As soon as Ira and Aldis reappeared, the former grabbed a hooded black cloak from thin air and put it on.

Aldis made a questioning expression to which Ira replied. “My appearance is a bit too noticeable. I’d like to do this as quickly as possible.”

Aldis nodded and looked around to get a grasp on where they were. They stood on a plot of empty land across from a restaurant that was boarded up.

“This is where my old house used to be,” Ira said while narrowing his eyes with a strange expression.

It seemed that someone had destroyed the place where he used to live. His favorite restaurant closing down had to also be related. There was no way that the previously popular eating spot would run out of business so that a person or a group of people had a hand in it.

“Oh well.” Ira shrugged to himself.

Looking for the perpetrator was something he didn’t have time for nor did he care that much. If those things truly mattered Ira would have taken them to the Underground City.

“Let’s go,” Ira said.

“I’ll follow your lead,” Aldis responded.

Ira’s senses were the best option for locating Clark but it would definitely take forever if he were to try and distinguish the latter’s scent in a city filled with thousands of people.

As the two made their way through the capital, a large trace of dissatisfaction could be felt throughout. The season of fall fast approached but most of the pedestrians seemed unapproachable as if they were struggling through the cold of winter. It was a contrast to the citizens who should’ve been hopeful when considering that their country had gained powerful resources.

A large, angry looking man walked through the crowd and it seemed his path was destined to intersect with Ira’s. In fact, Ira’s senses basically allowed him to see where the man would end up. Ira adjusted his direction but the man seemed dead set on colliding with him.

Ira just sighed and then he, Aldis, and the unsuspecting man suddenly appeared in a dark alley.

“What?!” The man stood up in shock.

“Ira?” Aldis was also puzzled as to why they changed location without notice.

“Wait...Ira?!” The man on the ground opened his eyes in shock.

“You might want to look away for this, Aldis.” Ira smiled before he changed into his beast form and stood over the unlucky man like an executioner.

Before Aldis or the soon to be victim could say anything, Ira grabbed the man and ripped his head off with his teeth. Memories flooded into Ira’s mind and he learned of Randolph’s huge rise in status. There was also Juliana Fairfax who was called an oracle for the Gods. And most importantly, there was Clark who also grew to be someone notable due to his closeness with Randolph.

“Hmmm,” Ira’s distorted and growling voice made Aldis wince. “Oh, sorry.”

Ira returned to normal and wiped his hands as if finished a meal. “We have to find Randolph.”

“Him? For what reason?” Aldis asked.

“He’s always with Randolph from what I could see.” Ira didn’t seem completely sure.

“You aren’t sure?” Aldis asked.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Aldis I didn’t know you were the expert in this. Have you ever consumed someone’s memory?”

“No, but it would be more helpful to us if we had more to go on.”

“This guy only had common knowledge. If you want better details I’d have to get Harper or eat a couple dozen more people and I really don’t want to do either of those. Randolph’s house isn’t too far.”

“You know where he lives?”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t. He did.” Ira pointed to the headless corpse on the ground. “It’s a large mansion that was gifted to him by the King so let’s head there.”

“How far is it?” Aldis asked.

Ira smiled before he clapped his hands together and they both appeared inside of a property surrounded by a short wall. Just outside of it there were citizens, mostly nobles, who would stop to stare in amazement before continuing whatever they were doing.

“Do you want to knock or should I?” Ira asked as he approached the mansion.

“It doesn’t matter,” Aldis replied before inhaling deeply.

Ira knocked on the door and waited before a servant answered him.

“Who are you? How did you get past the gate guards?!” The servant began to yell.

“What’s going on? Who’s at the door?” Randolph’s voice could be heard from within the house. He rushed down to see what was happening and immediately saw a figure in a black cloak that obscured their face.

“Get back!” Randolph leaped forward and pushed the servant out the way before throwing a punch at Ira. Or at least, he tried to but Ira caught Randolph’s fist in his hand.

“Every time I see you, you’re always trying to hit me and it's starting to test my patience,” Ira spoke nonchalantly while Randolph tried to free himself.

“I don’t even know who you are!” Randolph lifted his other hand to send another punch but Ira tossed him away before he could do anything else.

Randolph crashed into a table and rolled on the ground before jumping to his feet.

“Is Clark here?” Ira asked as he pulled down his hood.

“...Ira?” Randolph stopped his movements and looked at the person next to Ira. “And...Aldis?”

“Is Clark here?” Ira repeated.

“He’s upstairs...Wait, what do you want from him?” Randolph asked suspiciously. He tried his best not to show surprise at Ira’s arrival.

“To talk. If I wanted to kill him I wouldn’t ask to see him,” Ira said.

