Xia Hongfeng eyed the figure that appeared in the center of the summoning circle. He had already reclined back into his seat, the features on his face relaxing visibly. Although this was joyous news that he had longed to see and hear for years now, it was all a little bit too taxing for his heart. The man was already well over seventy, and he wasn’t a kid anymore. All the same, he felt like jumping for joy and wrapping his daughter in a tight embrace. He would be certain to throw a great feast in celebration of this event.
For the time being, he would inspect this new Guardian.
A Bronze-Rank Fair Beast, Hungry Corpse. It was a low-leveled Death attribute monster with various characteristics that made it quite strange. Xia Hongfeng thought it was a thoroughly unsuitable Guardian for his precious daughter to have, especially considering she had been tested at a young age as having a strong disposition to the Life attribute. In fact, if this summoning had failed, he had planned to send her to the Mage’s College to train this innate skill of hers.
The Hungry Corpse was an odd one alright. For starters, although it was considered a Bronze-Rank Fair Beast, this was only because it was criminally misunderstood. Death attribute Beasts were notoriously difficult to control, and made many Tamers uncomfortable to be around. The Hungry Corpse actually had exceptional strength and durability, on par with a Gold-Rank Wild Beast, but what was most impressive was its immense vitality. Out of all of the low-level Beasts, these undead were exceptionally difficult to kill. It’s downside was that it was usually slow and awkward, with incredibly sub-par intelligence, and its evolutions were exceedingly difficult to incite. Xia Hongfeng thought this Beast would almost assuredly be outside of his daughter’s ability to control, and he would advise her to get rid of it and attempt the ritual again later. Now that she had succeeded once, it shouldn’t be difficult at all.
“Little San, tell me, is there anything special about that Hungry Corpse?”
The man’s intuition as a noble had always made him seem overly cautious. His daughter looked quite exhausted by her trial, and he couldn’t risk a Death attribute Beast going feral in his home. The massive tiger turned its head, the ominous golden third eye glowing fiercely from behind the curtains. Everyone in the room that wasn’t used to it would feel a disgusting sensation temporarily overcome their body, as though someone were touching every inch of them. It was the all-seeing domain of this Awakened-Eye Tiger King.
After a moment, the feeling faded and the tiger returned to its usual posture, growling lowly.
Xia Hongfeng stroked his chin thoughtfully, saying, “A variant type? How odd… so it has a strong Life attribute present in it as well...”
Back on the floor, the sweating, pale-faced, bloody-lipped Xia Weiyang looked in awe at the corpse that had appeared as her Guardian. She wobbled to her feet weakly, and threw her arms out wide, wrapping the Hungry Corpse in a tender embrace.
“You… you came. My Guardian, you came to me,” an unmistakeable mist had started to gather in the corners of Xia Weiyang’s eyes.
She didn’t even notice the Beast’s strange movements or uncharacteristic attempts at communication. To her and everybody else, it just seemed like the gibbering of a mindless Beast. Of course, the sight of the young woman throwing herself onto the body of what was literally a human corpse was an incredibly bizarre sight, even more so that she was treating the cadaver like some kind of small cute animal. She was actually crying with joy while hugging such a foul monstrosity.
After a moment, Xia Weiyang pulled away from the Hungry Corpse and looked at it with a gaze of pride and adoration. Her heart was positively overflowing with love.
“That’s right, I must finish the binding ritual,” she thought.
Xia Weiyang took control of the last thread of her Will and aligned it with the Hungry Corpse in front of her, letting it flow into the Beast’s body and plant a seed of control in its mind. This would indelibly bind her spirit to the beast, and their contract would be complete until the Beast died. The death of her Beast would cause a temporary, debilitating backlash that would leave her unable to use her Will for a while, but it was nothing fatal. If Xia Weiyang were to fall, however, so too would her beast. This was just another of the quirks of the Beast Pact.
