The Void Wolf

Ira, Harper, and Samantha all stood on the lift.

"Well, we live just across from the Bluebird if you decide to drop by."

Ira said as they waited for the lift to arrive on the second floor.

"That's the one that was almost robbed right?"

Samantha looked surprised. Ira chuckled and glanced at Harper before answering.

"Yeah, that one. Oh! Since you're my Handler you should come to my wedding at the end of the week."

Ira had a look of realization before he invited Samantha. She wanted to refuse at first but realized she didn't have much of a choice. If she caused Ira to be upset she could be swapped out for another person on a whim. Her only advantage was that Ira was still unknown to most people and he didn't seem to know or care what a Handler was. For some reason, she didn't feel intimidated even knowing the boy she stood next to was the human equivalent of an Elder Dragon.

The lift stopped on the second floor. Ira and Harper stepped off while Samantha stayed on.

"I'll be there."

Samantha nodded while smiling. The lift departed leaving Ira and Harper on a floor filled with mercenaries. People were running back and forth, the whole second-floor area buzzed with activity. Ira spotted Lance and his party and walked over with Harper. Well, it wasn't like he just found them, he could distinctly smell a trace of their scents when he walked in the building.

"Hey! I-"

Gerald called out excitedly but stopped himself.

"How's it going?"

Ira chuckled as he passed through a small crowd and stood in front of them.

"That's you isn't it?"

Sarah whispered as she pointed to the ranking pillar.

"Yeah."

Ira responded as he grew serious and continued talking at a lower volume.

"You can't tell anyone it's me. I have to conceal my strength so my enemies don't find out."

Ira continued. Lance and the others showed earnest expression at the grave statement. What could Ira be worried about that caused him to hide his strength?

"Hahaha. No, I'm just fucking with you. Tell whoever, I don't care."

Ira burst out laughing. What could cause him to hide his strength? The answer was nothing. Lance and the others relaxed their expressions.

"Real funny, Ira."

Lance said in a normal voice, a few people heard him and sent hidden glances toward Ira while they began to eavesdrop.

"Hey, you're up there Harper."

Ira said as he read the pillar. Coming in at rank 60 was Harper, of course, it was overshadowed by Ira's abrupt journey to the top. Harper proudly nodded as she looked at the ranking.

"I never did see your status card, did I?"

Ira said as he held his chin. Harper pulled out the status card and handed it over. Lance and his party took a second look at Harper, her looks were just as eye-catching as Ira's, they just didn't pay much attention at first.

"Is this your sister, Ira?"

Lance asked as he looked at the weird dots between Harper's eyebrows.

"Something like that."

Ira replied absentmindedly as he looked at the card.

Name: Harper Rating: A+ Growth Capacity: S Bloodline: Unknown Blessings: None Mana Capacity: Very High Passive Skills:

Enhanced: Strength, Agility, Reflexes, Regeneration, Endurance

Spectral Sense

Spectral Manipulation

Spectral Control

Spectral Vision

Phase Shift

Lunar Force Enhancement

Greater Mental Resistance

Greater Disease Resistance

Advanced Chain Wielding

Adept Staff Wielding

Apprentice Martial Arts

Novice Knife Throwing

Active Skills:   Conjuration, Illusion Creation, Phantom Manifestation, Purgatorial Embodiment(Sealed)

"Nice. Avery's got you learning a bit of everything. Good job."

Ira praised as he handed the card back, Harper smiled cheerfully as she received the card. He turned his attention back to Lance and his group.

"Ira...Could we spar with you?"

Lance asked a bit hesitantly. Ira was younger than him and clearly far more powerful, he was a little uncomfortable with asking but he knew it would benefit his party greatly. The "few" eavesdroppers doubled, right now everyone was looking for anyone information on "Ira" and a few people overheard Lance's party when the rankings changed and they'd seemed to know who it was.

"Yeah, It's not every day you can spar with the number one."

Valerie added in, the other nodded in agreement. The eavesdroppers now suspected the kid with the black hair was the one named Ira and as a result, the rumor spread throughout the room.

"We can spar, but only if you come to my wedding. It's at the end of the week."

Ira chuckled. Then he wondered if he could actually bring people to his wedding. He guessed the Valkyries either wouldn't mind or kill all of his guests for trespassing, but the latter probably wouldn't happen. Maybe.

"Sure!"

Gerald shouted in agreement instantly, he'd definitely wouldn't miss the chance to bring his wife. The others also nodded showing they were attending.

"Alright, then we can spar quickly. After that, I have to go get a prosthetic arm made."

Ira said as he stretched his arms. Harper was kind of curious to see how strong Ira was too.

