“YOU! How could you betray us!??! Why did u attack us!?!” Fiora vociferated, still unclear of what had just gone down.

Kiefer ignored her, turned to face Isana and calmly asked, “Soo... 8 dragons huh? Why didn’t you use that last time we fought?”

“I didn’t think it was necessary, and by the time I decided to use it, you’ve already knocked me down. Besides, that spell requires a long casting time and there’s no way I could use it without Fiora stalling time for me.” Isana shrugged, as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“uuuu…” Rashael slurred from his sleep. “Damn bro, how did u manage to stay conscious in that fire pit? And why didn’t you use your black sword?”

“That’s cos I held my breath and slowed my heartbeat using my mana. Plus it helped that I could hold some oxygen around me using my mana. And you know perfectly well why I did not use Blacky. I’ll take blacky out if I ever feel like cleaving Aioa in half. And besides, it’s not exactly easy wielding a fragment of a neutron star and waving it around like a bat.” Kiefer rebuked, while staring at Rashael. “And you! You changed the equipment I made for you didn’t you?”

“Of course I did. You really didn’t think I was just going to sit back and let you have all the fun tweaking with MY equipment did you?” Rashael asked back, smiling wryly. “I couldn’t stand back after seeing the methods you’ve implemented into MY armour without trying something out myself. Rashael emphasized the word ‘MY’ again.

Then a blast of heat wave reverberated through the jungle floor, setting the canopies on fire. “WILL SOME TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!?!” Fiora yelled again, clearly upset that she was being ignored.

With a wave of her arm, Isana put out the fire, leaving smouldering branches in the tree tops. “That was practice, Fiora.”

“How is that even practice?! They almost killed Luna, they burned and chopped my limbs off several times, and he even killed me! How the fuck is that practice?” Fiora rorared while pointing at Kiefer and Rashael.

“Wow… She really cannot handle her rage properly can she?” Kiefer whispered to Rashael, using the back of his hand to cover one side of his mouth without breaking eye contact with the fuming Fiora.

Fiora saw Kiefer and Rashael secretly whispering things to each other while smiling and she blew her top. Starting to bawl her eye out she started waving her arms madly in the air while stomping on the ground with her legs, yelling the words loudly and clearly, “STOP! IGNORING! ME!”

Seeing her act like this, Kiefer and Rashael burst out in laughter only to have their heads punched by Isana. Isana walked over and consoled the crying Fiora, explaining the situation to her.

“It’s alright Fiora,” Isana spoke gently, while hugging Fiora. “They were just practicing, seeing the extent of our abilities.” She kept explaining, watching as Fiora nodded and wipe her tears away. Glaring at Kiefer, Isana for the first time, spoke coldly to him. “Get over here and apologise now! Explain yourself!”

“Hahahaha… sorry Fiora, it’s just, your reactions are too funny and predictable that Rashael and I could not help but laughing. But it’s as Isana said, I was testing how you would react in a surprise attack and when in a state of confusion. And I must say, aside from your rage issues, you performed admirably.” (Kiefer)

“And what’s even better, is that we won! So Kiefer has to follow whatever we say for a whole day!” Isana added, trying to cheer Fiora up with a reward based system.

“Really? I can ask him to do anything?” Fiora asked again, double checking with Isana, to which isana smiled widely and nodded her head. “Then I want Kiefer to stay away from Isana for one whole day!”

Isana’s smile turned into a gaping maw, as she was stunned by the unexpected request. “Wai- wait Fiora. You can ask him for anything you know. Why not get him to make you one more of those statues that you love huh?” Isana started to jitter about frantically, hoping that Fiora would change her mind, already regretting taking sides with Fiora.

“NO!” Fiora pouted like a little child despite her age. “Isana always sticks way too close to Kiefer and I don’t like it. So Kiefer you must stay away from Isana.”

Kiefer was now literally laughing on the floor, clutching his stomach. He had not seen the situation turning out this way and was dreading what Isana would have him do. But now, everything seemed to be fixed with the one immature request from Fiora. He quickly collected himself before Fiora changed her mind and replied her firmly, “Deal!”

