When the meeting was adjourned by his father, Ranz separated out of generals. Ranz felt that hanging out with them right now is unneeded because he has lots of things he needed to do. Firstly, he needed to prepare for this upcoming war.

While walking around the castle, the guards that he had met would salute him. He was heading towards his own chamber, which was just at the back of the keep.

There were no guards in front of the metal door that guarded his room. Ranz has specified that he didn’t want guards protecting him. Zeal didn’t really care that much as he was confident in his son’s ability to guard himself.

When he reached the metal door, there were no such thing as passwords. He just brought out a key with a design similar to the Ignis symbol. Using the key, he unlocked the metal door and entered his room.

Clack!

When he was inside and he saw his bed, Ranz let out a sigh and rested himself their.

Feeling as if he had nothing better to do other than train, Ranz sat cross-legged and looked around the room. He was practicing his ability to detect elemental particles and properly control them.

He scanned around the room a bit and found out that it was particularly normal. Using the fire particles, he materialized many shapes in front of him in order to practice his control. The finer the details of the object he creates, the more his control improves.

He made pencils, sticks, and he even tried to create a figurine. He had decided to use Noreen as the inspiration for the figurine and the fire particles danced to his intentions. While he was watching the silhouette of a woman form, a different image suddenly flashed into his mind.

He did not know what happened, but images of a certain woman flashed forth in his mind. There were also another woman in this flashes of memory but Ranz ignored them as they were extremely painful.

It was abnormal. The memories he had buried deep in his heart was slowly being pulled by something... strange...

The figurine made out of fire particles which was supposed to look like Noreen, distorted slightly and then it divided into two. The first one turned into an amiable looking woman who had a motherly aura.

The second one... turned into an extremely beautiful young teen with flowing hair. Although the model of this girl is now supposed to be more than 30 years old, the only happy memories that remained inside of Ranz were of the age when they were still young.

Eyeing to the right, Ranz could see his loving mother. Eyeing to the left, Ranz could see his previous fiancé, Laira. Seeing two women who have greatly affected his life, made Ranz break his cross legged posture. Tears slowly slid down his face.

Although in a highly emotional state, his control over this two figurines actually improved. More detail was made as they both turned much more life like, although still colored red.

He didn’t know what made him recall this memories but they had made him enter a lethargic state. He didn’t have any more energy to train as he stared continuously at the two figurines created with his magic. His tears have already stained his bed.

“Mom... Laira... why? Why did...”

A voice seemed to have answered him inside his heart as he felt boundless wrath. He felt his anger, fury, or simply his wrath explode out in huge quantities. More memories were unearthed and the two figures also simultaneously changed. They were affected by his wrath.

Ranz’s mother turned into... surprisingly Zeal. While Laira, Ranz’s previous fiancé since birth, turned into a handsome young man with brown hazel hair. This young man was the Terra Prince, namely Franco.

Although wrath was the first emotion that surfaced in Ranz’s heart, it slowly birthed to anger and hatred. He hated these two figures as he commanded the two figurines to approach him.

They flew towards him and Ranz gripped their neck, crushing them instantly.

“I’ll destroy you... I promise that I would destroy both of you! I shall vow to get rid both of you! Even if I were not the one to deliver the hit, I would want to cause you... YOUR DEATH!! AAARGH!!!”

Boundless hatred and anger was evident in his voice. Unlike Hilroy at that time though, this hatred was much more rich... they were already embedded deep in Ranz’s bones. He would not accept death if he at least didn’t cause these two men to die.

Why? They had taken two of the most important women in his life.

The spark of betrayal which was so well hidden before, bursted out of this moment. Instead of training right now, Ranz felt that he needed to check on something and make sure that it was in good conditions.

While Ranz was distracted with his raging emotions, he hadn’t noticed that the door to his room had been opened and then closed. The one that opened it, the ghostly woman, smirked and then slowly muttered in her breath.

“What an interesting prince...”

* * * * *

15 minutes before that happened.

Herebia had found the prince’s residence by turning a lone guard into a raisin. In order to dispose of his body, Herebia disintegrated it using a [Chaos Dragon] which gobbled the withered body of the guard.

How did she enter without a key? Heck, she could create clothes out of magic! Why not stuff elemental particles in the key hole and then turn it around? The elemental particles would be like fluid first but when it filled the entirety of the key hole, it will harden.

Clack!

Herebia pulled out the crystalized chaos key and she didn’t disintegrate it yet. When she saw that no one was around, Herebia entered the room and using the key she made, she locked the room.

Looking around the room for snacks, this was how Herebia passed the time. She also searched around the room for something like a diary but, sadly she didn’t find any. When she was looking at a picture of Ranz that was hanging on the wall, she had noticed a peculiar thing about it.

“Hey... isn’t this frame supposed to be double sided? It isn’t even supposed to be hung, It is one of those flip frames that should be placed on desks...”

