Chapter 19: Spirit Beast’s Bond

Chapter 19: Spirit Beast’s Bond

Her older sister rubbed her nose, embarrassed. "Well, I'll let you off this time, if you make me another promise?"

The blonde girl gulped nervously. "W-What is it?"

Isabella smiled. "Stay with us longer?"

Bree finally let out a breath of relief. Finally, a wish she could easily fulfill.

"Oh I had to do that anyway, because of that pink fox."

Now it was Isabella's turn to be confused. What did that cute little thing do to make Bree want to stay? Did she just want to play with it?

"That pet you guys bought back?"

Bree nodded. "Yeah. It's a spirit beast. A very strong one, probably."

A strong pet that was a good thing in Isabella's book, so why did her little puppy look so worried?

'Is she jealous of the pink fox just like she was jealous of little piggy earlier? Does she really believe she's a pet?! Have I gone too far with her training?'

But Isabella had no idea how to undo what had already been done. So she could only pretend to be oblivious. "Uh a strong pet that's a good thing, right? Don't be jealous, little puppy, sister will always love you the most!"

Bree's face was red. "J-Jealous?! Why would I be jealous?! No, nevermind that, anyway get serious!"

"Ehehe"

Bree rolled her eyes. Well, it's good that her sister wasn't depressed now. But she still needed to know certain things.

"Ahem, it can be a good thing that it's so strong but it can also be a disaster! Spirit beasts are not pets, at their core. Their level of intelligence is not much different from humans. It's alright when it's this young, but once it grows up, there's no telling if the loyalty will stick. Moreover, just like children, they can be unreasonable. But unlike children, their tantrums can be lethal. It's not easy to make even a newborn spirit beast submit!"

Isabella nodded, looking quite calm. "Hm I suppose I will have to teach my daughter how to train pets, right?"

No matter how much she loved her, Bree had to admit that Isabella could be incredibly annoying at times.

"Can't you be serious, sister?"

The older sister chuckled. "Fufu, alright, alright little puppy, don't puff up. Just tell me what I have to do."

The blonde waved her hand with a sigh. "Nothing just take those two children and your husband away first, and leave the mansion to me and little Evelyn for tomorrow."

Isabella nodded. "Alright. I trust my little puppy, take care of my daughter."

The blonde smiled. "Of course. Even if you don't tell me, I would protect her with my life."

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When Evelyn groggily opened her eyes the next morning, she felt that something wasn't quite right.

Perhaps the first hint was that she woke up so peacefully on her own, and there was no Vivian barging in and bouncing on her bed to give her a rude wake up call instead.

Even if she were to believe that Vivian was just tired from yesterday, at least Amara should have been here to help her tie her hair up or take a bath, right?

The pink haired girl felt a little disappointed, as she was actually looking forward to getting pampered for once.

"It can't be that they felt ignored yesterday when we went out? I didn't pay them much attention after all but no, it can't be"

But the more she thought about it, the more anxious she felt.

"No I have to explain it to them. They can't leave me alone!"

She, who did not have a single person who truly cared about herself in her last life, could not bear to lose this warmth.

And so the little girl jumped off her bed and bolted from her room, only to crash into something soft with a 'oomph'.

Bree held her groggy little niece in her arms carefully, chuckling at her confused appearance. "Well well well, where's my little niece running off to so early in the morning?"

Soon after, just when she was starting to almost doze off in the soft embrace, a strange invasive sensation came from all over her body.

It felt as if she was enclosed in a bubble of strange energy, and for a moment, it felt as if something really wrong was going to happen if she didn't stop it.

She instinctually wanted to resist, but remembered her aunt's warning just in time. There was still a deep unwilling resistance coming from her heart, but Evelyn tried her best to not let her spirit power move without her permission.

Warning! Deploy spirit power for defense, defeat imminent!

For the first time since her rebirth, the system gave her an 'alert'! Although Evelyn felt a little more anxious, she trusted her aunt.

Warning! Deploy spirit power for defense, defeat imminent!

Decisively ignoring the warning, Evelyn focused her thoughts instead on neither resisting nor welcoming the encroachment of the spirit energy.

Although it lingered against her skin, it did not attempt to enter her body. It was as if a guest was knocking at her door, waiting for her to either open it and welcome them inside, or yell at them to go away.

It was quite difficult to ignore the continuous 'knocks'. If she hadn't been warned in advance, she would have definitely either thrown the guest out or welcomed them inside, depending on whether she believed them to be beneficial or harmful to herself.

A few moments later, Bree withdrew her aura, and stared at her niece in surprise.

"How strange that you got it so quickly. My little niece is really a genius!"

Evelyn felt a little embarrassed. While she was happy to succeed, she didn't know if just barely making it through was worth such a high compliment. "Um, thank you."

Bree's smile was brighter than it had been almost the entire morning, as if some invisible weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

"Fufu, don't be so shy. To think I was so worried before If you can do so well just like you did now, then there's nothing to be worried about. Remember, good thoughts about your pet, and no resistance!"

The pink haired girl nodded obediently in her arms. "Good."

Bree gave her niece a few more minutes to gather her focus before setting her down in the middle of the runic pattern along with the fox. She walked back until she was standing a few feet behind Evelyn in a position where she was no longer in the girl's line of sight.

"Ready?"

"Mhm."

"I'll break the glass. Don't be shocked."

Evelyn just gave her a faint nod. She was already fully focused, and her thoughts kept revolving around the pink fox.

The glass shattered and seemed to vanish into the void, but Evelyn didn't even notice.

The little fox slowly opened its eyes, still looking slightly sleepy. The glow from the runic lines was dull and almost unnoticeable, and the pink haired girl in front of it seemed to glow with an almost divine light.

Her thoughts seemed to ring in its mind.

'Little Ruru is so cute, so adorable!'

'I'll always take care of little Ruru!'

'Even if everyone else goes their own way and leaves me alone, little Ruru won't leave me, right?'

'Little Ruru will be mine, forever and ever.'

'I'll protect you, always.'

However, her thoughts didn't matter to the little fox.

Because she already felt it. The energy within her body was the same as the one in the stone that allowed her to evolve into a spirit beast.

They were fated.

And so, the fox slowly crawled off the floor and into Evelyn's lap, docilely snuggling into the little girl who still looked lost in her own world.

Bree's jaw almost dropped to the floor in bewilderment.

Where's the spirit encroachment? Where's the resistance? What's going on?!