The first of the chain of chapters for this weekend. Enjoy.

“What a bunch of monsters…” Elder Snow sighed in his carriage as he took a peek at the commotion behind. “I can only pray the committee doesn’t decide to sentence me to death for bringing this bunch into the Paradise City.”

Within minutes of the commotion dying down, the convoy was moving once more through the night sky. Kiefer and Isana were back inside their carriage while Jielin sat next to Kina with utmost caution, taking regular peeks at the white under-bellied grey fox that sat vigilantly on Kina’s lap. What she failed to realise is that a very enthusiastic mental conversation was ongoing beneath the dead silence between the fox and Kina.

“I can sense so many different skills from you. How come I could only use time-stop up till now?” Kina asked through the telepathic link with Kronos.

“Because there was no need for the other skills to ensure your survival until I regained my strength for the contract-forming. Time-stop is the most powerful skill I have, and also the most taxing, but it will allow you to escape any and all situations, provided monsters like your father don’t restrict your mana. Its mana consumption is about the only drawback, but your mana core has no problems supporting that skill.” Kronos replied, his fox body yawning quietly as it stuck its tongue out its wide open jaws.

“The other skills seem pretty self-explanatory, but could you run them by me once again just so I can confirm what I think they do?” Kina asked.

“Of course Mistress Kina. You already know what time-stop does. It stops all time in this Universe. Frame-lock is similar, except it merely targets a specific article. Frame-lock stops time of the target momentarily. A moving object will stay in its current location until released from the spell, completely unaffected by exterior forces such as gravity. That, of course, also means that it becomes invulnerable and cannot be interacted with.” Kronos explained, taking a short pause.

“A more useful version though would be Mental-lock, which is similar to frame-lock, except it only works on sentient beings. It temporarily stops their perception of time, while time actually continues to flow around them. Therefore, they are still subject to forces and interactions from their surroundings. A bird flying in mid-air will stop flapping its wings and fall from the sky when subjected to Mental-lock. A target than is running away will stop moving its limbs but still continue to fall forward from the inertia of its run.”

“And then, there is Check-point. This is a more complicated skill and will take some time to master accurately. When activated, it will leave a mana imprint on your own personal timeframe, after which, it will constantly consume mana until it is triggered once more. When triggered, you will instantly return to the timeframe when you activated the skill, potentially helping you escape from a life threatening situation. Everything will be as it was at the point of activation, with the exception of you mana which will have been depleted by the spell. The downside of this spell though, is that once you activate it, you cannot stop the spell until you trigger it.”

“And of course, there the most basic of the time skills, Deceleration. It rapidly decreases your flow of time, allowing you to have improved reaction speed. With your mana capacity, you can probably slow down time by about a hundred times, meaning a dagger flying towards you will be reduced to a snail’s crawl.”

“And now that I have all your abilities, what is your role exactly? What reason do I have to keep you around?” Kina inquired, running her fingers through the soft grey fur on Kronos’s back, finally giving his fluffy tail a soft squeeze.

“Right now, I can cast a single time stop spell that lasts maybe 10 seconds. Just enough for you to get out of any sticky situation. But that will be the limits of my lifespan. In other words, I’m like a dispensable shield for you. It will not kill me, but it will take me quite some time to recover from your mana. Aside from that, I am your eyes ad your ears. I can be your scout, your spy, your messenger. That’s the purpose I serve now that I failed to consume you in our contract.”

“I see. Well for now, you just need to keep a low profile. Do not speak unless I explicitly tell you to,” Kina ordered, as she shut her eyes and leaned back into her seat. Kronos did the same, curling into a fluffy ball of fur on her lap.

The rest of the trip progressed smoothly, with Kina now doing a new form of training under Kiefer’s guidance. Back in his time, he expanded his mana capacity through opening PDs constantly, draining his mana rapidly. Kina on the other hand, had a much faster method. Using time-stop, she realised that her current mana capacity could last her 25 seconds before being completely drained. Each time it refilled to maximum capacity though, the small marble grew slightly larger within her chest. She had noticed a tiny black speck right in the middle of the marble, and upon investigation realised that it belonged to Kronos. It was his link to her mana core and the proof of their contract.

