“Did you hear me, Ira?” Leonard asked.

“What?” Ira shook his head and realized where he was. He had come to see the Fourth Prince but was busy thinking of something else. He needed to make those close to him stronger and he needed to do it fast, but everyone else wasn’t like him. The Black Book was a codex of methods of increasing strength, but it had a nasty habit of driving those who looked at it insane. Even relaying the information through a different medium showed the same effects.

“Charles,” Ira said aloud.

“Excuse me?” Leonard furrowed his brows.

Ira paid him no mind and continued to think since Charles was eager to obtain knowledge in the first place, he was the best person to let shoulder the burden of insanity that came with it. Ira’s mind remained completely unaffected for obvious reasons, but he had no talent in alchemy or the time to learn it. Ira nodded to himself as he accepted the plan in his head. All he had to do was find the right path for everyone close to him.

“The Sun for Avery...I’ll talk to the Will about Harper...Rhys is a friend, I could help her too.” Ira mumbled to himself.

“There is going to be a war, Ira.” Leonard interrupted Ira’s train of thought.

“And?” Ira shrugged.

“The entire Kingdom could be destroyed,” Leonard added.

“I don’t know if you noticed, but the Dark Elves would be pretty happy if I were to move to their Underground City.”

“Thousands of people could die.”

“Thousands of people die every day, that’s the way it's supposed to be.”

“Even those you care about?” Leonard asked with a shocked expression.

Ira laughed before he appeared in front of Leonard and gripped his throat before lifting him into the air, “You know, Avery told me to watch out for people who attempt to get me to do something they want. I’m not too interested in honor, obligation, and all that other stuff. You might say you care about your people, but I’ve been to the slums in the Kingdom. What you really want is to protect what is yours, right? There’s nothing wrong with that, but until you have something other than money to offer me, don’t think about getting my help, Prince.” Ira dropped Leonard before heading toward the door.

“So...you...won’t...help…” Leonard asked as he coughed heavily.

“Get something better than money and I’ll help. Get something that I’m interested in and I would even kill that Chancellor guy for you.” Ira said as he left the room.

After Ira left, Leonard smiled. It was risky to probe Ira for information, but it worked in the end. It was clear that Ira wouldn’t play a part in any wars to come if he didn’t have an interest in it. That piece of information was coveted by every country except the Dark Elves and the Dwarves. Since Leonard understood Ira’s stance he could shift the narrative behind it to delay the Tel’vian Empire.

…

Ira walked the streets of the Free City alone in a leisurely manner. There were far more people who would stop and point at him or even approach him outright since they had heard of him from the Colosseum Bout. It wasn’t hard to find him when his appearance was listed in the City’s newspaper. Eventually, Ira got tired of the buzz of the crowd and hopped onto the rooftops before taking a seat.

Avery said she was going to train Rhys for the day so he couldn’t take her out for dinner. He gave a sigh before adjusting his breathing and sitting in a better position. Since he had the time he decided to focus on the Concept of Space.

Ira’s goal was to be able to use his abilities without a medium, but rather through his body directly. He had already been able to do so with his gravity alteration, but moving altering space with his hands was far more difficult. Transferring kinetic energy was different than manipulating space so Ira didn’t apply the same line of thought. His bloodline gave him an incredible affinity with spatial abilities, he made a foundation with King Dietrich’s knowledge, and now he had the experience of the First-Flame. All that was left to do was to learn how to use it.

Bend, Tear, and Cut. Ira’s abilities would revolve around those three principles and they were the most prominent in his memories. The one he was most interested in was bending space, if he could master it, he would be able to teleport over large distances and take others with him as long as it wasn’t imbued with the Void’s properties.

Ira continued his reflection on the properties of space, many of which escaped his immediate comprehension which caused him to become slightly frustrated.

“Damn it!” Ira stood up and ruffled his hair before looking around. It seemed that hours had passed as he looked at the two moons in the sky. The smaller one was just barely visible which meant Winter had ended.

“I need something to do.” Ira sighed before he removed his clothes and put them away in his Void storage. It was good that no one was on the rooftop with him to question his nudity or to witness what was going to happen next.

Ira’s began to change into his secondary form and his body became covered in scales and fur, while his face was hidden by the mask-like layer of scales and fur. The ears atop his head began to slightly twitch as he listened to the thousands of sounds pouring in from the city. Since it was Ira’s last day in the Free City he decided to go find some people to mess with, mainly those engaged in illegal activities. They were the easiest targets to find and he wouldn’t really be bothered if he was caught killing them.

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Ira smiled, well, his set of protruding teeth were arranged in a way that made it seem if he was always smiling, but he no doubt was smiling deep down.

…

In a dark alleyway, several men pulled a woman bound in rope out of a crate, “Grab her legs.”

“Why do we gotta do this again?” A large man who didn’t seem to bright asked.

“Protocol, you idiot. Make our movements erratic so we can’t be tracked.” The man leading the group said.

He was just about to give another set of instructions when he saw something shift in the shadows.

“Hey,” The man said in a low voice, “It looks like we got an unwanted visitor.” He signaled toward the man next to him who drew his sword and moved toward the darkness.

Just as the leader was turned around he heard a vivid splattering sound. He turned around and squinted his eyes, but noticed the stream of blood forming on the ground.

