleave through the metal and destroy each new foe that approached, not that there was any lack of effort on their part. It's just after 1000 years of being idle and having no energy to rely on, the Polyphemus failed to bring out their former strength. Even so, Ira's strength was the biggest cause. As the battle continued, Carter made his way through the city and the remaining groups of Mercs who managed to survive the constant one man assaults of the Polyphemus emerged. Seeing Ira fight, most saw an opportunity for wealth and headed for the palace, trailing behind Carter in speed, but still going forward.

"PROTECT! THE! KING!" The metallic voice screamed in a shrill tone, the partially destroyed Polyphemus who had no real combative use when they all awakened began to appear from the ground. Metallic hands attached to half torsos grabbed unsuspecting Mercs. It was the perfect trap since the Polyphemus didn't need to breathe. 4 out of the 5 remaining guards charged forward to take on these ambitious Mercenaries while they were helped up. Soon a battle occurred on a larger scale, those who were the greediest were the first to die because even though Carter advanced he did so cautiously.

More and more half broke popped out of the loose soil explosively, it was reminiscent of explosives traps except when the Polyphemus extended their cold metal hands, those captured could only struggle to escape, many failing to do so. The team of 4 Polyphemus made short work of the ones trapped and continued forward with crowd control. All the while the single Polyphemus left guarding the Palace opened its metal chest and exposed the larger of the two red cores. It glowed brightly and continued to do so as it stood still.

Lance and his party weren't dumb or brave enough to rush out into the front lines, but Lance decided to still fight with the other expeditionary Mercenaries. The group of Mercenaries lacked an enormous amount of cooperation but were able to provide enough distraction for the ranged attackers to bombard it.

Spells shot out as the close combatants fought to the best of their ability. With such a small target it was nearly impossible for the whole group to attack so only a few attacked at a time. As the Mages prepared a second volley of spells, the nearly destroyed Polyphemus began shooting bursts of red light at those same Mages. They traded attacks as several Mages were struck down. The Mercenaries started to wear the Polyphemus down, and it shot red beams in random and rapid bursts taking down as many as it could. Someone finally smashed it in the head, and all signs of activity faded from it. The dust from its wild attack began clearing and showed the casualties.

"Everyone alright?" Lance asked as he coughed out the dust.

"I'm all right," Sarah said exhaustively.

"Me too," Valerie added.

Two voices seemed to be absent from. Lance repeated himself.

"Gerald? Zella? You guys ok?" He asked with a dry chuckle.

Finally, the dust was completely cleared, and Lance was left was a pitiful sight.

"Ger...Gera...Gerald!" He screamed as he ran over to a lifeless body. Half of his head was burned away, but it was obviously Gerald. Sarah covered her mouth as she grew teary-eyed and Valerie was no different. They often teased him about being a "Silent Giant" but the joke disappeared when he became more outspoken, and he never shut up about his wife or his admiration for Ira. But now, he died miserably without a chance to cry out for help.

"Zella!" Valerie mournfully wailed, as she ran over. Lance clenched his teeth and followed, with Sarah keeping up too.

"Ah...ah..." Zella had a hole in the center of her chest, she tried to speak but it was impossible, her life rapidly faded. Valerie only knew low-tiered healing magic, but that didn't stop her from attempting to fix Zella. If she was close to anyone in the party is was most definitely Zella. They both were Mages, so they spent more time together than they did with anyone else.

"H-Hold on, it'll be fine." Valerie turned irrational as she healed a wound that was impossible to repair. Nevermind the power of the healing spell, but it was cauterized. Everyone knew burns were nigh impossible to fix and maybe only those incredible healers that were few and far in between could fix it.

"ah..." Zella gave her last breath as her eyes lost all traces of life. Valerie cried as she continued to heal, falling into denial.

"...Valerie." Lance grabbed her shoulder, but she acted as if she couldn't feel it. "Valerie." It was apparent he was choked up with emotion, but it was still dangerous. Seeing her still ignore him, he tried to lift her up, "Valerie-" she turned around and slapped him.

"This is your fault!" She hissed as tears streamed down her face.

"Valerie." Sarah stepped forward to calm her, but her attempt fell on deaf ears.

"This your fault, Lance!" She slapped him again as the tears continued to pour.

"Valerie, you know it's not true-" Sarah herself was in tears, she tried to calm Valerie, but it failed.

"It is," Lance said, his expression was painted with misery. "I thought it was a good idea to rush in behind these guys and I even thought we were ready to fight alongside them...It's my fault...I killed them..." Lance crumbled and began crying, he was so caught up in trying to reach Ira and Rhys that he put his friends in danger. He was nothing like Carter, who could accept the deaths of his guildmates even if he cared deeply for them. He lacked the resolve to do such a thing, but it wasn't a leader's burden that allowed his friends to die, but his own selfishness. Didn't Ira warn them not to do it? Why did he not heed the advice of someone much stronger than him?

"Shit!" Lance cried unrestrainedly, "Shit! Shit! Shit!" He banged his head on the ground until it became soaked with blood. "Shit! Fucking shit! Shit!" He couldn't be content enough with just being allowed ahead of the other Mercenaries, he wanted recognition and look where it got him.

Similar scenes were repeated, although there was a lack of self-blame. The more experienced Mercenaries were prepared for death but still wept upon seeing their friends killed. Maybe the reason while solo Mercenaries were common was due to the fear of this exact scene.

.......

Oblivious to what happened, Ira stomped the last Polyphemus into the dirt. Seeing it stop moving he waved his left hand over it and stored it. Rhys jumped down from the rooftop and joined him, and together they advanced toward the palace. In front, there stood one last Polyphemus with its core exposed ominously. Carter and his guildmates also arrived but approached cautiously.

