Ira and Rhys waited for Zephyr to fall asleep and left him in the care of Sylvia. As long as they hurried back it was safe to assume Zephyr wouldn’t have a destructive tantrum.

“What do you mean it’s too unpredictable for you to use?” Ira asked with clear shock. Rhys had suddenly refused the sword for no good reason in his eyes.

Rhys shook before making an expression that asked ‘Isn’t it obvious’. She had returned the Paradox Sword almost immediately after she used it. Strangely enough, even Avery, a Valkyrie, didn’t want to use the sword as she preferred her own.

“Come on, it just takes a little practice.” Ira seemed like a desperate con artist as he continued to try and get Rhys to use the weapon.

Rhys silently laughed and politely refused his offer once more. She would rather have a sword that didn’t float, crush anything and touched, and changed form with the snap of a finger.

Ira sighed and gave up on getting Rhys to use it, it was becoming more likely that he would have to save it for his children.

Ira sighed and continued walking with a dejected expression that was greatly exaggerated.

At the moment, the two were on their way to visit Charles. Ira wanted Rhys to be stronger but was a little hesitant about opening the Black Book.

“Keeper.”

“Keeper.”

“Keeper.”

“Keeper.”

Dark Elves, Lycanthropes, Beastkin, and Vampires all greeted Ira with a bow. It was uncommon to catch glimpses of him so when someone did they counted themselves lucky. Ira either nodded on gave them a glance of acknowledgment before he continued on. Rhys followed behind him, unsure of what to do.

The two eventually arrived at Charles laboratory and Ira opened without waiting.

“Charles,” Ira spoke up while looking around the messy room. Several metal containers were lined up at one side of the room. There were empty metal tables, strange vials of liquid, and research notes that were scattered all around.

“Over here.” Charles didn’t even lift his head to look at Ira.

If the Dark Elves were present they would take issue but Ira didn’t care much.

“How far have you gotten with the Behemoth’s blood? And try to summarize it as much as possible, I don’t need to hear every detail.”

Charles turned to peek over his shoulder and looked at Ira. “The Behemoth’s blood was initially very toxic to the point that prolonged contact would be harmful. I’ve diluted a large amount in order to isolate the negative properties while keeping the beneficial ones. I’m confident that if someone was to soak in my mixture for a few hours their bodies would be reinforced. Though I should add that it would be extremely painful.”

“I see.” Ira waved his hand and a blue heart the size of a carriage appeared in front of him. He let it float in the air and Charles immediately stopped what he was doing to look.

“T-This...What is this exactly?!” Before Ira could speak Charles picked up a knife and cut a piece of the heart before using a magnifying glass to examine it.

“It’s the heart of a Sea Serpent. Or rather, the one and only Sea Serpent.” Ira made a few motions with his hand and the heart was cut into pieces the size of cookies. “Here eat this, Rhys.”

Ira handed one to Rhys who had no desire to consume it but she inhaled deeply before accepting one. Rhys chewed on the tender raw heart that was filled with blood. The taste was extremely bitter and she felt as if her mouth was going numb. She finished chewing and felt sick yet energized only moments later.

Ira nodded and then flicked his hands, turning the small pieces into little beads. He stuffed them into a large pouch and then handed them to Rhys.

“You’ll have to eat the rest of those,” Ira said.

Charles’ expression turned into a regretful frown. The tiny portion of the Sea Serpent’s heart he gathered wasn’t suitable for long-term research. There was no telling what possible mysteries he could unravel by looking into it.

“Alright, Charles...Open up one of those vats of blood and get out,” Ira ordered.

Charles took a few moments to realize what was going on he looked between Rhys and Ira before his eyes widened.

“Wait! You’re allowing her to soak in the mixture. Please let me observe the process, it could be beneficial for my research,” Charles pleaded.

“No,” Ira refused, narrowing his eyes at Charles.

It was then Charles realized it could be considered inappropriate for him to stay since it was likely Rhys would have to remove her clothes before soaking in the blood.

“...Fine, but at least take notes of what happens. The first container is my most stable mixture, there is a breathing apparatus installed on the top...Be careful not to destroy too much please.” Charles instructed before sighing. “I’ll have to find somewhere else to do my work for an entire week.”

“Wait, a week?” Ira repeated with confusion.

“Well, the process is gradual. A few hours would cause improvements but to reap the full rewards one would need to stay for a week. Their body has to also adjust to the Behemoth’s blood which takes a few days at the least.” Charles intoned.

“...Hold on for a moment.” Ira vanished.

Rhys stood there motionlessly while waiting for Ira to return. Since he was adamant on helping her, she couldn’t exactly refuse. She mentally prepared herself for what was likely to be an extremely painful process.

Ira reappeared with Raveria next to him and started speaking. “Ok, this should only take a few hours.”

Raveria blinked her eyes questioningly. She was enjoying her time in the garden with Harper when Ira said he needed her help. Being the wonderful daughter that she was, she eagerly agreed though Ira failed to explain what she would be doing.

