First bonus chapter of the week. Check in tmr for the 2nd bonus chapter tmr. Regular weekly releases will always be on Sundays.

[[ Elder Snow’s POV]]

This tea is really quite fragrant. It’s such a pity such peaceful days aren’t gonna last much longer. The quarter century tournaments between our six cities are going to start in 3 years. The various clans are already gearing up and the atmosphere is heating up, with smaller inter-clan tournaments already going around.

I don’t see what’s so good about the privilege to leave Yurza to explore the rest of the world. It’s safe and comfortable here, and with our soul-mana infusion techniques, we can easily live for a few centuries. I’d very much rather live comfortably that go on some stupid adventure and risk my life. Managing a city is not that difficult after having done it for 200 years.

“Lord Snow!!” A messenger bird was chirping noisily as it landed. “We need your advice!”

Huh. A sparrowling. He seems pretty flustered. Why do things have to happen just when I’m enjoying my tea? So annoying. Can’t they handle matters themselves? “What is it?” I asked. The sparrowling seems more flustered than usual.

[Several minutes later]

Oh? This is interesting. How did this hunk of metal even fly all the way up here? Given its weight, I doubt anything will have enough mana for sustained flight, especially to such altitudes. Could it belong to some powerful dragon? This is troubling. We don’t want to invite any trouble, especially if its owners come looking for it. I still can’t believe how dumb some of these birdbrains are. I understand that us Owls lead the rest of the birds due to our wisdom, but the level of intelligence of the other bird species are just so laughable. To think they thought it was some kind of living thing. It’s best if we discard this as soon as possible. Better remove any evidence that it was here either.

“Get the rainbow mages from the lorikeet tribe to destroy it, or at the very least break it down into movable parts, then ask the falcon and eagle tribes to throw it off the edges. Make sure not one part of it remains on Yurza,” I instruct the birds at the scene. Seeing them respond immediately and swiftly to my orders fills me with pride. It shows how much trust they put in my decisions and orders, none of them questioning my choices.

“I’m sorry, but that’s my property. I will be retrieving it now,” A clear voice came from above. I look up and see a goddess descending from the heavens with two children next to her, one a young elf boy and another young human girl.

Suddenly, I felt my chest constrict. The moment I looked at the young elf, I felt a crushing pressure unlike anything before. The moment his feet touched the ground, a torrent of blood seemed to gush forth from his feet, washing away all thoughts in my head. Before I knew it, I was on my bottom, drowning in this sea of blood that endlessly poured out. Then, as abruptly as it drowned me, the blood red sea disappeared.

Looking around, I noticed that I was not the only one who was affected. What was that? An illusion? Was that his bloodlust? What kind of beings must he have killed to give off such terrifying bloodlust?

“I will only say this once. Do not obstruct my way,” the young elf spoke, looking at me as if he knew I was the leader. Only now do I notice that he was carrying behind him an entire patrol squad. Just how powerful is her to do that? There’s even a rainbow mage within those captured.

Looking at the elf, I switched my gaze to the smiling young girl beside him. She seemed human in any way I inspect her. Her features, age, and magical abilities seem only to indicate that she was but a human. There is no time to think. They seem related so the only way I can negotiate with them is if I hold something that they need and cannot take by force.

I can feel the feathers around my eyes tingle as I begin to cast my speciality magic. Within an instant, I knew I had control over the girl. I have no other choice but to do this. He is liable to kill everyone in his path to get to whatever he is looking for. I have no intention of negotiating with him on such disadvantages terms, so I make the girl grab a sharp shard of metal from the metal wreckage and pin it against her own throat.

“You will release my feathered brothers and follow me quietly if you value her life,” I make the young girl talk. I can see the surprise in his face and even a hint of anger in the woman’s gaze as they concentrate on the girl. Then something unexpected happened. As his gaze swept over me mercilessly, I feel my spell shut off involuntarily.

“Wha… What just happened?” The young girl asked, rubbing her temples and shaking her head to rid herself of my mind control spell.

“Sweety, it would seem that that owl took over your mind. Don’t worry, your dad and I neutralised his spell. Why don’t you play with him for a while?” the woman spoke as her gaze turned gentle while looking at the young girl.

“Thanks, mum!” she replied excitedly as I see her bracelet quickly deform and drop to the ground. What is happening? Did she just call them mum and dad? And what the hell!? How is her magical power so high! Even for a human, that is an impossibly high mana being released from her body! Just what have I done?

[[End of Elder Snow’s POV]]

Kina stepped forward slowly and deliberately. She thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of her mana surging out every time the restriction bracelet was removed. As she rubbed her wrists slightly, her heels dug into the soft ground and bolted forwards in a flash. With that, she landed her first punch right between the owl’s two large round eyes, slamming his head back and down into the ground.

