“I'll kill you, Ira!” Thessia roared in frustration and the dragons under her command began to fly toward Ira.

A turquoise doorway to an ocean appeared behind Kesver and he began to move. An endless wave of water emerged from the doorway and slammed into Ira, sending him upward.

Then, an Elder Dragon grabbed him in its jaws before soaring into the sky.

“Ira!” Thessia bellowed as she shifted into the huge form of an Ancient Dragon. While she wasn’t as huge as the Behemoth she had a body with a length of nine hundred feet which was slightly bigger than the Telvian’s Airship.

Avery, Lauren, and Casey took the air but were intercepted by Myr and Lua along with dozens of other dragons.

“This didn’t go well for you last time,” Lua said to Avery as she drew her sword.

Avery didn’t say anything and drew her Godsteel sword while her shield came flying from some far off place and landed on her arm.

“Handle the dragons, Avery.” Lauren decided that she would face the two with Casey.

“I understand,” Avery nodded before flying away.

“You aren’t even at Kara’s level and you somehow think you can handle us with only your daughter to help?” Myr asked with disbelief.

Lauren didn’t waste any words responding and flew higher with Casey following behind her.

Rhys decided to face off against Kesver while Amy and Aldis looked as if they were going to support her. Sylun and a group of Dark Elves also came to assist but with a door to the ocean around him Kesver was invulnerable.

…

Ira had his arm locked in a Dragon’s jaws but he didn’t panic. He raised his fist and punched its snout causing a loud shock to emerge but the dragon shook it off without stopping. Ira laughed and hit it again with far more force causing it to cry out as its snout contorted.

It released Ira’s arm and when it did he interlocked his hands and brought them down on the already broken face of the dragon sending it plummeting toward the ground.

“Ira!” A Dragon with dark red scales and dark grayish horns planted the gaze of its amber reptilian eyes on Ira.

“So that’s what you look like as a dragon?” Ira said to himself before pitch black mist burst out of him.

When it faded a wolfish creature standing at around one hundred feet remained. Ira’s transformation no longer held a resemblance to a normal wolf after he digested the Behemoth’s heart. His new form had two arms with five fingers and hind legs that allowed it to stand bipedally. There were also the horns emerging from his head and four yellow eyes that made it clear he took traits from the Behemoth. Though the most ominous thing about his new form had to be the layer of black tendrils made of mist that were constantly writhing on the surface of his skin. Just gazing at it would cause a skin-crawling sensation.

Ira landed on in the sand while Thessia continued to fly toward him. Although she looked to have the size advantage, Ira could alter his mass if he wanted and he did. His current body was full of compressed mass that Thessia couldn’t compete with.

She roared once more as she arrived and let loose a torrent of flame onto Ira’s form. The heat was enough to turn the sand into glass, but the mist covering Ira’s body seemed to help him resist it.

He leaped into the air and grabbed onto Thessia while withstanding the blistering heat. He opened his mouth and bit down on her neck causing her to cry out. She began descending as she found his weight impossible to contend with.

The two crashed into the sand and began rolling while the Dragons saw her plight and flew over to help.

Suddenly, a red light flashed and a dragon had its body sliced in half. It fell into two pieces but no blood spilled since its wounds were caused by extreme heat. Avery spun in the air as she weaved in and out the flock of dragons that had to focus on her. She swung her sword again and cleaved away the wings of a smaller dragon which made it shriek as it fell.

Since she was far smaller, she was a harder target to hit, but with so many dragons they were bound to strike her. A pair of dragons claws swiped at her causing her to raise her shield in response and a fiery bubble formed around her. The force of the attack caused the fire to disperse and she was sent flying away even though she was uninjured.

After being freed from Avery’s assault the dragons swarmed around Ira in order to help Thessia. Even though his strength increased more than it ever had been he still was pushed back by the dragons.

Ira opened his mouth and a strong force began to pull at the dragons. One of the dragons couldn’t get away from him and was crushed by space until he was small enough for Ira to consume. Behind Ira’s teeth was an endless darkness that swallowed the dragon.