And so the group of titans and human continued on their journey to Arigan, with Isana constantly sulking and Kiefer too engrossed in his discussion with Rashael to care. Sher had returned to her miniature form and was recuperating within Kiefer’s armour. Fiora was skipping in a jolly mood behind Isana who had Luna on her back.

The day passed quickly, although it seemed like an eternity for Isana. Right as the sun rose the next day and Luna went back to sleep, Isana clung to Kiefer tightly as they entered the special barrier around Arigan. As if they had been expecting the arrival of their lords, the high elves were already prepared with a carriage and escort party the moment the titans entered the city barrier.

Kiefer chose to walk alongside the convoy, letting the titans rest within the carriages. His devilish horns and new armour design garnered numerous second takes from both male and female high elves alike. Kiefer did notice something different about the city as they entered the main street. It seemed quite a bit less populated as before.

Where there used to be numerous elves crowding popular junctions and restaurants, now, the place barely even had a handful of elves. He noticed that most of the shops were closed or empty, with shelves devoid of any products. Only the basic backbone of any society was present. A few grocery shops here, some blacksmiths there. The only part that might not have changed would be the farms and the agricultural fields.

Even then, Kiefer noticed that the warehouses of the farms were almost empty; barely having any food stock in them to sustain what little population was left of this city. As he was busy scrutinizing the now deserted city, Kiefer was led away from the convoy. While he was guided towards the palace, the carriages carried on towards the southern end of the city. When asked about it, the guards only replied that they were instructed to bring only him to the palace while the others were to head straight for the new city.

Within minutes, Kiefer was now standing in front of a giant wolf-like creature, chained and caged by adamantium bars. King Ryul was standing next to him admiring the huge capture. As explained by King Ryul, this was a creature that was thought to be an evolved version of a Fientral. The high elves managed to capture it alive but have since failed at taming it, so they just kept it locked up. The creature was responsible for wreaking havoc in the supply route between Arigan and the port city.

Kiefer stared in awe at the majestic creature. There was no wonder why it couldn’t be tamed. Standing at almost 3m tall, this wolf was larger than a fully grown Tarsus. Instead of having large crystals coat its body like its smaller cousin the fientrals, this wolf had hair that glimmered the same colour as the Fientral’s crystals. Each strand of hair on its body was made of crystalline bristles and unlike the fientrals who had an almost non-existent tail, this wolf had a long flowing tail almost half its body length.

The most prominent feature though, was the jagged horn on its head. It was cream white and occasionally, it would have slight flashes of turquoise in it. Kiefer immediately recognised the material. It was something he had been introduced to quite recently – moon stone.

As Kiefer approached the cage, the beast snarled at Kiefer, revealing 2 sharp rows of teeth and 4 abnormally large canines that stuck out of its mouth even when closed. The beast then got up to its full height within the cage, causing the surrounding guards to raise their weapons in high alert and making Ryul take a few steps back.

The beast snarled and growled at first, but the closer Kiefer got, the softer the growl became. Finally, it was silent, as if it already knew who was the stronger one.

“Heh. So you do seem a little smart after all.” Kiefer thought as he extended his arm into the cage. Then without warning, the beast snapped at Kiefer’s arm, gnawing at it like a chew toy but failing to cause Kiefer any sort of damage. Kiefer though, was slightly impressed the beast actually managed to penetrate 5 layers of his mana armour with the bite alone.

With the beast firmly biting onto his forearm, kifer pulled its head close to the bars and with his other free hand, grasped the horn on its head and started pouring his mana into it. The beast immediately released its grip, trying to pull free from Kiefer while howling in pain as the horn quickly changed colours from cream white to deep oxford blue colour, going onto black.

Kiefer Finally let go of the horn as the beast quickly retreated to the far corner of the cage, its body writhing in agony. Kiefer knew exactly what was happening to it. It was the exact same thing that happened to Kiefer when he first came to Aioa – Mana overload. Pain was, after all in Kiefer’s opinion, the best way to subjugate wild animals, just like how he subjugated Shearwood.

