This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

“Now the third-years?” Serena asked.

Kain nodded and tilted his chin toward the far end of the training field, where a girl was polishing the antlers of a spiritual creature that shimmered like a mirror.

He didn’t say her name aloud. He didn’t need to.

Kyria stood tall beside her Mirrorhorn Elk, giving it a short command before tapping a crystal tablet to record its vitals. She had a clean, efficient presence—black hair tied high into a twist, violet eyes sharp and unfazed, even after training. Tan skin glistened faintly with sweat, but her expression remained cool.

Her Gift allowed her to transform her skin into the material of anything she touched—stone, obsidian, crystal, even bronze—adapting her defense and attack style fluidly. She’d been using stone for years, but recently incorporated rare and heavier materials into her techniques.

Her main contract, the Mirrorhorn Elk, reflected spiritual attacks back at their source. Blue-grade. Her second strongest, the Shellvine Sprite, was a green-grade support that handled field-wide healing with tendrils of glowing moss. A third contract—a beetle-like creature with obsidian plating—was seen briefly during a match, absorbing a full blast from Rhiannon without flinching. The remaining are also all green-grade. Kain hadn’t seen a sixth, which reinforced Kian’s belief that she only recently advanced to six-stars.

“We both already know a decent amount about Kyria, we met her in the relic. There’s probably nothing I know, that you don’t.”

With that statement, they shifted their gazes in almost perfect unison toward another girl—this one glaring openly at the wall like it had personally insulted her.

Rhiannon sat on a bench with her arms crossed, fiery red-gold curls spilling over one shoulder. Her golden eyes smouldered, flickering in sync with the spiritual energy radiating off her body. Her training jacket had scorch marks, likely from her own outbursts.

She used to be the Rank 1 of her year before Kyria overtook her. And judging by her body language, she had not taken that demotion well.

“Someone’s not happy with their current ranking. I hope that doesn’t impact the third-years’ teamwork,” Serena commented.

“Yeah, the tension’s obvious,” Kain muttered. “But it was a worthy loss. Rhiannon is still at five-stars. I would say that she still has the strongest offence of her year due to her fire affinity.” Her Vermillion Bird, which managed to advance to blue-grade despite its master being 5-stars still—demonstrates just how talented it is.

Don’t let Kain’s contracts always being the maximum one-level above him mislead you, having a contract one level above the beast-tamer is quite rare. And it was even more rare the higher the level. Typically, only those within the top 5 could achieve this, and even amongst the top 5, not everyone had contracts one level above them.

The majestic bird flew high above the arena when summoned, wings trailing phoenix flame. Next to it, a green-grade three-legged fire crow was more compact but accelerated unnaturally, bombarding targets below with compressed flame orbs. Unlike everyone else, it was still training. Her contracts were likely just as unsatisfied as their master with their current ranking.

Kain subtly nodded toward a pale figure leaning against one of the arena’s support columns, tossing a small dagger in one hand while whistling tunelessly.

Alexei didn’t move like someone relaxed. He moved like someone waiting for an excuse to start a fight—a far cry from his more calm, level-headed brother. Pale skin, slicked back silver-blond hair, and eyes like melted rubies. His entire presence gave off a quiet warning.

“Alexei.” Kain introduced “Five-stars. Blood attribute. He has a Berserker Gift—it trades his contract’s intelligence for raw destructive power. But his gift works well with Cressida to keep them under control.”

The Blood Spider, a green-grade monstrosity, was his main—a psychic-resistant creature with razor-sharp legs and venomous mental backlash. The Albino Snake, lean and vicious, could boil enemies’ blood before drinking it through its fangs. The other three remained hidden, but any beast under his command was likely built for carnage.

A soft movement near one of the benches drew Serena’s attention. She nodded slightly toward the pink-haired girl seated beneath a large parasol, delicately fanning herself as if the post-training heat didn’t apply to her.

Cressida looked like she belonged on a fashion magazine cover, not a battlefield. Pink eyes, pink curls, flawless posture. She barely moved during training, but her contracts seemed quite used to fighting without her guidance or assistance.

“Cressida has five-stars too.” Serena continued, “Mental affinity. Her Gift—Uncontrollable Allure—creates an aura that draws attention whether one wants to look at her or not.”

Even when not activated, it seems to have an effect. Kain found himself glancing her way more often than necessary—much to his chagrin when Serena caught him and he looked away quickly in embarassment. Thankfully she didn’t make any comments.

Cressida’s main contract was the green-grade Brandshade Fox, a sleek, creature that moved like fog and left behind glowing sigils on allies. These ‘brands’ allowed Cressida to seize control of any branded contract that lost intelligence, particularly helpful with Alexei. The rest of her beasts were also mental-types, likely focused on illusions, misdirection, or memory disruption.

Kain’s eyes tracked movement on the far side of the arena. A lean figure crouched beside two tiger-shaped spiritual creatures, one stretching with a yawn, the other cleaning its paw.

Jin was crouched low, feeding his contracts from two custom spirit containers. His posture was casual, but every move he made was measured. Dark brown hair pulled into a functional knot, steady brown eyes that never missed a beat.

“Jin. Five-stars. His Gift wasn’t officially announced, but it was clearly speed-related based on what we saw during the beast-tide in first-year and during training.” When he moved, he blurred slightly. The tigers followed as extensions of himself. His fire tiger—larger, stockier, with a constantly smouldering coat—had powerful claws and explosive charges. The wind tiger—sleeker, with shifting silvery fur—specialized in joint strikes and evasive weaving. Both were green-grade but looked like they were closer to breaking through to blue-grade than any of Alexei’s or Cressida’s contracts. One or both may even make the jump in level before the National Tournament. Based on his affinity to tigers, Kain safely assumed that he had a few more tigers hidden somewhere in his arsenal, and a fifth contract was likely a support-type designed for sensory enhancement or terrain control based on rumours he’d heard.

“That’s everyone here,” Serena said after a moment, her voice low and even.

They sat back against the wall, silence settling again.

Then a gasping wheeze interrupted them.

A first-year walked by in the distance, face red, hair matted with sweat, tripping slightly as they trailed behind what looked like a half-conscious spiritual creature.

Kain blinked.

Serena tilted her head. “Oh yeah. Did you collect any intel on the first-years?”

Kain replied without missing a beat. “Nah.”

“Same.”

They both closed their eyes.

Operation Overthrow was going just fine.

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