Finally these bastards have stopped their torture. I thought I was gonna die.
"So what happened to Verkoth? Is he dead?"
Elysa asked first.
After telling them what had happened in my conciousness, all of them looked confused and dumbfounded.
"Bro, i think you need some rest. You saw a damn wild dream. That Verkoth, kneeling and calling you Master?"
"Yes Zai, i agree with Luke and I think you need some more rest."
"Elysa i swear that's what I saw before waking up."
"It doesn't matter now runt. All we can do is simply reach the Great Halls and ask assistance directly from The Great King."
Deeno suggested. As we all calmed down, only the sound of wvyren flapping thier wings remained. It was a quite ride, neither me nor them spoke anything as I saw the beautiful sunset of this damned land.
It was a sudden crashing noise that disturbed us suddenly.
"What did you do to me, you bastards?"
A high pitch voice similar to that of a small child spoke.
Elysa and Deeno were already taking battle stance while Luke was already infront of me to protect me from any danger. Everyone looked around for a while but we could not sense any danger.
Again, a similar voice spoke
"You Vermins! Get me out of here!"
This time we could locate the source of voice and it came from the most unexpected place.
***
"Luke, you assbrain. We took you in but you betrayed is by joining hands with a damn vampire!"
Deeno shouted at Luke.
"Are you really serious. I don't remember you being this goofy. You already know.."
Luke said with a poker face and straight expression. He then put his hand into his pocket and suddenly pulled out a something akin to a bat.
"..It's this guy causing a ruckus."
Deeno suddenly looked a bit embarassed before switching onto his iconic frowned expression.
They really don't consider filling me in on the information, do they?
"This is Verkoth now, Zai. After absorbing his mana, you passed out and Verkoth transformed into this bat form."
Elysa told me.
She really knew when I wanted to know about something, she really is the sweetest.
"Now then. What do we about this bat."
We all glared at that bat as he shrunk in fear. After a not-so-serious-conversation we all agreed to take Verkoth to The Great King, only he could do something about this now.
Suddenly a purple light emerged from the back of my hand and I saw that bat tattoo again blinking. As the purple light grew more intense, i could see a chain like thing manifesting and they all combined and suddenly binded to Verkoth's bat form.
I could feel a wierd tingling sensation inside my body and before I knew it Verkoth's body disappeared and the purple light was gone. The tattoo on my hand was now colored just like Verkoth's bat form.
"What just happened?" Luke asked in a dumbfounded manner.
"I think this runt just sealed Verkoth inside this tattoo."
"But what will happen to Zai now?" Elysa asked in a worrisome manner.
"Try to undo the seal Zai." Luke told me.
"Should I really do it?"
"Don't worry! We have defeated him once and we can defeat it again."
With Luke's motivation i extended my hand and tried to undo the seal.
*Poof*
A purple cloud appeared and suddenly disappeared in just a second and from within it, emerged Verkoth, again in his bat form.
"You Vermins! What do you think you doi-"
Poof
Verkoth disappeared again.
Elysa, Luke and Deeno made a complex expression. Suddenly Deeno announced
"This runt's a summoner."
"Wait. This world has summoners too?"
"Of course. Even The Great King is also a summoner Beast master."
I see. That makes sense. My powers seals the mana of biengs that I or, I guess, we defeat and allow me to use them as summons. That's cool.
I summoned Verkoth again.
"You Vermin i wi-"
Luke glared at him while holding a [Smite Blade] in his hand. Verkoth gulped and spoke softly
"What will you guys do with me now?"
"What do you want to do now, Verkoth?"
Verkoth kept his silence. Suddenly purple mana oozed out of him as his body began to morph. He returned to his humanoid form and knelt down against me.
"I will serve you, Master Zai."
"What the hell is happening here?"
Luke asked suprised.
I think he may have seen what Verkoth inside of me had seen, i am not entirely sure what was that about but whatever it was, right now I am sure this guy's on our side and somehow I am his master.
Verkoth again morphed into a bat and went inside my hand. This time he didn't come out again for a while. Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief and sat around me.
Elysa checked me for any signs of abnormalities. She suddenly gasped-
"Zai you.. Zai your mana capacity has LITERALLY increased a thousand folds!"
What? How the hell my mana increased so much?
"It's my mana, you rotten brat." A high pitched voice coming from my shoulder said.
"Wait so I actually absorbed your mana?"
"Yes"
This is awesome. I can absorb mana and abilities. Now that my man has increased so much I don't need to rely on cheap tricks. I can finally fight on an equal grounds.
"Be careful to not have any funny thoughts, Zai." Elysa said cautiously.
"Yes, you runt, you are lucky your body was able to absorb and be compatible with Verkoth's mana, otherwise you would have exploded lika an egg in an oven."
That's scary. But I guess it doesn't matter since I am compatible with Verkoth's mana somehow.
"Hey Zai! Why don't we test your new powers?" Luke said in excitement.
So it began, I summoned Verkoth in his bat form and asked him about the powers I can use,
According to Verkoth-
In his bat form, i can share his senses and perform basic [Mana enhancement] technique and [Mana blast] techniques. Of course I have to practice all of that in order to perform them efficiently but that's a problem for later.
Secondly, in his humanoid form, i lose control of senses but gain a control over him in a certain range. He is bound to me by chain manifesting from his heart. I can perform all the basic techniques but this time I gain control over Verkoth's mana and his abilities. He has various abilities so we have to test them out.
In his last form, the [Calatzol] he can freely control his body and go berserk but I still have the main switch to shut him down. This can be used as a trump card but it a double sided sword. As I lose all Verkoth's mana and abilities and I can't control him, only shut him down.
Luke trained me again to control my mana and abilities in order to better understand the nature of my powers.
The next day, I had finally recovered. Somehow Verkoth's mana was also healing my body quickly. After a routine check up with Elysa, it was concluded that I was finally fit and fine.
***
We had taken a break from our journey to the Great Halls and rested near Lake. Luke bathed the wvyrens and Deeno cooked at a nearby campsite. I had nothing to do so I sit by lake shore, when Elysa approached me.
"Zai, how are you feeling now?"
"Better than yesterday, i think I can control this guy's power now."
"Well. That's good news. But you must not rely on his powers alone, we never know what he might do."
"That's true I suppose."
There was a moment of awkward silence between us. As I was thinking about what I can talk about more with her, she suddenly said
"Zai, let's fight."
***