Her concerns revolved around Tavras because she could tell that he was struggling, but she could not support him. By the nether, she could hardly understand him.

Luckily for her, she had an ability at her disposal to understand anything and everything about the world. Insights of the Past could let her watch the entirety of Tavras's life like a movie, though his immense lifespan would make time seem to pass even in the suspended state that her ability provided her.

"No," Val murmured, talking to herself. She could not watch his entire life unfold.

Foofy's ears twitched as he heard a bad word so close to his ear in his sleep. His body relaxed against her as she corrected her mistake.

"Good Foofy," she whispered soothingly and gave him a long, slow pet.

For now, she would have to be selective on the timeframe in which she looked into Tavras's past.

The presence of Arius and Evalaite in particular seemed to have put Tavras in a sour mood when they had arrived in New Gate. The reason why Evalaite bothered him was self-evident. She was an ex-girlfriend without any class. The same thing followed for Arius, since he was the new boyfriend of the aforementioned ex-girlfriend. For whatever reason, Val felt like the issue might run deeper than this, so she thought to investigate.

She seeded Insights of the Past with the intent of finding when Tavras and Arius had begun to hate each other. Two moments in the timeline jumped out at her, both within quick succession of about a day. This would be a small enough segment to watch and still get a full night's sleep, so Val delved into the past and started with that earlier moment.

Her presence shifted to hover over the ocean. Oppressive clouds were brewing into a storm overhead, and below, the rough waves of the sea reflected that. Already, she could tell that Tavras was in a bad mood. When she looked all around, searching the waters, Val caught no sight of him. Instead, she realized that the waters were streaked with gigantic pools of red. Some massive amount of blood looked like it had spilled into this part of the ocean. Her heart started to pound.

Suspended in the air as she was, whatever point of interest must be located at a higher altitude as well. Val looked around on this plane next, and saw something more terrifying than a sea serpent or a behemoth combined.

A red dragon soared through the sky and gave the occasional beat of its wings. According to all known laws of physics, a massive lizard like that should not be able to fly. Scales tougher than kevlar coated the bulging muscles beneath. A dragon was a magical beast, so it was able to defy the gravity that ought to bind it to the ground. Instead, it flew out here, over Tavras's realm.

Upon its back was a man with hair as red as the dragon's scales. A red mist surrounded him. Through that mist, no part of him was visible save for his glowing red eyes. The light caused by that man's power leakage penetrated through the haze. It was unnecessary to see him in detail in order to recognize him: Arius, the first and favorite son of Suvier.

Apparently, Arius had a dragon. This fact astounded Val to the point where she slowed time in her vision. The dragon's wings dragged in its downward stroke and the whoosh of air rushed to her ears. Dragons possessed intelligence on par with humans, and strength far greater than those enhanced with divine blood. Rarely, a dragon might decide to live amongst the immortal humans, but for the most part, they thought humans to be an inferior species. To have bonded with Arius in such a way that it was willing to be his mount was positively astounding.

Now, Val understood what made Arius the second strongest god in the world, despite only being a century old. How come she had never seen photographs or depictions of Arius with his dragon before? It was a mystery to her, one that could only be unraveled by watching on.

Time returned to its true flow.

The red mist gathered in front of Arius. He leaped forward onto the dragon's nose, and all of the red energy collapsed into a rod. With that long spear in hand, pointed downwards, Arius dove from the sky.

At the same time, the soiled water beneath him exploded outward to reveal a roaring sea serpent. Its usually glamorous scales had no sunlight in which to dazzle. Blood coated its body, giving only a dull gleam from the equally dull, red light of Arius's ability. The serpent's open jaws welcomed Arius down its throat, but that turned out to be a mistake on its part.

The magical spear cut through the sea serpent's jaw bone and carried down its neck. As Arius descended through its body, he cut the sea serpent clean in half the long way down.

Blood poured from the split-open sea serpent. Its life gushed from it like a waterfall rushing to rejoin the red waters below. A last screech peeled from its jaws, and from there, the monstrous pillar began to collapse to the ocean waves.

At the base of the sea serpent's neck where its body met the water, the slight form of Arius could be seen emerging from its flesh. The red light around him heightened, and he jumped around onto the back of the sea serpent's neck. While it collapsed, he ran at a breathtaking speed, all the way up the sea serpent like an unstable bridge.

From the top of the sea serpent's head Arius leaped into the air an inhuman distance. There was enough space between Arius and the falling sea serpent that his dragon could swoop in to catch him upon its own head. From there, the rest of the sea serpent's body landed into the ocean with a crash.

The dragon soared peacefully with Arius. Together, they drifted over the nether-scape that they had created below. There was so much blood staining the water's surface that over a dozen sea serpents must have been slashed up and their bodies lost forever to the depths.

This outright assault on the ocean and its creatures must be a living nightmare for the Sea Itself. No wonder Tavras hated Arius. As painful as it was to watch, Val could not wait for Tavras to arrive.