This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Mist boiled from the rivers as hundreds, if not thousands, of figures stumbled out of the black haze. Their shapes were wrong—too thin in some places, too swollen in others—and their movements jerky, as if their bodies fought against themselves. Red-eyed faces twisted by the Abyss still retained faint, haunting traces of humanity.

Strangely all of them, despite the attack on the village not happening long ago, looked like human corpses left to rot in a river for days.

A woman with half a face still weeping black fluid lurched forward, shrieking in a voice that sounded like three speaking at once. Another's arm was fused with the body of a child, their two mouths screaming in unison.

For the newly awakened refugees, it was a nightmare made real.

"They were people," someone whispered. The line wavered.

Kain saw fear seize them. It was one thing to train, to chant, to believe they could fight for their kingdom's rebirth—another to face what looked like their own neighbors, corrupted and crawling on all fours.

"Steady!" Kaito's voice cut through the panic. His sword flashed, severing an Abyssal's arm as it lunged toward him. "They're gone already. Fight what remains!"

The Queen's gaze was sharp as she raised a single hand, indigo power blooming around her. A shimmering barrier extended forward, halting a flood of black mist before it could engulf the vanguard. Her expression stayed calm, but her tone was grave. "It'll be hard to convince the other nobles to support them like this. If they don't harden and show their worth now, support will be withdrawn and I won't be able to do much to help them."

Serena was already moving. Light flared as her Starweaver and Elemental Guardian was summoned. She didn't summon all her contracts to continue giving the recruits a chance to showcase themselves, and also because who bill bare the backlash for Balens' wishes in such a chaotic environment.

"Don't just stand there!" she shouted, her voice cracking like a whip. And perhaps her being partially responsible for their training these days made them extra in fear of her voice, but they immediately stood at attention. "If you pity them, then strike harder—make their deaths mean something!"

A roar answered her. It wasn't loud, but it spread—one voice became ten, then a hundred. The refugees surged forward.

The first line met the Abyssals head-on.

Fire burst from contracts, wings of light snapped open, and beasts clawed and bit at the opponent.

Some of these recruits, unlike standard beast tamers who always used their contracts, had grown used to fighting up close with the abyssals while fleeing south and also rushed to the front.

A large man with a smidgen of sparkly eye shadow remaining on his eyelid swung a massive hammer bigger than Kain. He had the few contracts that weren't of the fire or light attribute. Pink and petal-winged —known as a Bloom Puff—it fluttered around him, scattering clouds of multicolored pollen. The air shimmered where the pollen fell: some motes clung to allies, their flames burning hotter; others swirled toward enemies, dulling their senses or sending them into a dazed stupor. Another effect—the big guy's favorite—was that the pollen could be shaped into a lingering, fragrant perfume or a fine makeup powder with extra benefits, like leaving the skin impossibly smooth.

Not far away, another recruit who was a former seamstress directed her Ember Silkworm, weaving nets that seared through twisted flesh.

Screams filled the air—theirs, the enemy's, no one could tell anymore. Blood mixed with soot. And still they fought.

One woman stumbled back, her Dove of Dawn shrieking as its wing was torn and blackened by a swipe from an Abyssal. Horror spread through her features. While fleeing from the Rising Sun Kingdom she knew what this meant, the contract she just obtianed had been contaminated and was about to change into an abyssal. And there was nothign she could do about it.

Hopelessness filled her, but then, suddenly, bursts of violet light surged beneath the dove's feathers. The corruption evaporated in a flash of purple mist.

Gasps rose around her.

"It… purged it?" someone said in disbelief.

Assuming that the purging of contamination was just the Dove of Dawn's unique talent, they watched the woman with a mix of relief and green-eyed envy as her contract flared and the corruption winked out. Some muttered that luck had smiled on her; others suspected a singular miracle.

