Recalling what Cater was referring to, Trey stared at the tall horse and dragon mix with a look of bewilderment, "Isn't that..."
"It's Little Jun..." Riddle breathed an exasperated sigh and muttered in defeated confirmation, "It's the little foal we brought to the infirmary with her."
Cater raised a brow curiously as he hid behind Trey nervously. Trey shook his head at the sight before turning to Lotus, "As long as we wake up, we'll be able to return to reality, was it?"
Lotus nodded, "I'll also have to look for one more person..."
"One more person?" Trey raised a brow.
Lotus sighed, "I should've made it clear not to spread my name in the first place. Thanks to that, that guy Lotus used my name to pull little stunts and manipulate my plans without my permission."
"Ah..." Cater grumbled, "Sorry about that... But since our opponents use weird looking spiders and stuff, we needed to find another source of intel and came across Lotus."
Hearing her own name from them, Lotus continued unperturbed, "No. I'm at fault here for not making it clearer. Nevermind. Anyway, I took the chance during the lion guy's overblot to figure out the energy in his body and where it goes and all that. Strange enough, I got pushed around and ended up in the frontal lobe of the brain with my energy. I needed to protect myself so I ended up indirectly creating an imprint on him."
"What?!" The other two stared at her in bewilderment.
"And, the reason you didn't mention this earlier..." Riddle frowned in disapproval.
"I forgot." Lotus sighed, "Thanks to that and another incident that night I had to go running around campus avoiding ghost guards to take care of some underlings."
"Huh?" Cater looked up in bewilderment, "Wait. Wait. Wait! What did you just say?"
Lotus raised a brow, "You don't know about the ghost guards? There was another incident that night of the tournament and the headmaster had to call out the ghosts to guard the hall of mirrors. Turns out the incident was related the someone in the Savanaclaw dorm, so I can't go into details about it. But, whatever was going on there, that Lotus guy helped solved it passively and made a deal with an entity in the dorm to take care of the situation."
"A deal?" Riddle raised a brow, "Who was the person? It can't be..."
"No." Lotus shook her head responding bluntly, "I've been here for a while now and understand you're thinking of Azul, but it was the middle of the night and the person I saw Lotus come across wasn't him. It was someone more powerful."
"What do you mean?" Trey request clarification with a stern look.
Lotus raised a brow, "You didn't notice this? Each dorm is protected by a strong force behind it. They weren't just emulated after the Great Seven. They also had some power to be there to protect the students if something arises. For the Savanaclaw's force, they acted based on the fact that the incident that night could effect the entire school if not dealt with properly. Thus, they acted. They won't act on the individual's personal affairs unless it has the potential to endanger the school and the students."
"And Lotus managed to convince this guy? Where did he come across them, though? He never went into details about it." Cater said curiously.
"He better not." Lotus responded, "If he could find it easily, that would only mean it would be just as easy for the other students to find them too. However, he did come across an enemy that was looking for this force."
Trey nodded, "He came across a girl who he said had died by some butterflies..."
"Ah, that's right..." Riddle raised a brow, "I've heard it was called Ivory Soul Butterflies."
"Ivory Soul Butterflies?" Lotus continued to pretend looking with surprise, "Actually, that was one of the underlings of the force."
Riddle raised a brow as Trey folded his arms and held a firmer stance, "He got those butterflies to help."
"He did." Lotus didn't deny it, "He passed along the message perfectly."
"Not only did the overblot occurred, but an incident happened on the same night." Riddle responded with a frown.
Lotus smirked, "Right? All on the grounds of the Savanaclaw dorm..."
"I don't get it." Riddle frowned and pointed out with his royal staff of gold and the red and black top to her, "Shouldn't the force be the butterflies, then?"
"Is it?" Lotus giggled and lifted her arm before them casually, "Why not ask them yourself? Crystal..."
Suddenly, a small group of white wing butterflies appeared around them and landed on the nearby rocks and plants surprising It was then that a large clearwing butterfly then landed on her hand. The sparkle of them under the light of the sun was almost blinding.
"This is..." Riddle stared at their surrounding in bewilderment as he noticed one of them perched on his staff gently, "Th-This... wings so clean... Like... Ivory?! This can't be the Soul Ivory Butterflies, could it?!"
"You're kidding?!" Cater pulled out his magical pen with a grimace as the others prepared to defend themselves, "Lotus said these things were poisonous!"
Lotus laughed as she realized how we Cater's memory could still be with or without a cell phone. She pointed out, "They won't harm you..."
"Huh?" Trey looked to her in bewilderment.
Crystal calmly absorbed the qi in the soul realm with outstretched wings as she balanced herself on Lotus's palm. Lotus told the butterfly queen, "Crystal. I'll leave the explanation to you."
"We understand, mistress." Crystal responded with a resonating voice loud enough for the others to hear as she spoke to them, "You're internal energy... You're children of the other mirrors."