“I was asking, Aldis,” Randolph replied. “I’ll go get Clark but I hope that you don’t cause him any trouble.”

Aldis nodded before both he and Randolph looked at Ira who only shrugged.

…

A few minutes later and a room was provided for Clark and Aldis to speak to each other. Ira and Randolph waited outside to allow them to speak privately. Well, as private as they could possibly be when Ira's hearing made it more than easy enough to overhear what they were saying.

“What do you want?” Clark asked. “Well, you already took what you wanted.” He added on with resignation.

“I didn’t take anything from you,” Aldis replied.

“You didn’t? You should think about it a little more, Aldis.” Clark sneered.

“I don’t need to think about it at all. I had no ill intentions when I met you and Amy. Things just happened between us and now we’re together.” Aldis gathered his patience before continuing. “I came here to forgive you, Clark. What happened back then was–”

“Forgive me?!” Clark glared at Aldis. “You think that’s what I wanted to hear?! I know what I did was terrible. I lost my brother and I lost Amy all because I couldn’t be strong enough when I needed to be. I don't need your forgiveness, Aldis. I don’t want it.”

“I didn’t come here to argue with you, Clark. If I recall correctly you spoke as if we could depend on you and when the situation came to pass you didn’t do anything.” Aldis stood up slowly.

“Leave,” Clark said hatefully.

“That what I planned on doing,” Aldis responded.

“Don’t ever come back, Aldis.”

Aldis looked at Clark with a slight grin on his face which caused the latter to grow even angrier.

“Are you enjoying this situation, Aldis?” Clark asked as he stood up.

Aldis simply shook his head and moved toward the door. Clark hurriedly moved to stop Aldis.

“Let go of me, Clark,” Aldis said calmly.

“No!” Clark shouted as he pushed Aldis back before punching him in the face.

Aldis didn’t move to dodge and didn’t even flinch after he was hit. He lightly tapped his cheek before speaking. “I see you gained quite the sense of self-worth over these past few months, Clark. You’ve grown a backbone and I think it’s really funny to see how strong you’ve become.”

Clark looked momentarily stunned at Aldis’ words since they were correct. After being shown respect as a companion of Randolph’s, Clark had a gradual change in his personality. There was also the fact that Amy had married to Aldis.

“Shut up!” Clark threw another punch but Aldis easily dodged it before driving his fist into the pit of Clark’s stomach.

Clark fell to the ground while Aldis looked at him with disgust. “I let you have the first one, Clark. Don’t try it again.”

Aldis moved toward the door once again but a translucent golden shield appeared in front of him.

“I’m not as weak as I was before, Aldis.” Clark climbed to his feet.

“I left my swords outside of this room but I would be more than happy to finish this right now.” As Aldis finished speaking a layer of frost gathered around his fist.

“You…You didn’t have that ability before.” Clark unconsciously began to reconsider fighting Aldis.

“Having second thoughts?” Aldis inquired. “That’s unfortunate because I already gave you a chance to stop.”

Just as the two were about to clash, the house began to rumble. Ira opened the door and broke through Clark’s shield barrier without even trying.

“Let’s go, Aldis.” Ira tossed Aldis his swords before he moved to teleport them away.

“Wait, what’s happening?” Aldis said with a confused look.

“A fight, one that I don’t really feel like getting involved in,” Ira said while gesturing for Aldis to hurry.

“Who’s fighting?” Clark asked.

“I don’t know but I want to go before I end up getting involved.” A few seconds after Ira finished talking a loud explosion rang out.

“Hold on, Ira. I have to go see what’s happening.” Aldis ran out of the room followed by Clark.

Ira sighed loudly and followed behind them with extreme annoyance present in his every step.

When they arrived outside the mansion the first thing they saw was Randolph who was completely speechless. The Capital was filled with fire, smoke, and screams as everyone attempted to rush away from the destruction.

“...What’s going on?” Randolph asked aloud.

“Up there!” Clark exclaimed.

Floating hundreds of feet in the air were nearly a dozen airships. At the front of each of the massive airships were huge cannons pointed at the ground. The airship at the head of the group fired a concentrated beam of pure mana and it obliterated everything it touched. Surprisingly, the Airships didn’t aim at the Palace but at the residences of certain nobles as well as guard barracks.

As soon as the leading ship finished firing the other ships let off a bombardment of pure mana that razed the buildings in their path.

“You know I wanted to leave as soon as possible but this is actually kind of cool,” Ira’s voice resounded in the ears of Randolph, Aldis, and Clark.

“Let’s stay a few minutes and see where this goes,” Ira said with an excited smile.