"PROTECT! THE! KIIIIIIING!" A massive red beam directed at Ira shot forward, but his primal awareness had long since warned him of the threat. He shoved Rhys out of the way and then vanished from the target area, he appeared behind the Polyphemus and directed the destructive force upwards; still, the body began to grow hotter as its core shook. Seeing it wasn't enough he grabbed onto it and disappeared, only to be seen in the air above. He held onto its face as he pressed his boots against its back, his knees touching his chest. Since he was his palms were in contact with the Polyphemus he could alter gravity's influence on it causing it to be lighter regarding weight. With a broad grin, he tilted his body back and kicked, sending the Polyphemus upwards while his own body flew downwards.

BOOM!

The Polyphemus blew up, but it hit nothing but the top of the cavern, causing rocks to fall but no real casualties. Ira rotated in the air a few time before landing lightly on his feet, of course, it was due to gravity alteration the soles of his feet were in contact with his boots. Which he could alter to slow his fall, much like he altered his own gravity when he wanted to move incredibly fast.

Rhys dusted herself off as she stood up and then used her rapier to write something into the stone of the palace.

[ Ouch.]

"It's either me pushing you or the red beam of death," Ira said with a chuckle. He then turned toward the Palace, it practically emitted danger as he looked at it. Rhys was no different, she could feel something was off with the air around in it, and even Carter could tell it wasn't natural.

They moved forward, but Ira turned around and looked at his guildmates.

"You shouldn't bring them in, they'll get in the way," Ira said, and although it was rude, it was true. The sense of danger the palace put into the minds of him, Rhys and Carter was a telltale sign that those who weren't on the same level as them shouldn't enter.

"Stay here." Carter didn't see what Ira said as rude since his words served as a confirmation of the danger ahead. His guildmates didn't fight him on the decision or protest against Ira since they lacked the qualifications to in the first place.

Ira, Rhys, and Carter all began cautiously ascending the palace steps, not knowing what lied ahead.

.........

1000 years ago.

Inside a magnificent throne room, bodies were laid out on the floor with no signs of life or visible injury, they died from a condition no one could prevent.

An incredibly pale, but handsome young man with platinum blonde hair and golden eyes sat on a throne, but his most eye-catching feature was the golden white orb protruding from his chest. In front of him, hundreds of guards kneeled down. The palace shook, and even the mana arrays used to project light flickered, but the young man didn't panic.

"...I ask not for your loyalty, If it weren't for the oath you swore in these halls, I would force you all to seek shelter somewhere safe." The young man spoke with the grace of a ruler. He continued, "I've made preparations for your families members who survived the event, they been given weapons and supplies and should be able to re-establish themselves after the worse passes." He looked past the men and somewhere else with a melancholic gaze.

"Your majesty! We would never leave you to defend the Royal Palace alone!" A man with brown hair and a wheat-colored skin tone said, while the other nodded in agreement, their expressions held sadness but resolve.

"Ah, Windsor, I'm not one to talk, but don't make such a sad face, old friend. Who knows, your descendants may become the new line of royalty...Not just him, but all of you." The young man smiled, though it was sincere, it was still unable to hide the depression behind it.

"Your majesty! The citizens have rioted, and are heading toward the Royal Palace, they say they are suffering the wrath of the Gods because of you. Hundreds of people who managed to preserve after the initial stages of the collapse are leading them, they are using fear to inspire a coup." A man with a dark-colored bronze skin tone and short dark curly hair charged in and kneeled next to the guards.

"Nazari, you're here! The things his Majesty sacrificed to help those bastards and yet..." A man whose hair was a different type of blonde from the King, with a pale skin tone, grit his teeth in frustration.

"Orlov, it's fine. It's true, the Gods have abandoned us, but it seems that it was planned from the start. The last Oracle died a hundred years ago, we haven't had a new one since then. We assumed a new one would appear, but..." The Young King laughed dryly. He was the first in history to unite the whole continent, those higher races couldn't look down on the lower anymore and the developments he pioneered through the mortal world establishing a golden age of prosperity. First, he learned to manipulate his own soul, he maintained its purity by cleansing it through magic. He was far older than he looked, due to his manipulation of his own soul, he preserved his youth and even was on par with the higher races. He tore down class restrictions in his Kingdom, the practices of the nobility disgusted him, it was a system that isolated the larger portion of the population for superficial reasons. He made it so noble titles could be earned by anyone who proved their worth, in fact, the three captains of the King’s Guard were low-born men in their own countries.

Next, he united the three human Kingdoms, to think at some point they went to war over ethnicity and skin color, whenever he thought back on such savage behavior he laughed. To him, h it was better to judge the individual than the collective, although he wasn't naive enough to apply the same logic to groups of people who had bad intentions. Then he brought peace to the other races, he didn't conquer them but sought alliances, and through his own charisma and skillful negotiation, he got the Dark Elves and Elves to get along. Only the haughtier higher races, maintained their superiority, but they could no longer have their way on the lands of mortals. The unity he brought didn't just increase prosperity and cooperation, but it forced the higher races to grow weary of them, though they would never admit it directly. He continued on: wiping out poverty, creating new magic, curing diseases, he loved the lives of all people. He genuinely searched for a better tomorrow, and he found it.

