During these years, the Terra Kingdom and Ignis Kingdom have been in a state of war. Even though the lands are currently peaceful, this was because hey were in a standstill. They only launch short skirmishes against the other country.

Stalemates in war are never temporary. Usually, stalemates would last for a while but when it is finally time to reveal all their aces, the one who lost would probably face utter destruction. Once you lose against the clash, your destruction would follow.

So, the Kingdoms of Ignis and Terra have been preparing their aces. They are calling out an alliance toward the other two kingdoms, the Aqua and Aero Kingdom. While the Aqua Kingdom spoke of its neutrality, the Aero Kingdom on the other hand supports the Terra Kingdom.

This leaves the Ignis Kingdom in a bad position in the eyes of the masses. But, the Ignis King was firm in his decision and he still continued to battle against the Terra Kingdom.

Either he is confident because of a powerful backer or he is an utter fool.

Although many view him as a fool, his generals, who knew of that their king’s plans were complete opposite. They have blind faith that Ignis will win this war.

The Ignis King namely Zeal, is a wise man. He knows what he could and could not offend. Based on his calculations, even if the Aero Kingdom did help Terra, 50% of their land would be ravaged by his troops.

One of Zeal’s generals, Ycarus was headed toward his residence on the outskirts of the Ignis capital. With a stern face, he bows to the soldiers who greets him along the way. Opening his house, what greets him is a ball of fire that was heading toward his nether regions.

Seeing the insidious ball of fire that was threatening to toast his johnny, he could not help but give a wry smile. Ycarus flicked his sleeve and doing a complex hand seal, a red barrier sprung up around him to protect him against the incoming ball of fire.

Peng!

The ball of fire, which was the size of an infants fist smashed to the barrier and disintegrates. Snapping his hands three times, Ycarus summoned a red chain from his hands which shot toward a black silhouette inside the house.

Like sinister red snakes, the chains shot forth and arrived briefly in front of the silhouette. The silhouette’s hand rose as it performed the complex hand seal that Ycarus did earlier. However, the barrier that sprung up was quite dim and could be considered transparent.

One of the chains of fire smashed at the barrier and broke it while the other chain clashed at the ankle of the silhouette.

Ycarus grasped the air in front of him and the red chain pulled back toward him. Following which, was a pouting black-haired girl which was dragged by the chain.

Chuckling, Ycarus released the young lady and patted her head. “He he, My daughter is getting really good at using the Ignis Syllabus.”

The dainty black-haired girl, Yassi, frowned and pouted as she chose to ignore her father. Sensing that his daughter’s mood was sunken, Ycarus panicked a little. “What’s wrong Yassi?”

“Dad, I don’t like Faye, kick her out.”

Ycarus was taken aback by her direct answer. And then, after processing what her daughter said, he smiled wryly. The new mother in question was her new wife, Faye.

Yassi’s mother died in a skirmish against Terra once. This happened around 3 years ago and the small girl has already accepted the fact that her mother was dead. What she could not accept was her father marrying someone other than her mother.

The marriage was already a month old, but Yassi was still grumbling about it. She was still around 15 years old and she knew that she needs to accept this new mother of hers but she found out that this b*tch was no more than a collar to her father.

For her father, she trained in the Ignis Syllabus to attain power sufficient to murder Faye. For her mother, she trained in the Ignis Syllabus to attain power sufficient to bring down the one’s that killed her mother.

Driven by hatred and revenge, Yassi’s training speed was abnormally fast as she has finished the 5th stage of the Ignis Syllabus. One more stage to go and she could officially become a Fire Practitioner.

“Sweetheart, Daddy can’t.”

“Let’s leave her then.”

“...”

Seeing that her father became quiet, Yassi’s face sunk and she raised her hand to pound at her father’s chest.

Thunk! Thunk!

Her small fist clashed with Ycarus’s red armor and made a low metallic sound. She pushed her body away from her father’s embrace and stormed off to her room.

Bang!

She slammed the door due to her fury. She was definitely, absolutely, without a doubt, a snot-filled brat. Moments, later clicking sound was heard in her room and she came out wearing a red Flame Practitioner robe.

Seeing her daughter dressed like that made Ycarus jump in panic. Using his body, he blocked her from the door. Yassi, with a deadpan expression, did various hand seals and a red magic circle sprung up from her hand.

Directing the magic circle toward a wall, a red orb appeared in the middle of the magic circle.

Ycarus was surprised as he could identify this new spell of Yassi’s. It was the [Fire Blast] which was something only a 6th stage. Official Flame Practitioner could only use!

“Wait! Don’t blast th-“

Boom!

