Guardian beast can kill their master, but not inversely.
Nevertheless, they must possess powers that far exceed those of their masters, and it is only in specific situations that can drive them to act this way.
That's why, it is strongly discouraged to act recklessly against 'em till you have the strength to repress them.
However, although looked like a clawless kitten compared to the other members of her clan, her quick reaction could not be taken lightly by Devon.
As for Devon, after spending a whole day on Mystic's side, drew out a few lessons.
One, nothing obliges him to obey Mystic's commands.
Two, even if he wanted, he couldn't live away from her.
And finally, the grimoire is the only one to oppress his will.
To sum up, as long as he keeps the grimoire far from Mystic, she can't send him back into the pets' garden.
Things are very simple; possessing this grimoire equals endless freedom!
Furthermore, he cannot collect evolution points in being locked up in the pets' garden.
For nothing in the world, he was ready to give up this desire that would, one day, lead him to his freedom.
But what was beyond his expectations was how far Mystic was ready to go to recover her grimoire.
Seeing Mystic pick up his sword with eyes filled with hostility, Devon became perplexed.
'System, what would happen if I destroyed this grimoire?'
To reverse the situation, the most valid option is to act impulsively.
However, his system's answer didn't help much.
[Grimoires are indestructible.]
Devon's eyes have trembled after reading these lines.
"Give me this before I act violently, this is my last warning."
Mystic's angry voice echoed off the walls, forcing Devon to focus on her once again.
After a brief moment to think, Devon growls inwardly.
'Argh, whatever!'
Yet, before Mystic's astonished eyes, he opens the grimoire, turns to the first page, and attempts to tear it out!
Mystic's heart skipped a beat as her blood began to flow in reverse, making her face pale and her throat dry.
"S-stop that!"
With horrified eyes, she screamed as she reached out to Devon without moving from her spot.
Her facial features were all contorted in irritation and disbelief as she watched Devon's impulsive and crazy actions in disbelief.
Devon was surprised by her intense reaction to the point that he came to doubt her system's claims.
However, now that he has his hostage, he has stopped, ready to take full advantage of the situation.
Mystic knew this after seeing Devon obey her for the first time.
'That bald asshole! How can he go so far as to blackmail me!? I knew he was smart but this is beyond common sense!' She clenches her fists and glares at Devon's actions with bated breath.
Just as the situation began to go in Devon's direction,
-Knock-Knock
…Someone knocked on the door.
'More troublemakers!' Devon grits his teeth out of exasperation.
But he didn't give the book back.
Instead, he tore it a little further when Mystic tried to answer.
"Okay, okay! I'm not going to open the door, so stop it!" With eyes fearfully dilated, she let out that scream.
After much shouting, the person behind the door could only hear her.
Devon doesn't know if she did it on purpose or if it's because of her stress.
'What an idiot!'
But he didn't like it.
At the second, the sober voice of a man resounds behind the door.
"Mystic, who are you talking to? Open this door, I have to talk to you about something important."
'S-sixth elder?! What bad timing!'
Just by the sound of the voice of the person behind her door, Mystic was able to identify him.
If it was one of her brothers who just came to annoy her as usual, it would have been fine, but here, it's a person she can't disobey.
"Just two seconds, I'm dressing, and I--!!
-Thud! Thud!
Before she could finish her words, two hands forced both sides of the door and tore it off the entrance.
After placing the door against the back wall, Nicolas's eyes switch between Mystic and Devon, frowning.
Seeing their two puzzled eyes on him, he asks.
"...What's the matter?"
Despite his surprise at seeing this skeleton with Mystic, and some questions that were popping up in his mind as the seconds slowly ticked by, he got straight to the point by asking the most important thing.
"That's...my guardian beast."
"…Why does it carry your grimoire?"
The sixth elder wisely asked.
In the meantime, his glare didn't leave Devon.
'A skeleton as a guardian beast…? This girl never ceases to amaze me.
I don't know if it's a good thing to have a skeleton as a guardian beast, but the fact that she managed to summon it with such a pathetic-tier grimoire proves her talent.