Within 2 days of flying, the convoy was now parked in a line outside the gates of Paradise city. Elder Snow had a minor dispute with the guards at the gate about bringing his guest into the city, but a small showcase of his power and the eventual lack of a gate and city wall convinced the guards to let them through. Once past the gates and within the city premises, the group took flight once more, with Kiefer showing signs of interest in the runic formation that prevent entry into the city through the air.

[[Paradise City Palace]]

“Elder Snow! What is the meaning of this?! Emperor Wang had already made it clear with your previous visit that he would not tolerate these foreigners on Yurza! And yet you still brought them here despite our specific orders! Don’t you know the penalty for treason is death!?” a small sparrowman yelled with his squeaky voice at Snow.

“Adviser Lan, please give me face just this once. I assure you these beings are not to be trifled with. I know of the death penalty, and yet I’d very much rather take my chances with the King than these dragons. If you could just pass the message to Emperor Wang, I’m sure he will understand. It doesn’t matter if he comes personally or not, I’m sure these dragons would still barge in to meet him. So for my sake and yours, just go relay the message,” Snow begged.

The sparrowman’s eyes squinted into 2 thin lines as he inspected the group behind Snow. They seemed oddly relaxed even though there were 20 elite royal guards pointing their weapons at them. He immediately recognised one of them as a past winner and Wind elemental Lord contractor Eril. Besides him there were 3 non-birdmen. One adult woman who emanated a chilling aura, a young elf who surprisingly had absolutely no mana affinity, and a teenage human girl who was shouldering a large blood coloured greatsword even larger than her, with a small grey fox slumping on her head.

Not a single one of them seem to notice the dire situation they were in, as they scanned their surroundings and admired the architecture of the palace and the gardens. On the contrary, the elite hawkmen guards who had seen countless battles and had undergone intense combat training were shifting nervously. Adviser Lan seemed perturbed by what he saw, and decided against his better judgement to relay the message to his Emperor, at the risk of being verbally abused.

“Did you say human girl!? That bitch! Dad! They are the ones that stole the things I bought from the auction! We have to arrest them right now and make them turn over what they stole!” Tianmen yelled furiously, his feathers all ruffled by his anger. “I’m going to teach her a lesson right now! Men, with me!” He screeched as he dashed off out of the meeting hall.

“Tianmen! Wait!” Emperor Wang Shen called out, but the prince had already left in a hurry, completely ignoring his father’s orders.

*Bam!*

Slamming his hands against the armrest of his throne, Emperor Wang Shen huffed in fury. “That traitor Snow. To think his tiny city was harbouring those outsiders. I warned him! Threatened him even and yet he still disobeys me. He’s clearly not giving me any face at all. Hmph! I’ll go meet these ‘guests’ of his, but see to it that he is punished for his insolence. Arrange for a new leader for Natiria, Snow isn’t going to live for much longer,” Wang Shen ordered as he got up from his throne, slowly making his way to the courtyard.

In the royal courtyard where Elder Snow’s group were waiting, a young owl came sprinting out within minutes of Adviser Lan’s departure. He was dressed in golden silk robes embroidered with red and green patterns, a large pink flowering tree on the back and enough shiny gems to put a jewellery store to shame. The moment Kina saw him, a smile crept up onto her face.

“Hello once again, stupid,” she taunted, waving her arm that wasn’t holding onto the sword.

“Kina, be nice,” Kiefer reprimanded, before fixing his eyes on the small squad of guards that approached them.

“You fucking bitch! Return what you stole from me!” Tianmen bellowed, trying to seem as intimidating as possible. However, he could only elicit a soft chuckle from Kina, which angered him even more.

“Tianmen. Return to your quarters now,” a deep voice ordered from behind him. A large brown owl faced man descended from the steps that led into the royal palace. “No buts. Go now!” He ordered once more before Tianmen could refute. Tianmen reluctantly turned around and returned to the palace, but not before tossing one last hateful stare at Kina.

“Elder Snow, you are hereby relieved of your position as city lord of Natiria city and stripped of all privileges. Men, arrest Elder Snow for high treason. He shall be hung in public one week from now. As for the rest, hmph! Kill them or torture them, I don’t care. I don’t want them on my continent,” Emperor Wang ordered swiftly and mercilessly, not even taking a glance at the group. He then proceeded to turn and slowly stalk his way back to the palace, head held high in contempt.