Without any hesitation, Herebia took the picture and flipped it over and then found a pretty surprising picture. It was of an extremely beautiful girl. Herebia pieced the information in her head together which included Ycarus’s info dump and the info dump during the meeting.

She deduced that the one in this picture is Laira, the country wreaking beauty.

‘Hm... Hee... This is getting interesting.’

Right after Herebia placed the frame back in it’s previous place did Herebia hear a clacking sound from the door. She quickly hid her presence and then sat herself in the corner of the room. A grin slowly crept up in her face.

‘It seems that the prey is already here...’

Like what she was expecting, Ranz was the one who entered the room. Herebia watched the guy as he laid down on his bed and laze around. She still determined that now wasn’t the time to do it as the guy still didn’t have his back unguarded.

When Ranz sat cross-legged in the bed, Herebia felt that her chance was getting near. While the prince was distracted by his own things, a small black thread slowly crept to his bed from the dark corner of his room.

She started to make hand seals but when she was about to the last one, she paused a bit and waited for a good timing. After creating various things, Ranz finally made something that Herebia felt that she could use. A figurine.

‘Bingo... Right now!’

Smirking, Herebia made the last hand seal and then plunged the [Chaos Thread] at the back of Ranz’s head. He jolted a little and his eyes glazed over like he was somehow unconscious. His eyes suggests that his mind was wandering right now.

This was [Zera : Memory]!

She had used this before against Ycarus and it’s effects were merely unearthing memories in crucial times. Although Herebia and Ranz were not in the middle of a negotiation, winning a negotiation was never her intention.

It was something else.

Herebia watched as the figurine divided into two, which even surprised her, and transforming into two women. She expected one of them to turn into Laira, but the other woman was someone that Herebia didn’t know.

The memories that the [Zera : Memory] will unearth was not something for Herebia to decide. Learning that Ranz valued another woman, most likely his mother due to the resemblance, Herebia couldn’t help but smile. This was extra info for her.

Ranz started to cry and this was what Herebia had expected. She wanted this guy to enter into a lethargic state in order to use a specific spell on him. When the tears were flowing down Ranz’s face, Herebia had already started to form hand seals for the next spell.

“Mom... Laira... why? Why did...”

Her face flashing the smile of victory, Herebia made the final hand seal. The [Chaos Thread] that was impaled at the back of Ranz’s head glowed with th color of red and started to shake.

[Zera : Wrath]!!!

The [Chaos Thread] implanted ‘wrath’ into Ranz’s limbic system and made him... into an beast that had been unleashed. Those he truly hate, hidden or openly... he had finally come to realize who they were.

The two figurines turned into King Zeal and a certain young man. Although Ranz’s hatred to Zeal had been deeply hidden inside his heart, at this very moment... He had come to embrace this hatred. He would not show it in the surface but... if he has the opportunity to kill his father then...

‘Hee... King Zeal and that Terra Prince, huh?... This guy has such a tragic love life though...’

He would take it without the slightest hesitation...

After crushing both of the figurines he had created, Ranz ranted with boundless hatred.

“I’ll destroy you... I promise that I would destroy both of you! I shall vow to get rid both of you! Even if I were not the one to deliver the hit, I would want to cause you... YOUR DEATH!! AAARGH!!!”

Seeing his slightly demented state, Herebia felt that the small spark that had her interested was finally ignited into a flame. This was her objective. To turn this prince against his father, and this would surely make the task of stealing Zeal’s sword easier.

Using the opportunity when the prince was shouting out loud in rage, Herebia unlocked the door and then left like the ghost she is. Herebia sighed lightly and then a smirk slowly crept up in her face... she then proceeded forward and walked forth towards the direction of the main exit, where Ycarus was probably waiting.

While she hummed a particular tune that was made by Little Yassi, Herebia had already reached the entrance. She found Ycarus and Noreen, still chatting like before. Herebia was surprised as the time she left, Ycarus was clearly slapped.

Looking closer, that was indeed the case. This was because a clear red hand print was visible on the right side and the left side of Ycarus’s face. Herebia remembered that she had only heard a single slapping sound but it seems like...

The same shenanigan happened when she was away. Herebia had clearly underestimated Ycarus’s ‘Unlucky luck’. Although still wary of the pervert, Herebia approached Ycarus like always and then tugged on his clothes.

Ycarus felt that something was tugging on his clothes and he remembered the fact that a ghostly woman was supposed to meet up with him here. He only remembered the fact that he needed to wait here.

“What’s wrong Ycarus?”

“N-no... It’s nothing...”

“Wait... I could feel a sense of deja vu...!! O-okay... I need to go now! Bye!”

And with those words, Noreen retreated with speed as fast as lightning. She had felt a slight sense of deja vu back then and remembered that she had asked exactly the same words before and Ycarus had answered the same way. After the same exchange was...

