Lauren and Ustia were following a small cart being controlled by an unsuspecting citizen.

“Is that him?” Ustia asked.

“It is. It appears that all the rumors of Ira’s exploits are being spread by a few individuals and he is one of them,” Lauren replied.

“So are you going to get him or should I?” Ustia asked.

“I’ll handle it,” Lauren said before she ran toward the cart.

She caught up and climbed onto it which surprised the man driving it. Before he could say anything she punched him in the face and he fell unconscious. She sent a glance to Ustia before taking over the reins and slowing down.

“That’s one way to do it,” Ustia commented as she climbed on.

Lauren slightly smiled before steering the cart off to somewhere else.

After a few turns and twists, they were in a remote corner of the town. A young man with a horrified look in his eye was bound in rope.

“How can I get in contact with the Uprising?” Lauren asked while wiping her sword.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about! Please just let me go,” The man pleaded nervously.

Lauren sighed before looking at Ustia, “Should we start with his leg?”

Ustia shook her head, “Take his ears, then his nose, then his fingers. After that, we’ll start on the limbs.”

“I’m not particularly against torture but even that’s quite unpleasant,” Lauren replied. Although her words made her seem reluctant, she pressed her blade against the man’s ear.

“Wait–” He tried to stop her but she sliced his ear off, causing him to scream.

“Quiet or you’ll be eating your ear.” Lauren smacked the man so hard a tooth fell out of his mouth.

“I’ll tell you,” The man groaned out with tears.

“I apologize but you’ve given up far too quickly. I’m not sure if I can believe you,” Lauren said with a sigh.

The man looked at her with a face warped in fear but she remained totally indifferent. A few incredibly bloody minutes later and Lauren stood near a disfigured body while cleaning the Blood Sword of, well, blood.

“So, if I heard correctly, there is a tree outside of this town next to a rotten stump and that’s where the enchanted parchment is hidden.”

“I’ve never heard of something like that,” Lauren stated as she sheathed her sword.

“It’s quite simple. It looks similar to ordinary parchment but anything written on it is temporary and a copy of its contents are sent to the other piece,” Ustia explained with an unsure look.

Lauren gave her a skeptical stare which caused Ustia to laugh.

“It’s been nearly one thousand years since I’ve seen one so I can’t be fully certain,” Ustia confessed. “In any case, let’s hurry up and find it. I can feel a large amount of hostility brewing close by.”

“Now that you mention it, I feel something similar. That Half-Dragon must’ve tracked us somehow.” Lauren narrowed her eyes.

Both Lauren and Ustia were able to sense large-scale conflicts in a similar way to clairvoyance but that was all. They were unable to sense out exact details like who and what was fighting. Since that was the case it made it understandable why they were unable to find Ira since a literal Uprising was occurring all over the continent. That and Ira’s presence was naturally distorted which made finding him near impossible for most.

The two set out to contact the Uprising without realizing that a few thousand legionnaires were only an hour away from the town. At the head of the group was Bramich who was eager to finish his battle with Lauren.

…

Ira appeared back in the Uprising’s headquarters only to discover a worried Virgil holding a piece of paper.

“Ira!” Virgil was startled by his arrival.

“Virgil!” Ira shouted. “Is that what you’re doing now? Yelling out names of people when you see them?”

“...I was told that if I said the name, Raveria, you would–” Virgil couldn’t finish because Ira’s hand was wrapped around his neck.

“I would what?” Ira grinned.

“The...paper…” Virgil pointed to the parchment on his desk.

Ira grabbed with his free hand and skimmed over it.

To the recipient of this message,

Tell Ira that Lauren Thynne is here to take him back. If you say Raveria, he should understand. I will be waiting for him in the outpost town located outside of a valley to the east. If you attempt to hide this message from him then I will come and kill you personally. That is if Ira doesn’t find out that you misled him before I get there.

“Why didn’t you just say that?” Ira dropped Virgil onto the ground before smiling. “I need to see a map.”

Virgil coughed heavily while climbing to his feet with the expression of someone who had been wronged. He opened a cabinet and fetched a rolled up paper before laying it on the table.

