The air shook as the nameless beast unleashed its power.
Light didn't explode—
It bent.
It warped around its form like space itself was afraid to touch it.
The nearest tamed beast—a horned direwolf—leapt at me.
The nameless beast didn't move.
Reality around its body tore open, and the wolf passed through a tear that wasn't supposed to exist—
—and came out behind itself, spine twisted, collapsing in a heap.
The audience screamed.
"T-That's spatial inversion!"
"No, that's… something worse—"
"What kind of monster is that?!"
The High Examiner backed away like a cornered rat.
"Stop! Stop! Seal that thing!" he shrieked.
Dozens of tamers rushed in, summoning creatures—lizards of fire, ironhide bears, storm vultures.
The arena filled with smoke, roars, lightning, heat.
The beast behind me:
Still silent.
Still unmoving.
It lifted one finger.
One.
The ground folded upward like paper.
Not cracked.
Not shattered.
Folded.
Dozens of beasts and their tamers were crushed into the curve of earth like insects under a boot. Their screams ended abruptly.
My stomach twisted.
This wasn't power.
It was wrong.
"Stop…" I whispered despite myself.
My voice trembled.
The beast paused.
Its head slowly tilted toward me, unreadable.
"You told me to do it."
Its tone wasn't accusatory.
It was factual.
Like the sky saying it was blue.
Like death stating its schedule.
The remaining tamers didn't retreat—they just froze, unable to process the massacre.
One woman fell to her knees, sobbing.
A veteran tamer threw up.
The High Examiner fainted.
Across the arena, someone shouted:
"HE MADE A CONTRACT WITH IT!"
"He's a monster!"
"That thing chooses only those without names—!"
"He's a walking calamity!"
"Kill the boy! Now!"
Spears. Beasts. Arrows. All aimed at me.
My legs shook.
I had seconds to decide—
Fight with the beast and become the enemy of the world?
Run and live as a hunted traitor?
Before I could choose, the enormity of what happened crashed into me.
People were dead.
Because of me.
My chest tightened.
I couldn't breathe.
I staggered backward, away from the beast.
"No," I choked. "I—I didn't mean—"
The beast's voice pierced my spiraling thoughts.
"You commanded. I obeyed."
Its form blurred—then suddenly appeared in front of me, inches from my face.
"You are trembling."
Its tone changed.
Not cold.
Curious.
Almost… gentle.
"I don't want this!" I shouted. "I didn't want anyone to die!"
The beast blinked slowly.
Then it said:
"Then why did you choose me?"
My throat closed.
"I didn't choose you. You chose me!"
The beast leaned closer, eyes burning with shifting constellations.
"No, Aerin Vale. We chose each other."
A surge of cold washed through me.
My skin crawled.
How did it know my name?
How deep was the bond?
My vision blurred at the edges.
From the stands, soldiers appeared with Suppressor Spears—weapons designed to paralyze beasts by erasing fragments of their True Names.
They'd never worked on anything Class A or above…
But they were still deadly.
"Hold him down!"
"Don't let the beast escape!"
"CRUSH THE BOY'S SIGIL!"
My blood iced.
If they shattered my Sigil, I'd die.
If I let the beast fight for me, more people would die.
I couldn't win.
Not like this.
And then—
She appeared.
A girl leapt from the highest balcony, landing between me and the oncoming soldiers with a crack of lightning under her boots.
Silver hair.
Cold violet eyes.
Armor etched with runes that glowed like moon shards.
Seris Lunare.
The Lunare Clan heir.
One of the strongest young tamers in the kingdom.
The girl whispered a command—
A crescent-shaped beast burst into existence beside her:
a fox made from pure moonlight, elegant and lethal.
The soldiers faltered.
"Lady Seris?!"
"Why are you—?!"
"Move aside! He is a criminal!"
Seris didn't move.
She pointed her blade at me.
No emotions.
No hesitation.
"Boy," she said, voice like ice,
"step away from the creature."
The nameless beast growled—a sound that distorted the air.
Seris's fox bared its fangs, silver fire rippling across its fur.
A duel between tamer prodigies about to break the world.
Seris's eyes locked onto mine.
"You're coming with me," she murmured.
"Alive if possible."
The fact that she emphasized if possible made my heart pound faster.
The beast whispered inside me:
"I can kill her."
"No!" I hissed. "Absolutely not!"
The beast tilted its head.
"You command?"
Soldiers behind her charged.
Seris didn't wait—
She lunged, her moon-fox trailing light like a blade.
My mind raced.
I couldn't beat her.
I couldn't fight her.
I couldn't let the beast massacre more people.
I had only one option:
Run.
My signal to the beast was a single breath—
—and the world blurred.
It grabbed me and ripped open space.
Not teleported.
Tore space itself like cloth.
The arena vanished.
Screams cut off.
Light inverted.
My stomach flipped.
We emerged in a cold, ruined alley miles away, my knees buckling as I collapsed onto cracked stone.
The beast let me go.
"You chose escape," it said simply.
I tried to stand—collapsed again.
My hands shook uncontrollably.
I'd killed people.
I was now a fugitive.
And the kingdom's strongest prodigy was hunting me.
Before I could catch my breath—
A cold voice echoed from the shadows.
"So," Seris stepped into view, blade glowing,
"you can run through space now."
The beast stiffened.
My breath hitched.
Seris's moon-fox crawled out behind her, eyes blazing.
She pointed her sword at my heart.
"You are under arrest, Aerin Vale."
My beast stepped protectively between us—
Seris whispered:
"Move, and I sever the bond."
The beast froze.
My pulse thundered.
Seris raised her blade—
—and the ground under us cracked, releasing a surge of ancient sigils and a voice that wasn't hers, mine, or the beast's.
"THE BLANK HAS RETURNED."
Everything stopped.
Seris's eyes widened.
The beast tensed.
The world itself seemed to hold its breath.
And then the sigils exploded upward—
Engulfing all three of us.