Ycarus diving for her stomach head on.

Retreating like what a good tactician would do, Noreen left Ycarus’s location while waving him goodbye. Herebia saw what she did there, and she couldn’t agree more. She approached Ycarus’s ears and then whispered.

“Let’s get out of here. We still need to go somewhere.”

Ycarus nodded slightly and then they both left the castle. While going up the uphill drawbridge, Herebia looked around the ravine. She saw pointy rocks and then other trivial things.

‘Ho... I just saw something interesting... Prince Ranz... what are you doing there?’

On the corner of her eye, Herebia saw the figure of the prince she just drowned with wrath. It was only a slight glimpse but she was sure that Ranz was the one that she saw scaling the rocky walls of the ravine.

In the next second though, Herebia totally lost track of him.

‘Hmm... I need to see for myself what that guy is hiding...’

Ignoring the fact that she just saw something that is incredible, Herebia closely followed Ycarus. When they were out of the main gates, Herebia immediately went to a dark alleyway. She cut off her ability, which was ‘Evictus’.

Like reflecting light, the air around Herebia shook and revealed her figure. She then went out of the alleyway and after she saw Ycarus, she slowly walked towards his direction. Ycarus saw that the woman following him was n longer a ghost, and he simply sighed in relief.

‘Man.. What a day... being followed by a ghost sure is unnerving... although you know she is not one but knowing that someone was watching you while others do not... what a scary experience...’

When Herebia had arrived at his side, Ycarus noticed that his companion was looking for something.

“Um... Requa, what are you looking for?”

“A place... Hey Ycarus do you know...”

“Do I know?..”

Herebia stopped for a moment and then slowly looked at Ycarus’s face. Ycarus was surprised as this time, unlike her usual cold or nonchalant face, this time there was... desire. Yup... this Requa who had planted bombs on the neck of his wife and daughter, was making a face that only belonged to those who thirsted for something.

Smirking, Herebia who was looking at Ycarus faced her back at him. Ycarus was stunned for a moment, but Herebia’s words followed after.

“Where is this... Lexicon Hall?"

* * * * *

!!

Crack... Crack!! Crash!

Ranz looked sideways at the part of the ravine that cracked and fell. He had gripped that previously but when he felt that the soil was loose, he had quickly changed where his grip would be.

His intuition was not wrong as the previous protrusion on the wall that he gripped had crack off the ravine’s walls and fell off.

Right now, Ranz was scaling the ravine walls. Call him a madman or whatnot, he had something he needed to do right now in a specific place up in this side of the ravine. He needed power. This is what he seeks.

Gripping protrusions on the wall, Ranz spotted an extremely hidden cave not too far away. A grin surfaced in his face as he had finally found his goal. Scaling like a monkey, he quickly arrived at the cave and landed inside of it.

The cave was not that big as it’s mouth could only allow to enter a single person. It was also extremely narrow and looked more like a passageway than a cave. Ranz slowly exhaled and then he recollected his resolve.

‘I-if... If I don’t do this... I would not be able to do anything... In order to something... the first requirement would be...”

Strength.

Much more strength.

After walking in that dark narrow passage way for 30 seconds or so, Ranz could finally see some light, although green. Up ahead was a space that probably had the dimensions of 3x3x3 meters. It was definitely weird, as the edges of the space was extremely sharp. Like someone made this space.

Heck, a cave that is an exact cube? Who the hell are you tricking, this ain’t made by nature!

Glowing stalagmites were visible at the edges of the room. They looked like exquisite gems and they exuded the majestic color of green. They were the source of the green light. Ranz had been here previously but he was still awed by this beautiful sight.

In the middle of the room though, was a big ass magic circle. It was different than the one that would appear in Herebia’s [Zera] spells but... there was indeed some similarities.

Looking at the magic circle, a smirk slowly contorted out of Ranz’s face. Using the elemental particles in the room, Ranz concentrated them onto his palm. The elemental particles slowly materialized in his palm into a violet colored skin.

Bang!

Ranz bought down his palm onto the magic circle and the violet color of his palm was slowly sucked by the magic circle. The Stalagmites glowed with their eerie green light and the magic circle shone with it’s violet light.

When he pulled out his hand, he knew that ‘that’ thing will be coming and he knew that... that what he did was reckless.

But who the f*ck cares? Let’s just laugh like a f*cking madman!!!

This is something he needed to do! For the things he want... he needed...

Power.

They had said that the seven sins were connected to each other. Without Herebia doing anything, Ranz's wrath was slowly turning to...

Greed. Greed for power.

Two lights bloomed inside the cubical room...

Green and violet... It is the color of a...

“Ha hA HA!! Sieg... SIEG! I beg you.... please, SHOW YOURSELF!!!”

...

The color of a snake and it’s deadly venom.