Then he began his final task, he wanted to give the mortal races a chance to ascend to divinity, giving immortality to all, he knew of the downsides to such a task but believed he could overcome it. After all, had he not brought the continent peace? He consulted with his closest companions, telling them of his plan, and they supported him. Those around him were strong and could live hundreds of years, and through those years they had stayed with him sharing his dream. He brought together all of the "lower" races, and with all of their cooperation he almost created a device that made Divine Ascension possible for anyone, but the dream came crashing down. He didn't need to even meet the Gods to know they scorned him, they closed off the Origin Forces to all, even the higher races weren't exempt. It began slowly since the World was overflowing with the Origin Forces, it was hard to notice in the beginning, only those extremely tapped into such forces knew something was wrong. Then the Divine Aurora, which connected men and Gods faded. Finally, those who relied on the Origin Forces the most died from the dramatic change, the recoil was too much for them. It was akin to lowering the oxygen levels four times their average amount, those who didn't rely too heavily on the Origin Forces still were stricken by the loss. Now the land had begun to change, storms, volcanoes, earthquakes, it all happened. A Valkyrie that temporarily took shelter in his Kingdom even told him of a storm sealing the continents of the higher races. Out of all the higher races, the Valkyries were the least concerned with pride and status, they mostly were focused on battling worthy opponents.

As the end neared, some of his subjects turned treasonous, but all three of his guard captains and the men under him were fiercely loyal. They each were peasants years ago, but the King saw their talent and ignore their standing in society. Even the bulk of his guards were commoners because the King saw their talent and not their social class.

The King sighed, he had known of the possible chaos mass ascension could bring, but the Gods didn't even send a word of warning before they pulled the rug from under his feet. Was it not possible to talk, or was it too unbecoming of a God to speak to a mere mortal? He grew angry as he thought about it. As conditions improved people relied less and less on the Gods, blessings were no longer need for things such as food production or good health, he had seen to it that those needs were satisfied, the life span of ordinary people had even doubled.

"We turned our backs on them, and they turn their backs on us?" He shook his head. Were Gods so prideful that they would act out of spite? He decided to not think about, he couldn't fathom the Divine Realm as he had never been, who knows what happened. He wouldn't curse all the Gods, but he would curse the ones responsible, he would curse them in his heart forever. He would never relent in his hope for those who condemned the world to suffer the same way they had made mortals suffer.

"Your Majesty, the King's Dignity Array is prepped for the second line of defense. Should we activate the Polyphemus?" Windsor asked.

"You can call me by my name you know? In those days when we fought together, you even called me a royal brat." The King joked, he wanted to avoid the terrible fate but knew what had to be done.

Seeing the defeated look in his eyes, Windsor responded in kind, "Shall we activate the Polyphemus, your Royal Brat, Dietrich."

King Dietrich smiled upon hearing him, he stood up and raised a dark silver Claymore, before stabbing it into the ground. An array inside the palace lit up and from the floor emerged strangely shaped metallic bodies with two clear glass orbs. He wanted to tell them not to use it, but the things kept in the treasury, deep underground had to be preserved for later generations. He knew turmoil would follow and soon people would be at each other's throats even then he hoped that with a small piece of hope they could rebuild what once was while avoiding those petty Gods.

"Listen well! We will relinquish our mortal bodies as we stated in the oath we took of our own free will! We will preserve the legacy of his Majesty, King Dietrich the Unifier, King Dietrich the Kind, and King Dietrich the Just. Those who wish to attack this place are here to take what doesn't belong to them! His Majesty stayed behind to fall with this city, but he has also given us the hope that our names and families may survive. I am honored to give my life in service of my king! Who is with me?!"

""""""""""WE ARE!!!""""""""""

"Protect the King!" Windsor then placed his hand on a Polyphemus and then fell lifelessly, the two orbs on the metal body began glowing white as the Polyphemus came to life. It slowly morphed into an exact copy of Windsor, except it was completely made of metal.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" He asked as he stepped over his own corpse. The men showed no hesitation and all began to give up their mortal bodies.

"Protect the King!" They shouted one by one as the Polyphemus grew in number. Once the process was finished they silently knelt down to honor their King, and then they moved forward, heading for the palace entrance.

King Dietrich restrained himself from having an emotional outburst, he only watched as his men, whom he cherished, marched on in the attempt to preserve the last of his foolish dream. He poured power into the Claymore causing the floor to return to normal, he waved his hand and gathered all the bodies into one spot, he used his magic to create a flame and instantly cremated them. The ashes floated into the air and formed the shape of a crown, using a large portion of his magic, Dietrich pressurized them into a diamond-like material. The crown then floated onto his head, as he looked stared ahead, his atmosphere showing a sense of loss.

The sound of fighting grew rapidly as the ground shook. King Dietrich raised his arm, a steel bracelet that seemed to be much more than that, began shining. It looked like mercury as it spread around his body until it finally stopped at turned into a white gold Armor that covered everything except for the white orb in the center of his chest. The bracelet was a one of a kind artifact called the formless armor, it would turn into the form that was best for the user and work to their strengths while protecting their weaknesses. It was something Dietrich, and a skilled Dwarf worked on together in his early days. Ever since then he had been improving it, but now it appeared to be the last time it would be worn. Soon the ground shook fiercely, and the sound of fighting quieted down, King Dietrich could feel the Palace falling to the soil's depths slowly.

Resting on his throne, he resolved to protect his soul no matter what. He sat there with his eyes closed, preserving himself. Years past, and he had gone into a state of unconsciousness, but his mind stayed active. Then a hundred years past, he felt no change in the origin forces, but he still protected his soul from corrosion. Quickly, two centuries became four centuries, and four centuries became a millennium. By then King Dietrich failed to preserve his soul, the orb on his chest glowed web indicating his soul had been corrupted. It wasn't that he was weak-willed, he could wait ten thousand years if that's what it took. It's just without the Origin Forces, mainly the soul force, he could only fight the inevitable, souls that stagnate without support in the mortal world would always corrode. And no matter how great Dietrich was, he was still mortal in the end.

While his mind was lost, only hateful fragments stayed, and soon that mind was awoken. The time he hoped would arrive far earlier, finally appeared. The barrier was removed, and the Origin Forces began to pour in, and the Soul Force that was supposed to save Dietrich a few hundred years earlier poured in. It was a tragedy that his soul had degraded so much he could not even use the Soul force to regain his former power or to purify his soul.

