Hello hello hello!! Miss me miss me now you gotta kiss me! Sorry for the hiatus. I'm back and I'll try to keep it regular... i think... i hope. well... we'll see how things go. For now, enjoy this.

As the fingernail-sized red communication shard once more turned into goo in his palm, Mempheus’s eyes flashed. Within the dim enclosed secret chamber, he had felt a sudden wisp of wind, ever so slightly brush past him. He quickly turned around; making sure the entrance was firmly locked behind him. Turning back around, he scrutinised the rest of the chamber for any movements. After finally convincing himself that it was his imagination, he left the room hurriedly.

[[Back within a new inn]]

It was nearing late afternoon as the orange rays of the sunlight filtered into the room through the wooden blinds. There, Isana sat on the queen sized bed, pondering with her brows furrowed as Kiefer appeared in front of her.

“I found some names. Mempheus was much more of an idiot than I’d thought he’d be. Surprisingly all these Morphling’s names start with an ‘M’, so I guess that’s a start. Their names are…” Kiefer trailed off, his gaze focusing on Isana who had not seemed to have heard him. “Sana, what are you thinking about?”

“Don’t you think it’s weird?” Isana asked, finally looking up at Kiefer who was standing in front of her. “How did Kina know that Mempheus was a demon spy? Why did she not come with us to confront him? What was so important and secretive that she couldn’t tell me? I’m her mother, and she’s never kept any secrets from me, at least up until now.”

“I didn’t think it’d bothered you so much, to be honest. We know that she’s safe, and it all worked out in the end, didn’t it?” Kiefer consoled her. “I’m sure she’ll tell us once she’s done settling whatever issues she has. You’ve raised her well Sana, you don’t have to worry about that. If she can’t handle something, I’m confident that she will seek help rather than do things rashly.”

“But is she really safe though? She’s knee deep in the country’s politics, spies and war. She is barely 15 years old. Tell me what other 15-year-old would be put into such a situation. And for the past half hour, I’ve been having this uncomfortable sinking feeling in my chest, as if she is in danger and can’t get out of it,” Isana confided worriedly, the clear look of uncertainty plastered on her face.

“She’s currently in her mansion. I just checked with my mana pulse. It could be the mana fluctuations going on outside the city from yesterday that is affecting you,” Kiefer tried to reason with her, not knowing that his daughter was indeed fighting with her life on the line not too long ago.

“You’re right…” Isana sighed as she sent her mana pulse to double and triple check her daughter’s location. “I guess I’ve been away from her too long, so I’m starting to miss her a little.”

“For now, let’s wait till there’s movement from Mempheus. I have his mana signature memorised and will keep constant track of his motions. You should rest up while you still can. I am going to get caught in their trap intentionally, and you’ll be my back-up. You know, in the slight impossible chance that I mess things up.” Kiefer sneered sinisterly, as his mind focused on Mempheus who was scuttling around the city’s central region.

Unknown to everyone other than the family of titan dragons, 2 mana waves enveloped the entire city constantly, pulsating like a heartbeat. And both pulses originated from an inconspicuous inn located near the docks. Kina, however, noticed the sudden increase in mana pulse and instantly knew her parents were up to something. However, she was currently busy holed up in her room, trying to heal an unconscious grey fox which was panting heavily on her pillow. Strands of mana kept pouring out of her palms as Kronos devoured the mana to replenish himself. Sending his contractor back in time had severely exhausted him and he had barely managed to make it back to the mansion in one piece.

Then, just as she was focusing on healing Kronos, her mother materialised in her room, teleporting directly from the inn to the mansion. Still constantly sending out mana pulses, Isana inspected her daughter, and then looked at Kronos.

“What happened to Kronos?” Isana asked, barely glancing at it. To her, Kina’s safety and wellbeing far outweighed that of a spirit lord made out of mana. She was worried Kina might be exhausting herself trying to help a disposable pawn.

“I was almost killed by Mempheus when I was out on a mission. Kronos saved me by sending me back in time. He used up most of his power so now I’m just trying to get him back in shape,” Kina replied without hesitating, not once losing concentration on what she was doing.

“I see. It would seem that there are quite a few spies throughout the city, and Mempheus is one of them, as you mentioned. And they are keeping tabs on you too. One of them is downstairs now,” Isana informed her daughter. Kina’s face scrunched up into a frown as she realised how careless she had been. “Wait here, I’ll bring your father,” Isana continued, before disappearing once more, only to return moments later with Kiefer.

Without saying anything, both parents walked up to their daughter’s side and extended their palms as well. A pale blue stream of mana extended from Isana’s hand while a silver one from Kiefer. With all three titans supplementing their mana to Kronos, the fluffy grey fox seemed to calm down, its breath no longer so haggard. Within 30 minutes, Kronos finally opened his eyes. During this time, no one said a word, each focusing solely on the task at hand.

“Young miss…” Kronos whispered while lifting his head. “Thank you. All of you.” He continued, seeing that Kiefer and Isana had helped.

“Not at all,” Isana replied, shaking her head. “It should be us thanking you for saving our daughter’s life,” She continued, bowing politely and gratefully. Kiefer did the same before turning to look at Kina.

“So, I hear you lost in a fight huh? How badly did you lose?” Kiefer questioned.

“She lost an arm,” Kronos interrupted.

“Wha! Shush you snitching fox!” Kina retorted with a stunned face. She did not even have the chance to answer when Kronos answered in her stead.

