“Wait is that it?”

“What do you mean by is that it?!”

“That was too easy. I could surely master it in a day or two.”

Looking nonchalantly at her audience like usual, Herebia snapped her fingers as she manipulated the nearby fire particles. Forming them to make a thread as thin as possible, she suddenly made them line up in group of two’s.

Yassi was also watching the changes in the elemental particles and was surprised on what Herebia was doing. She was bewildered as this was not the proper way to execute the Ignis Syllabus.

“Um, Sis Requa, what are you doing with those particles?”

“Teaching you how to make an [Elemental Thread]. It is a weakened version of my [Chaos Thread] but it should do you good for the time being. You could ambush unknowing noobs by tying a thread around there neck and then...” Herebia paused as she pointed to a nearby rock.

The invisible line of particles suddenly moved and crashed towards each other. Due to the friction between particles, fire was created and due to the particles being lined to a thread, the fire looked as thin as a hair.

Suddenly tightening on the rock, the fire thread was tied around it. But... when the fire thread came into contact with the it, the rock melted in a speed that almost as fast as a blade swing. Due to this, the rock was cut in half.

Ycarus, who was observing from the sidelines, suddenly felt fear. If that thread were to be tied around his neck then...

Heads would surely roll.

Although Herebia demonstrated a new ability for her, Yassi felt some fear inside of her. She new that the extremely elegant fashion choker in her neck was made up of pure chaos particles. Herebia could definitely snap her finger and that choker would tighten around her neck.

A thread as thin as a hair could cut through rocks, why not a choker as thick as a finger?

Herebia had said that learning the Ignis Syllabus is easy, which is certainly is. The only problem she is having now is on how she will incorporate her new found abilities to further improve her Chaos Tome.

‘Aven said that I could perfect my Chaos Tome if I study these syllabus’s, but... how? How should I improve it...? I need to think about this for some time...’

“Hmm... Wait. I just remembered something. Shouldn’t we get a doctor for Uncle Toasted Buns?”

“Toasted Buns?”

“Yeah! I’m kinda worried about him...”

Ignoring her father’s confusion, Yassi looked at Herebia for permission. She didn’t know anything about Herebia and Hilroy’s relationship, but she knew that she needed Herebia’s permission for these things.

Herebia heard the voice of Yassi and then also remembered about the doctor. She somehow forgot about it around this morning as the conversation of Aven still bugged her.

‘Wait, speaking of the conversation of Aven... that sadistic god said that he had Hilroy’s soul. Even a doctor couldn’t solve that... and I also don’t want Hilroy waking up now.’

This was because of the grudge between Hilroy and Ycarus. The root of the problem was still a mystery for Herebia, and she was slightly confused as to why Hilroy hates Ycarus, while Ycarus looks like he doesn’t even know Hilroy.

Ycarus didn’t react in the slightest when he saw Hilroy’s face.

“Do as you wish.”

Although she knew that it was useless, she still approved of it as she saw the small trace of worry on Yassi’s eyes.

Smiling widely, Yassi jumped on her feet and then sped off out of the house. Ycarus didn’t care and so did Herebia. When both of them were alone, Herebia looked at Ycarus and then asked a peculiar question.

“Ycarus, does dragon scales exist in the market?”

“Eh? Dragon scales? Is that even something that you could buy on the market?”

“So they do exist. I was worried they those overgrown lizards are already extinct.”

Scratching his head, Ycarus stood up and then chuckled slightly. He stood up and then beckoned Herebia to follow him. She wasn’t doing anything important, so Herebia decided to follow after him.

When they reached the kitchen, Ycarus, without any warning, coated a finger of his with fire particles. This made his finger shine red like a glowing blade. Herebia watched as Ycarus plunged his finger on a certain part of the wall, melting it in the process.

Ycarus dug the wall for a bit and then he felt something hard, he stopped digging. Using his fingers, he plucked a small box out of the wall.

“Dragon scales are inside that thing, huh. Where did you get those?”

“It was something my wife hid. She said that maybe we would need it someday.”

“Your wife? No wonder. She is a Drazian after all.”

Ycarus brought the box towards the table and then opened it. Herebia was also watching from a seat nearby.

As big as a coin, blood red and they emitted a fiery aura. This was enough to describe these scales. They were the scales of a dragon, and the box contained 3 of them.

Herebia took one and then, just like Ycarus, coated her finger with fire particles. Ycarus saw what Herebia wanted to try and he then panicked.

