Raveria arrived back at the Underground City without her parents. Her mood was terrible and the Valkyries within the Fortress made sure to steer clear of her. They had learned that Raveria was mischievous beyond belief when she was upset. Eventually, Raveria ran into Harper who smiled happily upon seeing the former.

“Ravi!” Harper ran up to Raveria and hugged her causing a curtain of pale blue hair to fall over Raveria’s head. “Do you want to play?”

“...No,” Raveria pouted as she wrestled out of Harper’s grasp.

Of course, Harper’s offer was tempting to Raveria but she was set in her mood.

“Oh...ok.” Harper looked a little sad but continued on.

“...Where are you going, Harper?” Raveria asked.

“To see, Rhys. Do you wanna come with me?”

Raveria hesitated for a moment before she nodded.

“Then come on.” Harper grinned.

…

Ira tossed the lifeless body of a Valkyrie to the side before examining his surroundings. There were collapsed buildings all around but for the most part, they were empty. The majority of those who lived within the radius of Avery’s ring of fire were teleported outside of it by Ira. Still, there were many who lingered around and could only curse themselves for not moving away sooner.

Looking up at the sky, Ira could see Avery dealing with the remaining Valkyries.

“Better help a little,” Ira said as he picked up a fist-sized rock. He tossed it into the air a couple of times before focusing his gaze on one of the moving Valkyries. After that, he took up a throwing stance.

“Here we go!” Ira launched the small and normally harmless rock at a speed that was faster than a ballistae.

The rock slammed into the head of his target, or rather, her helmet and she fell unconscious. As her body plummeted toward the ground, one of her companions dove to save her but Avery arrived and beheaded the Valkyrie who couldn’t react properly.

Ira whistled in admiration before picking up another rock. He was about to throw it when he suddenly stopped and narrowed his eyes. Several doorways created from psychic energy appeared and dragons in humanoid forms came walking out. Following them were Valkyries, Sidera, Lares, and one man with white hair and purple eyes.

Ira hid the rock behind his back while looking at the group that continued to pour out.

“Are you the one they’re going on about?” A Valkyrie pointed her sword at Ira while hostility filled her eyes. She looked at the bodies of Valkyries that lay at his feet and it only increased her bloodlust.

“I think I am...You know, it’s hard to tell sometimes especially when–surprise!” Ira threw the rock at the Valkyrie but she raised her shield to block it just in time and the stone burst into powder.

“Nice reflexes,” Ira praised.

“Surround him! We’ll move with the dragons, the Lares and the Sidera stay in the back!” The Valkyrie put on her helmet and shouted her orders.

Just as they moved toward Ira, Avery landed next to him and stabbed her sword into the ground.

“My hero.” Ira swooned in an exaggerated manner.

“Pay attention, Ira. Especially to the Lares and the Sidera,” Avery spoke seriously. She had no wish to see him be injured due to his careless nature.

“Yeah, I got it.” Ira’s smile faded and his gaze sharpened. “If you want me to end it quickly I can.”

“I said be careful, not boring,” Avery said with a soft laugh. "Let's enjoy ourselves for a moment."

The two continued conversing as a semi-circle formed around them.

“...They aren’t the only ones.” Ira’s ears twitched and he could hear louder footsteps at different ends of the city. It seemed that some sort of trap or ambush was being prepared but once Ira discovered it became useless.

“We’ll deal with them as they come.” Avery drew a line on the ground with her sword. It seemed to be a taunt for the Valkyries but a thin pillar of flame emerged from the line and reached upward, obscuring Ira and Avery’s bodies.

“Careful!” The Valkyrie in charge shouted but it was too late.

Ira appeared in the backline and went for the Lares first. A layer of black mist covered his body and he changed into his beast form. His teeth ripped into the body of the clueless Lares who had no idea what happened even as they died. Only after a few seconds passed did panic set in.

“Stop him!” The Head Valkyrie didn’t look back as she gave her orders because Avery was moving forward. Several Valkyries and half the dragons split off to deal with Ira.

The wide, fiery, wings and the glossy black armor drew a strange contrast which made Avery almost as frightening as Ira. Though there was something about a bipedal four-eyed beast with a coat of black writhing tendrils and two sharp horns crowning it's head that had a way of instilling pure terror.

“Sidera!” The Head Valkyrie yelled.

Suddenly, four beams of plasma shot out and all hit Avery's chest plate. She took a step back from the force of the blow but it couldn’t even get through her armor. Underneath her helm, she smiled and put strength into her legs. The Godsteel boots Ira made for her allowed her to dash forward and cover the distance immediately. She raised her sword high and swung at the Head Valkyrie who opted to dodge instead of block.