“Looks like you are going to need some more training huh? Maybe I should contact Eril and Rose to increase the difficulty of your training,” Kiefer sneered before he was smacked on the back of his head by Isana.

“How are you now sweety?” Isana asked worriedly, quickly taking a seat next to Kina on her bed and embracing her daughter.

“I’m fine mum,” Kina replied as she squirmed a little, unable to escape from her mother’s embrace. “What are you and dad doing here?”

“We were going to tell you that the two of us are going to be making a move on the morphlings in the city. I can tell that they are already gathering at the city gates right now. It makes things easier that they want to settle this outside the city away from prying eyes.” Kiefer answered as he picked up a helplessly weak Kronos and flipped it onto its back, fiddling with its arms. “I must say though, having this fox around is quite therapeutic for the mind,” he continued as he squeezed Kronos’s paws lightly. Kronos had a helpless look on his face as he shot Kina a look for help. He was only in this baby fox form as per Kina’s orders; if not, he would have been in his grim reaper form which was more comfortable and less prone to being handled like a stuffed toy.

“Come on dad, stop messing around with my pet,” Kina uttered as she snatched Kronos from Kiefer, only to continue what Kiefer had been doing to Kronos.

“Pet? I had been one of the most powerful spirit lords of this realm and now I’ve been reduced to the status of a pet!? What have I done to deserve this?” Kronos lamented silently inside his mind.

“So anyways, your dad and I will be trailing these spies and then wiping them all out in one go. Naturally, since most of them hold important roles in this city, the power scale within the city will collapse once the news of the disappearance of its leaders spread. They will most likely turn chaotic and that’s when you will need to step up as a leading figure, which shouldn’t be difficult given your current lofty status,” Isana explained.

“Do you need my help?” Kina asked, not that she was expecting her parents to need any. She had merely asked as a passing comment.

“No not really, I’ll be getting caught in their trap on purpose. Seriously though, they couldn’t act anymore suspiciously could they? Right now they are just loitering at the edge of the forest beyond the walls, waiting for me to tail them,” Kiefer replied as he snatched Kronos back from his daughter, this time fiddling with its ears. Kronos had a ( - _ - ) look as he was passed around like a toy.

“Well, it’s about time we left. The sky is getting dark so it’s the perfect time to pretend to be bad at tailing spies. They even left one morphling at the gate to check if we were following. Most likely, the group will only move into the forest once they have been informed that we have passed the gate,” Isana said, standing up and patting Kina heavily on her head.

“Alright then, we’ll see you in… what? 12 hours?” Kiefer continued as he passed a helpless Kronos back to Kina.

“Do you need me to do anything?” Kina asked just as Kiefer stood up and prepared to leave.

“No it’s alright sweety. Your daddy and I have got this covered. Just concentrate on recovering for now,” Isana smiled sweetly at Kina.

“Umm… just be careful of the golden worm alright. It can restrict you can send electrical shocks to prevent you from teleporting. That’s how I got caught,” Kina warned as she waved her parents goodbye. Isana merely smiled and nodded before teleporting out of the room.

“Don’t any of you use doors anymore?” Rose asked in defeat as he entered just in time to see Isana and Kiefer disappear into thin air.

[[At the southern gate]]

“I see,” Kiefer commented as he and Isana passed through the gate after a brief inspection. “That guard is a morphling too. The group is moving now. It would seem they have some sort of communication network. We’ll pretend to tail the main group. You will return later to take care of the guard and then catch up with me later,” he instructed, to which Isana gave a firm nod.

“The problem is even if we get rid of this group, I’m sure there are several more scattered throughout the city. They couldn’t possibly control the entire city with just these few. Torture doesn’t work on them so how are we going to flush them all out? It is too tedious to go after them one by one,” Isana asked while strolling down the main road with Kiefer. Several mercenaries rushed past them towards the city while accompanying carts full of ores from the nearby mines.

“Not a problem. I’m assuming those left behind are the small fries. Once we get rid of these ‘ big shots’, they will probably rush to get out of the city knowing that we are hunting them. We don’t need to kill them all, just removing the inside threat is enough. Besides, there’s this ‘general Galbot’ that I’m actually more interested in. He seems to be the one in charge of this whole spy operation. He’ll be more useful to us than these morphlings,” Kiefer explained as he concentrated on keeping track of the group.

With this, they made their way towards the group of morphlings that had quickly entered the forest towards the broodmother perimeter.

[[Several Hours later]]

“AHAHAHAA!!!” a thunderous roar of laughter boomed through the thick forest as a tall 2.1m man made his way towards his captive. He was dressed in a set of full purple armour that seemed to leak a poisonous aura to his immediate surroundings. He did not have a helmet or any protective head gear, revealing his short spiky red hair and sharp slanted eyes. In front of him was a young elf trapped in a mess of golden ropes that seemed to sprout from the ground. The ropes gave off arcs of blue lightning that travelled upwards, regularly giving the young elf electric shocks.

“I didn’t think you would get caught so easily. From the looks of it, you are related to that young girl huh? Your skills are not as extensive as hers though. How does it feel to know that all your plans are on the verge of falling apart, knowing you are about to die soon?” He roared confidently.

“I don’t know. You tell me, General,” The elf replied, his original painful and wincing face suddenly replaced with a confident sneer, albeit a little sinister looking.