"Protect...The..King..." What was once King Dietrich stood up and exited the palace to see the bodies of the Polyphemus emitting a similar red light to his own soul core. He looked at the remains of a once great city and the returned into his palace. King Dietrich sat on his throne, decorated with magnificent armor and a crown fit for a real ruler and he waited. He didn't know for whom, or why, but he continued to wait and then three weeks later his patience was rewarded. He stood up and activated the lighting array for his guests, created light without needing an actual source, it just converted mana into light particles.

He sat on his throne once again and waited. And very shortly, he was rewarded. He opened his tired eyes to see three people, a young heroic-looking man with short dirty blonde hair and a short beard to match. A masked woman with light brown hair. And then a black haired young man, around 17 or 18 with bright yellow eyes and an excited grin.

King Dietrich- No the corrupted soul that once belonged to King Dietrich spoke for the first time in years.

"Kneel."

.........

As they slowly entered the palace, Ira's eyes went straight to a throne on the far side of the room, an incredibly handsome young man who looked to be only a few years older than Ira sat upon it. His platinum blonde hair was long to the point where it cascaded over his shoulders. His eyes were golden, not yellow like Ira's but golden. His skin was pale, Ira compared it to the Will of Purgatory, and she won out, her skin was complete without color, but this man was just abnormally pale. A white golden armor was attached to his body, it gave one the impression of being perfect for the one who wore it. Strangely enough, in the center of the chest piece was a red glowing orb, similar to the ones inside of the Polyphemus. A jagged diamond crown decorated the top of his head, showing an unknown history. Lastly, a silver Claymore laid deeply embedded into the ground next to him, in fact, no one could tell it was a Claymore. Only the large grip was exposed, so it looked more like a lever.

The man on the throne opened his eyes which carried the fatigue of many years with them and parted his lips.

"Kneel." A voice that didn't fit the gentle appearance echoed throughout the room.

"...Uh...no." Ira smiled at him.

"I am King Dietrich the first and last of my name, and the only one to unify the continent so I'll say it once again...KNEEL!" Dietrich bellowed in a rage. His shout even went past the Palace and reached the ears of those in the abandoned city, causing them all to look towards the source. Dietrich grabbed the Claymore and activated an ancient array. It was the second and last line of defense, in case intruders made it that far. It was aptly named "King's Dignity" for the simple fact that it caused those within it to kneel, as an exalted ruler would always earn the respect of the people, and what better way to show than to kneel. The idea of the formation was to stop the enemies dead in their tracks and kill them quickly.

Ira, Rhys, and Carter all fell to their knees. This array didn't artificially alter the weight of those trapped in it, it aimed directly at the soul. Ignoring everything else, it tore straight into the fiber of one's being and restrained them.

"Shit." Ira cursed immediately.

"More!" Dietrich shouted as he pulled his claymore out of the ground. Corresponding with his shout, Rhys and Carter unwillingly placed their heads on the floor. Only Ira resisted with his strength alone, he stubbornly held his head up and spoke.

"Fuck...You..." He growled through his clenched teeth. He attempted to nullify the formation as a faint black mist gathered around him. Unfortunately, he couldn't do such a thing. He understanding of the ability was not at the level where he could shrug off an ancient formation meant to restrain higher races who classified as Demi-Gods while in its best condition. Though it had degraded, it was still enough where he couldn't respond adequately. He tried to teleport away from the formation, but his ability didn't seem to work under the mysterious force of the array.

"Lèse majesté, and to my face no less...If it weren't for me, you all would be the bastard children of farmers, who plow the fields that are filled with shit by the day, and lay with the whore who would be your mother at night!" Dietrich's raspy and venomous voice spoke incoherently. Truthfully, it was a part of his corrupted soul, it was akin to dementia as it erased the parts of his mind and preserved the worst, hidden deeply in his subconscious.

Dietrich stood up from his throne and raised the Claymore with one arm, pointing it towards Ira. "I've gone against the natural order. I've gone against the very force of nature itself. I've gone against the Gods themselves. And you attempt to show such a sight in front of me?" He declared.

"Fuck...You!" Ira repeated with a laugh, veins appeared on his body as he resisted the invisible force push and pulling his body down simultaneously. He began to draw from the Red Moon, his turning slightly red as an indication. By now it was apparent that Ira had access to a plane separated from existence, he moved through it when he teleported, he deposited items in it, and he even opened it when he brought the red moon into the physical world.

Ira laughed as his body began to rise. Dietrich didn't wait and moved forward with the 7-foot Claymore in one hand. He raised it and swung downwards with the intention of cleaving Ira in half. Ira, still half crouching and half standing, drew his sword to block. As he received the blow from the Claymore he grit his teeth and fell to his knees, it was too hard to resist the array and defend from an attack.

Dietrich raised his sword once again, but this time it was coated in a red glow. As he specialized in using his soul, he had long since developed a unique swordsmanship that allowed him to wield his own soul. As he focused on Ira, the strength placed on Carter and Rhys lessened significantly.

His sword once again came for Ira's life. Ira took a strained breath and jumped out of the way, as he moved the array assaulted his body and forced him to cough blood. Dietrich advanced forward giving no rest to Ira, who laid on his back. Suddenly, a whitish blue bolt of lightning struck his back, he was unharmed as he turned around and saw the culprit. Rhys, held her rapier outstretched as she took deep breaths, she fired another bolt toward Dietrich who raised his claymore to block it.

