I formed a large cup with my palms and summoned the beast egg into them with a thought.
A groan escaped my lips as the egg’s weight settled into my hands. My muscles bulged and my arms trembled as I steadied myself, but I managed to hold it.
You weren’t this heavy before. I studied the egg for a good moment, eyes narrowed to tiny slits. You…weren’t this big either, were you?
The egg appeared just as lifeless as before. It looked like a forgotten scrap of dark silvernit, tempered by ether and soul energy. Roughly oval and ridged, its surface resembled a jagged cliff. Although coarse to the touch, I could feel the life within. Yet instead of dozens of pulses, an accumulation of all the beasts that ought to be growing inside, there was only one stream—one beast that had fought for its survival even before it was born. It won, and was rewarded with the gift of life.
A blade jutted from the egg casing, and it took everything within me to stay calm as a second blade pierced through right beside the first. A faint wave of emotions—victorious and joyous, but also furious and defiant—flowed into me. It was confusing. The joy and excitement I felt were overwhelming, dampened only by Aureus’ vigilance.
The Earthheart was hesitant, unsure about the newest addition to our family. He couldn’t tell if he should be expectant or if it would throw our future into shambles. But it was not Aureus’ emotions I focused on this time. I embraced the bond and welcomed it into my mind, allowing it to feel whatever it wanted. To be free even though it was bound to me.
If there was something I’d learned over the last few days, it was that most Blessed tried too hard to change their Soulkin. It was almost as if they didn’t want their Soulkins to have minds of their own. They couldn’t handle the contrasting emotions and wanted them to feel the same way at all times. But that obviously didn’t work. Even Aureus and I were not always of the same opinion. Our goals were similar in many ways, yet complications existed.
Being able to tolerate, accept, and live with the emotions, thoughts, and desires of your Soulkin was important—crucial even—if one wished to nourish the bond. Therefore, I left the young one alone, allowing it to get used to the new notions, smells, and sensations, while I simply watched. Silently. Hoping.
The egg case cracked, and a loud screeching—like metal carving through metal—rang in my ears. Once durable and seemingly indestructible, the egg was now brittle and caving in. A streak of silver and green flashed before my eyes, and a shard of the casing flung through the air. I hurriedly stored everything in the crammed space of my storage belt, but retrieved it again when my eyes met his.
Its body, a pale sliver with a metallic sheen still soft from the egg case—more dark steel than vibrant silvernit—quivered on spindly legs. Six in total, supporting a bulbous and fully formed abdomen, thorax, and head.
Anticipation surged through the bond while a small head wobbled in abrupt, uncertain movements. Triangular yet not fully sharpened, it turned toward me as loud cracking noises rang in my ears. Its mandibles crushed a small piece of the egg case. Overly large eyes gleamed, dark and glassy, reflecting a threat too vast for its fragile frame.
I swallowed hard as I placed the egg case on the blanket before me. It whipped forward, its forelegs lunging at the shard. Though only a clumsy echo of the scythes they would one day become, the forelegs—thin as chopsticks—folded inward, dragging the egg case toward the piece flung to the bottom of the bed.
As fragile as it appeared at first glance, I knew better than to underestimate the beast. Its eyes carried the threat of an apex predator, filling my mind and World with something ancient and powerful.
If I hadn’t been confident in my choice before, my first encounter with the little mantis would have erased all doubts.
It was still a youngling, a beast that had just hatched, but it was fast. The echo of its scythes would soon turn into razor-sharp blades, while its soft exoskeleton would soon harden. Even better, the exoskeleton was shifting, forming a semblance of highly durable armor that covered its main body, neck, and even its eyes.
“A powerful ally. A terrifying foe.” A familiar voice echoed in the back of my mind.
Looking up, I noticed my roommates were awake. Scott smiled at me, visibly satisfied, while his squirrel Soulkin clapped vigorously with its tiny paws. Spencer looked between the mantis and me, but quickly tore his gaze away when our eyes met. The shy Blessed found a particularly interesting spot on his blanket that required his full attention. His focus only snapped back to me when he thought I wasn’t looking.
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I didn’t mind the attention and chuckled when its forelegs punctured the egg case near me. It pulled back to a safe distance and returned its focus to feasting on the case that once contained it and its siblings. A sense of victory resonated through the bond, quickly followed by a trace of what seemed to be growing strength. My muscles itched a little as the mantis devoured the egg remains, its dark exoskeleton gaining a pale sliver of light.
