This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Fortunately, Kain had already accounted for this.

With a subtle mental nudge, he tapped into the hidden contract still coiled beneath his sleeve.

Chewy, barely larger than the tip of a pen, stirred.

The small spore extended its senses through Kain’s jacket and tasted the ambient spiritual energy released from the skills all around. Almost as if that brief taste had broken a dam, it began to drink in earnest.

The remaining blood mist. The errant energy from the attacks between Aegis and the Bloodvine Basilisk. The energetic feedback loops from Dmitri’s contracts.

All of it was siphoned in, filtered through Chewy’s odd biology, and repurposed.

Kain’s breathing evened. His limbs stopped trembling as he nimbly dodged the incoming attack.

And his clarity returned.

Chewy didn’t simply restore his stamina—it removed the foreign energetic residues trying to erode it in the first place. Kain’s spiritual circulation sharpened with every breath.

From the other side of the field, Dmitri’s brow furrowed slightly. He didn’t miss the change.

Kain wasn’t weakening anymore. In fact… he looked stronger.

More focused.

More dangerous.

And yet—Dmitri hadn’t seen a new contract appear. Just Aegis, and Bea’s invisible pressure. Which meant—

Dmitri narrowed his gaze slightly. He knew something was missing.

But he didn’t let it distract him.

The Scarletfever Arachnid charged again with no hesitation. It launched a direct strike toward Kain’s chest, mandibles glowing faintly with some kind of spiritual venom.

Aegis moved before Kain even gave the order. Allowing himself to be attacked by the Bloodvine Basilisk in order to protect Kain.

Aegis’ massive arm lashed out. He intercepted the Arachnid mid-lunge with a thunderous impact that rattled the field’s protective barrier and caused many watching to flinch from the sound. The Arachnid hissed, legs scrambling for purchase as it was thrown backward.

However, in launching said attack, the Basilisk’s vines managed to finally gain purchase and wrap around Aegis’ legs.

Bea’s voice echoed in Kain’s mind a half-second later.

“The Arachnid’s venom carries two effects a minor paralysis effect—likely intended to numb you enough for the Crimson Vein Bat to take you out—and a more severe toxin that is lethal and able to cause the blood in your veins to thicken to a thick paste. Thankfully, based on the colour of the toxin on its fangs, Dmitri has limited himself to only using the former.”

Indeed, as Dmitri said, he took no pleasure in potentially permanently harming or even killing competitors—his cousin, not so much.

Kain’s eyes flicked upward.

Sure enough, the Crimson Vein Bat was circling above Kain like a vulture, preparing another mist pulse. This one was tighter. More concentrated.

He could already feel the pressure building in his ears.

But this time, Chewy was ready.

The tiny contract flared invisibly beneath his sleeve—expanding just slightly. With each pulse of blood-charged air the bat released, Chewy absorbed it instantly, neutralizing the effects before they could take root.

It was like having a living filtration system running through his bones.

Kain smiled faintly.

“You’ll have to do better than that,” he muttered.

But, Kain didn’t give Dmitri time to attempt to ‘do better’.

“Now, Bea.” He thought while also launching his spiritual skill meant to boost her all-round capabilities.

Bea surged forward more aggressively this time, the Pale Thought Field slicing through the arena space. They reached the Bloodvine Basilisk, searching for gaps in its mental armor. But the Basilisk was resilient, resisting with sharp mental barriers that slowed Bea’s infiltration. But thanks to her new passive skill, Neural Seepage, Kain and Bea were confident that it was only a matter of time before she made her way in.

Not to mention, Dmitri’s contracts might resist Bea individually, but they couldn’t ignore her completely. With every second they fought her off, their attention split further, weakening their offensive front.

Kain seized this moment.

“Aegis,” he commanded sharply.

Aegis finally moved, raising his massive arms and slamming it down onto the Basilisk’s vines. The vines shattered under his immense force, splattering the field with a gelatinous blood-like substance that was the vines. He then surged forward, closing distance rapidly toward the Basilisk’s main body.

Dmitri reacted swiftly, the Arachnid lunging to intercept—but Bea, sensing this move, shifted her attention to it, distracting it momentarily with another Mind Chorus.

Aegis slammed into the Basilisk head-on, forcing the serpent to hiss sharply in pain. The Basilisk recoiled, its focus shaken.

From the side, Dmitri finally spoke, voice low but carrying clearly.

“Reform.”

His three contracts moved smoothly, pulling back to reset their formation and get closer together.

Then Dmitri’s bright red eyes took on a deeper quality—making them resemble swirling liquid pools of blood.

Kain narrowed his own eyes, his instincts twitching even before he understood why.

Dmitri lifted his hand and silently drew a small dagger across his palm.

Blood welled up immediately—thicker than normal.

But it didn’t fall.

The blood coiled upward instead, like liquid curtain caught by the wind. The blood continued flowing in an endless stream that made one question how Dmitri’s body could even contain all of that blood. It snaked through the air, branching and dividing as if it had a mind of its own. The stream split cleanly into three threads, each wrapping itself around one of his waiting contracts.

First the Basilisk, then the Arachnid, and finally the Bat.

The moment the blood touched them, their auras expanded violently—not just brighter, but deeper.

Their auras didn’t reach indigo-grade—but they undeniably felt stronger. Stronger than any typical blue-grade creature had a right to be. As an evolutionary planner, Kain sensed that rather than a pure increase in spiritual power grade, like most skills and gifts would grant, this seemed more like an increase in quality.

Kain stepped back instinctively, brow furrowed. “What…?”

Dmitri said nothing, but the faint smirk at the corner of his mouth confirmed what Kain already suspected.

Kain’s info wasn’t completely accurate—at least with regards to his knowledge of Dmitri’s gift.

Dmitri’s Gift didn’t stop at controlling flow, pressure, or coagulation of blood.

He enhanced. Empowered. Weaponized his own blood as a medium for augmentation, transforming his contracts temporarily into something closer to an evolved form. Their very blood had been upgraded.

Dmitri wasn’t playing around anymore.

Unlike Cressida, he had no plans of losing to a mere underclassman, even if that meant having to go all out.

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