Seeing him distracted Ira forced himself up as his muscles tore and his body ached. He was attempting to overcome a soul restraining array with brute force alone, much to his body's disagreement. He finally stood on his upright and walked toward Dietrich's back. His steps increased in intensity as moved closer, until he broke out in a sprint towards him. Ira jumped in the air and raised his legs aiming to dropkick him, but Dietrich spun around and swung his claymore.

BOOM!

Ira dropped his sword as he shot out of the array and then tumbled on the floor before becoming motionless. Dietrich looked annoyed and disabled the array with a tap of his Claymore. Rhys and Carter caught their breath as they looked at him with careful eyes.

"Weak...You are all far too fragile. I am embarrassed that I even used my array on such unworthy beings. To correct my shameful display, I'll kill you with my own hands." Dietrich raised his sword once again and dashed over to Rhys and Carter who were still on guard. Rhys used her lightning-enhanced version of Quickstep and moved out of the sword trajectory, the Claymore struck the empty ground and then aimed toward Carter. Seeing the threat closing in, Carter raised his greatsword which couldn't compare to the size of the Claymore.

Whoosh!

Carter was knocked back, but it left a small window of opportunity for Rhys. She thrust her rapier at Dietrich, aiming for the slight gaps in his armor.

"Pitiful." He said as he moved twisted his body to dodge and kicked Rhys in the stomach. The wind was knocked out of her as she clutched her abdomen and weakly held up the rapier. If one were to compare Dietrich with the three mercenaries, his "arrogance" wasn't that at all. During his time he fought with beings on the cusp of Godhood, not people who had yet to even touch upon the slightest hint of it.

"Haaaa!" Carter charged forth, holding his great sword over his head and swung. Dietrich seemed to move back without actually moving his feet, and the greatsword missed, then Dietrich moved forward and struck Carter's skull with his pommel knocking him back once again.

"Truly pitiful." He said once again as he shook his head.

"...Give me a second...I'll show you something..." Ira's voice could be heard all of a sudden. Rhys and Carter ended up buying him time to recover, getting hit by the Claymore damaged his organs even more and fractured most of his ribs. Dietrich's expression began to transition into indifference, he held high expectations of the people in a new era, but they were all wiped away. Dietrich then contemplated, his soul core shook, and a red light was projected. Several scenes began playing, it was a recording of Ira and the rest of the expedition teams fighting with the Polyphemus. Dietrich watched for a few more seconds before turning his attention back to Ira.

"You fight in a wild and undisciplined manner. You show some semblance of having a technique, but often forgo it in favor of your instincts. If that is all you have, you'll be better off dead." Dietrich stated plainly. His personality shifted to a distant one, it was bizarre considering his earlier outburst. His body was missing his original Ego, and could only swap between inconsistent remnants of what once was.

"Eh? I don't want lessons from you..." Ira stumbled to his feet and wiped the blood from his mouth. He vanished and reappeared, picking up his sword he dropped earlier. "Alright...Round two." He vanished once again and appeared before Dietrich, initiating a flurry of attacks. The two clashed, no it was more like Ira clashed with Dietrich, seeing as Dietrich didn't move and blocked each strike. Ira pressed his sword against Dietrich's claymore and started to push him backward. Suddenly, Ira sheathed his sword and kicked Dietrich in the leg. Dietrich lost his balance, seeing his chance, Ira grabbed his tackled him and charge forward.

BOOM!

He ran forward and broke through a wall, all the while he carried Dietrich. Dietrich's expression warped and his personality shifted dramatically.

"Insolence! You dare run wild in my halls?!" He stabbed the Claymore into the ground, halting Ira's charge. He then used the force of his soul to coat his arm and then struck Ira's spine sending him onto the floor. He raised the sword and stabbed down.

Whoosh!

Ira vanished and appeared behind him, kicking him in the back. Dietrich fell forward but transitioned into a front flip. He picked up his Claymore and smacked Ira away, sending him through a set of wooden doors.

BOOOM!

Ira crashed into a dining room and flew onto a table, before rolling over it and hitting the ground. He hopped to his feet but was met with a fist knocking him back to the ground. He tried to stand up again, but Dietrich kicked him, his attempts to get to his feet were stopped by stomps, kicks, and punches. Dietrich appeared to be toying with him as his assault continued without rest.

"Why don't you stand up?" Dietrich cackled viciously.

"Fuck y-" Ira raised his head to curse but had his face stomped into the ground. Dietrich's twisted his foot on the back of Ira's head.

"Speak why don't you?!" Dietrich continued to laugh while stomping Ira's skull again and again until he stopped moving. He grabbed a handful of Ira's black hair and raised him up, he flung him into a wall sending him back into the Throne Room. Dietrich slowly walked through the newly formed hole in the wall with a saddened expression. Rhys and Carter saw Ira come flying into the throne room and were shocked. In their eyes, Ira appeared to have the upper hand when forced Dietrich backed, but now he was a bloodied mess.

Melancholy was prevalent in Dietrich's eyes as he looked over the throne room. "...Was it all for nothing? Was Utopia actually impossible to achieve?" He soliloquized. No one paid attention to his dramatic shifts in personality. Rhys and Carter charged forward, Rhys was the first to arrive as she wielded a lightning clad Rapier, Carter was next as he waved his Greatsword. Dietrich received and traded each attack masterfully. Rhys and Carter began to up the ante, but Dietrich's showed no sign of panic and beat them back.

"...Round...three." Ira slowly sat up as his skull regenerated from the earlier damage. He looked over just into to see Carter being knocked into a wall, and Rhys on the ground holding her side. Rhys was restricted underground as her strongest ability was the ability to continuously call lightning, but to do that she needed an open sky.

Dietrich looked over at Ira with interest, if he were an average person he'd be dead already, but it wasn't as if Dietrich never met a regenerative enemy. As they made eye contact, Ira cursed. He empowered himself with the influence of the Red Moon once again, but he would be unable to summon it. Even if he could, he was underground and couldn't receive its direct influence, while it was an amazing thing it still had restrictions.