“There is only one valley town in the dragon’s wing province and that’s about here.” Virgil pointed a small mark.

“Alright, I got it. Looks like I’ll have to help you with all that Uprising stuff some other time,” Ira said.

“What? What do you mean by that?” Virgil asked.

“I’m going back to the other continent,” Ira replied.

“Wait, you’re abandoning us right when we’ve almost taken total control of the province? Didn’t you give your word? With that last attack of yours, they’ll send a massive army to regain control. You can’t leave now, we’ll lose thousands of people if you do,” Virgil said with clear panic.

“Relax, I have to come back to get that fox guy and I don’t remember giving you a specific time frame of me helping you. Even if I did, it doesn’t matter.” Ira shrugged.

“You can’t go, Ira. Not now...At least help us once more! If you were to leave then this whole thing might very well fall apart from the inside.” Virgil grabbed Ira’s collar and pleaded with him. The other races who joined in the Uprising only were half involved. Ira’s presence made it likely for them to pledge their full support even though the dragons were going to retaliate with a heavy response.

Ira slowly raised his hand up and pushed Virgil, sending the latter crashing into a wall. “If you try to stop me again I really will kill you.”

“Ira…” Virgil looked up only to that Ira had vanished from sight. “Damn it.”

…

“No one has written back,” Lauren carefully examined the worn piece of parchment.

“We shouldn’t have assumed that he would be present to receive the message. With any luck, they’ll deliver the message to him and we’ll meet with him at a later date. That pressing sense of aggression has steadily grown. Can’t you feel how close it is? It’ll be hard to escape without showing we’re Valkyries,” Ustia replied while drawing her sword.

“I guess it’s time we stop pretending then.” As soon as Lauren finished speaking she drew her sword. She felt the aggression reaching its highest point which meant she was standing in the middle of where the battle would take place.

The sound of marching could be heard in the distance, it slowly increased and then a man with burgundy hair riding a stark white pegasus. It was none other than Bramich who had been keen on tracking Lauren and Ustia. Finding them was extremely easy due to their actions while riding with a merchant caravan. They killed groups of Haykul Raiders with ease which made rumors spread as soon as the caravan stopped at a town. It had to be said that finding Lauren wasn’t his main objective, he was one of many sent to restore order to many of the areas affected by Ira. He followed Lauren’s trail because he thought there was a small chance they would run across each other.

“Ah! Lauren, what a strange twist of fate,” Bramich said with a surprised expression.

Lauren didn’t say anything as she raised her sword and brought out her wings. Behind Bramich, a legion of battle-hardened warriors emerged. There were a few who were even close to Bramich in terms of combat ability.

“So you were a Valkyrie? I had a slight suspicion but it makes sense.” Bramich climbed down from his pegasus and readied his weapon. His men were about to move but he raised his hand to stop them.

“Would it be too presumptuous of me to ask for a private duel?” Bramich asked.

“Fine,” Lauren answered before nodding to Ustia who stepped off to the side.

The engravings on Bramich’s sword lit up and the translucent visage of a three-headed dragon emerged from the ground. They gave a life-like roar that would’ve broke the spirit of a normal person but Lauren remained undeterred.

Lauren’s Blood Sword showed a dim red glow and then shook with energy. The two finished their preparations and then they began. Lauren was the first and only one to move and after a single wingbeat, she sent a torrent of energy toward Bramich. The three-headed dragons coiled together and shielded him from the assault.

Right as the energy dissipated, two of the dragons stretched out and lunged at Lauren while Bramich moved to do an upward slash. Lauren was forced to defend and was about to fly into the air to evade when the remaining dragon’s head opened its mouth and spat out a huge fireball. She folded her wings around her and decided to take the attack head-on.

There was a heavy explosion and the ground was uprooted while Lauren was pushed back. Her wings shook and then she took to the air and fired off dozens of mana arrows toward Bramich. The three-headed dragons moved to defend him once again allowing Lauren to take some distance. She descended with a deafening momentum and tried to pierce through Bramich’s defenses. With amazing speed, Lauren sliced through the ghost-like dragon and one of the heads fell.

“Aah!” The recoil from the attack seemed to travel through Bramich’s sword and made him tremble while spitting a clump of blood.