Then, Thessia emerged again and rammed into Ira before climbing above him and pinning him. She opened her mouth and produced a huge swathe of flame that covered Ira’s face. Ira raised his head again and bit another piece of Thessia’s flesh off while laughing. Of course, he was in his new form so the sound he produced was garbled and horrifying. He freed himself before digging his claws into Thessia’s scaled chest.

“Aaaaaah!” Thessia cried in pain as Ira continued to rip into her flesh.

He used his other to punch her which sent her recoiling backward. Ira stood up and shook himself off as he tried to adjust to the new form but it was difficult to do while fighting.

His body burst into a cloud of black mist that revealed his usual body.

“Let’s make this quick.” A layer of black mist covered Ira’s hand as he raised it high. He swung downward and five black lines cut through the air while shifting the scenery around them. As soon as the lines touched the dragons, they would easily slice through while pulling the dragons inside, killing them instantly. With that one attack, Ira cut the numbers of the dragons in half. Thessia climbed to her feet in horror and watched as the soundless attack easily wiped out the dragons. She had to undo her dragon transformation in order to focus on healing her wounds which regenerated faster while she was smaller.

Ira took one step and appeared in front of her before punching her in the gut sending her flying away before she could react. She went tumbling through the air before she was caught by Ira hand which was clenched around her neck before slamming her into the ground and punching her. Ira’s raw strength was incomparable to before and they were dangerous to her even without using space or gravity to enhance his attacks. Thessia’s body crumpled after every punch and she could only blindly reach out to Ira in order to stop him but eventually, she no longer had the strength to.

Ira brought his fist down onto her sternum once more for good measure before lifting her by her neck.

“I didn’t want to kill you just yet, but you're the most annoying after Myr and Gicae...Speaking of, where is he hiding?” Ira asked as he slightly loosened his grip.

Thessia struggled in his hold which caused his arm to slightly shake with her vigorous movements but she wouldn’t be able to free herself.

“The First-Flame shouldn’t have picked someone like you,” Thessia growled at Ira while her amber eyes transmitted pure anger.

“So that’s a no?” Ira inquired.

“You can’t protect your daughter from what–” Thessia wasn’t able to finish as Ira plunged his hand straight into her heart.

Thessia opened and closed her mouth repeatedly as her boiling blood splashed onto the sand. The remaining dragons cried out viciously as they flew toward Ira, but Avery appeared once again and attacked. She sliced apart the dragons who became slightly easier targets when they focused their rage on Ira.

Ira dropped Thessia’s lifeless body onto the sand. Her body slowly turned into hundreds of hot embers before fading away into the wind.

“Next.” Ira turned his attention to the fight in the sky. He hated the Valkyries nearly as much as Gicae.

…

Lauren and Myr locked swords together and tried to force the other back. It was a situation where the first to be distracted would die.

“It’s bad your daughter isn’t as strong as you.” Myr could see Casey on the losing end of her battle with Lua and it was hard to tell if it was due to her previous injury or the fact her opponent had more experience.

Lauren sent a quick glance but as soon as she did, Myr broke away and cut at her armor with a powerful strike.

Lauren took some distance and fired off some magic projectiles while Myr chased.

“You can’t run forever!” Myr shouted as they continued to fly through the air.

Lauren flew upward before stopping and descending toward Lua.

“Watch out!” Myr called out as she pursued.

Lua noticed Lauren’s intentions and raised her sword to block. Lauren gripped her sword with two hands and raised it to strike again but Myr was closing in behind her. Myr sneered as she was about to pierce Lauren’s back but the latter spun around and struck.

There was loud grating sound and the two stood in the air while blood fell between them. Under her helmet, Lauren had a calm expression as she looked at the sword impaled through her side. Myr, on the other hand, had a sword stuck between her clavicle. The sword didn’t go any further because she reinforced her free hand with mana and blocked it.