It was then when Avery raised her shield arm and pointed her hand toward the Sidera. A huge beam of plasma poured out from her gauntlet and cut their numbers in half.

“What?!” The Head Valkyrie shouted in surprise. She instinctively looked toward the damage but was distracted when she saw fresh corpses of dragons piling up under Ira’s feet.

“Pay attention,” Avery said in a low voice as her sword thrust into the pit of the Valkyrie’s stomach.

“Huek!” She spat out blood and then began coughing up smoke. Her insides were charred black by Avery's molten red sword.

“Damn it!” The Head Valkyrie fell to her knees as she resisted the burning pain.

“Haaaaaaaa!” The Valkyries charged Avery with their weapons in hand but Avery didn’t panic and just conjured up her flames.

Huge flame projectiles made short work of the Valkyries as they had no way of resisting the fire with such a high level of divinity imbued into them.

There were a few dragons left and Avery made them her new targets, she once again moved forward and cleaved through them with ease before Ira got to them.

Speaking of, Ira held Elthar in his hands and debated on whether or not he should eat him. His appearance made him stand out more than anything so he had to be important, at least, that’s how Ira saw it.

“We’ll save it for later.” Ira tried to lock him between space but Elthar resisted it somehow. “Oh? Now I’m curious to see how you did that.”

“If you harm me, my father will personally come and kill you, bastard!” Elthar tried to transform but his body couldn't expand while in Ira’s grip. He could only look at the wolf-like monster in front of him.

Ira bit down on Elthar’s head to shut him up and began chewing before a series of memories appeared in his mind. Ira could ordinarily consume someone's knowledge but he would have to eat with the intent of absorbing their knowledge for fear of his mind being overwhelmed with thousands of memories that weren't his own.

“I see,” Ira said with an ear-grating chuckle. “You’re the son of the main guy, huh?” He asked the headless body.

Then, without warning, a beam of plasma hit Ira’s head and made a small gash before black mist began leaking out but he didn’t die. He, quite literally, shrugged before turning around. Any injuries Ira received in his beast form were completely separated from his actual body. It wouldn’t be completely wrong to say that Ira was nearly invincible while in his beast form though it couldn’t be maintained forever.

“That won’t work twice.” The small wound on his head regenerated and his four yellow eyes latched onto the culprit, one of the remaining Sidera who fell onto the ground hopelessly.

He spoke hopelessly, “Why...won’t...you...die?”

Ira couldn’t help but laugh as he moved toward the Sidera but just as his claws reached him, Avery appeared and stabbed her sword through the Sidera’s chest.

Ira undid his transformation and smiled, “This reminds me of when we first met.”

“Ah, you made a bet with me. If I recall correctly, you lost that one,” Avery replied.

“You killed a guy by throwing a head that I severed. That should’ve counted as me winning.”

“By that logic, every blacksmith has killed more than any warrior.”

“That doesn’t...You can’t just...Anyway,” Ira said in order to change the subject. “She’s still alive.”

Ira pointed to the Head Valkyrie who was attempting to heal herself but the wound was already too fatal.

“She’s quite resilient,” Avery said as they walked over to the Valkyrie.

“You both...are monsters…but there are hundreds more...moving toward us right now...” The Head Valkyrie breathed heavily while clutching her abdomen.

“You shouldn’t be worried about that,” Avery replied before raising her sword.

Seeing that they both remained calm, the Valkyrie’s eyes opened in realization. “You were holding back–”

Avery sent her head flying as the Valkyrie finished speaking.

“Beheading huh? You chopped off a lot of heads today. Is there a reason why?” Ira asked curiously.

“That’s just the first thing my sword happened to cut.” Avery grinned. She retracted her wings and unsummoned the pendant armor before sheathing her sword and fastening her shield across her back.

“They’re here,” Ira turned around to see even more Dragons, Lares, Sidera and Valkyries gathered together.

“Have you had enough fun?” Avery inquired while watching the group approach.

“I have.” Ira raised his hand and a ball of black mist appeared in his palm. “After this we'll deal with the one in charge.”

As he finished the ball of mist flew forward and the space around it warped creating an odd visual effect. The group sent to deal with Ira had all but halted their charge and took up defensive formations that consisted of magic and psychic energy. As soon as Ira’s projectile hit the barrier it exploded into thin black lines that cut through space and killed everyone they touched. There were no non-lethal hits as anyone who made contact with the black lines were pulled by a huge suction force which instantly ripped their bodies apart.

“Well, that’s that.” Ira rubbed his hands together before turning to face Avery. “Ready?”

“Lead the way,” Avery responded and immediately after the two of them disappeared from sight.

All that was left behind were the corpses of races that would normally inspire fear from any ordinary person. Those haughty and prideful beings only remained as largely unrecognizable piles of flesh, scales, and armor.