Lauren seized her chance and moved to trade blows with Bramich. It was clear that Lauren was the more experienced one as she began to gain the upper hand. Sensing the danger from a drawn-out confrontation, the now two-headed dragon struck out at Lauren. She jumped backward and the ground where her previous position was turned into a giant crater.

The Legionnaires under Bramich were forced to move backward due to the force of the clash.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to win if it continues like this,” Bramich said. He could see that Lauren was going to continue to pick away at his defenses while waiting for the opportunity to deliver a finishing blow.

“Are you giving up?” Lauren asked while channeling her mana.

“No...I’ve been trusted by the Dragon Gods to perform a task and I will follow it through.” Bramich’s eyes filled with seriousness as he plunged his sword into the ground. Cracks appeared on the Ivory sword and the combined roar of dozens of dragons shook the air. The two remaining dragons wrapped around his body and became a solid defensive wall.

All around Bramich fissures appeared in the soil and several dragons heads slithered out. Bramich had grown a thick layer of scales on his arms and chest as well as around his eyes. His muscles nearly burst out of his armor but his hands continued to clench the sword.

Lauren had begun sending blood energy toward him but it was all deflected. Ustia showed some concern and was about to step in when she noticed a black silhouette falling.

“Die,” Bramich said quietly. The dragon heads violently reacted and spat fire out while moving toward Lauren and it looked as if she would be swallowed by the flame. As soon as the attack was about to reach her, Ira crashed in front of her. The air rippled and the flames, as well as the attacking dragons, vanished, only to reappear among the unsuspecting soldiers. A deafening shock reverberated that just barely drowned out the screams of Bramich’s men.

“What…” Bramich was shocked beyond belief and nearly dropped his sword as he watched hundreds of his men fall to his own attack.

“Form up! It’s only fire, the strongest of us won’t be affected!” The Legionnaires near Bramich’s level tried to restore order and relied on Bramich to deal with the immediate threat.

“Ah, what’s this?” Ira stretched causing an eerie bone popping sound to emerge from his body.

“What perfect timing,” Lauren sheathed her sword while sighing. She wanted to continue the battle with Bramich but Ira clearly had other plans.

“Who are you?!” Bramich huffed out. After doing such a powerful attack he was hit with a wave of exhaustion.

“You don’t really need to worry about that,” Ira replied simply as he clenched and unclenched his fist. “If I were you I’d be a lot more focused on this next part.”

Ira took a step forward, materializing in front of Bramich before anyone could see him move. He stopped in front of Bramich and drove his fist into the stunned Legionnaire.

“Haa...Ah…” Bramich tilted his head downward and saw a hand piercing his chest. The vitality and regenerative traits of a half-dragon kept him conscious but he could already be considered dead.

“Told you.” Ira withdrew his hand before grabbing Bramich and throwing him into the Legionnaires who were shocked into silence.

Bramich’s lifeless body rolled for a few seconds before it stopped completely and forced the Legionnaires to collect themselves.

“Ira…” Someone said with fear.

“It’s Ira!”

“It can’t be him.”

The panic spread in an instant and some soldiers were getting ready to flee.

“He’s only one man! Surround him!” The Legionnaires who thought themselves to be on the level of Bramich assumed they would be enough to stop Ira if they all worked together.

“I like your spirit.” Ira chuckled before a cloud of pitch black mist surrounded him. It contorted strangely before it slowly dissipated, revealing a ten-foot tall beast. It had a wolfish face with two horns and four yellow eyes as well as metal-like teeth. Its hands and body shape retained an overall human-like appearance but its long black claws and hind legs didn’t help it much. All the while a layer of writhing darkness made its monstrous form even more nightmarish. It gave a hoarse chuckle that scraped the ears of the listeners while giving them a skin crawling sensation.

“You can run if you want.” It breathed out slowly and a blinding mist spread over the forest. “Though wouldn’t it be better to just get it over with?”

The seemingly endless mist seemed to be infused with something that caused irrational fear because the Legionnaires scattered while screaming. They climbed over each other and even tripped the comrades running next to them in order to have even the slightest chance of getting away.