Only, what encountered Xia Weiyang’s Will was not the weak and easily manipulated soul of a Beast, but a strange, incredibly powerful force of nature. If Xia Weiyang’s soul was like a calm, peaceful stream, capable of being guided and diverted, this creature’s soul was like a series of endlessly raging rapids. It was tumultuous and wild, and immediately swallowed up that tiny bit of Will, ravenously following the thread back to the origin. Xia Weiyang’s own soul. All of the Beast’s thoughts and feelings would assault her mind and cause her to take a step back in physical shock. The burden was unimaginably great, and she could feel the foreign sensations of anger and confusion overcome her mind.
At the same time, she could feel her thoughts crash down on the mind of the Hungry Corpse, assaulting the Guardian as violently as its own feelings had done to her. Those two seemingly opposite souls, one gentle and one wild, began to flow into a singular pool. It was like a small pond being filled up somewhere between both of their hearts, connected in a way that shouldn’t have even been possible. This was a bond of the soul so complete that there was no longer any way to distinguish between the two. It felt like she was looking through two pairs of eyes, standing in two separate places, had two separate minds each with their own personality, memories, and thoughts.
“You, you are no mere Beast! What… who... are you?” Xia’s thoughts traveled from her own, original mind, and into that newly formed pond that was connected to their souls.
The thought rippled outward, travelling back into the rapids of the Beast’s soul, and ringing out in the mind of the Hungry Corpse.
At this moment, the Awakened-Eye Tiger King turned like a fierce wind and leapt over the sitting Xia Hongfeng. The movement was so sudden that, although he might have stopped Little San’s actions, he could feel the urgency with which it moved. This was his most trusted partner, after all, how could the Earl not respect its decisions? A Gold-Rank King Beast was just as intelligent as a human, if not more so.
The towering, golden-furred, white-striped feline crashed into the far side of the Grand Hall, the floor of which could miraculously support its massive frame. It let loose a mind-numbing, terrifying roar that tore through the crowd like the unending waves of a towering waterfall. So great was the power of this roar that it actually blasted aside the various youngsters, throwing them back helplessly and opening a direct path to the summoning circle. Despite its huge size, every movement was like a blur as it crossed the entire distance of the Grand Hall in a moment and scooped Xia Weiyang up in its mouth, carrying her away from the newly arrived Hungry Corpse.
If it didn’t know that soul connection between the two was so great, it would have crushed Margaret into dust with a single strike of its paw. As it was, it eyed her warily, the long tail on its back twisting threateningly, each movement releasing a thunderous crack of bone and tendon. Even a dullard would see immediately the terrifying might of that tail, which could probably break apart an armored car as it were tissue paper. An aura of death was radiating out of the Tiger King as it opened its mouth, the stench of blood leaking out and washing over the Hungry Corpse.
If they weren’t so thoroughly pinned down by the tyrannical aura of the Beast, Xia Yue and Xia Che might have stepped in to stop it, but even the pair of geniuses were no match for this king among beasts.
“What spawn are you, parasite? Answer me. If you seek to harm the lady, I will not hesitate to thoroughly-” the voice was deep and commanding, and was being transmitted directly into Margaret’s mind by that piercing third eye.
“Little San?” Xia Weiyang’s adorable voice was shallow, so that only the three nearby could hear it.
Naturally, since the tiger had spoken to Margaret, Xia Weiyang could hear it also.
“Put me down at once! Leave my Guardian alone!” she demanded out loud.
Shockingly, the tiger complied, and Xia Weiyang ran to Margaret’s side. She placed a hand on her chest, exuding a sigh of relief. Somehow, she knew instinctively that the Hungry Corpse was unharmed, and she turned around to face the massive tiger. It actually shrank back from the young girl’s actions, and she raised a hand in the air, slapping it across Little San’s nose. Of course, such a weak slap wouldn't even tickle, let alone hurt, the Beast. It was mostly just to get a point across.
Another thought would pass into Margaret’s head, “Thank goodness. You’re safe. Please don’t be scared, and don’t act rashly.”
“Bad Little San!” Xia Weiyang said at the same time, wagging a disciplinary finger.
The entire rest of the hall stared on in shock and confusion at this bizarre sight, watching the beautiful, beleaguered looking girl scold the Gold-Rank King Beast that was more than ten times her size. And it had actually worked! The sounds the giant tiger was making were beyond pitiful to behold, and all of its dominating aura had faded.