The crystalline fur that used to flash magenta and yellow now turned a dull grey colour, with silver sparkles coming off its tips. The tail was now white at the very end while its blood red eyes turned jet black. The transformation was surprisingly quick and soon the beast was breathing calmly again.

“Master…” (???)

Kiefer was surprised at the voice he had heard. Unlike Sher’s, the voice had a deep gravitas feeling to it. Looking at the caged beast he heard it call him master once more. Confident in his capabilities to control the wolf, Kiefer unlocked the cage, much to the horror of the guards as the wolf stepped out of the cage.

“Tell me about yourself.” Kiefer commanded the beast.

Through telepathy, the beast responded. “Master… I do not know what I am now, but I know I used to be a Fientral. Do you not recognise me anymore master? You instructed me to defend the caves with my pack.”

“You’re THAT Fientral? What happened to you? Why are you like this now?” Kiefer asked, eyes wide open in disbelief.

“I did as you asked me, and I protected the caves from attackers. Not long after you left, a group of humans attacked the caves and the people inside it. I lost my entire pack to those humans. They were well armed and one of them was a mage. He carried with him a cane with a white stone attached on its end. I managed to injure the mage, and grasped his cane to stop him from casting spells. However, in the process, I accidentally swallowed the white stone. The humans did not stop attacking and I managed to get away from the caves with only my life. I suffered so much that night and when I woke up in the morning, I was already in my previous form.” (Fientral)

“And so why were you attacking the supply route around this city? I’m sure I instructed you to protect humans, not attack them.” Kiefer interrogated.

“But ever since I changed, and the white horn appeared on my head, I was always hungry no matter what I ate. Until I found these tasty elves. Their mana satiated my hunger when I ate them and that’s the only way I could avoid hunger.” The Fientral reasoned.

“Ok, from now on, you are not to attack anybody else unless I specifically order you to. If you need mana, just come to me and I will feed you. Understood?” (Kiefer)

The wolf nodded, and sat down on its hind legs. To King Ryul and his guards, it only seemed like Kiefer and the wolf were growling to each other, unable to understand the conversation. It was only thanks to Kiefer mana that was infused into the Fientral’s body that they were able to establish a mental link with each other and understand each other.

Having tamed the beast, Kiefer mounted it and rode it towards the port city, a much more comfortable way to travel than running on his own 2 legs. King Ryul and his guards followed after Kiefer on their Tarsuses, only barely able to keep up with Kiefer’s new pet. Within an hour of high speed running, Kiefer caught up to Isana and the rest.

Sher immediately sensed a competitor nearby and shot out of the carriage from the comfort of Isana’s head, only to be greeted by a snarling wolf. Obviously unhappy that her position was in jeopardy, Sher snarled back at the wolf, before speaking out loud.

“Know your place you stupid dog.” Sher reprimanded while floating in front of the wolf’s face. “Kiefer is only master to me. You are nothing more than a pet, a ride, an extra set of feet for my master. Understand that you will never be able to fulfil the role of my master’s servant, even in another thousand years.”

Kiefer was astounded. The last time Sher spoke in that manner and tone was when she sorely underestimated him before their first duel. Ever since, Sher had been docile and almost like a child to him.

The ex-Fientral instantly understood, and nodded its head. Then in a clear and crisp voice, he answered back, much to the astonishment of everyone on the scene. “Yes boss. I understand.” Kiefer and the rest of the convoy just stared, slack jawed at the scene, as the small winged serpent smiled and dove straight for Kiefer’s chest piece. The giant wolf then rose up and began to saunter next to the carriage.

With the shock of the large wolf talking dying down, the convoy slowly made its way to the port city, where Kiefer would execute the final stage of his revenge plan. Having forgotten his initial intention to visit the libraries, Kiefer focused on how he could apply the new pet to his arsenal in his war against Drigor. To complete his final phase,, he was going to need more ships, at least a small fleet to bring supplies and back up firepower to Drigor.