Veritas watched as the scene unfolded right in front of him. Two Pathbearers of considerable strength stood in front of puny and scrawny looking ones. However, it was a 4v2, in favor of the latter.
Seeing as one of the Pathbearers were imposing heat on the surroundings, his dirty blonde hair rose up in the air along with the temperature.
Sooner or later, it was as hot as a sauna in the clearing, making Bello and his teammate sweat!
Additionally, the other Pathbearer, who had long messy black hair, started to kneel down as if he were praying. Shining light struck, enveloping him with radiance and grace!
Bello clicked his tongue and saw the graceful Pathbearer swiftly turn agile. His body looked more unrestrained and nimbler than before!
Before the two of them could even attack, Bello controlled one of his wolves to strike down at the heat-imposing Pathbearer! The wolves were quite considerable in size, smaller than Bello but were larger than average.
Their gray and white fur is useful for the cold but in this scenario.. heat was not something that they could handle. So, Bello aimed to defeat the Pathbearer who's skin was glowing red.
He stayed back, making his beasts battle on their own. Each one was really capable and possessed a considerable amount of strength.
That said, his brown-haired ally, who was named Rambert, immediately dashed towards the graceful Pathbearer.
He jumped high and got closer to them!
His Path was related to being a frog and getting their attributes. His high leaping power and agility was also related to it!
"Come on!"
Rambert fell down and struck on the graceful Pathbearer with great force!
However, the skin of that Pathbearer seemed impenetrable as a metal ringing sound echoed upon impact. Rambert spun back and used his agility to move while falling.. then, he used his legs to send out a devastating kick to the Pathbearer's head.
But his skin was as durable as ever!
Bello glanced at their direction but immediately focused his vision on his current task. He focused two wolves to simultaneously attack the heat-imposing Pathbearer with glowing red skin.
But the Pathbearer with glowing red skin fought back and handled the wolves one by one.
He grabbed the fur of the wolf, kicked it into its belly and threw it onto the other wolf. Yet they were truly formidable, standing up only a second later.
So, the Pathbearer dodged a wolf's upcoming crunch and then ducked at the second one's attack. He punched upwards to send the wolf flying but its fur mitigated the damage. It stood up on all fours, seeming like it possessed a cat's features.
"What's with these damn dogs!?" He complained.
The glowing Pathbearer was pretty occupied with just 2 wolves, he reserved his other two for when an opportunity arose or when things got dire.
A wolf leaped at the Pathbearer who was caught off guard with another, then.. his arm got bitten off and his body seared his flowing blood.
But that fluid acted as an acidic liquid, immediately burning the wolf's mouth!
Bello screamed, "Rambert! Switch!"
"Gotcha!"
The wolves and the brown-haired Pathbearer immediately switched places and within a second, they were already imposing their strength towards one another.
Now, Bello was facing the graceful Pathbearer with seemingly seamless defense.
A wolf bit his arm yet it felt like steel!
The Pathbearer merely shrugged the wolf out of the way and rushed towards the other. He punched it to the side, making the wolf fly in a second.
But it was still undamaged, Bello's wolves resonated with his will!
The sight of Bello's army of beasts appeared once more on Veritas' mind.
Before his battle with the Gargoyle Knight of the South, Veritas hung out with Bello and his brother quite often. On a particular day, Bello headed to the forest and of course, Veritas followed.
That day, he complained about gambling and why they were wasting their time in the forest.
"What are we even doing here?! We could be enjoying the afternoon right now!"
"Be quiet you useless Prince! I came here to train my Path and you didn't even need to come with me!"
Veritas rolled his head and crossed his arms while they were walking deep into the forest.
In a few minutes, Bello and Veritas stopped at a clearing, the sun shone towards them and enveloping them with warmth.
"This should be far enough.."
Bello walked to the middle of the clearing and focused his mind, closing his eyes and standing perfectly still.
"What the hell is he doin-"
Suddenly, a wolf cub appeared from deep within the forest, staring at Bello as if they were already acquainted. It rubbed its fur on Bello's foot and acted warm towards him.
Then, more wolves of considerable sizes appeared. Not only that, but there were also birds that circled above them, boars, and other wild animals!
Although they were still small and needed growth, Veritas eyes widened upon seeing their potential.
The animals that were inside the clearing numbered around a couple hundred!
He was amazed.. no, fascinated!
It was truly a great sight to behold. A boy was standing silently and gracefully while being basked in the sun's radiance, all while being surrounded by hundreds of beasts!
Then, the ground shook in front of Veritas! A large footstep could be heard every 1.2 seconds!
A bird with a mixture of a lion's body, an eagle's head, wings and talons, suddenly appeared from the forest. It walked slowly but its heavy footsteps managed to shake the Earth itself.
"Is that a.. Griffin!?"
Who knew that a Pathbearer from only months ago could already harness the will of a Griffin? Yet it was only natural for Veritas, he already knew of the untapped power deep within Bello!
Even though his Path was only noble-ranked, his power mainly lied on the modifier of his Attunement.
Beasttamer of Wills. Meaning, its strength would solely rely on the user's wills!
And Bello Agalia was a person of great will.
Veritas knew that he was like no other person, he was not quick to cower in fear nor was he quick to lose courage.
But rather, his will exerted itself in the form of Beast Taming!
So, upon seeing the sight in front of him, Veritas smiled widely, "Bello.. you.."
Imagine the great heights that Bello Agalia would reach once he ascended to a Pure and imposed his will through Beast Taming! Furthermore, imagine if he reached Beyond! Or even Hallowed!
He could control beasts of various size and types, making him a one-man army!
Back to the present, Veritas was smiling widely at the sight of Bello's willful wolves.
His Will was as strong as his wolves and his wolves were as strong as his Will.
If Veritas main essence of the Soul was Truth and Alice's main essence was Lament, then Bello's main essence would be Will!
Bello watched as the two wolves got even more synergized and didn't let the graceful Pathbearer move an inch!
One wolf attack from the side, staggering the graceful Pathbearer. In connection to that, another wolf tackled the Pathbearer's legs, making him fall to the ground!
It seemed annoying at first, but Bello actually had a plan!
It was to carefully make an opening for his other wolves to attack. But who's to say that they could actually damage the Pathbearer?
Actually, Bello suspected that the Pathbearer in front of him had some sort of gimmick. Because why would he pray before a battle and not just keep the state of invulnerability as a permanent thing?
Bello smiled and gripped his blade tightly.
"He has a time limit!"
He did not know how long it would take but he needed to stall as much time as possible!
So, Bello would have to stall for as long as possible but a question lingered in his mind.
'How long would Rambert last?'
He glanced at the direction of his partner and saw him contending against the glowing Pathbearer.
'He's doing good, but for how long?'
Bello closely focused on Rambert and waited for him to falter in order to summon his other 2 wolves that were standing still, ready to be called.
But his shift in focus led to a blunder!
He noticed that the graceful Pathbearer had disappeared and his wolves were left oblivious!
Seeing the Pathbearer's figure vanish, Bello felt uneasy!
He looekd around, shifting his head towards every direction, aiming to find him!
And then suddenly, the graceful Pathbearer appeared right in front of him, his eyes were blackened and he seemed more faster than ever,
He then uttered:
"When battling a Beasttamer it is better to aim for the master instead of its slaves!"
He formed his fist into a ball and formed an upward strike!
However.. Bello tilted his head back and dodged the punch by an inch.
He stared at the graceful Pathbearer with cold eyes akin to that of a hunter.
"When battling a Beasttamer, don't you think that it's best to not underestimate the master?"