Ether swirled through the beast, and its chitinous exoskeleton shifted alongside, looking a little harder than before.
“Congratulations,” the mantis stiffened and spun around to face Wesley. Wesley leaped out of his bed in one smooth motion, looking even better than the last time I saw him. On a good note, I couldn’t feel a pull from his Charm trait this time around. Was he suppressing it?
“Is that the egg from the Grand Camp? Not many beasts need two weeks to hatch after the bond is initiated, especially not insects. How curious.” Wesley walked around the bed and closed the distance to the mantis, whose arms lunged forward, ready to skewer what it perceived as a threat. No trace of Charm oozed from the good-looking Blessed, but I couldn’t quite trust my senses.
“What a fierce little guy.” Wesley let out a light chuckle, all while looking genuinely happy for me.
At last, I sensed a sliver of his Charm as Wesley bent down, his hand inching closer to the mantis. Aureus’ growl resounded in my mind, and the Earthheart manifested, ready to drown Wesley in a mountain of pebbles. The young mantis, however, was unperturbed by Wesley’s Charm. It lunged at him once more. For only a moment, Wesley’s features shifted in surprise as his hand pulled back barely in time.
He got up and stared at the mantis for a moment. His confident nature shrouded whatever he was truly thinking. “What is it? It resembles a Silverheart Mantis, but that’s not quite it. Your little companion’s aura is already far more threatening than that of a mature Silverheart Mantis, and it just hatched.”
“He’s a Ferronox Mantis,” I said calmly.
If that surprised him, Wesley didn’t show it at all. Spencer, on the other hand, let out a muffled shriek.
“WHAT!?!”
That was the reaction I was hoping to get from Wesley, and it would have been more than understandable.
Ferronox Mantises were rare, to say the least. The books I’d studied since I bonded the Ferronox Mantis egg even went as far as to say that the species was extinct. Like the vast majority of mantises, a Ferronox Mantis is a deadly predator. Old records, which the Grand Camp provided after I bound the egg, mentioned that Ferronox Mantises were not the toughest. But even so, they had a thick, armor-like exoskeleton that covered most of their body, protecting them from most simple attacks by enemies of the same rank.
The real danger, however, was not their exoskeleton. Ferronox Mantises were great assassins, not necessarily for their stealth, which was excellent nonetheless. No—their superior speed and strength, along with the ability to locate the enemy’s weakest points, created a perfect synergy with their razor-sharp blades, transforming them into incarnations of death—quoted. Even Blessed of greater Rank were warned never to underestimate them, as their blades tore through everything, ether included.
The last part, as I learned two weeks ago, was something mankind discovered the hard way almost three centuries ago when a swarm of those bloodthirsty beasts was on the cusp of annihilating a Bastion. Even though the tallest Ferronox Mantis was said to have been the size of an average human male, they tore through everything, including, but not limited to, the protective dome and a dozen Guardian-ranked Soulkins.
The swarm succumbed, the Bastion survived, but the battle did not end until the last Ferronox Mantis had been slain. They did not fear death. Bloodlust guided them—something I could confirm firsthand. My newborn companion was already thirsting for a fight. Its bloodlust was even stronger than the Aceraspis’ had been—by a large magnitude.
Wesley changed his clothes and left the room without saying another word. In the meantime, the Ferronox Mantis scarfed down the remaining parts of the egg case with gusto. Its abdomen was swollen once it was done, but not as much as I’d expected from the thin, fist-sized beast.
It turned to me with its large eyes and leaped over. My hand was stretched out, and it landed easily in my palm. As impressive as that was, I didn’t praise it. If anything, I stared at the beast deep in the eyes, responding to the dangerous gleam with iron neutrality.
There was no bloodlust in its eyes, yet the bond flared as it stared at me in challenge, as if trying to assess whether I was worthy.
The sensation was fierce and pierced deep into my mind, but it faded within seconds. Exhaustion seemed to take the young mantis’ mind, and it slumped to the ground, stomach filled to the brim.
It fell asleep in my palm, and I stored it away. There was no resistance as it was pulled into the World, which was a great sign to begin with.
“I think we marveled at the birth of your companion long enough. The lecturers are waiting for us.” Scott got up from the bed as well, a knowing smile on his lips as the alarms went off simultaneously.
We had to leave. The mandatory classes were about to start!