This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Kain’s gaze remained fixed on Balens, even as the murmurs in the crowd began to die down.

That blue-grade aura didn’t lie.

It didn’t make sense.

He and Serena had trained together countless times since returning from the relic. Travelled together on some casual College missions they picked up (despite being in the Order, they still needed to complete the minimum amount of College Missions each year—and both had been behind on their goal).

In one mission where they needed to escort a caravan, they even fought side by side in a life-and-death situation when the caravan was almost overrun by wild spiritual creatures. There was no way he wouldn’t have sensed something different if she had broken through at that time—right?

She hadn’t just been “hiding” her spiritual energy—she’d buried it. Smothered it. Which meant…

‘It must’ve been Balens,’ Kain thought grimly. ‘She probably made a wish. Something subtle like… “Let everyone think I’m still green-grade.”‘

It made a twisted sort of sense. Balens wasn’t like a normal contract. And the strength of his wishes far exceeded what a mere spiritual skill would achieve under most circumstances. And Serena… she was meticulous. Always five steps ahead. If she didn’t want anyone to know she had advanced, that’s exactly what would happen.

Still, the idea of it left a pit in his stomach.

Or perhaps…what if it wasn’t Balens?

What if it was the Thar’Ameth inheritance?

She could have used something included in the inheritance that was able to mask her advancement until now.

Kain had to acknowledge the strength of her strategy; her breaking through was something he had not accounted for. And Kain hated not accounting for things.

‘She better answer some questions after this match,’ he grumbled to himself.

At last, the referee, still looking slightly shell-shocked, stepped forward again and raised a shaky hand. “Match start!”

The moment the words rang out, Serena’s aura surged again.

Kain barely had time to process it before her contracts moved.

The Starweaver and the Prismarin launched forward in twin streaks of motion—one a trail of cosmic shimmer, the other a flurry of refracted light. The Elemental Guardian followed close behind, switching instantly into its fire form and hurling a wave of flame across the field.

Kain blinked, barely a second behind.

“Crap!”

He’d almost missed the start signal—too deep in his own thoughts.

Luckily, two of his contracts were already out.

Bea, the microscopic amoeba, was hovering calmly just behind his shoulder, Pale Thought Field already beginning to extend outward like a cloak draped over the field. Thankfully, though Kain was lost in thought, she was on top of things.

Chewy, the tiny, now yellow-grade (absorbing energy as food and having a high quality really showed its strength) glutton, wiggled excitedly from his perch on Kain’s arm, pulsing with readiness.

But the rest…they were far too large to enter the field with him.

With a flick of his wrist, Kain summoned them in a burst of compressed light.

Aegis, his massive humanoid shield made of stone, hit the ground with an earth-shaking thud.

Vauleth followed, his crimson tails whipping forward instantly and slapping toward the incoming wave of flame.

And then came the swarm.

His Vespid guards—dozens of them—erupted from the summoning point in a coordinated burst, falling into formation mid-air like trained soldiers.

Almost as if Serena and Kain planned it out beforehand, everyone already seemed to have a target in mind. If Kain and Serena weren’t known to spend so much time together already, surely some in the audience would accuse the match of being rigged or staged just due to how rehearsed and coordinated each move from both sides felt.

‘Sigh…what can we do? Our contracts know each other to well now’

Aegis intercepted the Starweaver. Vauleth wanted to compare flames with the Elemental Guardian. Vespids, massive in number targeted Prismarin and its dozens of illusory clones.

Bea’s field brushing against the minds of each of Serena’s contracts. Kain focused, watching closely.

No reaction.

No instability. No access points.

‘Blocked?’ he thought in surprise. ‘No… not blocked. Sealed.’

It was like their minds were already coated in a second layer of shielding.

Bea pulsed her frustration in his head.

‘Something’s already interfering with their mental space,’ Kain realized. ‘Maybe another wish. Or some kind of innate defense included in the Thar’Ameth inheritance. Or a new spiritual skill Serena picked up and hid from me—as a member of one of the top noble houses, I can’t look down on the legacy she has access to…like Soren.’

But, like he didn’t know everything about her (clearly), she didn’t know everything about him. Thankfully, Bea had a new trick up her sleeve.

If he hadn’t had Bea’s new skill—the one that degraded defences slowly over time without needing to insert a full split—this would’ve been a disaster.

Bea, undeterred, shifted tactics. Her aura pulsed again and invisible black particles began to flood the field—like black pollen only visible to Kain and Bea. Bea directed the dense cloud of particles to Serena’s contracts, and they stuck to the thick mental walls of the opponents’ minds, causing a sapping, eroding pressure.

Kain smirked slightlywhen he saw their effect and the lack of response from Serena, as they went undetected.

It was like watching water wear away stone. Only the ‘stone’ won’t realize it now has a crack until it’s too late.

It would take time—but it was working. The defenses were sturdy, but not impenetrable. He just had to buy Bea time.

And that meant…

The field had fully erupted into chaos.

Aegis charged forward to meet the Starweaver midair, his shield raised high. The two collided in a flurry of light and dust, the sound of metal scraping against a sword seeminglt composed of starlight grated on the ears like nails on a chalkboard.

The Prismarin, true to its annoying nature, had already begun cloning itself with illusion techniques, scattering over a dozen reflections across the stage.

The Vespid guards moved to intercept—organized, deadly. But each attack passed through duplicates. Then came blasts of multicolored light, frying wings and frying nerves.

Kain clicked his tongue.

‘Come on, Bea, faster. Target that annoying bunny first.’

Meanwhile, the Elemental Guardian clashed with Vauleth in a literal storm of fire. Flames roared from both creatures, the air between them shimmering with unbearable heat. Neither gave ground.

Back on the sidelines, Chewy bounced once.

Then again.

And suddenly, a pulse of energy shot from his body—linking to Bea to restore her quickly draining energy as she tried to speed up at Kain’s request.

Occasionally, Chewy would also send a small burst of energy in the direction of the others as well—not enough to fill them back up, but around a 10-20% refill for each at a time.

Chewy was taking in ambient energy from the battlefield—burnt heat, spiritual residue, everything—and distributing it back to his teammates.

‘Smart boy,’ Kain thought, patting the little spore absently. That took pressure off him entirely. No need to use his own spiritual skills to replenish them.

But while Bea tried to chip away at the opponents’ minds to tilt the battle in their favour…

Balens was doing the same thing…only to Kain’s side

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