The Void Wolf

The Parvian man stood in front of Ira and Avery proudly. As if he was doing them a favor by allowing them to bask in his presence.

“Does this come with the meal?” Ira asked the man.

“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life.” The man said to Avery, completely neglecting Ira's presence.

The Parvian Dignitary had been led around the city due to a rumor that told of high class and refined women who would accompany people to social gatherings, usually enhancing the image of whoever was lucky enough to be their date. It was said that their wardrobe was consistent of a grey robe to hide their features.

At first, the Parvian man assumed it was nothing but a strange rumor, but after hearing it from several credible sources as well as seeing multiple women in grey cloaks around the city he could only see it as the truth. He pursued them fiercely but could never seem to catch them. That is until he stopped to have lunch at an upscale restaurant. He had been gifted a reservation card by who he assumed to be the Merchant’s Circle or the leaders of the Parvian Houses. It was sad that he was too full of himself to see that he was entrapped in someone else’s plot.

“What did you just say?” Ira looked at the man as if he was stupid.

“Jealous?” Avery ignored the Parvian and asked Ira with a grin.

“Annoyed.” Ira retorted.

The Parvian Dignitary was completely captivated by Avery’s grin and seemed to have taken it as her showing favor to him.

He ignored Ira and began to talk, “Whatever he’s paying to keep you at his side–” The man had no chance to finish as he found himself on the floor.

Though what was more alarming was the warm liquid sensation that soaked his chest. At first, he had assumed a drink was poured on him and just as he was about to curse he realized he couldn’t speak. In fact, he realized that there was an empty feeling where his jaw should be. He reached over to touch his jaw, perhaps thinking he was injured, but he felt nothing. He brought his hands up to his eyes only to see them dyed in red.

“Auagh!” A coarse scream erupted from the Parvian man’s throat as he began to feel pain.

Ira moved so fast that his body wasn’t even able to process the pain and took a few moments to catch up, but when it did the man experienced a pain that was beyond words. The man writhed on the floor before he laid eyes on something very familiar that was near him. It was his jaw, completely torn off and tossed onto the floor carelessly. As shock took hold of the man, he crawled toward his own jawbone with the hope that it could be reattached.

Customers in the restaurant were at a loss as to what happened. At first, they saw a man approach an occupied table and then he was bleeding on the floor. There was no one who witnessed what happened in between but it was clear who was responsible.

Avery didn’t pay attention to the commotion that filled the restaurant or to the blood-filled screams that came from the Parvian man, instead, she grabbed a napkin and handed it over to Ira.

“Don’t kill him. It’ll be too much trouble.” She said indifferently.

“Yeah, I’ll need your help for that though.” Ira said as he wiped the blood from his hand.

Avery nodded in response before she took a sip of a half-emptied wine glass.

Ira walked over to the Parvian man and looked at him weakly crawling to his disconnected jaw bone.

“You want this?” Ira asked with a chuckle before he raised his foot and crushed the bone under his foot.

“Aaugh!” The man screamed as his tongue flopped around, making for a horrific sight.

“You don’t blame me, right? After all, that's my wife. You’re probably lucky though, killing you would’ve been less trouble for her.” Ira crouched in front of the man with an amused smile. He grabbed a handful of the man’s hair and raised his head up to look him in the eyes.

“Wow. That's really fucking bad. I wish I had a mirror...Anyone got a mirror?!” Ira asked loudly as he looked around the restaurant only to see expressions of fear and revulsion.

“Guess not.” Ira shrugged as he let the man’s head go. He stood up and grabbed the man’s leg only to twist it off with ease, creating a loud cracking sound.

“Aaaaugh.” The man screamed in pain, but Ira didn’t seem to think it was enough and twisted off the remaining leg before pressing his foot onto the severed legs and crushing them.

“Avery.” Ira called out to her as he walked back to the table.

Avery waved her hand and small threads made of fire flew over to the Parvian man and burned his wounds, stopping him from bleeding. Of course, the man felt differently, the pain was so intense he passed out.

Ira looked at the scene in front of him without a care, “Well, I didn’t kill him.”

“You didn't.” Avery said as she raised her glass.

The restaurant had become emptier as the customers rushed out, the two guards at A rank rushed in only to see that a mangled body on the floor. The missing appendages could be found nearby, crushed into a paste-like state.

“T-The guards have been alerted. I-If I were you I wouldn’t move.” One guard said in a shaky voice.

“If you were me you wouldn’t be scared.” Ira responded with a chuckle.

The guard stayed silent and eventually, reinforcements came, but it was clear they weren’t the usual troops who occupied the Free City. Two men wearing heavy armor carried a set of thick shackles. One look at them and one could see they weren’t apart of the usual crowd, both of them being around A+ in terms of combat rating.

“Ira, right? Could you please come with us?” One of the men asked politely. He was aware that Ira was incredibly strong and he wouldn’t be able to do much if they were to fight. The shackles were designed to combat Ira’s strength, but it would be impossible for the men to put them on Ira if he wasn’t willing. Avery was right to assume that they had prepared countermeasures for every high-value individual attending the Summit.

“Don’t forget my sword.” Ira said to Avery who nodded in response.

“Thank you.” One of the men gulped as they looked at the body on the floor. Ira was placed at the highest threat level and they were to be extremely cautious when handling him.

Ira placed his hands in the shackles only to feel some of his strength drain away. “What are these?” He asked curiously.

“Restriction shackles. It’s an experimental product that’s based on the naturally restrictive vines in the Great Forest near the Grenitian Kingdom.” In front of Ira he had no inclination to be antagonistic. Plus, the information surrounding the restrictive shackles wasn’t confidential as it was a product only used by those who enforced the law.

“I see. Well, you can lead the way.” Ira said as he lifted hands up. Compared to those old vines in the Great Forest, the shackles weren’t anything special. If he wanted to he could just cancel the magic running through the shackles and break out of them.