“Randolph!” Ira shouted.

The wind began to pick up as the gigantic winged creature grew closer. The Dark Elves obviously began to panic since they were essentially trapped. If they lost the fight here there would be little to stop the Unified Army from marching razing the Underground City.

“Ira!” Randolph’s voice brought a sense of relief to Ira. Surrounded by a pile of bodies was a slightly wounded Randolph who managed to survive Ira's attack.

“Good,” Ira said to himself before vanishing.

When he appeared, he had a young woman dressed in black at his side.

“You wanted to see her, right?” Ira asked. He waved his hands and the soldiers that stood between him and Randolph were sent flying into the distance.

“J-Juliana...Let her go, Ira!” Randolph leaped toward them in one bound before raising his sword in an attack stance.

“That won't be a problem.” Ira seemed completely calm even with the approaching catastrophe at his back. He tapped Juliana on the shoulder lightly before stepping back.

“Randolph.”

“Juliana, come over here!” Randolph urged her on without taking his eyes off Ira.

“I can’t, Randolph.” Juliana seemed to hold a hint of sorrow in her refusal.

“Stop messing around, Juliana.” Randolph quickly glanced at her and was about to look back to Ira when he noticed her strange appearance. Fresh tears that were as black as ink fell from her eyes.

“Juliana?”

“...You killed him, Randolph.”

“...W-What?”

“Clark. You killed Clark. He saw you as a friend and a brother and you killed him...To find me. You let the Angels kill innocent people because you thought they were attempting to find me.” Juliana’s brows quivered underneath her veil as if she had just watched the events she described play out before her eyes. “They lied to you. Even now they are lying to you all, forcing you to fight a meaningless war that will cause death.”

“I had to do it...He was going to– Listen, whatever Ira did to you we can undo it, Juliana. Please just come over here!” Randolph’s desperation became more apparent.

“I can’t go back to what came before.” Juliana lifted her veil and exposed her pitch black eyes. Beneath the glossy reflection on the surface there was something disturbing that lay underneath. It brought on feelings of revulsion like some ugly truth lurking within the inky color was rearing its head. Randolph, for as much as he cared for Juliana, felt put off by what he saw and he couldn’t hide it.

“W-What did he do...What did you do to her?!” Randolph looked in Ira's direction but the latter was already gone.

“Nothing much. She can see the truth now is all.” Ira replied from behind him. He lifted Randolph the throat and applied a massive amount of pressure. So much that veins began to appear on his hands.

Randolph’s body shook and the divine glow that covered him seemed to grow brighter and brighter but Ira didn’t hold anything back.

“Could you send me back, Ira? I do not wish to see this.” Juliana asked politely as she put her veil back down.

“Sure,” Ira responded as he tightened his grip even more. He waved his free hand and Juliana disappeared but not before she gave one last sorrowful look to Randolph.

“Juliana…” Randolph managed to cough out as he weakly lifted his hand toward where she previously stood. He still didn’t understand what was going on and he never would if Ira had his way.

“I told you that we started to grow on her. Now, she doesn't want to leave the Underground City.” Ira whispered.

“Avarus!” Hairth’s voice was full of venom as he flew toward Ira. “Release him!”

“What’s with you guys and asking me to release people?” Ira shook his head. He squeezed Randolph’s neck with all his strength, producing a loud snapping sound, before tossing him in the air.

“No!” Harith shouted as he went for Randolph’s body. It looked as if he even forgot Ira was there as he caught it gently and cradled it.

“The vessel…” Harith whispered with a distraught expression.

“Don’t be too mad, Angel. I'll be sure to get to you next.” Ira gave a farewell before he teleported away once again.

As soon as Ira left, Harith formed a thin smile. “...Ignorant dog.”

A thin layer of golden light began to cover Randolph once again.

…

Avery sent huge fireballs toward the approaching creature but it didn’t show any sign of stopping.

“I’m back.” Ira suddenly appeared and took the time to evaluate the situation.

The mysterious creature was close enough for its features to be studied in great detail but there was no time.

“I hope you have a solution, Ira.” Avery seemed exhausted her burning wings seemed to grow fainter even with the sun being present.

“Not really.” Ira gave an honest retort. “If I kill that thing something bad is going to happen but if I don’t kill it every member of the Dark Elf Army might die so...”

Ira let out a heavy sigh.

“Anyway, if they manage to capture me within that thing, you have to retreat as soon as possible.” Ira waved his hands as he prepared to move once again.

“...I understand.” Avery replied after a short moment of silence.