"Up to the fourth floor then?"

He asked with a bright smile. A small group of people who specialized in stealth decided they would follow "Ira" and Lance's group up to the fourth floor and see if he really was the number one.

...............................

Back in the Thynne Manor, servants and assistants were constantly running around. This was the first wedding where everyone from the family would be in attendance, whether they wanted to or not. A "normal" wedding was overseen by a priest with a more or less standard celebration after. Valkyrie weddings worked a "bit" differently. Ceremonial swords, a blessing from the Matriarch, and a few other peculiar things. Casey and Avery sat in the white pagoda while a few attendants stood to the side.

"You should get everything for Ira before he arrives."

Avery said with a faint grin. Knowing Ira he would assume that her family would have everything covered before he showed up. An attendant hastily wrote a note.

"Avery...You're different. Is it because of him?"

Casey raised an eyebrow as she took a sip of her tea.

"Yes, Mother."

Avery responded without hesitation. No trace of girlish embarrassment could be seen on her face.

"Well. That's good. I remember when I met your father. It was a marriage of necessity. His looks weren't bad and he was intelligent, but that was it, I can't say I felt very strongly about him. It is a shame Aldis couldn't talk to him a little more. A few of your aunts feel regretful you had to go through that. "

Casey said indifferently, clearly, her words about Aldis meeting his dad were just out of politeness and the regrets shared by Avery's aunts weren't shared by her and Lauren.

Avery remained silent. The reason why Aldis would never meet his Father is because he was dead. As to how he died?

"Do you regret killing him, Avery?"

Casey asked with an evaluating expression.

"Not at all, Mother."

Avery responded immediately. A strange conversation took place on the pagoda, yet none of the assistants or servants flinched. Most people in the household were familiar with the event. 11 years ago Avery's father, Ibrahim Grant, bore witness to the Valkyrie training regiment which could only be described as cruel. After the black pillar incident, a family meeting was called, during that time the females in training were in attendance, but the happy daughter he once knew became cold and indifferent.

He hounded Casey for answers before she informed of a few things Avery went through, much to his dismay. Anyone of them would completely break the will of a normal adult let alone a child. He bided his time before attempting to take Avery and Aldis away under the cover of the night. To his surprise, his plan ended when he went to get Avery. He was instantly discovered by the sleeping females and caught. He attempted to reason with Avery. A girl shouldn't have to live through so much brutality, right? That would be the rational consensus.

That consensus wasn't shared by Avery. "You're a traitor to the family and you'll die like one." were the exact words she said before beheading her father without blinking. A few hours later the situation was discovered by the Valkyrie supervising the training. Upon discovery that her husband had been killed, Casey's only response was "Well, that's a pity.", along with some praising words for Avery's decisiveness. She had very little love for her husband and even less when she found out he tried to take Avery.

"Very good. Anyway, you have a selection of dresses to choose from."

Casey smiled as she signaled the assistants who in turn signaled the servants. A few moments later a dress rack was brought out, showcasing a huge amount of dresses in different styles and colors.

"Ah, Avery I almost forgot. You haven't had your awakening yet, so I encourage you to show some moderation on your wedding night. Your Grandmother wishes to see the bloodlines bond, but there is no need for haste."

Casey gave meaningful smile.

"I'll listen to your words, Mother."

Avery's grin became a bit more noticeable.

.................................

Inside one of the public Mercenary Union training areas, private rooms were expensive to rent, so Ira decided a public room would do just fine. Lance and his party stood in a formation. Valerie and Zella stood in the back, Sarah stood in front of them, and Lance and Gerald stood in the very front. The idea was to have the mages cast spells from the back, Sarah to attack any openings, and Lance and Gerald to perform crowd control. Harper stood off to the side in a spectator area with wide eyes and Ira he stood opposite to Lance's party. He had rolled his sleeves up and took off his boots, it was strange to the others, excluding Harper, but they decided to just accept it. Ira also encouraged the party to use real weapons, to which they reluctantly agreed. A few people "covertly" stood gathered up in the spectator area to watch. If this boy was really number one, they had to spread the news as fast as possible. Ira noticed these extra eyes before they even arrived in the sparring area, but didn't really care if they looked or not.

"I'll try to hold back as much as possible, so whenever you're ready just go."

Ira said as he moved his feet apart. Lance wanted to tell Ira not to hold back but felt that would be a terrible idea. Which it would've been, Ira could move faster than the speed of sound, a B+ party would die without any resistance if he didn't hold back. Though it wasn't a fluid movement, he could go in any direction, but couldn't maneuver well. He wasn't running at at high speeds, but combining his gravity manipulation and strength to move. His gravity manipulation had to be his strongest power at the moment. He understood the reason behind it was the influence of The Void, which allowed him to bend the laws of the world.