"Fuck it." Ira got into a crouching position and then launched himself forward.

BOOOOOOM!

He, of course, altered gravity to propel him forward, letting him move faster than sound. He used Quickdraw and slashed upwards. Dietrich reacted quickly to block, but Ira vanished and appeared overhead his strike aimed downwards.

Ding!

The sound of metal clashing echoed in the Throne Room. Dietrich had blocked Ira's attack without even looking, it had been a millennium since he had fought and even though he lost a majority of his previous prowess, he was still the one who united the mortal world. Unexpectedly, the sound of glass shattering was the next sound heard. The crown, holding the last remains of his loyal friends, shattered into pieces under the force of the strike. Ira teleported away and landed back in the center of the throne room. Dietrich on the other hand, grew still as the crown fell from his head.

"...You..." He almost looked as if he was gonna cry when he stared at Ira. The crown was an object of sentiment, one of which he was still deeply attached to. An attachment that persisted even through the years he waited and continued to persist as his soul was corrupted.

The red orb on his Dietrich's chest began vibrating, and the red light covered his body. He moved forward without moving and stabbed his sword. Ira tried to dodge, but Dietrich seemed to be pulled to him, his claymore just missed Ira's heart as he stabbed through his chest and pinned him to a wall. He pushed the Claymore to the blade could no longer be seen. Ira weakly raised his sword, but Dietrich swatted his hand away and then slowly twisted the Claymore.

"Ehuk!" Thick globs of blood spilled from Ira's mouth, his eyes that were red indicating the influence of the third moon turned back into their original yellow color again.

"That's...a strong...ability..." He stared at Dietrich, who enhanced his own body using his soul. Dietrich met Ira's stare with eyes showing a silent fury.

"With that...strange...soul of yours...You would be able to learn it even if you were taught for an eternity." Dietrich looked at Ira deeply, looking past his physical form.

"...I want it." Ira's eyes were filled with greed. The last time he showed such a display was when he stepped into the void. Ira coveted power, but he couldn't find the particular thing he wanted. Until now, there was nothing that could stir that same desire for Ira.

The distinct type of obsession and irrationality that stemmed from such a desire wasn't present for Ira, or at least it seemed that way from the surface. The truth is, Ira was far more greedy than any selfish noble who took money from people who needed it just to hoard it. His desire for power was stronger than those who ran to black magic and forbidden rituals to gain power. Maybe the most dangerous form of desire was when one could repress it. If that was the standard that standard that desires were judged by, then Ira's covetous thoughts were far stronger than any others.

"I want it!" Ira's expression turned rabid as his arms shot out and grabbed the Claymore handle. He began to push it out of his body, Dietrich tried to press the Claymore back in, but Ira wouldn't budge. Dietrich changed his approach, he used one hand to hold the claymore handle, and the other to punch Ira in the face. Each strike was enhanced by the power of his soul and wasn't something to be taken lightly. Still, Ira ignored it, he continued to force the Claymore out of his chest.

"I want it!" A faint black mist gathered around Ira's body as the sword was more than halfway out. "I want it!" he repeated as half his face was disfigured under the merciless punches. His eye fell out of its socket and was destroyed, but he paid it no mind. He pushed finally pushed the Claymore out and fell to the ground. He shot straight up as he grabbed Dietrich's arms. Black mist poured out of his empty eye socket, and soon a whole new eye was constructed. Dietrich still kept his intense expression even when he couldn't break Ira's grip.

"Ah! Let's see you kneel!" He laughed as he increased the gravity. Cracks emerged on the floor which transformed into a whole crater. Ira and Dietrich stood in the center of the crater which spread out. Dietrich showed a slightly strained expression but continued to stand as his soul supported him. Seeing him resist, Ira's desire for his ability continued to grow.

BOOM!

The floor under them crumbled and they both fell. Due to the gravity, the speed of which they fell was far faster than normal. They fell hundreds of feet in a few seconds and collided with the floor under the Palace. The material of the lowest floor was strong enough to resist breaking under the impact, and as such, they hit the ground and bounced once, before ending up separated from each other. Dietrich's formless armor was dented but was mostly intact. While Ira looked like broken toy. His bones stuck out of his body, but his eyes practically glowed life.

Dietrich took a breath and then stood up, a thin crack appeared on the glass orb in the middle of his chest. Up until now, he had done a good job of protecting it. He looked at Ira, who was quickly repairing himself. He held his hand to side while keeping his eyes focused on him.

Whoosh!

The Claymore finally fell down after Dietrich and landed right in his hands. He decided to stop playing around and kill Ira before he could do any more damage. Ira only smiled as Dietrich approached. His ravenous grin had yet to fade.

Snap! Snap! Snap!

Ira sped up his healing and as his bones popped into place, he jumped to his feet. Dietrich raised the Claymore and slashed, sending a formless red energy out. Ira only laughed and then vanished.

Boom!

The energy which was a part of his soul struck the wall and exploded loudly. Ira appeared in front of Dietrich and drew his sword.

Ding!

They were thrown back into a melee, except this time Ira was more unrestrained in his attacks. He frequently teleported, striking, disappearing, and then appearing again. Seeing Dietrich easily defend, Ira pushed himself harder. He appeared in two places at once, sending two attacks at Dietrich who was surprised but defended against them in the end. Then Ira appeared in three different places, and then finally four. He wasn't using an illusion, but rather rapidly teleporting between four different locations at once. Scratches appeared Dietrich's armor as the assault continued. After watching Ira for a few moments, Dietrich held his sword close to his chest and stayed still.