“I see the ruler of this continent only amounts to this much,” Kiefer spoke out. He had taken action instinctively. As Elder Snow retreated a few steps from the incoming guards, Kiefer had quickly wrapped them up with his mana ropes and stepped up in front of Snow. This birdman had, after all, tried his best to cater to his requests, and in doing so, gone against his ruler. Protecting him was the least that Kiefer could do.

“I’ll cut right to the chase. I want the soul flower you have in your possession, as well as the other 4 in the other cities. You will send a message to the respective city lords informing them of my arrival and my demands. We can go about doing this in 2 ways. The first way, is that I offer you something else to compensate you for the flower. The other, which I’m actually hoping you will choose, is to resist me, and watch your continent fall out of the sky and sink to the bottom of the ocean while I take the flower forcefully from you,” Kiefer sneered.

“Hmph! Mere empty threats. You think I will comply with your –“ Wang Shen cut off his sentence halfway as he turned around. The scene in front of him was absolutely not what he had expected to see. Every single one of his men was dangling upside-down in mid-air by silvery ropes. And they had actually been captured and bound so silently and quickly that he did not even notice anything as his back was turned. Even his adviser was caught up in the mess.

“Yes you were saying?” Kiefer taunted once more. “If the lives of your men is not enough to sway you, how about this then? Kina, go grab that rude boy,” Kiefer instructed. Kina’s face lit up as the ears of the fox on her head perked up as well.

The instant Kiefer’s sentence ended, Tianmen had reappeared within Kina’s grasps, hanging by his ankles from mid-air. If one looked closely, they would notice a transparent almost invisible rope extending from Kina’s free hand. A look of shock and fear was plastered on Tianmen’s face as he stared at his father and his surroundings, not sure what had just happened.

Wang Shen’s face turned ugly as he saw his own son held hostage. His mind was racing as he considered all his options. However, no matter what, only one came to mind, make use of his elemental lord’s powers and mind control these monsters. His original grey eyes turned bloodshot as the ring of feathers around his 2 circular eyes lit up.

Isana had seen enough to know what Wang Shen was doing. With a wave of her hand, the feathers around Wang Shen’s eyes dimmed and he fell to his knees, weakened by the sudden loss of mana. Then, without giving him any time to rest, Isana encased his lower half in a block of ice. “Trying to use mind control? Have it your way then. Kina baby, why don’t you destroy one wing of the palace. That left quadrant seems empty. They need to learn that we are not to be messed with.”

“Okay mum!” Kina replied gleefully. “,” Kina muttered, pointing her giant blood sword at the palace and channelling her mana through the sword like a wand.

Within seconds, the bright afternoon summer sky darkened as thunder clouds rolled in, streaks of lightning jumping from one cloud to another. Then, as if to smite the world down into demise, a single thunderbolt split the sky. The sky lit up, blinding everyone, the deafening crack of the thunder left everyone’s ears ringing. The single lightning bolt was thicker than anything anyone has ever seen, easily measuring as wide as a truck. What was left of its carnage was the entire left side of the palace in rubbles, burning and charred. Streaks of blue lightning could still be seen snaking along the walls and corners of what was left standing. Right in the epicentre where the spell struck, was a gaping hole of molten lava, still bubbling from the ionisation of the lightning.

“That,” Isana pointed out, “is the price you pay for trying to retaliate. So what will it be? Will you cooperate? Or should we drown your entire continent?” The sky cleared as quickly as it darkened after the lightning spell struck.

Lightning based spells were the bane of these birdmen’s existence, and seeing one so terrifying seemed to knock some fear into Wang Shen, as his arrogance from earlier crumbled. He could finally understand why Elder Snow succumbed to their demands so easily. This young girl was so terrifyingly powerful, it was like comparing a pebble to a mountain when he looked at his level 9 rainbow mages. The worst part was, she didn’t even seem to suffer any sort of mana exhaustion even after executing such a large scale spell, indicating she was probably raring to go for round 2.

His chest that was originally held high in pride dropped, his expression of shock mellowed as he understood that he was standing before beings akin to gods. With nothing left, he could only submit to their demands, finally nodding his head and muttering a single word. “Sorry”