“Hey, be careful with that! That is a memento of my wife!”

“Relax. If these were the scales of a true dragon, no fire other than the origin could break it. This Ignis Syllabus definitely does not have the power to break a scale of a true dragon.”

Without further ado, Herebia pressed her finger against the first scale. When the scale came in contact with Herebia’s glowing finger, a frying sound could be heard.

!?

Surprised, Herebia immediately pulled out her finger and found out that she made a hole in the scale. She then knitted her brow as she stared hard at the scale in front of her. Ycarus stood at the side with an ashen face, as he realized that maybe... Herebia would fry all three.

“Well, that one was a dud. That could’ve been the scale of a young dragon. Although that would be good for a full Drazian, it would not suffice for Yassi. Let’s try the other two.”

“Wait-“

Not listening to Ycarus, Herebia pulled out her other arm and simultaneously stabbed both of the remaining scales. This time, there was no sound. Smirking, Herebia slowly retreated her fingers to see the conditions of the scales.

They were still in there former luster, but the fiery aura it wielded before intensified with a small amount. Before they looked like dull yet powerful scales, now they shone with a red glow as if the scales were still attached to a dragon.

“These two are good. Now then, two shall be good for now.”

“Wait Requa, you never told me what these were for.”

“Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me. Actually these are for...”

* * * * *

“I’m back! I brought the doctor!”

Slamming the front door open, Yassi entered the house while literally dragging a doctor inside with her. Herebia and Ycarus were playing card game in the kitchen, which in all honesty was boring for them. Both of them heard the shout of Yassi and they finally found something to do.

“Hey, show respect to the man. Do not drag him like a sack!”

“I give you permission to drag him. Continue what your doing and you will grow into a splendid woman, like me.”

Ycarus glared at the direction of Herebia while she was nonchalant as always. Ycarus shook his head helplessly and watched her daughter drag the helpless doctor towards Hilroy’s room.

“How could she even drag someone as big as an adult?”

“She has the blood of a Drazian. Don’t tell me you’re wife didn’t try to drag you one time before?”

“Thats...”

Ycarus was speechless as a memory flashed inside his mind. His wife indeed dragged him a lot back in the day. Towards the market, the front lines in battle, and towards the bathroom.

Oh and by the way, Herebia didn’t use [Zera : Memory].

“Kid, Aiyo! Stop dragging me!”

“You’re coming with me! You have no other choice!”

Along the way towards the room of Hilroy, there was also another room of notice. This room was where Faye was tied up. Yassi made a mistake and opened the room that held Faye captive instead and she saw what her step-mothers state was.

All limbs tied to the edges of the bed using [Chaos Threads]. She was haggard and a gag was placed over her mouth, which was also made of chaos particles, to prevent her from screaming out.

There was also a beautiful ornament on her neck, a choker, just like Yassi.

“Wrong room.”

Looking at Faye for five seconds or so, Yassi slammed the door shut and then preceded towards the other room. When she reached the correct one, she once again, slammed it open in hopes that the sound would actually wake up Hilroy.

Herebia saw the little girl enter Hilroy’s room as she chuckled. She did not follow after her like Ycarus, but what she did was enter another room. She entered the room where Faye was locked at.

Inside the room, Herebia locked the door and then she made lots of hand seals. Chaos particles rampaged around the room and then they glued themselves all around it. The room was coated in the inside with chaos particles.

The particles didn’t allow any sound, air, or light to pass through, making this the ultimate cage. If light could not pass through, that means that inside of the chaos particle shell, darkness reigned. Herebia could easily remedy this by creating floating balls of fire using the fire particles.

“Now then...”

Flicking her hand, Herebia made Faye’s body stand up right as more [Chaos Threads] bound her body. The gag in Faye’s mouth disappeared as Herebia was extremely sure that a sound definitely not escape this place.

Faye was conscious all this time and she was looking for an opportunity to break free. She has not found any yet, because she found out that no matter how much force she exerts, those black threads would not even budge.

They were much more sturdy than a wall itself.

!!!

She had felt that the threads on her hands loosened a bit and Faye used this chance to join her hands together in an attempt to form a hand seal. Her eyes flashed with desperation and as she saw her hands...

... not reach one another.

She was dumbfounded. She tried to retreat back her arm and then try again in order to gain momentum but still. They could not reach. There is that one inch space between her hands.

“Ha ha ha! You think I’ll let you? That was just me teasing you. You’ll never be able to escape. At most you’re dead body would.”