However, how does a guardian beast manage to hold a grimoire? Beasts shouldn't normally fear them?'
To these mysteries without any valid answers, Nicolas looks at Mystic's pale face and frowns again.
Remembering her trembling voice and the words she had spoken, an incredulous hypothesis strikes Nicolas' mind.
'Fear or anger? I can't figure out what she's trying to hide from me.'
He thought for a second.
"Sigh, ...Whatever."
Then he sighs and loses any interest in the situation.
"Get ready, we're heading to the Jolon front—Patriarch's orders."
When those words reached Mystic's eardrums, she was shaken enough to momentarily forget about Devon.
"At the front? Me?" She appoints herself by putting these words out of fashion.
"Who else do you want it to be? Perhaps your beast?"
Mystic's eyes flickered several times before she successfully managed to get out of her incredulity.
"Pardon me, esteemed sixth elder."
"Mhm! Get yourself ready, we'll leave at the sunup."
"Yes, count on me, sixth elder."
After receiving Mystic's answer, Nikolas took another look at Devon who was like a still statue.
He then shakes his head before leaving Mystic's room.
He knows she's facing a problem, but he doesn't interfere in her affairs or give her any advice.
At least, that's what Devon and Mystic believed until the two heard Nikolas' monotone voice in the hallway.
"Forcing things with a guardian beast isn't the best thing to do, especially if it's humanoid in form."
Mystic's eyebrows twitched when she heard those words coming from Nikolas.
She then smiled as she mumbled...
"Thank you for the advice, Sixth Elder."
At that, she looked at Devon.
"Well, where were we?"
"..."
As if Devon could answer that.
But she didn't care. She sat calmly on her bed and looked at Devon.
"From what I've learned about you, even though people might call me crazy, you seem to have a consciousness similar to a human's. So, I'm going to ask you a very simple question—do you understand what I'm saying? Nod or shook your head."
Devon became perplexed at this sudden change.
Unexpectedly, Mystic decided to listen to her for the first time, instead of doing as she pleased.
-Nod.
"...Sigh, it's not like I don't know. Anyway, what are you trying to do by snatching my grimoire?"
"..."
"It's hard to answer, huh? Then let's do it the way we did before." She jumped up from her bed, stopping five steps away from Devon when she saw him take five steps back.
At that moment, Devon witnessed the second appearance of her insane expression.
'That girl... how many masks does she have exactly?'
He couldn't help but be wary of her actions as he stared at her twisted smile.
"Since you're open to negotiation, tell me what you don't like. I'll start by stating some facts, stop me if I'm right."
She said with sparkling eyes.
"One, are you dissatisfied with being my ally?"
"..."
Not noticing any change in Devon's eyes, she continued.
"Two, do you have something against my grimoire?"
-Nod!
"???" Her eyes turned menacing when she saw Devon nodding.
"Do you want me to leave it to you?"
-Nod.
"Why!?"
At that question, Devon held the grimoire in one hand and pointed to the first red page with his other hand.
"Pets' garden? Do you want to go back?"
-SHOOK!
'...She doesn't want to go back there? Now that I think about it, if he really wanted to go back there, his current actions wouldn't make sense. Make sense.' She thought for a moment as she lazily rested her head in her palm.
She then looks Devon in the eye. "So you don't want to go back there?"
-Nod!
"But you can't stay here forever. You need to go into the grimoire to restore your spiritual powers and abilities.
Only second-order guardian beasts can stay at their master's side for more than twenty-four hours."
These explanations were followed by a moment of silence.
Meanwhile, Devon's pupils were scanning the room from top to bottom.
He didn't stop until he found what he was looking for.
He closes the grimoire and walks towards Mystic, arriving in front of her, he lowers his body slightly and picks up the quill on the counter near the bed.
Unlike before, Mystic no longer tried to snatch her grimoire, instead, she seemed drunk with fascination as she watched Devon's actions.
Devon picked up the quill and a blank piece of paper from the stack.