Chapter 353: Beast Emperor

Chapter 353: Beast Emperor

Flegra sat on a large tree root outside her home, her arms folded over her lap while Pronos stared at the wooden cabin cut off from the world by a coating of blue flames, muting out all sounds and repelling disturbances.

"The little fox is determined to not be interrupted," the old woman chuckled to herself. "I would not be able to break through her Pure Flames even if I wanted to."

"I am brutally out of my depth here..." Shin-Woo muttered as he leaned on a tree nearby and Flegra eyed him curiously.

"What's wrong, mysterious boy?"

"I'm still computing what's going on. Unlocking powers through sex... I feel like I've been dumped into an erotic novel," he said with a shake of his head. 'Though... I guess me being a regressor is even worse,' he thought wryly.

"Anything imaginable is conceivable, young man," Flegra replied with a chuckle. "I have witnessed far more bizarre roads to power or survival. Lust is a common one; all emotions are powerful in their own right and more than capable of fueling strength one way or another."

Shin-Woo lowered his eyes. "I suppose..." He whispered before falling silent.

The old woman glanced back at the flames afterward and looked down at her left hand, where an intricate scar could be faintly observed on its back. "...still, the Sage of The Crystal Mountain, huh?" She mouthed inaudibly. "What an unexpected time to hear about him once again."

She gazed at her scar for a short while and for a brief moment, her vision grayed and her hand was suddenly bleeding profusely. She looked up and saw an absurdly elegant man smiling at her amid snow and diamond.

"What is your wish, Dear Guest?"

Flegra was jolted out of her reminiscence when a sudden burst of malevolent energy managed to pierce through Kaelith's Pure Flames. She turned to her house and saw an amalgamated pillar of four distinct kinds of sinister mana.

She subtly shielded her face with her hand as a small gust of wind fluttered the grass and leaves of the forest. The demonic energy turned dark and purple as it ascended, before abruptly breaking apart and scattering thousands of tiny obsidian shards into the sky. They were so weightless that they fell like snow whilst glittering from the dappled sunlight.

"Well... this is a rare sight," Flegra remarked as she opened her hand to catch some of the crystals in her palm. She observed them as they seemed to have discarded their self-sustaining proprieties and turned to dust. "It isn't every day that you see demonic force be so... beautiful."

Shin-Woo imitated her and inspected the obsidian in muted interest.

Soon after, Pronos abruptly perked up and a resounding howl echoed in the forest. It was followed by several more from all directions. The cries of wolves spread throughout the Plateau for miles and despite being the first, they were not the only ones.

The Dreorins inhabiting the First Plateau soon joined in, roaring and shaking the earth. Birds sang in chorus and the cries of small creatures merged into one.

Flegra widened her eyes at the commotion around her and stared at her house. "They are... crying out for him? Unprompted? It's as if—"

⠀

Ding!

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❮ ◈ ❯

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|| This is a System Missive! We repeat. This is a System Missive! ||

|| The Host, Rakna Xiorra, has awakened as the Legendary Beast Emperor. ||

⠀ Rêađ latest chapters on no/v/e/l(b)in(.)com

|| We repeat. ||

⠀

|| The Host, Rakna Xiorra, has awakened as the Legendary Beast Emperor. For having accomplished the feat of awakening as a Duple Emperor and acquiring the unprecedented title to command all Beasts, he will be given special privileges. All affiliated organizations are required to pay their respects. ||

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|| Survive well, Hosts. ||

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❮ ◈ ❯

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Shin-Woo was the first to react by choking on nothing but air. "There's no way...!"

It was a somewhat peaceful black color, neither too dark nor bright, and was spotted by countless glimmering dots of purple that shone like stars. Aside from that, his demeanor was the same as ever, and despite his expression being sharper than usual, they also felt like it was warmer.

"...the clown's here," the therian spoke up first as he noticed Gray in the back, who waved back in mock happiness, like an excited fan in front of their idol. "What a way to ruin my mood so early in the morning..."

The cyborg rolled his eyes. "It is the evening, my friend. How captivated were you inside there for you not to realize that?"

