A few minutes ago.
Now that only Rebecca and Noha are left under Mystic's tent, Rebecca looks up at the latter and looks at him with complex eyes.
"My boy, there is no point in feeling sorry for her; even her family abandoned her. You...you should do the same."
"..."
Seeing his silence, Rebecca sighs before getting up.
"I'll leave you to say your goodbyes to her; I can't do anything for her, sorry."
These were her last words before she left Noha alone with Mystic after patting his shoulder.
However, right after Rebecca came out, Noha's saddened look vanished as if it were just an act.
Slowly, black smoke began to escape from his body followed by a drastic change in his appearance.
His size has become twice as big, his head almost touching the ceiling of the tent.
Two long black horns have grown from his head which is nothing more than a skull similar to that of a mutant beast.
Now, its body is covered with thick, furless black skin.
His hands were hideously long, almost touching the ground although he was standing on both feet.
If Mystic was conscious, she would not try to attack this creature but would prioritize fleeing in the hope of escaping it.
A Nightwalker, one of the ten most powerful mutant beasts recorded in the Seekers encyclopedia.
However, this appearance was only an imitation, like the one the creature had before Rebecca left the tent.
Regardless, he kneels next to Mystic takes a small black seed the size of a marble, and stuffs it into Mystic's mouth.
Once its mission was completed, the aberrant creature took another unexpected form, that of a small snake barely ten centimeters long.
It crawled out of the tent, leaving Mystic behind.
However, the latter's pale face gradually regained color.
--
Present time.
"...Is there a genitor tree? In this forest?" Monica asked, her eyes wide open in shock.
"Yes."
Nikolas' direct answer was like an electric current that shocked them.
Danzel did his best to remain calm.
"...No wonder we have so many insects under our feet." He mumbles as if thinking out loud.
At these words, Monica remembered something she seemed to have forgotten.
Although, she couldn't say it when she saw a strange scene happening before her eyes.
She immediately frowns as she stares at the humanoid shadow next to Nikolas.
The reason is that the latter seems to be taking a shape that Monica doesn't like.
"Nikolas, now that your doppelgänger has completed its task of giving the seed to the little girl, when do you plan on sending it back? I don't like it when it mimics my silhouette!"
She growled those words as she looked in annoyance at the new figure before her.
The outline of her face, down to the smallest detail in her eyes, her shape and height, her clothes, and the six swords hanging on her back and around her waist, Nikolas' soul beast reproduced everything about Monica perfectly.
Even her current expression.
Nikolas looked to his side and raised his eyebrows.
Then, without saying a word, a golden portal manifested behind Monica's doppelganger standing right next to Nikolas.
"Go back." Nikolas then ordered.
"..." As always, his beast didn't say a word, but he obeyed.
After it left, Monica continued as if nothing had happened. "Does this mean that Danzel isn't going back to the clan?"
"Yes. He's on a mission to find the progenitor; you know how important these evolution seeds are to the clan."
"So the fact that we're both here is why many, including the king, are spying on us?"
Nikolas nodded at his sister's assumption.
"...It's possible."
From his delayed and hesitant response, both understood that there was more to it than that.
But they didn't dig any deeper.
If Nikolas didn't tell everything, it's probably because Pettriddas ordered him to.
Danzel who had been silent for a long time slipped into the dialogue again like a bookmark.
"If there is a progenitor tree in this forest, it would mean that a powerful mutant beast lives near it as a guardian."
His voice and expression seemed closer to a heartless person.
Now that they were between them, without the presence of spies or guards, the three seemed determined to debate the important matters.
Monica began to think about the situation and the possibility that her brother's words might turn out to be true.
'It's a possibility that can't be ruled out.'
She nods as that thought goes across her mind.
Although she seems baffled about things, she isn't as naive to think otherwise.
After all, history has proven that whenever the offspring appeared, powerful beasts served as their watchdogs.
Then, Nikolas took out a map from his ring and opened it up on the strategic table.
"Anyway, things can't be worse than we thought." He added.
When both's eyes landed on this map, they frowned.
At a glance, they can guess how important this map is.
This map is one of the priceless treasures. No matter the location, it adapts and shows the surroundings within a radius of ten thousand kilometers.
Therefore, Danzel showed a solemn expression when his eyes landed on the map.
The other function of this map is to also mark areas with high spiritual energy density.
As soon as Nikolas opened it, the three could see the plans for the areas they had not yet explored.
"Looks at that area."
Nikolas' index finger lands on an area at the end of the map.
The area was red but as Nikolas draws a straight line upwards, the area becomes darker and darker.
The three knew what this would mean.
Then, Nikolas looks at Danzel and begins to speak in an authoritarian tone.
"Patriarch order—Danzel Forett Cer Shadow, alpha of Berserkers pack, bring your berserker wolves to that place and set up a safe zone around the progenitor tree."