Faye looked at both her hands and then she resigned herself to her faith. She stretched them apart again and with a face full of fear and depression she looked at Herebia.

“What do you want with me now? Don’t tell me you’re gonna take me hostage against my brother. That’ll never work.”

“I know. That would never work. I met with Zeal today and could tell that he is much colder than what you think. When he threw you with Ycarus, he already abandoned you.”

And of course, Herebia is lying. This was only Herebia psychologically attacking Faye, weakening her resolve so that she could spit out more information.

“You wouldn’t know that! He is MY BROTHER!!! How would you know more than ME!”

“Oh I know. Why? Because I could read someone’s memories. He he he... Here let me show you a part of my abilities.”

Herebia suddenly brought her hands together and begun to make hand seals. After a while, she pointed at Faye and then a [Chaos Thread] poked through the back side of Faye’s head.

[Zera : Memory]!

Once again, Herebia could not read minds. She was only doing this in order to frighten her victim and reinforce the lie about her abilities. She was certain that unusual flashing memories could somehow be used as a proof of her non-existent mind reading abilities.

Watching a set of memories, Faye’s eyes glazed over as she was flooded by those abnormal memories. When she returned to consciousness and saw Herebia’s face, She turned ashen immediately and tried to retreat.

Seeing her like this made Herebia smirk.

“Now do you believe me? Anyway, that is not what I came here for. I came here to feed you.”

“Feed... me?”

“Yup. I wouldn’t want you dying before you serve your worth. Eat up! I would only be doing this once a day.”

* * * * *

Herebia’s schedule was always the same. Practice some magic in the morning, Go with Ycarus when something important happens, and then feed Faye in the afternoon. This was how Herebia mostly spent her time.

About the doctor that Yassi dragged inside the house, Herebia didn’t expect that he would become interested in Hilroy’s condition and would visit him at least once a day. He described Hilroy’s condition as ‘abnormally rare’. Herebia didn’t really care so the doctor was allowed to inspect Hilroy’s state.

Interrogating Faye was something that Herebia does once every two days but she is finding out that interrogating her is a wasted effort as most of the information she has left is useless for Herebia.

A week passed like that with Herebia doing the same things. She cooks, she eats, she sleeps, and she bathes. Yassi also practiced using the Chaos Tome and her improvement could be seen by the naked eye. She also mastered the art of using the [Fire Thread].

Unlike the first night, Aven didn’t really appear on the following nights.

* * * * *

“Yawn!!”

Standing up from her bed, Herebia stretched her body like usual. Deactivating the [Chaos Bombs] on her window and door, she stood up and began to change. Like usual, She would remove her magically created clothe and then make another one.

Since she had already mastered the control of the fire particles, she could also use them when she makes clothes and that is why Herebia will be wearing maroon clothes today.

She had also found out that by combining her knowledge with the Ignis Syllabus and the Chaos Tome, she could use another type of energy.

It was a flame. A flame that would suck out the fire inside of one's own soul. It was a never ending blaze. An advanced element, named Inferno

After she had completed her clothes, Herebia once again looked at the window and she saw something peculiar. She could see the road through her window and she could see a reflection of water on the road.

This could only happen if there really was some water there or if it was a mirage. Herebia suspects that it was something else.

‘Mirage? Impossible. Were still at the morning, the roads should still be cold... Oh, right. It’s about time, huh?’

Seriousness was evident on Herebia’s face as she flicked her finger in order to materialize a mask. This mask covered her entire face except the eyes. Herebia did this because she was expecting something...

3... 2... 1...

Herebia back stepped and then a second later a gust of hot wind traveled in front of her. This gust was extremely thin and the power behind it was enough to cleave a someone into two.

“Oh my... He he he, time to play...”

She smiled a little and then retreated into the shadows. She blended with it and then vanished like thin air. Herebia had used the power of ghosts.

“Tch!”

Outside the house stood a man in a hood. He looked around if someone saw him and when he confirmed that no one was around, he leapt forward with his foot in front of him. His feet collided with the window of Herebia’s room, breaking it and allowing him to enter it.

The hooded figure looked around and when he confirmed that no one was inside the room, he stood up from his defensive position. When he stood up, the light of the rising sun shone upon his face, revealing his identity to the hidden shadow lurking just around the corners of the room.

It was Zeal, the Ignis King.

Herebia looked at the one who had arrived before her and she couldn’t help but laugh inwardly.

‘Excellent. Truly... excellent! You have stepped right to my trap, you foolish king.’