Kitsuul moved before the first bullet hit.
A shimr of starlight danced across her fur as she vanished from Lyra’s view- only to reappear midair, her translucent tails snapping like ribbons.
In one graceful motion, she conjured a silver-gleaming veil that looked like starlight itself-catching the bullets mid-flight as they dropped right after. Not one made it through.
...!
Damian almost froze. In the next instant, Kitsuul was back on his shoulders, hissing at the drone like a furious fox.
What...was that?
He shot the question ntally toward her. As far as he knew, her only ability was Veilshift—a cloaking technique that hid them both.
But that move?
"Kitsuul!"
She responded with a sharp note in his mind, then explained. Yes, Veilshift was her main trick, but she still had her Innate Energy—raw Interstellar Beast Energy she could wield however she wanted.
Back in the Rustblood Circuit Arena, one of her tails had burned out completely from expending that very energy during a fight.
"..."
Damian swallowed a realization. He’d massively underestimated his this furry puffball of a Beast.
And this was her at half power, per his earlier command to keep everything at 50% to make sure that they did not draw too much attention.
"What else can your energy do?"
The silver energy swirled around her fur like living starlight. It could give him strength boosts, stop bullets, and it seed like a whole lot more than this.
Her answer?
"Kitsuul~!"
A chirp and a proud head tilt that said...
She didn’t know!
She just acted on instinct.
That was when Damian realized the terrifying truth about the Interstellar Beast he had bound himself to. Kitsuul was akin to a baby holding a machine gun. A ridiculously powerful one. She just didn’t know how to aim it.
The silver energy was the weapon. She just needed soone to guide the trigger.
That guidance...was supposed to be from her Beast Master!
Damian’s expression tightened. He focused on her, eyes narrowing.
"Can you move exactly how I’m imagining you move?"
Kitsuul tilted her head, then gave a little nod—willing to try.
So Damian imagined it- Kitsuul rising, spinning midair, tails flaring out as a crescent wave of silver light burst forth.
A thought. Just a thought, but with it—his bond with his Beast ca alive.
And Kitsuul jumped.
She launched from his shoulders and spun. Her six tails unleashed a silver crescent blast that shimred through the air and landed right in front of the drone about to fire again.
And...
BOOM!
The explosion blood with drama. Kitsuul’s silver blast tore the killer drone apart like paper.
"Oh..."
"Holy shit!"
Damian said the "oh." Lyra Veyrin supplied the curse.
They both stared in shock at the smoking wreckage. Lyra and her Blue Sli blinked starry-eyed at Kitsuul, completely smitten.
"That’s so cool!"
Lyra squealed, bouncing in place until Damian reached out and clamped a hand over her mouth, glancing around.
No need to alert the whole forest.
He motioned for her to move, already sliding away from the blast zone.
"Ah! Wait for !"
Lyra whispered, trying to keep her voice down as her Blue Sli shimred with light and dragged her along behind Damian and Kitsuul—whether she wanted to or not.
—
Far above...
High near the ceiling of the facility, a command center humd with light. Dozens of monitors displayed various trial feeds.
At the center stood Guardian Flaborn, arms crossed, gaze locked onto the screens. Three Evaluators in white lab coats hovered nearby, eyes bouncing between footage.
"E-85 is down. Dumb fuck actually thought his reinforced skin could take a bullet. That’s our first casualty," one Evaluator muttered.
Another watched a crimson wolf howl over its fallen Beast Master whose head was popped like a waterlon.
A third shook their head. "Another Interstellar Beast without a Master. Which floor for dissection?"
...!
The words ca out cold, clinical. Guardian Flaborn blinked and waved them off.
"Floor 169. Just send all the solo Beasts there."
But her attention stayed glued to one screen—one that showed Lyra Veyrin and a dark-haired participant moving through the ZENTHRA Beast Trial.
"Therion Dark, is it?"
She tapped a tablet, pulling up his profile.
Her words turned heads. One Evaluator nodded slightly.
A woman with violet hair and silver-frad glasses leaned in toward Damian’s screen.
"Oh yes. These two are the most promising so far. This...Therion seems to have actively started to command his Beast based on thought alone. The creature doesn’t match any known species either."
...!
Therion Dark. And a six-tailed silver fox.
They’d downed a drone in record ti—and were now among twelve remaining Beast Masters. One already gone.
But more than that...
"If that rough-looking Stackborn gets too friendly with my Little Lyra... ho ho ho."
A dangerous sparkle lit Guardian Flaborn’s eyes as she kept watching.
—
Back in the Artificial Forest...
Damian’s brain buzzed.
He had just learned a crucial lesson..munication alone wasn’t enough.
Being in sync with your Interstellar Beast...that was the key! To move as one. To imagine an action, and have it executed instantly.
Right now, he could only project thoughts and imagination and hope Kitsuul matched them. But soday? She may be able to move with him, simultaneously. No delay.
He was starting to understand.
As he moved through the glowing bio, his eyes shimred silver, picking out details in the artificial forest that others might miss.
Behind him..
"Hey, what species is your little fox? Little Bluey’s super rare, but he’s never been this interested in anyone else..."
Lyra’s voice was low, conspiratorial, as if afraid of being overheard.
Gone was her shyness. The longer she stayed near Damian, the more that hesitant shell cracked.
She was talking to him easily now, almost like they were teammates.
He replied without looking back.
"Kitsuul’s just a normal fox."
...!
A normal fox.
Lyra scoffed dramatically, her eyes flaring with determination. She didn’t buy it for a second.
She would definitely figure out what Kitsuul really was, even if it was the last thing she did.
Above her, her Blue Sli glead a little too brightly.
And in the shadows nearby, another set of crimson robotic eyes narrowed—locking onto them.
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