Lance signaled his party and they moved accordingly. The two mages spread out, Sarah readied an arrow, and Lance and Gerald moved forward.

Fwip!

An arrow flew towards Ira, he simply raised his hand up and caught it. Catching an arrow wouldn't be difficult for skilled warriors, but Ira caught it barehanded. Lance and Gerald ran ahead as Valerie and Zella began chanting.

"Guard Breaker!"

"Arc Slash!"

Gerald used a skill as he swung the mace downwards while Lance brought up the flank and swung his sword. Valerie and Zella finished their chants.

"Frost Bolt!"

"Fireball!"

Ira moved in a way that almost looked like he was levitating and avoided the incoming swings. He caught the frost bolt and crushed it in his hands, and directly smacked away the fireball. He then lunged forward and uppercut Gerald who helplessly went into the air. He grabbed his ankle and swung his body toward Lance.

Bang!

The pair started to fall backward, but Ira wasn't done. He grabbed both of them by their collars and threw them toward Valerie and Zella.

Whoosh!

"Woah!"

"Watch out!"

Lance and Gerald didn't realize what happened and before they knew it they were in the air about to hit their allies. Lance crashed into Zella, while Gerald managed to divert his body a little, but still hit Valerie. Ira grinned as he walked toward Sarah who readied three arrows and was aiming at him.

"Triple Shot!"

She released all three arrows and they sailed together toward Ira while covered in a white light. They flew faster than normal arrows and had better stopping power. What Sarah didn't know was Ira had magic arrows shot at him on a daily basis by Valkyries, how would her arrows compare? He snatched the trio of arrows out of flight with his hands. Sarah began backing up and went to grab more arrows.

"Rapid Draw!"

Her hand was covered in white light as she rapidly shot arrows toward Ira. The following scene looked rehearsed as each arrow was easily caught by Ira. Sarah kept reaching for arrows until she realized there were none left, Ira dropped all the arrows he caught onto the floor and continued towards her. She drew a dagger and charged toward Ira, she went to stab him, but he grabbed her arm and tossed her into the air. Lance and Gerald recovered and ran towards Ira with weapons in hand. Gerald swung his mace from the side only to receive a kick in his abdomen, laying him out on the ground. Lance swung his sword furiously, in response Ira lightly dodged and found an opening. He placed a palm on Lance's chest and-

Bang!

He was sent recoiling backward. Then he caught Sarah by the leg as she fell back down and tossed her into Valerie who appeared to be standing up again.

"Ah!"

Sarah yelped as she crashed into the already disoriented Valerie. Groans and coughs filled the sparring area, along with Harper's giggles. The whole sparring match didn't even last 2 minutes. Those "hidden" spectators were stunned, but not for long as they ran off to spread the news. Harper smiled as she ran up to Ira.

"That was cool."

She giggled in amazement. Ira just ruffled her hair before he turned to Lance's party who were ruffed up. Disheveled hair, bruises, and scrapes were shared by each of them. It wasn't all bad, they could see more than a few flaws in their formation that they would work to correct.

"Jeez, you sure you were holding back?"

Gerald lightly touched his bruised jaw. Ira laughed as he put his boots back on. Sarah also pitched in.

"Yeah, you seem to like throwing people."

She recalled being tossed into the air pretty easily. Valerie and Zella also nodded in agreement, they were both were hit with human bodies and it didn't feel too good. Lance tapped his chest and looked at Ira.

"What was that skill you used to push me?"

He asked curiously. Ira thought for a second before answering.

"It's like this."

He waved his left and a pastry appeared in it. He stretched out his hand and the pastry floated up for a few seconds before falling back into his hand.

"I can briefly alter gravity."

Ira chuckled before eating the pastry.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

While he chewed Lance and the other looked at him in disbelief.

"So can you fly?"

Gerald asked excitedly. Ira wiped his hands off as he shook his head.

"I can jump really high, but I need to make contact with something to use it. It's a bit hard to explain."

Ira said as he contemplated about his ability. He still didn't have a handle on matter alteration, but he could skillfully employ gravity alteration. It seemed to only work in bursts and he could only adjust the input of power for each one. All of a sudden, Ira had a bright idea about matter alteration.

"Anyway. I have a house right across from the Bluebird, it's not too far from here. At the end of the week stop by in the morning. We can all go to my wedding. Let's go, Harper."

Ira said abruptly as he turned to leave. Lance and the others seemed to realize something that put them in awe. They personally knew Ira, the highest ranked mercenary. Eventually, they would find out if that was good or bad.

