The Burning Fiend

After a couple of weeks, a sword shaped metallic life form was cutting the air over a valley between a pair of rocky mountains. Reynolds had chosen to travel in this particular metallic life form through this seemingly perfect place for ambushing inexperienced travelers in hopes to garner the attention of bandits, he was not sure if this area was under the rule of a famous group as he had not reached a city where he could buy a map and general information of the Bloodrigde Continent... he was just trying to tempt fate.

But to his great disappointment, their group was not intercepted by bandits. He was completely sure that there were bandits in the area, but they did not seem to be interested in provoking them. Reynolds was sitting in the luxurious compartment holding a glass of wine in his hand but it was clear that his mood was slightly upset as he was frowning trying to understand why the bandits seems to be avoiding them.

He did not like to be ignorant of important events, and he was sure that the bandits did not know he was a powerful combatant. "Why are they not attacking?" He muttered to himself with frustration. Rosarie was sitting next to him, and she was slightly upset as well. Unlike her sisters she had been the leader of a powerful organization for thousands of years before she decided to leave everything behind to join Reynolds's family. Her understanding of strategy and politics was something that Reynolds could not begin to understand.

"I think that one possibility is that the bandits are waiting for a specific target, and they are not willing to put their operation in danger for an apparently small group of Gods. Or perhaps an event of great importance is happening in the area, and they are afraid of getting themselves involved". Her melodious voice interrupted Reynolds thoughts and he smiled at his wife. "Well, I guess we will know soon after arriving at the nearest city". He said in resignation and couldn't help but chuckle at her clear dissatisfaction. "I wanted to test my new Attack Formation!" Her indignant cry was full of grievances.

Rosarie had spent the last 500 years working on improving the 'Green Dragon Attack Formation', and she had managed to improve the overall power and defense of the formation while reducing the divine power required for it to work. This formation would still be controlled by Koral, while Rosarie, Jenne and Windsor would help her with the energy supply. Rosarie had become more like a designer than a user of runic formations, she enjoyed the process and testing the final product, but she did not care much for who used the attack formation.

Reynolds took her in his arms and bit her ear gently. "Do not worry... we are in the Infernal Realm, there is no way that our travel is going to be this calm for much longer". Despite feeling frustrated by the boredom of the travel, Reynolds was in a good mood since he obtained new insights for the Edict of Life a few weeks ago. It would take him a long time to obtain something useful from it, but at least he had a new path to explore.

After a few more days, they finally arrived at Fansi City. Despite being the nearest city to this edge of the continent, Reynolds thought that it was too small for a city that might be the last stop before entering the Starmist Sea. Perhaps it was not that important as Miluo Island was only a year of travel away... 'It seems that Mosi is more important and influential than I had realized'. Reynolds thought while finding himself disappointed at the first impression obtained from Fansi City.

They left and put away the metallic life form near the gates of the city while the people waiting to pay the entrance fee turned to look at the new arrivals, it was not every day that a young man appeared in company of six beautiful women. The group ignored the attention of the people gathered at the gates and made their way directly to the entrance without waiting for their turn. The guards tensed, but they were intelligent enough to avoid insulting or demanding that hey should follow the rules, they relaxed when they saw the 7-star Fiend medal and felt delighted at their foresight of not causing trouble.

After paying the entrance fee for the girls, except for Sasha who was also a Fiend, they made their way toward the Bloodridge Palace. Along the way, Reynolds noticed that a few people were looking in their direction, but they seemed to be focusing especially in Sasha. He noticed that Rosarie was paying attention to this as well and sent his thoughts to her. 'Perhaps the influence of the Four Divine Beast Clan is high enough? Or their enemies? I have noticed that Sasha has a different aura around her, just like Linley does... perhaps the dragonblood warriors, or however they are known in here, can be identified easily through that aura' Rosarie blinked and nodded. 'Most likely enemies I think'.

They both were smiling thinking that they would soon have the opportunity to test Rosarie's improved attack formation. Sasha and the others were completely oblivious to the situation, Jenne and Windsor simply trusted that Reynolds would solve everything if trouble arrived, so they did not care at all as long as he was around and Koral and Talia had always being hyperactive and turned to look around without wasting much time focusing their attention to a single thing.

