Tracing along the top of the forest canopy were 2 figures running at incredible speeds towards the billowing pillar of volcanic smoke. It seemed like the closer they got, the more the volcano seemed to rumble, spewing more smoke out of its summit. The temperature steadily rose until they were a day’s run from the volcano.

Unable to bear the heat and Isana’s aura not having as much of a cooling effect, Kiefer cast his permafrost spell, causing the temperature within 10m of him to drop and stabilise at a cooling crisp 19 Celsius.

“Just how hot is this place? Even with my permafrost spell that could freeze things below zero, I only managed to bring it down to 19…“ (Kiefer)

The tree line had been gradually dropping in height until finally, the trees stopped growing altogether, giving them a full view of the majestic smoking volcano surrounded by a thick moat. The air was humid and visibility was low with steam clouds obscuring their sight. As Kiefer poured more mana into his permafrost spell, he extended his range and intensity of the spell, causing the steam clouds to condense and crystalize into tiny snow particles that’s drifted down and melted on the floor.

Visibility was now limited to within 100m where the spell was active. They could no longer proceed at the breakneck speeds they used to arrive here as the spell took some time to completely get rid of the steam clouds. Isana was now grabbing Kiefer’s arm more tightly than before, her grip almost crushing Kiefer’s mithril gauntlets.

Sher on the other hand, was floating around in circles chasing and eating the snowflakes as they appeared, without a care in the world.

“Sher, how come you are not afraid of Fiora like Isana is?” (Kiefer)

“That is because Fiora doesn’t like me.” (Sher)

“Huh? Explain more please Sher.” Kiefer was perplexed. Usually you would be afraid if someone stronger than you did not like you, but Sher still seemed relaxed.

“If- if I told you the reason, will you let me stay outside here? I really don’t want to go in.” Isana interrupted, still trying to wriggle her way out of meeting the fiery titan.

“Isana, I can’t promise you anything until you explain things clearly to me. I don’t even know what the problem is here so I have absolutely no idea what I'm trying to fix…” (Kiefer)

“Y-you see. Fiora is a kind-hearted woman. But, she is different. Because she burns almost everything she touches, she stays away from others to avoid injuring them or losing them.” Isana paused, trying to find the correct words to describe Fiora.

“She’s… weird. I am the titan of ice, so I am about the only person she can get close to, and given her fetish for women, I try to actively avoid her, but it only makes her more excited and eager. And that makes me even more afraid to go near her.” (Isana)

“I see… so a lesbian titan whose only source of physical intimacy comes from Isana that she can’t burn. But not being able to get what she wants only serves to make her want it more. Hahaha this is hilarious like Sher said” (Kiefer)

“Well that’s not a problem the way I see it. At least she’s on our side and not Drigor’s. But she might have a problem with me seeing as you are with me and she cannot get you until she gets rid of me. Why don’t we just meet her and try to talk things over?” (Kiefer)

As reluctant as Isana was, pulling back on Kiefer’s arm, Kiefer kept dragging her forward step by step towards the moat. Sher stuck around close to Kiefer as the heat was unbearable at some distance from him.

Observing the moat and trying to figure out a way to cross it safely without becoming a well-done piece of meat, Kiefer kept staring at the perpetually boiling water in the moat. He could not cross over above it since the moat was too wide and he would be steamed by the time he reached across. The only way seemed to be from the clouds above, but he did not know how hot it actually was in the volcano’s mouth and without any heat resistant clothing on, he did not want to act rashly.

All his armour had already been stashed away inside his PD to remove the risk of them melting. Standing barefooted above the ground on his mna foothold, Kiefer suddenly hear the volcano erupt with a thunderous boom, and instantly set up his dome shield around his group, releasing a single mana pulse to check the surroundings for other living things. The feedback that returned shocked him. Looking up through the smoke and steam, he could barely make out a fiery creature plummeting from the sky towards their group.

“ISSSSAAAAAAANNAAAAAAAA!!!! You’ve finally come for me my baby!!” the flaming bird creamed as she came soaring towards Kiefer and Isana, only to hit the dome shield and bounce off it, tumbling several times in the air and landing in the moat, causing a large explosion of steam.

“Huh.. so she’s a phoenix. I wonder if she can re-incarnate after death just a like a real fantasy phoenix…” (Kiefer)

What dropped into the water was a flaming bird, but a humanoid figure came climbing out of the water, steam rolling off her body. Her hair was made of red and orange fire, human arms covered in yellow feathers from elbows to the wrists, and she had scaly bird’s legs from the knee downwards with 4 sharp talons on each feet, 3 forwards, one backwards.

Looking at her, Kiefer estimated her to be slightly shorter than Isana, at about 160cm, and a juvenile body with no womanly curves. She walked over to the group, smiling ear to ear and staring only at Isana, not even registering Kiefer in her sights.

“Hello Isana! And baby Sher too. Oh how much you’ve grown Sher, I’m sure you will become a fine lady when you grow some more.” Fiora looked at the tiny Sher and licked her ruby lips, causing Sher to shiver and instantly hide behind Isana.

“I’m so glad you decided to visit me. Finally! You have no idea how long I’ve dreamt of this day. Oh! And you brought me a sacrifice too!” Fiora kept going, not letting anyone speak as her gaze landed on Kiefer.

“Ugghh… It’s a male… You know I’d rather eat a rotting undead worm than eat a male. You can go now sacrifice. Consider yourself lucky. Now get going! Shoo! Get out of my sight.” Fiora rambled on, not noticing the changing expression of the trio in front of her.