“Mother!” Casey moved forward but was attacked by Lua again.

“You almost had me, Lauren. I’m surprised to see you didn’t have any faith in your daughter.” Myr twisted the sword but all Lauren did was let out a slight grunt.

“We won’t kill you out of respect for Kara, but don’t think you can protect Ira,” Myr spoke coldly.

Lauren grabbed the sword going through her body with one hand while her other hand formed a fist. She punched Myr in the face before flying backward and ripping the sword out of her abdomen.

Lauren pulled her helmet off and held it in one hand exposing her frigid gaze. She didn’t even heal her wound as she flew toward Lua.

“She’s not the one to focus on!” Myr grabbed the sword stuck in her clavicle before healing her wound and flying after Lauren. Due to Lauren's failure to kill her with one attack, Myr gained possession of Kara's sword.

“Mother, I can handle this.” Casey was wounded but she continued to fight.

“Go help the ones on the ground,” Lauren said.

“I can help you,” Casey argued as she stabbed toward Lua.

“Go,” Lauren ordered with no room for debate.

Casey reluctantly broke away from Lua and flew toward the giant column of water on the ground.

“You think you can handle both of us?” Lua asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It doesn’t matter, we’ll restrain her before we get her daughter.” Myr flew next to Lua and readied her sword.

Lauren tightened her grip on her helmet and moved toward them. The two raised their swords and attacked in tandem while Lauren used her wings to block. Since they had to constantly move their wings to stay in the air, Lauren ended up slightly under each time she blocked their attack, losing any possible advantage she had. Her wings were being chipped away due to the power of each attack so she spread them wide before swinging her helmet and stopping an incoming thrust.

The helmet was destroyed almost instantly and Lauren was only left with her hands.

“Give up.” Lua shook her head but Lauren charged forward.

She used her metal gauntlets to defend while throwing heavy punches at the two but there was no way to close the distance without getting in range for an attack. She waved her hands and dozens of magic projectiles flew out while she flew toward Myr.

She sent a combination of three blows reinforced by magic toward Myr’s chest and knocked her back. Lua deflected most of the projectiles and stabbed Lauren in her leg.

“You don’t have a weapon, what’s the point in struggling anymore?” Myr asked as she examined the blood-colored sword. It was Kara’s weapon that had been tempered in the blood of the Behemoth, but Lauren didn’t have enough time to get used to it. She poured mana into it and the sword began to react by emitting a powerful hum.

Suddenly, Ira appeared next to Lua and grabbed her wings tightly.

“You’ll be next,” Ira spoke to Myr before teleporting away with Lua in tow.

…

Lua found herself in the sand without warning and all the while she was held in place by something heavy. She raised her head in order to breathe and looked back to see Ira’s foot planted between her wings with his hands on both of them.

“Could you tell me where Gicae is...please?” Ira asked as he squeezed her wings.

“Get off of me!” Lua shouted as she tried to free herself but that was until she felt a terrible sensation.

Ira was attempting to rip the wings out of her back which caused her to let out a piercing scream. Lua’s mana became unstable and threatened to erupt as her wings were torn away.

“Last chance.” Ira eased the pressure while Lua caught her breath.

Sweat dampened her forehead as she tried to gather her thoughts. Although the pain was intolerable it didn't cloud her judgment. There was no way Ira would let her live and it was too late to make amends with him so she made up her mind and spoke, “...I’ll die before I tell you.”

Ira shrugged and with one swift motion he ripped her wings out of her back. Since Valkyries wings were non-physical and more of a manifestation of their spirit, having them ripped out abruptly would usually result in an immediate death.

Lua’s harsh screech echoed as her eyes and skin began glowing due to her mana running wild before she exploded into a burst of energy which sent Ira crashing into the distance.

He stood up and dusted himself off while his wounds repaired themselves almost instantly. Above him, Myr was speeding toward him with a tangible fury which meant she saw Lua die.

“That’s two so far,” Ira whispered to himself while waiting for her to arrive.