A red pillar, as think as a grown man’s thigh, blasted off from Yassi’s magic circle. The blast resulted in the wall’s reduction to nothing more than rubble. A huge hole was present and this was where Yassi made her exit.

“Dad, I’m going to join a skirmish. I want to burn some butts in order to please myself.”

Ycarus was speechless. Her daughter hid her abilities well. What is hard to care for is a brat for a daughter. What is harder to take care for is a talented brat for a daughter.

Proud of her daughter’s prowess and her early graduation to becoming a full-fledged Fire Practitioner, tears literary fell out of Ycarus’s eyes. They were tears. Manly tears.

“My daughter is all grown up... Sigh. Be sure to return at dusk!"

Thus, Yassi joined a skirmish today in hopes of burning some buns.

As for her safety, she was a 6th stage Fire Practitioner. Instead of the soldiers protecting her, she would be the one protecting them. Still though, Ycarus still commanded a 7th stage Practitioner to tail her and keep her safe.

* * * * *

“Sigh, leaving around the border is exciting but quite dangerous. What would happen to me if I meet with some Ignis soldiers?”

A certain noble of Terra was saying inside of his comfortable carriage. He did not know but, his words have already set his fate in stone. This was Hilroy.

His words were the catalysts of all of his misfortunes.

“Even then, If we did meet with those Ignis soldiers, I would have a sh*tty luck if we did meet a Practitioner. If we did meet one, a dog-sh*t tier luck would probably leave my butt flaming.”

See, what did I tell you? He is the flaming star of misfortune that shall descend to the world and bathed them with an unlucky halo! He already waved the Death Flag and was willingly stabbing the flag on top of his head!

“Ha ha!”

The soldiers, who are already familiar with this noble, laughed out loud. They were also calculating the chances of meeting the enemy. Unknowingly, this noble they were guarding already dragged them to their misfortune.

Like a bomb whose fuse was lit, soon afterwards the explosion followed.

“My titanium dog-eyes must be blind! We met up with an Ignis skirmish troop, and an underage brat that is a Practitioner!”

Yassi, acting like the teenage brat she is, charged forth at the group of Terra soldiers. She immediately cast a powerful spell, [Fire Pillar] at the soles of the carriage.

The instincts of a warrior clicked inside of Hilroy and he immediately jumped out of the carriage he was riding. This was actually a stroke of good luck.

Puu!

Rising like a geyser, was a pillar of flame which gobbled up the whole carriage. What was unfortunate though was a tongue of flame licked at the direction Hilroy was in and it immediately set his pants a flame.

“Aaargh!”

Screaming shrilly like a girl, Hilroy ran toward the forest with no destination whatsoever. Yassi looked at him and a satisfied feeling bubbled inside of her as she watched the man whose butt was a flame, running like someone whose... well, whose butt is a flame.

Yassi did not really want to follow him up because she was certain that his cause of death would be his burned buns. What she focused on are the enemy soldiers in front her. Snapping her finger six times, exactly six fireballs floated around her.

They were also the size of an infant’s fist but she was thinking of the quantity, not the quality. This small fries could not force her to make a [Fire Bomb], which was six fire balls mashed together.

And then, she killed without even batting an eye. How could she be affected by this? She still needed to achieve her goals, and killing would naturally come with those goals of hers.

Hilroy, on the other hand was running forth and constantly screaming. You might not know, but he knows. Hell, you should guard your butt well so that you won’t experience something like this.

Well, if Herebia saw this, which she did, she would have commented that a certain True God could be watching on his floating islands while sipping a cup of tea.

Hilroy dragged his butt on the ground and tried to quench her butt in water but... this was a Practitioner’s flame. They were made of the most basic things, the elemental particles, and is basically unquenchable. Only when you remove the elemental particles that make the fire burn would it be put out.

After ‘the time it takes to drink a cup of tea’, Aven finished his tea and he now knew that the amusing show is about to end. Next came the arrival of a woman.

With a palm on her face, Herebia shook her head.

* * * * *

“Were you the one who burned his buns?”

“And who might you be? Don’t tell me your ‘toasted buns’ girlfriend?”

“Brat, shut your trap.”

Herebia scratched her head as she remembered a certain someone who also acted like this when she was a teen.

Squinting her tiny eyes, Yassi sized up Herebia’s three sizes. Nodding to herself, she made a resolution than when she grows up, her curves would be more magnificent than this mysterious black clothe woman.

She was silently preparing her most powerful spell as she sensed that this woman was not as simple as she seems. Everyone could not see, but Yassi could see.

