The war room was a tomb of violet shadows. Leib lay motionless on the cold marble floor, his forehead bleeding from the impact of his fall. The blood was dark, staining the white stone, but it was the least of his problems. Inside his mind, the red countdown was a drumbeat of death.
[ 0:42 SECONDS UNTIL HEART FAILURE ]
Batlaha and Prien stood frozen, their powerful Gabays snarling at the unseen pressure in the room. They couldn't see the screen. They couldn't see the digital scythe hanging over Leib's neck. They only saw a boy dying of a mystery they didn't understand.
"He's stopping! His heart is erratic!" Prien shouted, his hand hovering over Leib's chest, the heat of his Phoenix flickering in his palm.
Reign didn't wait for the Kings to act. Her instincts, sharpened by years of surviving on her own in the Great Tree, surged to the surface. She didn't have the training of a royal healer, but she had a bond with a Mythical being that defied common logic.
"Opa! Now!" Reign screamed.
The Opal Serpent uncoiled from Reign's shoulders, its body expanding until it filled the room with a blinding, iridescent radiance. The serpent wrapped its long, cool body around Leib, coiling tight like a cocoon of starlight. Opa's scales began to pulse with a deep, emerald-green light, the color of life and ancient forests.
"What is she doing?" Jay whispered, shielding his eyes.
"She's forced a deep-link healing bond," Batlaha murmured, his eyes wide with awe. "The purity of that mana... it matches Queen Gab's own Unicorn. Reign is more powerful than we realized."
Inside the cocoon, the emerald light surged into Leib's chest. The red prompt in his vision flickered, stuttered, and then vanished. The "Hunger Penalty" was suppressed, held back by the sheer overwhelming life force of the Mythical serpent.
Leib's eyes snapped open. He gasped, a massive intake of air filling his lungs as if he had been underwater for an eternity. The black ink in his pupils receded, replaced by his natural brown, though a faint violet ring remained around his iris.
The serpent uncoiled, returning to its smaller form. Leib sat up, his forehead perfectly healed, not even a scar remaining where he had struck the floor.
"I... I can see it clearly now," Leib whispered, his voice shaky but certain.
He stood up, looking at the Kings. "It's not just a feeling anymore. There is a prompt, a message, floating in the air. It says there is a target fifty-three kilometers southwest. An Epic-class soul is about to evaporate. I need to get to it, I think... I think the shadow inside me is try ming to say that i should go there."
Prien's eyes narrowed, his mind racing through the geography of Hirayi. "Fifty-three kilometers southwest? That is the border of the Fiero territory. Specifically, the foothills of the Cinder Peak. If an Epic-tier Gabay is there, it likely belongs to one of my retired border commanders."
"Then we go," Batlaha commanded. "We need to see this with our own eyes. If the boy is a consumer of souls, we must know the cost."
The journey was a blur of speed and power. Jay rode Jin, the Ten-Tailed beast leaping across the plains with impossible strides. Reign and Leib rode atop Opa, the serpent gliding through the air like a needle through silk. Above them, Prien led the way on his Phoenix, a streak of fire cutting through the clouds.
Leib was silent throughout the flight. He watched the numbers on his vision count down.
[ 20 KM ]
[ 10 KM ]
[ 2 KM ]
They descended into a quiet, heavily wooded valley. Nestled among the thick, ash-dusted pines was a sturdy house built of reinforced stone and ironwood. It was a soldier's home, built to last, built for defense. But as they landed, the atmosphere was thick with a heavy, oppressive stillness. There were no birds singing. No wind rustling the leaves.
The gate was locked with a heavy iron bolt. The windows were shuttered from the inside.
"Shaba," Batlaha said softly.
The human-form Gabay stepped forward. With a single, fluid motion of his hand, the iron bolt didn't just break, it disintegrated into dust. The heavy wooden doors creaked open, and a wave of stagnant air hit them.
It was the reek of death. Not fresh, but old. Decaying.
"Stay back, children," Prien warned, his hand wreathed in flames.
The interior of the house was a mess. Books were scattered, a table was overturned, and in the center of the main room lay a man. He had been dead for at least a week, his body in the advanced stages of decay. He looked to have died peacefully in his sleep, but the world around him had rotted in his absence.
"Commander Valen," Prien whispered, a rare moment of grief crossing his face. "A hero of the border wars. He lived alone. No one knew."