...............................

Charles stood in the middle of his trashed store muttering under his breath. Chalk markings were everywhere, from the floor to the walls. Dozens of pieces of metal equipment were warped and unusable. The alchemical tools were scattered and the overall shop was in total disrepair.

"...Isolate the unstable reactions and try to put the dominant traits into regression...or at the very least dormancy."

Charles theorized to himself. One had to give him credit. He seemed to found a loophole in the soul contract, while he couldn't replicate the formula, it didn't state that he couldn't make his own based on the knowledge he gained. Although Charles had been obsessed, he never had been so dedicated to something where he was willing to gamble his life. There were no safe ways to test soul contracts for loopholes and those stupid or desperate enough to do so usually ended up dying.

Creeeaaak

The metal door to the entrance creaked loudly, which was strange because Charles was sure he locked-

"Oh! Someone's been busy."

Ira forced his way into the store, while Harper followed behind. He surveyed the surroundings and easily came to a conclusion.

"...Charlie. Charlie. Charlie. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk."

Ira shook his head as he clicked his tongue. All of a sudden Harper raised her arm and a giant translucent hand appeared from the ground and grabbed Charles.

"Heuh!"

Charles shouted as he felt the air being squeezed out of his lungs. Ira slowly walked over as he read different chalk markings decorating the walls. He found a chair and pulled it to the center of the room. He then sat down in front of the restrained Charles.

Vssshing.

Ira pulled his sword from the scabbard and stabbed it into the floor. Then he waved his left hand and-

Thump!

The body of a woman fell onto the ground and it was even warm as if she had just been killed.

"Aueck!"

Charles shouted reflexively, but it was stopped by the giant blue hand that held him and ended up sounding like a cough. Ira ignored him and grabbed the woman's body by the arm. He picked up the sword and cut the arm off, allowing blood to spill onto the floor. He then held the freshly severed arm in his hand and went into contemplation, before grasping the sword by its blade.

He closed his eyes as he held both the sword and the severed arm. Slowly the arm began to change into a dark grayish color and gained a metallic luster. He then shook it the arm and see it lacked movement. The most common prosthetic arms lacked human qualities, only those with a lot of money to spend could afford to have human-like arms crafted.

Charles eyes almost popped out of his head and not because of the pressure from the hand squeezing him. Wasn't the ability Ira displayed something all alchemists would wish to see? Was it not Transmutation?

"Woah!"

Harper peeked over Ira's shoulder and shouted in surprise. Ira paid no attention as he placed the sword down and began placing his fingers on specific parts of the severed arm. The wrist, the knuckles, and the finger joints. After he was done he shook the arm and to the continued surprise of Charles, the hands and fingers moved incredibly realistically.

"Nice!"

Ira nodded satisfactorily and waved his left hand over the woman's body, leaving only a small pool of blood. He then waved his left hand again and-

Thump!

The body of a man fell onto the floor. It was Ira's, now deceased, brother Sebastian. He placed a hand onto Sebastian's body and slowly he turned into a dark metal statue. He waved his left hand over it and stored the metal body. Ira thought he could get someone to melt it down and make it into a sword later on. A strange and even demented idea, but Ira thought it was similar to how people keep the ashes of their relatives in urns. The only problem would be those people usually didn't brutally murder their relatives. Ira sheathed the sword and clapped his hands together. He stood up and put his hand on Charles' forehead.

"Aeuegh! Ack! No!"

As a result, Charles began crying and squirming wildly but stopped after a few moments when nothing happened.

"Oh. I guess it doesn't work if you're still alive."

Ira moved his hand away and chuckled. He turned to Harper and nodded, in response, she released Charles, who dropped to the floor deflatedly.

"Is the array for the arm done?"

Ira asked with a friendly smile.

"...Yes...It...just needs to be...placed."

Charles wasn't in the right state of mind. He had no doubt that he would've lost his life if Ira's ability worked while he was still alive.

Thump!

Ira dropped the metal arm in front of Charles.

"Then finish it and bring it to my house when you're done."

He smiled as he turned to leave. Harper giggled as she followed him to the door.

"Oh and next time you try to make something based on that formula without telling me. I'm gonna kill you."

Ira laughed as he and Harper left the store. Charles picked up the prosthetic with shaky hands and carried it into the back of the shop. Even though he was obsessed with the formula even he had to admit something was wrong. After he saw a small bit of the formula he was strangely compelled to it. It was some overwhelming fixation that he had no control over, but when he was brought close to death he seemed to have sobered up.

"Wait...He said 'without telling me'..."

Charles paused in consideration. Apparently, his near-death experience didn't sober him up enough.

................................