The surrounding guards immediately tightened their grip on their spears and halberds, getting ready to help their leader. Before they could even move a single step, Kina had already straddled the owl and was delivering a barrage of blows to his chest and face, making sure to limit her strength just enough so that she brought the owl right to the edges of its life.

“How! Dare! You! Mess! With! My! Head! You! Stupid! Bird!” Kina iterated each word loudly and clearly with each successive blow causing more pain.

“Kina dear. Don’t forget about these other birds!” Isana called out sweetly.

Kina stopped punching the man for a moment, giving him just a brief moment of relief. As she scanned around the area, she scoffed, waving her arm casually in the air and muttering a single spell. . With that, she resumed hitting the already badly disfigured and swollen face of the owl, tearing the feathers from his arms and face.

The sky lit up above them as hundreds of red flaming arrows formed, all of them pointing downwards. The birds who noticed it quickly attempted to run, only to realise that the sheer area that the fire arrows covered was so large they had no way of escaping. As the arrows rained down on everyone including her parents, the guards tried knocking the incoming arrows with their weapons, all while fleeing from the scene.

The arrows sizzled to a wisp of smoke as they approached Kiefer and Isana, not affecting them even one bit. Birdmen with burning feathers and clothes were running in all directions, avoiding the hail of fire as the arrows poured down on them like a torrential rain of fire. Then, Kina suddenly felt herself being lifted off the owl, being restricted and pulled backwards.

The rain of fire had stopped quickly as a thin layer of chilling frost covered the area to extinguish the flames. The red bracelet came back on as Kiefer set her down beside him. Isana then stepped forwards to one lucky sparrowling who managed to escape barely without many serious injuries thanks to his small stature. Her green irises expanded to fill her entire eye, and then her pitch black pupils followed, giving Isana a pair of eerie black eyes.

The pupils of the sparrowling followed, just as Isana’s eye returned to their previous lustrous emerald colour. Then he stood up and began walking in one direction like a soulless carcass. Kiefer was intrigued by the sparrowling’s behaviour, turning to Isana for an explanation.

“When Gondor died, I received his mind control abilities,” Isana explained without having Kiefer ask anything. “He’s leading us to his city now.”

Kiefer nodded as he observed the empty shell walking in a straight line, stepping over his unconscious friends away from the edge of the floating island. Kina was still not satisfied, wanting to continue to express her rage but Kiefer quickly shot her a stern look to behave. The three titans then began walking slowly behind the small birdman, leaving the scene of carnage behind and the owl still barely breathing.

“Ell—Elder Snow.. cough cough.. argh..” A rainbow mage struggled as he crawled on the ground towards the horribly bruised Owl. He put in much effort to simply raise his cane and point it to the owl, before a soft shite and green wisp extend from the large jewel at the end of the cane, enveloping the owl in a warm embrace. Quickly, the bruises subsided, feathers grew back and the wounds closed up. “Go… stop… them…” He muttered with the last of his strength as the colourful bird’s raised arm hit the ground, falling unconscious quickly.

Elder Snow stood up, dusted himself off and studied the scene before his eyes. Horrifying carnage. He had not seen such a scene in real life, only pictures of the War of the Tribes in textbooks about Yurza’s history. As frustration built up within him, Snow quickly took to the skies, flying at his top speed back towards his city central.

Kina, Kiefer and Isana of course did not miss it. They clearly saw the owl fly past overhead, heading in the same direction they were. Kina merely shrugged, skipping along behind her parents who were strolling hand in hand. She couldn’t help but giggle at the scene. It looked more like a mother holding and guiding the hands of her child rather than that of a couple. Kiefer had raise his entire arm to his shoulders just to reach Isana’s hand.

“Hey mum?” Kina asked from behind as she looked at the small sparrowling.

“Yes baby?” Isana replied, turning back to look at Kina.

“I wonder what deep fried birdmen taste like. Maybe even just flame roasted birdmen. I love wyvern meat, but I’ve never had birdmen before. Do you think they’ll sell it in their city?” Kina asked earnestly, licking her lips as she began salivating at the thought of the fragrant smell of roasted bird.

“I doubt so baby.” Isana laughed. “I really don’t think they will cook their own kind to sell as food. Why don’t you roast some yourself to find out? Weren’t you burning them back then?”

“Yea, but they smelled so bad. I think I need to pluck their feathers and marinate them before cooking. The smell of burning feathers is off-putting.” Kina replied earnestly, as if cooking birdmen were completely normal.

Kiefer simply sighed as he listened in on the conversation. Knowing full well that both Isana and Kina were titans from birth, their sense of logic would obviously be different from him who used to be a human with values, albeit a little psychopathic.