"How would you like to kill your father in less than a year?"
The words echoed, and Serena couldn’t believe them. They felt more like fantasy than anything grounded in reality.
True Guardians were powerful, especially those who had surpassed the Symbiotic Resonance level.
Many of them could fly and command the battlefield with their sheer will alone. Their skin was so impossibly tough that across the vast Virtual Web, entire channels were dedicated to theorizing what kind of force could even begin to break through it.
And not once had anyone figured out a confird thod.
So how were these two so confident that they could take down such a being in less than a year?
"Just... who are you two?"
She looked closely at Anastasia and Damian once again.
The latter, she thought she knew, he had fought to beco a Trial Guardian for ZENTHRA.
The forr... a woman who clearly hated Glassbloods with every fiber of her being.
"Who we are doesn’t matter that much. Do you want your father dead before a year passes?"
Anastasia’s voice was cold, unapologetic.
Serena’s eyes lit with conviction.
"Yes."
...!
"But I know nothing is free. Every shortcut cos with a cost. What do you all... want from ?"
She wasn’t naive. They hadn’t brought her here to offer sothing like this for nothing.
So what did they want?
Anastasia looked her up and down, her calm gaze piercing.
"What do we want? Well, seeing how weak you are, we know you won’t be much help in combat. We don’t need your power. What we need is information, access to the world of Beast Masters. Who knows who. Where do they sleep? Where do they fuck? We need data. If you make yourself useful, you’re in. If not, we leave you alone on your path of vengeance to chase sothing you’ll never accomplish."
...!
The disdain in Anastasia’s voice was clear. Her contempt for Glassblood Interstellar Beast Masters simred just beneath the surface, and Serena felt the heat of it.
It pissed her off.
Fire blazed in her gaze as she snapped back.
"Who are you to say I’m weak? You’re not even a Beast Master!"
...!
The room fell into silence.
Anastasia’s lips curled in a cold smile as she rose slowly, stepping toward the table. She leaned forward, placing her right elbow down and stretching her hand toward Serena.
"Let’s see who’s stronger, a woman without a Beast, or a spoiled brat."
...!
That posture. Her hand. Her challenge.
She wanted... to arm wrestle?
Serena turned to Damian, bewildered, only to see him shrug slightly. Kitsuul yawned lazily on his shoulder. Damian’s eyes, though, were sharp, curious. He was watching, genuinely interested in what would happen next.
After all, how could a Beast Master lose to soone without a beast?
Fuming, Serena took her seat and grasped Anastasia’s hand.
Their gazes locked, two worlds clashing.
The rich and the poor. The old scars. The lives they’d led. All of it collided in that grip as the table began to buzz faintly beneath them.
"Well, Glassblood, show how strong you are."
Serena’s confidence began to waver.
She couldn’t budge her opponent’s hand. Not even an inch.
This...
She was a Beast Master.
She had reinforced strength, enhanced might.
And yet...!
She felt herself being pushed back.
Behind her, her Void Serpent rose, alert and hissing with warning. Anastasia’s eyes flicked toward it, and it flinched.
And then...
BOOM!
Serena’s hand slamd down against the table.
Anastasia didn’t look smug.
She looked calm.
She stared directly into Serena’s wide, stunned eyes.
"You couldn’t even beat a poor, normal Stackborn like in a contest of strength. And you think you can beat a Guardian who flies through the sky?"
...!
Serena was stunned. Her confidence shaken.
"I..."
She faltered. Her words wouldn’t co.
Her Void Serpent slithered up behind her, wrapping gently around her neck, its serpentine head nudging her cheek, trying to comfort her.
Silence hung heavy before she whispered.
"How... how will you two pull sothing like that off?"
It was a question wrapped in disbelief and desperation.
If they knew how terrifying Guardians were, then why were they so sure they could defeat one in under a year?
Anastasia didn’t answer right away.
Instead, she turned to Damian.
Or more accurately, toward the little fox yawning on his shoulder.
"Kitsuul?" Serena blinked.
"Kitsuul," Anastasia nodded.
And Kitsuul, hearing her na once again, opened her glowing eyes. They shimred with excitent as she raised her snout and...
"Kitsuuuuul~!"
...!
A nearly human voice rang out.
And then, her entire body ignited in a burst of radiant silver glow that blinded the room.
A fourth voice echoed through the space.
"That is my na! Kitsuul~..."
Clear. Vivid.
"Haha, Master, look at Kitsuul! She looks just like you now..."
...!
A voice.
A feminine voice.
Anastasia and Serena turned, stunned, eyes wide as they watched a girl float softly on the table.
She was covered in delicate silver fur threads, her presence ethereal and vibrant.
The air pulsed. The glow softened.
And standing barefoot on the table, surrounded by half-finished plates of food, was a girl, petite, graceful, radiant.
Her silver hair flowed like a river of stars, her silver eyes glimring with mischief and awe.
She smiled at Damian with pure pride, cheeks tinged with bashfulness. Silver threads clung delicately to her pale skin, barely covering her slender figure.
She looked like a celestial dream brought to life.
Serena and Anastasia were entirely speechless.
And Damian?
He stared in disbelief.
Kitsuul had told him once she could take a human form... but he hadn’t expected her to do it now.
The silver glow still lingered on her skin, as Serena’s voice finally broke the silence.
"An Interstellar Beast... that can take on a human form? What...?"
She was in a daze.
Because she was seeing the impossible.
Because an Interstellar Beast transforming into a human form?
That... did not exist.
Not in Vael’nir.
Not anywhere.
So...how was it happening in front of her eyes?
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