“Hehehehe.. “ Kiefer started giggling as Sher and Isana stared at him. They had never seen him laugh out aloud like that. He would at most smile, but never laugh, taking everything seriously. Then Kiefer continued. “Hahaha... No wonder you didn’t like her Sana… She’s such a bimbo. Arrogant and ignorant, but that’s easy to deal with.” Kiefer said with a smile.

“Bimbo?” (3 titans)

“Hahah… sorry that’s a term we used where I come from to describe people like her” Kiefer said pointing at Fiora.

“HOW DARE YOU POINT YOUR DISGUSTING FINGER AT ME?!?! LET ME BURN YOUR HAND OFF AND WE’LL SEE IF YOU STILL DARE TO LAUGH!” Fiora immediately raged, taking a 180 degree turn in her attitude as she approached Kiefer. Kiefer however, just stood there unafraid.

In an instant, a severe cold wave enveloped the area, extinguishing Fior’s fiery hair and freezing a portion of the boiling moat. “YOU WILL NOT TOUCH MY HUSBAND!” Isana bellowed at the shocked Fiora, as her mana poured out into her surroundings.

“Hu- husband??? AAAAHHHH!!! And my hair!!! My beautiful hair!!! Nooo.. don’t look at me when I'm like this!!” Fiora stunned at the word, and then shocked that her fire hair now gone, left only a pale bald head as she tried to desperately cover it with her feathered arms.

“Ahaha… well now that that’s over, shall we get down to business?” Kiefer asked as he stepped forwards to the Titan squatting on the ground with her arms over her head. Extending a mana rope from his outstretched hand, he took Fiora’s hand and helped her onto her feet, while signalling to Isana to cancel her freezing field.

The moment Isana stopped her skill, the area started to heat up again tremendously and within moments Fiora’s head was now alit, with a small growing red flame. It took a while until the flame was back to its former glory and only then did Fiora start talking.

“So? What did you come here to talk about with me?” Fiora asked, holding her non-existent chest out, her arrogant attitude back along with her fiery hair.

“I’ll get straight to the point. We have a problem with Drigor and need your help in killing him.” (Kiefer)

“ And why should I help a disgusting human like you? You may be Isana’s husband for now, but you won’t live as long as she will and once you are gone, she’ll be mine again.” (Fiora)

“You are not helping him. You are helping me. And I need your help to convince Luna and Rashael too.” (Isana)

“And what do I get for helping you? Just so you know, there’s nothing that you can offer me that will replace Isana. If you agree to give Isana to me, then maybe I will consider helping you guys.” (Fiora)

Isana shuddered at that request, and then looked worryingly at Kiefer. She knew what kind of man Kiefer was, but still couldn’t settle her beating heart at the possibility that Kiefer might just offer her up to accomplish his goal. It was after all the most effective and efficient way to go about.

“No sorry that is the one thing you cannot have.” Kiefer clarified, calming Isana down greatly before continuing. “However, I do have something I believe you might like. What if I gave you something that will never burn in your hands?”

Her eyes wide open and clearly intrigued, Fiora stared at Kiefer and nodded in silence, awaiting what he would bring out. “I’ll decide after I see it and hold it.” She said eagerly.

“Might I ask first, what animal do you like?” (Kiefer)

“Fox-women. Why?” Fiora asked, still unsure of Kiefer’s intentions.

Kiefer then opened his PD and took out a mithril ingot and an orihalcom ingot, shocking Fiora as she had not expected a human to be able to open a PD. Looking over to Isana and Sher, the 2 titans just smiled smugly and nodded, confirming what she had just saw.

Kiefer used his mana threads to break off a small lump of raw mithril and proceeded to infuse his mana into the grey metal, turning it soft and silver. He molded it into a rune circle and allowed it to harden. He then poured his mana into the dull orihalcom ingot and watched as it changed into red putty. Molding the red metal over the silver rune, Kiefer shaped the orihalcom into a familiar shape. Soon, in his hands was a small statue about 30cm tall in the shape of a fox-woman.

Looking at the familiar face, Sher and Isana giggled, clearly knowing that Kiefer had based the statue off Feni. As Kiefer activated the rune buried within the statue, it started to turn cold and ice started to collect and encase it. Using his mana threads to pass it to Fiora, she grasped the statue of Feni in her hands, melting the ice away, but leaving the statue intact. In her hands was a cold feeling, something she had felt when she first held Isana’s hands.

The rune was designed to stop all molecular movements around it, essentially bringing its surroundings down to absolute zero. That’s why the cold statue nullified Fiora’s tremendous heat and did not burn or melt in her hands.

Smiling gleefully and hugging the Feni statue like a little kid with a new soft toy, Fiora looked at Kiefer and agreed to work with him.

“All you have to do is simple. I will be leaving Isana and Sher with you. You are to protect them with your life and help them to convince Luna and Rashael to join our cause. I have something that needs to be done alone so you will be travelling together for a few months. What do you say? Can you do it?”

“Yes of course, husband of Isana. I will protect them at all costs. When do we start our journey?” (Fiora)

“You start right now. Isana, remember the plan. We wait for the each other at Arigan once we are done with our respective sides. Do not, under any circumstances engage Drigor without me. Understand?” (Kiefer)

Nodding her head, Kiefer hugged Sana and Sher one last time before heading back the way they came from, leaving the 3 titans on their own journey.

“Master, how long will you take?” Sher asked Kiefer secretly in his head.

Kiefer however, did not reply, knowing full well that even he could not give any sort of estimate on the time it will take. Not wanting to get Sher’s hopes up, he just took to the skies and disappeared out of her sight.

Hello folks. This is a short chapter. If I have the the time, hopefully there will be one more tonight. enjoy.