After half an hour, they finally arrived to the Bloodridge Palace and started their way toward the third floor. They did not need anything specific beyond general information of the continent and the location of the Prefecture City, so they started to look for the hall dedicated to books. Soon they were greeted by a middle-aged man with green hair and gray beard, he was wearing blue round reading spectacles that Reynolds was sure were only for show... he once again marveled at the eccentricities that some people seemed to enjoy.

"Hello dear customers, what kind of books are you looking for?" The middle-aged man said while performing a fancy looking and well practiced bow. The six women looked at him not knowing how to respond to the strange man and Reynolds sighed not amused at his antics. "We are looking for books with general information of the Bloodridge Continent, another with general information for the Indigo Prefecture and whatever rare books you might have on runic arrays, attack formations and refining".

The green haired man nodded several times as if approving of their choice and started to select a few books while talking about the importance of understanding where they were and how interesting the refining process for misty mulled wine was. Reynolds only sighed again and decided to tune out the non ending gibberish while waiting for the books as the girls turned to look at each other as they started to become annoyed.

A few minutes later, Reynolds was examining a book with general information of the Indigo Prefecture and found the location of the Prefecture City that was near the Skyrite Mountains that they might reach in a few decades of traveling. He felt satisfied to have found the information they needed so easily and started to examine the other books that were presented to them, but to their great disappointment the books were not useful for them. "It seems that finding rare books might be more difficult in the future..." He muttered to himself in annoyance.

Windsor saw that they were annoyed and said cheerfully. "Do not worry too much, I suspect that Lord Beirut might have an extensive collection... he might not mind sharing a few books. And I'm sure that the Prefecture City will have more options than the ones that Fansi City can offer". Reynolds smiled at that as he felt his mood improving, he kissed her forehead and paid for the two books that they needed.

"Well, lets see if we can find a good restaurant to celebrate our arrival to the Bloodridge Continent". Reynolds said with renewed enthusiasm while the girls smiled at the idea of enjoying a few delicacies and felt relieved to not having to deal anymore with the strange clerk.

After an hour, they were sitting in a luxurious private room within a restaurant that was surprisingly big for such a small city. Reynolds let the girls decide what food to order while he started to peruse the book describing the Indigo Prefecture.

"... The ruling Sovereign of the Bloodridge Continent is known as Boson..."

"... The Skyrite Mountains are under the protection of Beirut, who is suspected of being a Paragon and a Sovereign Emissary..."

"... The war between the Four Divine Beast Clan and the Five Clans had lasted for thousands of years reducing the influence and power of the Four Divine Beast Clan to the point of forcing them to take refuge within The Skyrite Mountains..."

At this point, Reynolds started to suspect that the relation of Beirut with the Four Divine Beast Clan was not a simple one, he had thought that Beirut's care for Linley was due to him adopting Bebe as a little brother... but now, he was thinking that Beirut's interest for Linley was probably beyond that. 'I must be careful... perhaps Lord Beirut is involved in more complicated political situations or alliances... or enmities. The situation might be difficult for me to even understand and much less likely to participate without becoming a pawn considering my current power and comprehension'. He thought ruefully and sighed.

"Things are never really simple, aren't they?" He muttered to himself considering if visiting Beirut was the best idea after all, but at the end of things... Lord Beirut had the resources that he desperately needed, it might take much longer to achieve his goals without his support. 'Well, I cannot deny that I have received much help from him and running away now do not seem to be an option'. He finally made his decision while feeling slightly conflicted and resigned, but swear to himself that he would avoid getting involved in major events. Before turning to the food, that have just arrived, Reynolds decided that he would see if there was information available regarding Beirut, Leylin and Linley... it was better to be prepared.

---

Withing the Prefecture City, Beirut was slightly uncomfortable and was frowning while remembering the conversation that he had with Leylin a few weeks before.

"I have done what I could to mentor the kid, it will be your responsibility to help him when he requires a battle to break through the final bottleneck. Do not count on me for that... I would be traveling and exploring the Infernal Realm for the next few thousand years!"

Leylin had disappeared after that leaving a surprised Beirut who did not have a chance to respond at all. Since that moment, he had the feeling that he had been tricked into some sort of dangerous joke and an ominous feeling remained with him since then.

-o-o-o-

(A/N- guys, sorry for the surprise break... I have been suffering from insomnia and the past couple of weeks had not been quite pleasant, hopefully I will manage to return to the previous release schedule within a few days. Thanks for sticking around.)