"Woah! So, cool... Ah, wait..." He instinctively touched his pocket and pulled out his phone then took a picture of the parade of butterflies.
"Cater..." Trey pushed his glasses in place as he responded in bewilderment, "Why do you have your cellphone?"
"Huh?" Cater opened his eyes upon realization, "Ah..."
They become flustered looking between Lotus and Crystal before the butterfly continued, "I am the leader of these Ivory Soul Butterflies. A few weeks ago, after I've met with a young student of the school, a hot-blooded little girl of fifteen years dared to attack the student seeking us. In response to our relationship with this force in our mirror, we went to teach her a lesson, but she dared to force a contract upon us."
"A contract?" Riddle frowned as he recalled the books Lotus lent to him, "I recall that a contract could bind a beast to someone, like Peony, a cultivator..."
"That's right..." Lotus responded and clarified, "The contract is the binding between a beast and human. Though I call it a contract or binding, it's more of a chain for spiritual beasts such as Little Jun and Crystal. They would share a connection with the cultivator that makes them listen to every word you tell them to and, should the beasts die in battle, the cultivator could always find a replacement."
Recalling the words of the book and the meaning he could interpret of the contents, Riddle found it a match to her description as he scowled. Lotus sighed, "There's another thing that is a problem as well. If the human in the contract perishes, the beast would follow them and die as well."
"Seriously?!" Cater shouted in bewilderment.
"This isn't any different to slavery, then..." Trey responded with a frown.
Crystal flapped her wings lightly, "That is why the force you're looking for would not show itself before anyone."
"Crystal, right?" Riddle responded with a frown, "Could Crystal have been your original name?"
"It is not." Crystal responded calmly, "Shortly, after we agreed to help the child protect the dorm, our mistress appeared and offered us a few good deals and a few ways that could ensure the safety of my clan, despite having subdued us in battle. Thus, we agreed to the contract."
"That's why she told us that everything would be fine." Trey responded finally understanding the meaning behind Lotus's words, "She's formed a contract with, um... Peony? And, can not do what her master does not allow."
"Clan..." Cater noted with a sigh, "Now that's a term I wasn't expecting to hear anywhere in this conversation..."
With something more important in mind, Riddle turned to Lotus, "Peony, what does she mean by clan?"
"The spiritual beasts are often separated into individual groups that are clans." Lotus responded, "Because the world of cultivators is a survival of the fittest where the strongest gets to conquer over others, the spiritual beasts often gather in a large group to fight off human intruders and protect themselves and their young from being contracted or turned into materials."
"With such a problem..." Trey frowned as a thought came to him, "I see... You mean to say that the force in the Savanaclaw dorm is also a spiritual beasts?"
Lotus didn't reply but her smirk gave Trey all the answer he needed as Riddle folded his arms upon understanding, "I see now. That makes sense why it would not appear before us."
Lotus nodded, "The force dislikes humans very much. However, people from Savanaclaw are mostly beastmen making it more comfortable for them to settle and guard the dorm."
"So, how did you form a contract with that little guy, then?" Cater gestured over to Kirin who was stationed far from them.
Lotus sighed in exasperation as she grumbled aloud, "It was a mistake that occurred just before you guys found me... He accidentally got some of my blood and sent his mana into my soul. So, right now, he has a soul contract with me. That's... different from regular contracts and much more harder to cut off whereas I can't even find a clue to break off a regular one at all even if I wanted to. I just found out he offered the contract to me just after I left the infirmary."
"How did that happen?!" Cater shuddered at the word of blood as he looked to her in bewilderment.
"As soon as I left the infirmary, he asked me what's an imprint was loud and clear when I don't speak Kirin language..." Lotus responded with a sigh.
"I recall something about that." Riddle noted with a frown, "That a connection between the human and beast would give the human the ability to speak or understand the words of the spiritual beasts they contract with and their kind."
Lotus nodded with a frown, "Now, he's stuck with me until I can find a way to break off the contract."
Cater muttered curiously with a struggling laugh, "Hehe... But... I don't think he hates you in anyway..."
"I recall you telling me that he was born in our dorm because his mother was brought here for their plan but died." Riddle responded with a frown, "I've read how strong they can be. You... took care of the human she bound a contract to, didn't you?"
Lotus nodded, "That's right. She was very clever. If it was known that she was pregnant, the human would have thought of ways to profit off of Little Jun rather than put her into battle. She died only knowing that she had birthed him but not if he had made it or not."
"So sad..." Cater muttered as he pitifully glanced over to Little Jun's direction who was watching a butterfly land on his snout and sneezed.
"The protecting force..." Riddle spoke up, "Did it not show up because Lotus was a human?"
"That's correct." Crystal responded, "For years, we agreed to be the messenger between the two sides and, in turn, we have a place to stay in these lands and protection from them."
"Mutual benefit." Trey nodded, "I see now."