Then, as if on cue, a man a few meters over cried out—his Flame Hound had been slashed, and a dark stain of corruption crawled along its flank. Terror flared in the man's eyes as he backed away, convinced the same fate awaited them all. Before the panic could root, violet light blossomed beneath the hound's fur; the blackness dissolved into sparks and vanished. He staggered, stunned, then laughed through his tears.

It happened again—another injured contract, another sudden purge. Only when several of their companions' contracts had been saved in the same impossible way did the realization spread through the line: this was not a singular trick. Their contracts themselves possessed a rare, purging property. The mood shifted from fearful confusion to stunned, fierce hope.

"The sun must be smiling upon us! For we are chosen to rebuild the nation!" a man exclaimed through tears.

"No, no, no. More likely it is His Highness Takeru that has brought down this blessing!" someone shouted, earning murmurs of agreement. Soon, others began nodding and cheering, voices rising above the din of battle.

"His Highness truly carries the blood of the Rising Sun!" another yelled.

"Long live the prince!"

Takeru straightened unconsciously, the sudden chorus of praise from the battlefield washing over him. He forced a grin, pretending confidence, but a bead of sweat trickled down his temple. He knew full well this miracle had nothing to do with him.

Yet when his gaze flicked to Kain, the man only gave a faint smirk and said nothing, letting the misunderstanding spread unchecked. Takeru sighed inwardly, shoulders squaring as he accepted the unearned glory.

After confirming that 'the miracle given by Takeru can repel the abyss, ' momentum shifted. The vanguard, moments ago on the verge of collapse, now struck back with renewed fury. Every blast of flame and radiant beam pushed the Abyssal tide further back.

Kain didn't summon all of his contracts, wanting the newly awakened to gain more combat experience. Instead he only had Bea to monitor the battlefield and Aegis as support. The massive golem was summoning walls of black stone whenever a soldier or contract teetered on the brink of death to block fatal attacks. After all, the source energy from Pangea can remove the corruption from their contracts, but it can't help reattach a head—at least, not for anyone but Kain.

Serena also was similarly relaxed while fighting, her Elemental Guardian shifting fluidly between fire, water, earth, and wind forms while her Starweaver unleashed threads of brilliance that carved through the mist like a beacon.

Meanwhile, the queen's gaze lingered on the refugees. She murmured softly, almost to herself, "So this is the strength that my nephew has been blessed by? Perhaps the Rising Sun truly does burn anew."

Her son glanced at her, eyes wide beneath his helm. "Mother, should we reinforce them?"

She shook her head. "No. Let them stand on their own feet. If they fall now, they were never meant to rise."

The air was thick with heat and rot, the black river bubbling as charred Abyssals fell into it one after another. For every monster burned, it felt like another emerged—it was an endless tide, but the vanguard didn't falter this time.

A baker with a fire-lizard contract laughed like a madman as he kicked over an abyssal human crawling with disjointed limbs on all fours.

A fisherman and his golden carp fought side by side, light and water-imbued spears flashing like sunlight on the sea.

Even the giant man with the glitter-specked eyelid swung his axe wildly, his cute pink contract blasting balls of pollen that left miniature explosions of powder in the Abyssals' ranks. And that powder had the effect of immobilizing all abyssals in the region. Despite its cute appearance, the support abilities of this pink puff ball were strong.

When another soldier teased him mid-swing, he barked, "Shut up! I didn't pick it!"—but Kain caught the pure, giddy delight behind his eyes.

For the first time, it felt like victory might be possible.

Then the river moved.

At first, Kain thought it was the current. But the surface bulged—once, twice—then split open as something vast slithered beneath it. The corrupted water surged upward, forming a whirlpool that devoured itself.

The Queen's eyes snapped toward the horizon as an oppressive spiritual pressure washed over them. The air trembled. The mist thickened until even sound seemed to drown in it.

"Ready yourselves," she said quietly.

From the depths of the river, a colossal silhouette began to rise—a fusion of serpent and man, its scaled head brushing the sky. Its glowing eyes a sickly violet.