"Hah!" He suddenly snorted and reached out. He gripped Ira's sword while he was in midair, the sudden stop caused Ira to rebound and cough up black blood while abandoning his sword.

"I want it!" He laughed as a black substance crawled up his right arm from his, now sharpened, fingertips. It went all the way to his shoulder and then hardened. All in all his arm resembled a black metal claw. He had used matter alteration on his arm to strengthen it, transforming the state of his skin into a far more solid one. Although it couldn't be seen, he had done the same to his legs. Ira lowered his body and then shot forward, his hand reaching toward Dietrich's soul core. Sensing the danger, Dietrich used Ira's own sword and slashed downward, leaving a long diagonal cut through his face. Ira didn't even flinch as his hand grabbed the soul core and forced Dietrich to fall backward. The black mist poured out of Ira's head wound as he held Dietrich down, the mist slowly covered his whole face and then congealed into a mask-like metal shell.

"I want it!" Ira yelled in an echoey and garbled voice. Dietrich attempted to force Ira off of him, but couldn't fight against his grip. Ira raised his head back and then smashed it down on Dietrich's face.

"I want it!" He screamed excitedly as he battered his forehead against Dietrich's face.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

The sound of bone being struck reverberated in the lowest levels of the Palace. The echo of King Dietrich, previously being on of the strongest beings to roam the earth, died with no one to witness it. It was a depressing way for Dietrich to be killed, even if he was no longer himself.

His face was crushed into an unrecognizable state, but Ira continued to headbutt him until nothing was left except a lump of flesh.

"Mine!" He finally stopped and then ripped the soul core out of Dietrich's chest. The glowing red sphere was only a few inches wide and had a few cracks on it, but its continued glow meant the soul was still intact. Ira stood up and opened his mouth, revealing black jagged teeth and a complete darkness that stood behind them. None of the physical features that indicated it was a mouth were present. He promptly raised the soul core and bit into it, the glass fractured, and everything inside the core was devoured. After he had finished consuming the essence inside of the glass-like orb, he stumbled back a few feet before falling unconscious.

...

Many questions related to the void were consistently left unanswered for Ira, but there was one that needed addressing in the present state of things. Where did the knowledge in the black book come from? Living beings was the answer. From that answer, another question could be raised: How did it get there and more importantly, who put it there? The answer to that would be a single Avarus Lupum with a unique ability. The one who devoured the Red Moon and even Gods.

The Avarus Lupum were precarious existence, that is to say when they still existed. They could shift between humanoid and wolf forms and had the ability to manipulate and control space, an innate ability to control things, coupled with a frightening adaptability.

Early on, the Gods saw the potential threat of the Avarus, but weren't worried as one of the five moons, unique to the Divine Realm, specifically the third one, kept the Avarus separated. Under its influence, they were hostile to members of the same species and frequently attacked each other, lowering the numbers and preventing any attempts at gathering together. Such a thing kept maintained a natural balance, that is until one unique Avarus was born.

A single Avarus whose ability to devour and control over space outclassed all others. This unique Avarus could not only devour its prey but consume their abilities, skills, and knowledge making them its own. Eating the lower divine beings allowed it to obtain knowledge, it found the source of the divide amongst the fellow members of its species. That source being a Red Moon.

...

*A/N: To sum it up.

We're left with two dead side characters. The original death's planned were far more gruesome, but I didn't have the heart to go through with it. It would've made for some deep character development as a result, but man, still couldn't do it. I'm too attached to some of the characters, but there is a kill list I have to adhere to.

Ira may have a new ability/abilities (who knows?) and he exposed a "different" side of himself.

We also got a brief look into the past and even more foreshadowing. (Albeit more obvious than usual.)

Gotta make the broad outline of the next arc a bit more concrete so expect the next chapter after a few days.

I think there maybe be 80 or so chapters left until the story is over. If the major plot arcs continue to move in sets of twenty. (Just a rough estimate that's subject to change, don't take my word for it.)

Thanks for reading.

 

Chapter 41

Spoiler: Read More

“So…What are you gonna…be his partner or something?” Carter asked as he took deep breaths. He was sure he still had internal injuries, but he continued descending the stairs anyway.

“…” Rhys stayed silent, though it wasn’t really her choice.

After Ira and Dietrich fell through the floor, Rhys and Carter looked for an alternative way down. That way being a spiral staircase hidden in the throne room.

“I’m not sure his wife would like that.” Carter smiled weakly.

“…” Rhys being Rhys continued to maintain silence. Other than clutching her side, she showed no indication of conversating with Carter.

“You’ve seen her before. Dark purple hair, silver eyes, always carrying a Saber. She goes by the name of Avery Thynne.” Carter continued talking, they still had hundreds of steps to go down so he decided to make conversation, even if Rhys didn’t speak back.

Rhys did recall seeing someone who met that description the second time she met Ira.

“I went to the Academy with her you know. Her first day in and she obliterated all her sparring partners, they even recommended her for elite courses right after.” Carter showed undisguised admiration when he recalled the scene.

“It makes me curious as to how they ended up together. I mean, Avery Thynne seems cold and distant, and Ira is…He’s…He’s something.” Carter seemed genuinely surprised as he looked over all the previous circumstances.

Rhys continued forward, she had no way to engage in the conversation so she was forced to listen.

Eventually, Carter stopped talking and they continued descending. They finally reached the bottom, entering a large well lit room, a humungous vault door, that was wide open, was the only thing of mention in the room. That and the fact that the ceiling emitted light. In the Grenitian Kingdom, it was expensive to use or create Mana lights, but the entire Palace seemed to have them.

Entering the vault room, the first thing they noticed was the lifeless body of King Dietrich. His head was crushed and was nothing more than a fleshy lump. His armor was gone and instead, he was dressed in robes. His sword was sticking out of the vault door.