The elemental particles around this woman were in a frenzy. They were not floating like dust. They were speeding toward each other, ricocheting when they hit another particle. They were in utter chaos. She could sense a dreadful aura coming from her.

The 7th stage Practitioner also noticed this as he slowly revealed himself. His face flashed with seriousness as he gazed at Herebia who was surrounded by rampaging elemental particles.

“So? Who’s gonna attack first?”

Herebia’s eyes shifted and a glint of battle lust appeared within them. Her beautiful face slowly turned ferocious as she grinned like she was looking at her prey. The soldiers did not understand her abilities as they were not capable of sensing elemental particles.

Herebia cast a sidelong glance at Hilroy and signaled him to back off. Sensing her intentions, Hilroy hesitated for a moment and then shrugged it off. He went to a nearby tree and sat down on it. For safety, he checked first if there was a hornet’s nest. Luckily, there wasn’t.

Drawing their cold swords, the soldiers slowly dismounted their mounts as they surrounded Herebia and Hilroy. Yassi and the 7th stage Fire Practitioner backed off a little and prepared their respective spells.

“Heh. Small fries.”

The expression of the soldiers darkened and they charged at her with their drawn blades. They shouted their battle cry as they ran for Herebia.

Momentarily, Herebia’s face became bored. She snapped her hand and countless [Chaos Threads] shot out from her fingers as those threads flew out like hair. They traveled in the wind like a black streak of light as those threads accurately bored through the foreheads of the soldiers.

A handful dodged them but still the majority got their brains impaled. They immediately died. Yassi and the 7th stage Fire Practitioner was stunned by the sudden development and this made their spells unstable as they disintegrated into red motes of light.

When one’s heart was shocked, they will unknowingly stop controlling the particles which results in the failure of one’s spell.

Yassi looked over at Herebia as she saw the rampaging elemental particles being pulled by the black threads. The threads contained a concentrated rampaging power. This was why Herebia called her book the Chaos Tome.

The handful who dodged the spell charged at this woman who can control hair as a sliver of fear appeared in their hearts. If they did retreat, they would be the next victims of the black threads. So... they decided to risk it and charge.

Clicking her tongue, Herebia was quite disappointed. It was not because her spell did not wipe out the enemy, it was because her spell did annihilate them. She expected her enemies to be much stronger, which made her disappointed when she found out how true the words she uttered before was.

That’s right. They were nothing but small fries.

Sighing deeply, she clenched her fist and flicked it open. When the fist opened, it generated a deep sonorous sound as a shockwave of black energy blasted out, Herebia being the epicenter of it. This was one of the weakest area-of-effect spell that Herebia has on her disposal.

The shockwave touched the soldiers, which made them fly through the air like a broken kite. Their armor was dented backwards and a lot of them died. Only some was barely alive when they suffered the attack.

Before those who survived even lifted their heads, a black thread immediately bored through between their brows and took their lives.

Yassi was looking at Herebia and she was breathless. This woman is actually so powerful!

She was prepared to overdraft herself and cast out a 7th rank spell in exchange of some of her longetivity. This kind of monster was not something she could face in her 6th stage power.

Herebia looked over at Yassi and the 7th stage Fire Practitioner and grinned. She looked smugly at the two as she casually created two [Chaos Spears].

Moving forward, she flicked her hand and the spears flew like a dragon toward the two Fire Practitioners. Yassi and the 7th stage Practitioner’s face flickered and they simultaneously cast a [Fire Barrier] around their body.

Yassi’s barrier was obviously weaker than the 7th stage Practitioner’s but by not that much. Boring through the air, the spears collided with their barriers.

Peng!

The barriers survived and the black spears scattered in the air. Sighing in relief, Yassi regained her confidence and reassured herself that she could defeat this woman or at the very least, she could preserve her life.

Seeing her spear deflected, Herebia was not angry nor furious, but she was actually delighted. Finally... enemies that could actually fight back!

Hilroy looked over at the battle with interest as he rested in the tree. He knew how powerful this ‘Requa’ was and he knew that soldiers could not even touch a single strand of her hair. What bugs him though is if she will be pitted up against Practitioners. No matter what, Hilroy was enjoying the fight and was musing how lucky he was that not even a hair of his was touched this time.

Well, you just raised another flag.

Herebia looked over the two off them in glee as she flicked her hands. Two spears once again materialized but obviously these new spears were much stronger than the last. Yassi and the 7th stage Practitioner’s faces fell as they saw that their enemy was not even using her real strength.

It was a ‘fool, this is not even my final form’ kinda feeling.

A smile grew on Herebia’s face as she muttered to herself.

“Finally, people that could actually take some hits! Be a good punching bag, will you?”