Rakna blinked and looked up through the trees' foliage. Eye of Symphony slowly spun in his eye socket, as if it was also having a hard time waking up. "Uh... never mind."

"So... um, how do you feel?" Allan asked awkwardly.

"I honestly wish I had a proper answer to that," the therian snorted as he fixed his messy hair. "In fact, I'm more scared of the backlog of System messages I have than my physical health."

"Oh, yes, it reminds me," Gray raised his voice and bowed exaggeratedly. "I offer my greetings to the Legendary Beast Emperor; all hail His name."

The therian looked at him weirdly before the implication hit him. "Fuck," he cursed immediately and the clown started laughing.

Meanwhile, Higure rubbed her chin in thought and approached Rakna. She looked him over from top to bottom and squinted, "I'm sad now... I was hoping you'd be a bit embarrassed coming out of there with all of us waiting. At least, I'd get that. But of course, you don't care... You're squeaky clean, as well. Nothing to tease you about," she said with a disappointed sigh.

"The perks of my body, I guess," Rakna shrugged. "And Allegro never creases," he added proudly.

"That's just cheating..." The lioness groused but quickly grinned. "By the way, I'm next, right? It's not fair you took Nyx first, but I'm willing to forgive you if I'm next. Soon, preferably."

The therian surprisingly smiled at her but she didn't break composure in the slightest. "You would forgive me, huh?" He snickered. "How is it not fair anyway?"

"I was the first to ask to mate. I should have priority!" She crossed her arms defiantly.

"What flawless logic; you impress me, Higure."

"Oi, don't think you can escape this with sarcasm," the lioness glared at him. But before she could say anything else, she was pushed out of the way by Kara.

"Right, right, who cares about the cat," the vixen shooshed her and beamed. "So, Rara, I really want to ask the juicy questions, but I'll hold back. For now, how are Kae and Nyx faring?" She asked with an impish smile and it grew even happier when she saw him look away.

It wasn't quite a blush, but it was very close to it from her perspective.

"They're inside... sleeping—"

"Ah! I knew it!" Allan's interjection rang but Rakna continued uninterrupted.

"—on the bed..." He paused momentarily and cleared his throat. "Hugging each other," the therian finished and Kara's face lit up like a Christmas tree. She literally had stars in her eyes.

She pulled a camera out of nowhere and cackled like a mad woman. "I'll be right back. Please don't wait for me to continue your chat," she declared and ran inside Flegra's home.

Soon after, everyone outside heard a muffled squeal of delight, as if some young girl had just come across the most adorable gossip topic she had ever seen in her life.

"All right, while she does that," Rakna resumed as if nothing was wrong. "Any questions?"

"I have one," Gray raised his hand like a student at school.

The therian groaned and closed his eyes, already regretting having asked. "Clown... go ahead."

"So, while you had sex, did you shapeshi—"

"Shut up, or I strangle you with your bow tie."

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Man, it’s annoying to write these ‘settling’ scenes. Like, it needs to be impactful, but not turn the characters into a gallery for the author to fuck around with. Having them freak out too much or react like mindless drones is a no-no. It doesn’t need to be awesome, sad, or bittersweet. Humor works perfectly fine for impact as well.

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My small tip for writers; when you want to write dialogue, always play around with the personalities of the characters involved. Steer the scene where you want it to be by taking advantage of the most likely character to be able to switch the tone into what you want it to be. For instance, in this case, I relied primarily on Allan and Gray to manipulate the mood.

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PS: For those wondering if there's a smut chap somewhere, sadly there isn't. It's not something I've ever written before. I wouldn't be against it either but my insecure ass wouldn't dare to post that kind of shit without practice. Eh, maybe one day I'll write smut and put it behind a paywall for extra money or something, lol.

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PPS: Ah, and I didn’t forget to post this time. I’m just completely off my sleeping schedule. Heh, it’s not exactly the same but this reminds me of the old days when I first started writing and would post somewhere between 10 PM and midnight after coming back from school.

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