Overall, it wasn’t a worthy place for a king to buried, Rhys had no opinion on it since Dietrich was attempting to kill them first. While Carter felt regretful that a monarch couldn’t have died in a more suitable manner. It was a bit of his romanticism leaking, he guessed that King Dietrich would’ve been a formidable warrior in his time.

As they stepped inside they saw Ira meditating for some unknown reason. The air around him seemed still, not the normal stagnation of air found in old caverns, but an unnatural and forced stagnation.

Rhys immediately thought of Ira’s ability to nullify, the only difference was that whatever he was doing currently, he didn’t emit any black mist.

“…Ira?” Carter called out with a hesitancy, he clearly noticed something was off. The previously subtle feeling was now impossible for someone to miss if they were strong enough.

Ira slowly opened his eyes.

………………..

A few minutes ago.

“Ugh…” Ira groaned while clutching his head. Black fluid dripped from every orifice on his face, and a sharp pain filled his skull. Fragmented memories flashed through his head as his mind tried to process them as best as possible. He coughed up a black inky fluid that had no smell and faded away as it touched the ground.

“Damn it,” Ira mumbled as he climbed to his feet. He coughed into his palm and looked at the liquid. It slowly disappeared in his hand. He knew it was strange but had no way of knowing why it was happening. The truth is, it was void residue, his rapid teleporting didn’t seem to agree with his body, and as a result, he suffered a weird side-effect. He walked found his sword near the lifeless body of King Dietrich, whose armor reverted into a steel bracelet. His headless body was dressed with robes instead, as that was what he wore before using the armor.

Ira sheathed his sword and then grabbed the bracelet from Dietrich’s limp wrist. He waved his left hand, and it vanished.

“Your Highness.” Ira mockingly bowed with a chuckle. He turned around to see a massive vault door. There was a slot that looked to be the keyhole, but its weird shape was similar to a sword.

“Ah,” Ira exclaimed before he picked up Dietrich’s Claymore and placed in the slot.

The door lit up, and after a few moments of repeated clicking and creaking it slowly opened.

Strange artifacts and contraptions, piles of metal ores, weapons, armor, glass spheres, books, and large cube shaped crystals. There were no piles of gold in the treasury, King Dietrich wasn’t one to keep riches, he literally put almost everything he had into his Kingdom.

Ira walked through the vault, he immediately grabbed all of the glass spheres. He didn’t finish digesting the knowledge, but the spheres were similar to what the Polyphemus and King Dietrich had. After he picked up the glass spheres, he walked toward the seven large cubes that were all affixed onto a tripod. Upon closer inspection, there was clearly a rectangular slot which was almost the exact size of a status card.

Whoosh!

Ira waved his left hand over the cube and stored it away, leaving six cubes. Seeing as he hadn’t gained Dietrich’s knowledge completely, he didn’t know what the cubes were for. They just seemed significant so he grabbed one, ignoring all potential consequences.

“Ugh…” Ira suddenly threw up more of the odorless black substance onto the ground. After a few seconds, it seemingly evaporated into the air, leaving no trace of its existence. To make things worse, Ira’s head felt as if it were aflame. More bits of knowledge appeared, but the most prominent one was a technique. The one that Ira showed an obsessive desire towards. Ira sat down and closed his eyes, letting all the knowledge in without resistance. He looked as if he was meditating, which was more or less accurate. Trying to focus on the memories and move was too difficult.

Ira had begun to absorb King Dietrich’s experience. The soul was a complicated thing, it was like an energy source that never ran out, but only when used under certain conditions. To properly use it the first step would have to be purification.

One needed to have a baptism of sorts, but religion was specifically needed. Spells, rituals, and ingredients could help purify someone’s soul. Making use of the flames of a dragon or drinking the sap from the Sacred Tree that the Elves protected deep within the Great Forest. Using immense magical power to rework one’s entire being was also acceptable. Ira understood all of this, it was just too bad he couldn’t use any of it. Not because he lacked the ability to use mana, or he was unable to gather those materials, it was because of his soul.

Ira had never understood what people meant when they commented on his soul. From Harper’s own cryptic description, The Will of Purgatory’s reaction, and King Dietrich himself who said it was “strange.” Now as he performed a literal soul search, he could see it, and he knew something was off. In a reddish expanse, his soul was dead center.

“Empty?” was Ira’s first thought, but that was wrong. It was a black hole. It was nothing, but it was also something.

The reason Dietrich said it was impossible for Ira to learn how to wield his own soul was exactly that. A normal soul was like a candle flame and a stronger soul was like a blazing fire. Ira’s soul was nothing close to a flame, that wasn’t to say that it was weak, but it definitely wasn’t normal.

Ira instinctively knew his soul’s appearance was due to his time in the void. He could almost recall the feeling of being ripped apart, layer by layer until he was nothing but a faint consciousness.

If Ira feared anything, it would definitely have to be the pain the void produced. Pushing back his memories of that time, he finished evaluating his soul. It was like an opening to a void contained inside of him. The Red Moon was likely located there as well. So while his soul was very much something, it made him unable to use any of Dietrich’s techniques. So he wouldn’t use them, but rather build off of them.

And so he began to create the foundations for his own ability. Instead of drawing on his soul, he would draw from the void. Ira wanted to laugh, he couldn’t help but think he reached some sort of enlightenment.

“Ira?” Then he heard a voice. Not the voice of the childish figure that called out to him previously, but the voice of an adult man.

Feeling that the moment of enlightenment was over anyway, Ira slowly opened his eyes.

………

*a/n: (unedited) Next chapter should be fairly large. I’m deciding between starting with side character arcs, or the World Summit that was mentioned by the Diavol. Both will happen, it’s just a matter of what comes first.