Danzel gets up from his chair and kneels before Nikolas.
At that moment, it wasn't Nikolas to whom he was showing his respect, but to the patriarch's words.
"What if scavengers are lurking around?" Danzel asked in a tone that conveyed respect.
Nikolas took a deep breath before answering.
Then, his eyes turned lethal as he said...
"Kill all scavengers that approach you within a five-hundred-meter radius, even if they belong to royal knights. Failure is unpardonable! - The patriarch had added."
"Tell the patriarch that berserker wolves and I, their leader, heard his order."
"…Mhm, the patriarch will hear your message."
--
"Mmm~?"
At dusk of the same day, Mystic slowly regained consciousness, opening her crimson eyes.
She looked at the blanket over her in confusion.
'How did I end up under this blanket?'
This confusion pushed her to try to remember the last scene she had experienced before losing consciousness.
However, just at that precise moment, a strange and vibrant voice thundered in her mind, making her jump in surprise.
"[You finally woke up, it's not very early.]"
The pressure and echo of that voice was as heavy and dire as the patriarch's, though the eloquence differed little.
Alarmed, Mystic turned her head towards the source of that voice that pierced her eardrums to finally resonate with her soul.
This strange and sudden feeling that she had never felt even in front of the patriarch pushed her to feel threatened.
She jumped on the cousin and took her sword first.
However, her eyes widened in shock when she saw a mysterious creature sharing the tent with her.
With her heart agitated and her pupils trembling as if she was being driven by a wave of madness, Mystic swallowed her saliva with difficulty, horrified.
The creature in front of her, sitting on the stool that belonged to her beast, and a grimoire in its hand.
Even though the color and size of this grimoire are different from hers, Mystic understood that it is her grimoire!
But this detail was the least of her worries.
The most important thing is the creature in front of her.
Entirely dressed in a black coat that seemed alive but made of energy, she was unable to see even a part of the silhouette of this humanoid abomination.
However, although the creature is dressed in a demonic mask that seems to have the same characteristic as its coat, Mystic could see its two long, bony white horns pointed upwards.
'That thing... it's not human!'
With a simple glance, she came to the same conclusion as Devon during their first meeting.
As that thought crossed her mind, her throat began to dry up.
"You, who are you?" She asks impulsively as she channels all her spiritual energy, creating an aura shape on her blade.
The creature momentarily looks at her before unseating the gaze.
It puts the grimoire, which is supposed to belong to Mystic, on the stool it just left.
This time, Mystic had to raise her head slightly to keep eye contact with the humanoid creature in front of her.
~230 cm.
Compared to this creature, Mystic looked like a kid in front of an adult basketball player.
The creature didn't act recklessly when it saw Mystic on guard.
It knew she would show her fangs if it dared walk even a step toward her.
Therefore, it slowly raised its hand and snapped its gloved fingers.
As a result, its coat, mask, and the black gloves it wore over its body began to be sucked towards its palm and condensed into what looked like a black orb of energy.
Mystic's eyes enlarged when she saw the true appearance of what she believed to be a mutant beast with intelligence.
Although its current form was confusing, Mystic was able to identify it.
However, her mind still had trouble making the connection between this silhouette and Devon's old one.
Although his body was still made of bone, its shape, hardness, and thickness were like night and day in comparison.
His fingers, his torso, his waist, and every part of his body that should have needed flesh to compensate, new bones were added.
Instead of two pecs, it was two plates of bone with his red vital core embedded between them.
Instead of abs, it was bone-shaped abs.
Every muscle was remolded of bone, both hard as steel, but also evenly allocated so that he didn't look like a gorilla.
The only part of his body that hasn't undergone too many significant changes is his head, which is still a skull but with sharp teeth like those of demons.
Above this skull, two thirty centimeters long bony horns curved upwards.
Mystic looks at this strange appearance with eyes constantly convulsing with doubt.
But something more important has challenged her in her contemplation.
By instinct, she looks down at Devon's waist, where her family jewels must have been.
"...Nothing." She mumbled.
"..." Devon didn't answer her.
Although relieved to see her regain her composure, Devon didn't like her comment.
As a result, he put his shadow cloak and demonic mask back on in the most natural way.
"Say, that's your voice I heard earlier, right?"
Mystic asked the second thing that worried her the most.
But Devon looks at her without saying anything.
"You know how to talk, am I wrong? It's you, these words come from you. Come on, let me listen to your fluent voice once more."
After her confusion, her curiosity returned as she flooded Devon with countless questions.
How did you get this appearance?
Did you evolve my grimoire?
How did you evolve although you had two more levels to reach before the rank you currently have?
How do you...
Why do you...
How come you're...
…
..
.
'Please God, save me from that situation.'