"His Gabay," Leib said, his voice tight. "It's here. Under the bed."
Prien gestured with his hand, and his Phoenix let out a soft, mournful chirp. A wave of heat washed through the room, not to burn, but to cleanse.
The Phoenix's fire began to cremate the remains of the Commander with a dignified, magical flame, turning the body to white ash in seconds to honor the fallen soldier.
As the body vanished, a faint, glowing yellow light began to throb from beneath the heavy iron bed frame.
Slowly, a creature crawled out. It was a Saber-Toothed Tiger, but it was small, its form translucent and flickering like a dying candle. Its massive fangs, usually symbols of terror, were lowered in sorrow. It let out a high-pitched, warbling cry that sounded like a sob.
"An Epic-tier Saber-Tooth," Batlaha noted. "It has been holding onto its physical form for a week, refusing to leave its master. It is at the very brink of evaporation."
"At any moment, it will ascend," Prien said, stepping back to give the spirit room to return to the Bátis. "Watch the light. It will turn white and—"
But it didn't turn white.
The moment Leib stepped into the room, the yellow light of the tiger reacted. The tiger didn't look at the Kings. It didn't look at the Phoenix. It looked at Leib.
The Saber-Tooth let out one final, weary roar and walked toward the boy. It nudged Leib's hand, its spirit-flesh feeling like cold electricity. Then, the transformation began.
The yellow glow was suddenly invaded by veins of black ink. The tiger's body twisted, its form deforming into a sphere of swirling shadows.
"What in the name of the Seven..." Prien gasped, reaching for his sword.
The black orb shot into Leib's chest.
Leib didn't shout this time. He stood perfectly still, his head tilted back.
[ SOUL CONSUMPTION COMPLETE ]
[ ENERGY REFINED: EPIC-TIER (SABER-TOOTH TIGER) ]
[ NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: PREDATORY LUNGE (LVL 1) ]
[ NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: FANGS OF THE VOID (LVL 1) ]
"Leib? Are you okay?" Reign called from the doorway, her voice trembling.
Leib didn't answer. He slowly lowered his head. When his eyes opened, the brown was gone. They were glowing with a fierce, predatory yellow, the exact color of the tiger he had just consumed.
A low, guttural growl vibrated in his throat. It wasn't a human sound.
"He's lost control," Shaba said, moving instantly to stand in front of Batlaha.
Leib lunged.
He didn't run; he blurred. The speed was beyond anything a human could achieve. He launched himself at King Batlaha, his fingers hooked like claws, a spectral image of the Saber-Tooth's massive fangs flickering over his own face.
"Leib, stop!" Jay screamed, but he was too slow.
Shaba caught Leib mid-air. The human-form Gabay's strength was absolute, but even he was pushed back half a step by the sheer force of Leib's impact. Leib snarled, his yellow eyes wild and unseeing, snapping his teeth at Shaba's throat.
"It's the spirit's instinct," Batlaha said, his voice calm despite the attack. "He has the power, but he hasn't tamed the soul. He is the tiger right now."
Prien stepped forward, his hand glowing with a soft, numbing warmth. "Move aside, Shaba."
The King of Fiero pressed his palm against Leib's forehead. "Sleep, boy. The hunger is fed. Rest."
A surge of calming, fire-tempered mana flowed into Leib's mind. The yellow glow in his eyes flickered and died. The tension left his muscles, and he slumped forward into Shaba's arms, his breathing returning to a deep, heavy rhythm.
The room fell silent, the only sound the crackling of the Phoenix's remaining embers.
"He absorbed an Epic soul," Prien whispered, looking at his singed glove. "He didn't just take its energy; he took its essence. Batlaha... if he continues this, what will he become?"
Batlaha looked at the unconscious boy, then at the two Mythical youths standing horrified in the doorway.
"He is no longer a trainer," Batlaha said, his voice heavy with the weight of the future. "He is a living Bátis. A cage for the souls that the world has forgotten."
They carried Leib back to the serpent. As they flew back toward Paraiso, the prompt on Leib's sleeping vision flickered one last time, unnoticed by everyone.
[ COMPATIBILITY CHECK: 12% ]
[ WARNING: HOST BODY REACHING LIMIT. ]
[ EVOLVE OR PERISH. ]