Ira moved closer to the last Primeval that was approaching him and the Dark Elf Army. The first that greeted him was powerful winds that were near the level of the Storm Wall. His ability to manipulate gravity was the only thing that kept him ground as dust and debris began to fly past him.

It seemed as if the giant avian creature didn’t notice his presence at all. Its sole focus was the Dark Elf Army and the tornadoes under it which numbered in the hundreds spiralled viciously

“You can ignore me all you want, it doesn’t bother me one bit.”

As soon as Ira finished speaking, he used his reality separation. His body turned into a shadow-like silhouette of black mist with the exception of his yellow eyes. In his eyes, time began to slow to a crawl and everything became covered in a layer of black and white. He silently raised his hand and the fabric of reality around him began to crack.

Ira pointed his palm toward the winged-creature and then slowly closed it. As his hand began to make a fist, more cracks began to form in the sky. And when he finally closed his hand, a shattering sound that seemed to travel across the world could be heard.

…

The last Primeval vanished from sight along with the sound of glass being shattered. Following its disappearance was a massive shockwave that rippled across the battlefield. It was so powerful it knocked the Angels and the Valkyries out of the sky so one could imagine how the soldiers on the ground ended up.

Ira began breathing heavily as he stumbled around. His senses were all jumbled and he couldn’t move properly so it obviously became difficult for him to navigate around.

“...” Ira shouted Avery’s name as loud as he could, at least he thought he did. His ears were ringing too loud to hear his own voice and he couldn’t feel any part of his body. He blinked a few times before he fell over.

“Avery!” Ira slowly gathered himself and tried to teleport to her last location but he ended up somewhere totally different. He fell flat on his face before climbing to his feet once more.

Luckily, it seemed Ira landed somewhere nearby as a familiar hand grabbed his shoulder and began shaking him.

“Ira!” Avery shouted as she shook him.

“Hold on...I’m not there completely...give me a second…” Ira responded but Avery continued shaking him.

She was saying something but he couldn’t quite make it out. He tried to read her lips but that also didn’t work.

Sensing that she wasn’t getting through to him, Avery pointed behind him and he could see the Stone Sphere advancing rapidly with hundreds of Angels guarding it.

“Oh fuck,” Ira cursed. “...Call a retreat, Avery.”

“Why don’t you connect a space to the Underground City?”

Ira tried her suggestion as quickly as possible but space only twisted for a few seconds before it fell apart.

“...I can’t right now.” Ira clenched and unclenched his fist.

The runes inscribed on its surface began to glow, showing it was fully activated. A golden light locked onto Ira and covered him like a spotlight. And since Avery was in his immediate vicinity it covered her too.

“Move!” Ira pushed Avery and she was sent flying out of its radius.

And everyone, no matter who they were, watched what happened next. Ira was pulled into the air and toward the stone sphere before he vanished completely, indicating his capture.

“Ira is gone! Wipe out the enemy force!” Harith’s shout inspired a burst of cheers and shouts from the Unified Army. While the Dark Elves could only react gravely.

“Move as planned! We will cover the retreat!” Avery’s recited the orders they planned ahead of time. With the Valkyries covering the flank, they planned to retreat back to the Underground City.

Avery channeled as much as her divinity as she could and used Helion’s Wrath. The Sun flashed brightly before massive flaming projectiles began to rain down on the enemy army, stopping their charge in its tracks.

Using that, The Dark Elf Army began what would be a very costly retreat.

...

“Avery–” Ira couldn’t finish as he found himself in some strange place.

A flat domain of white sand stretched toward the endless horizon. There was nothing around him at all. Above him a cloudless blue sky could be seen yet it seemed different than the one he was accustomed to.

The first thing Ira did was sit down and rest. If he wanted to teleport he would need to recover from using Reality Separation, so he did. A few minutes later he stood up and thought to teleport back to the battlefield. Instead, he vanished before appearing in the same spot.

“...That’s not right,” Ira mumbled.

He tried teleporting to the Underground City and the result was the same.

“No…” Ira took a few steps before teleporting once again only to find himself in the same area.

“Fuck!” Ira shouted at the top of his lungs before he noticed something. There was no trail of footsteps in the sand behind him which meant he was somewhere else but there was no way to tell where exactly.

“This place could have different levels. Or maybe I just moved away from my original position.” Ira teleported repeatedly but didn’t make any new discoveries.

After several minutes of repeated teleporting, Ira was left completely dumbstruck.

“Those damn Gods.” Ira grinded his teeth together.

If he didn’t find a way out soon, he would end up in the hands of the very Gods he promised to kill.