“I’m sorry, but can I ask how your daughter will impact this process?” Charles inquired.

“The plan is to let Raveria accelerate time for Rhys.” Ira placed his hands on Raveria shoulders. The latter tilted her head upward and looked at Ira, waiting for instructions she could understand.

“Ah! By creating a contained field of accelerated time the benefits of the mixture would increase drastically. Though I must say that rapid acceleration of the mixture may cause it to become unstable.” Charles was about to rush to his write down his thoughts but Ira snapped his fingers and teleported the mad scientist out of the room.

To make sure no unwanted guests entered, Ira isolated the space in the room and clapped his hands together.

“Right…” He hummed before pointing at the pouch of filled with pieces of the Sea Serpent’s heart. “You’re going to need to eat a lot of those.”

Rhys’ slightly frowned but grabbed a handful of blue beads before gulping them all down.

“...More,” Ira said with a helpless expression.

Rhys stared at him with a blank look on her face before taking two more handfuls and eating them. At that point, her body began to heat up and small sparks emerged from her skin. Her irises briefly began glowing with a blue light before turning back to normal and her pupils narrowed into slits. With heavy breaths, Rhys looked at Ira to see if he was satisfied but he shook his head.

“...Maybe all of them,” He said in a small voice.

Rhys glared at Ira and lifted the bag up. The tiny beads that looked like some sort of candy or treat were all eaten within a few minutes.

Rhys spread her hands wide while mouthing the words, ‘Is this good enough?’

Ira smiled but at that moment Rhys collapsed. The Sea Serpent’s heart, while less toxic than the Behemoth’s blood, was hugely potent. The residual elemental power was far higher than normal bodies could contain. As a result, Rhys’ condition began to worsen and it looked like her body was deteriorating from the inside out.

“Sorry,” Ira whispered before quickly removing her clothes.

Suddenly he stopped and turned to Raveria, “Look away for a moment.”

Raveria looked concerned but did as instructed and turned her back to the two of them.

“Here we go.” Ira hoisted Rhys onto his shoulder and opened the large vat of blood. He fiddled with the breathing apparatus before tying it to Rhys’ face and making sure it worked. After that, he put her in as gently as possible before closing the metal vat.

“Ok, Ravi.” Ira exhaled. “All you need to do is speed up time for Rhys, ok?”

“Um...Right,” Raveria replied. She examined the metal container for a few moments before placing her hands on its warm surface.

“I’m starting!” Raveria yelled so that Rhys could hear her but nothing happened in response. Without waiting any longer, she channeled her temporal energy and rapidly accelerated the movement molecules of the blood.

…

Above the Underground City, on the surface where an empty desert-like region was present. Dark storm clouds formed. As a place that rarely experienced rainfall, it wasn’t weird to see a cloud forming but the sky turned grey within a few seconds. A few drops of water hit the sand and then, with only a minute passing, a huge rainstorm fell upon the barren land. Heavy rains that could flood other regions all fell in a relatively contained area. What happened next was even stranger than the rain, lightning rapidly fell upon the ground. Large flashes of light and huge sparks traveled across the land. It wasn’t a few flashes but dozens at a time and it soon turned to hundreds. Hundreds of blinding streaks of electricity filled the land, assaulting the wet sand and leaving huge rumbles of thunder that shook the air.

...

Five minutes hadn’t even passed and Raveria had already begun to feel exhausted. The surface of the metal vat had become highly conductive but Ira placed his hands on it to nullify it before it could reach his daughter. If that was all he had to worry about, then Ira would be fine but the container had become to turn red as it began to heat up.

“That’s enough Raveria, I don’t want you to get hurt.” Ira signaled for Raveria to stop and so she did but the metal container began to shake.

“Uh...Hmm...I wonder if this is normal,” Ira mumbled. As soon as he finished speaking, steam began to leak from the metal vat which groaned and trembled.

“...Dad?” Raveria tugged on Ira’s shirt. “Is Rhys going to be ok?”

“Hmm, oh, of course,” Ira replied.

One of the bolts holding the container popped out and shot toward Ira at a high speed but he easily caught it between his fingers. The sound of thunder managed to make its way to his ears and it was likely the citizens of the Empire were nervous.

“Say...Raveria,” Ira said with a contemplative expression.

“Yes?” Raveria responded.

“Do you know how long was you accelerated this?” Ira asked casually.

“Um...I don’t know,” Raveria answered innocently. “You never told me how long I was supposed to hold it.”

“I see.” Ira chuckled before ruffling her hair. “I’ll be sending you back to the garden now, alright?”

“Did I do a good?” Raveria asked naively.

Several more screws burst from the metal vat and ricocheted all over the room.

“Yeah.” Ira kissed Raveria on the forehead before sending her away.

When it was only him and the unstable container left in the room he sighed.

“...That’s not good,” Ira said to himself before placing his hand on the container and teleporting away.