“What’s taking so long?” He called out as he gripped his sword. There were occasional vigilante types that would interfere with criminal proceedings, but they didn’t tend to last too long.

A pair of yellow eyes became visible in the darkness as something moved out of the darkness. Suddenly an irrational sense of fear overcame the man, its source was the black silhouette stepping toward him. He could feel his heart beating so fast that it hurt, but he couldn’t move.

“So...you’re just normal, huh?” A grating voice that scraped the eardrums of those listening came from the creature. It took a step toward the closest man frozen in fear before placing a claw up to his head. Without a second thought, it slowly pushed it into his skull without much resistance. The first victim spasmed heavily and slumped toward the ground.

“...Next.” The creature repeated the same process over and over. Simply killing them by poking its finger into the skulls of the men frozen in place until he arrived at the leader.

“Where’s your boss? You do have a boss right?” The dark humanoid creature asked.

The feeling of fear lessened dramatically and allowed the leader to speak, “Y-Yeah...The docks! You’ll find him at the docks! There is a warehouse t-that looks abandoned, but there’s a basement level where all our business takes place,” The leader stammered as sweat poured from his face.

“Good, good, good.” The humanoid creature nodded before poking him in the head and killing him.

The woman tied in rope was shivering in a puddle of her own creation as she witnessed the entire scene take place. As the creature bent down near her she gave a muffled whimper and closed her eyes, but to her relief, there was no pain. She felt the ropes around her loosen and opened her eyes to see the creature staring blankly at her.

“You’re free to go,” It said.

“...” Instead of answering she continued to shiver.

“The fear got to you, huh?” It asked as it shook its head.

A comfortable and soothing scent overtook the woman’s senses as she finally calmed down. She no longer feared the creature in front of her, if anything she gained a feeling of safety from it.

“...Thank you.” The woman said as she sat up, even as she spoke she was inhaling heavily through her nose.

It was obvious that the creature was Ira and he used his pheromone generation to pacify the scared woman. He was quite toned down so that it wouldn’t produce an outright attraction that would draw in hundreds of people, but it still seemed to be too strong even when the radius was reduced.

“I have to tweak it more,” Ira said to himself as he stood up and leaped away without another word.

The woman looked at the departing figure with an expression of longing that turned into embarrassment as she recalled that she emptied her bladder and was still sitting in the puddle.

…

Ira headed toward the warehouse near the shipyard while killing a lot of unsuspecting criminals. Most of the time he wouldn’t even stop, a black silhouette would pass by and leave a trail of bodies in its wake. Ira’s real goal was someone with just a little bit of skill to help him pass the time. It was likely that several criminal organizations would fall and the sole reason would be due to Ira’s boredom. He slowed his speed as he landed in front of the abandoned warehouse.

Although he couldn’t see anyone, he could make of the distinct scent of metal, and a lot of it. He easily broke the lock on the door and opened it before entering. There was nothing noteworthy to be found inside. Just piles of rotted wood and a few empty crates, Ira walked past all of them and toward a crate that was arranged separately from the pile. It pushed it and a hatch on the floor was revealed. It was sealed shut, but that didn’t matter. Ira dug his hands into the metal before ripping the hatch from the floor and setting it aside. He climbed down the stairs and entered a well-lit hallway. There was another doorway without a lookout behind it, Ira could hear his heartbeat without even trying.

The guard on the other side of the thick metal door yawned out of boredom until a metallic tapping echoed. He quickly stood up and drew his sword before walking to the door and opening the slot used to see the other side. To his surprise, he saw nothing, until a hand tore through the metal door and dug into his chest.

Ira removed his hand from the guard's chest and ripped the door off its hinges. He took a deep breath and smelled the air before he began to run forward with visible glee.

…

Deeper inside the tunnel was dozens of cages lined up, each one held a haggard-looking child with lifeless eyes. Human trafficking was profitable, but not as much as child trafficking apparently. Training assassins, slaves, spies, bodyguards, and whatever else was a far easier on a young and impressionable victim rather than a full grown adult.

Around the cages were men engaged in a variety of tasks consisting of, gambling, drinking, exercising, and sleeping. Deeper inside was an office area where the leader of the trafficking operation sat. A familiar shadowy figure hung close to him, it was the same figure responsible for detaining Lowell. It seemed that the figure didn’t discriminate on who it lent its services to.

“I’ve never quite figured out how shadow magic functions.” The spectacled old man spoke as he examined his paperwork.

“If you’re unlucky you may get a firsthand display of it.” The figure replied.

“I don’t plan on ending up like Lowell. If I see my end coming then I’ll accept it.” The old man said unaffected by the threat.

The shadowy figure stirred before it responded, “...It seems that time may be closer than you expect. Someone’s here and they’re coming toward this area.”

The old man sighed before he removed his spectacles and opened a cabinet at his desk which revealed a large number of different currencies, “How many?”

“Just one,” The figure replied as it began to sink into the floor.

“Can you deal with them?” The man asked.

“It shouldn’t be a problem.” The voice of the figure replied.

“I’ll prepare just in case,” The Old man began to pile the currencies on his desk. His solution for problems such as intruders was to either kill them or pay them. There were some skilled combatants on the side of justice who were quickly swayed when their price was reached. The Old man hoped that it would be dealt with quickly and he wouldn’t have to resort to any emergency measures.