SSS Class Mythic Beast Master

Chapter 408: White Eagle (2)

The three eagles who'd been knocked down earlier were already recovering trying to stand despite injuries, third eyes glowing as they prepared final desperate attacks.

But Scáth was already waiting for them.

Her pear became a blur of crimson-purple.

One eagle's neck snapped from a perfectly strike from the side of her spear. Another had a hole appeared in its chest from the spear blasting through its heart. The third tried to use react but a crimson-purple spear was already spinning towards its head and then blood splashed out.

Finally the five Three-Eyed White Eagles lay dead as Scath rolled her arm with a grin while Reinhard looked around.

"That was fun." Scáth declared with her purple hair slightly disheveled, wine-colored eyes bright with satisfaction. "We should do this more often."

Reinhard chuckled. "Maybe. But let's claim the souls first."

Reinhard dropped to one knee beside the fallen eagle. As his fingertips brushed against the still-warm feathers, a brilliant eruption of white-gold light burst from the corpse. The radiance surged through his palm and spiraled up his arm like liquid fire.

A violent tremor swept through his body.

He'd gone through this before, but no repetition could dull it. The first second, he felt his body tremble while his heart began rapidly beating, and jaw clenching until teeth nearly fractured. His other gripped his skull, desperate to stop his head from spinning.

Reinhard's vision blurred and split, overlaying the real with the impossible. He was himself, kneeling on the sand, but then instantly memories that weren't his rushed past him. He was hundreds of feet above with his wings extended, the wind passing over his body.

He tasted the copper tang of blood at the corners of his beak, heard the keening of far-off siblings, and saw the world below in a spectrum of heat and hunger.

He felt the blinding sunlight on a mountain peak, the wind of the hunt, the clutch of eggs in the nest, the terror of predators closing in. They arrived not in sequence, but in a cataract of sensation, a waterfall of years compressed into a moment.

He was flying, talons extended, closing on a fleeing shadow. Then he was falling, wings torn, sky above and sand below. The impact shook his bones, his real body jolting on the ground as the memory merged with the present.

Reinhard gritted his teeth while his muscles twitching visibly along his neck. When his knees threatened to give way, he steeled himself, refusing surrender.

The light continued its relentless wash over his entire body. White radiance coated his skin, making him seem to glow from within.

Then gradually the intensity decreased, and his trembling subsided. Then his breathing steadied before he sighed.

You really can't get used to stuffing yourself with other people's emotions and memories, huh...

Reinhard glance to the side to see Scath tremble but she was grinning through the whole thing. He then closed his eyes to get his next Beast Sigil.

...

He drifted in the void again, that familiar darkness where mind existed without body. Each time he'd claimed another soul that he wanted to form a sigil with, he'd found himself here in this between-space.

His current Beast Symbols hovered before him, glowing with a blue-black light. Odin symbol flared up with a blue-black light outlining a horned helmet with spear and crossed swords beneath.

Reinhard then glance on the side to see a vertical gauge materialized nearby. It was filled with glowing orbs, each one a soul he'd consumed, and the bar was only slight filled up.

After becoming a Second-Class Beast Master, the bar had adjusted itself to match his rank. Whereas previously his current souls would have surpassed the bar, now its barley filled it.

He did a quick mental tally confirming the number was 1,078.

He focused on the Three-Eyed White Eagle's soul now integrating with his own. Memories quickly surface of the three eyes locking onto him, scanning for weaknesses, identifying vulnerable points with switch precision.

The way the third eye perceived things normal vision couldn't. The glowing points that appear on target the eagle viewed that represented their weak points. The analytical capability that revealed every target weakness was being opened up to him.

In response to his focus, Odin's Beast Symbol flared.

Brilliance pulsed within the gauge. A single orb began glowing brighter than all others and it stood out like a star among candles. The sphere pulled Reinhard's attention completely and made him smile.

He walked toward it through mind-space darkness as details became clear as he approached. The sphere bore the Three-Eyed White Eagle's mark which was a magnificent bird with triangle of eyes, and its wings spread wide.

It was simple yet nice to look at, a good representation of the eagle.

Reinhard reached out and his hand touched the glowing sphere.

Then light flooded everything.

The sphere rushed upward from the gauge, its light illuminating the area. It ascended through darkness until settling into position that had it joining the other sigil dots orbiting Odin's Beast symbol. Five dots now, the newest addition gleaming with fresh integration.

Golden lines burst from the new orb.

Threads of light rushed through the darkness and it began weaving patterns as they moved. They touched Odin's Beast Symbol before then the connection was completed and power became accessible. Energy flowed between sigil and symbol before then vibration rippled through the entire space.

Then the integration was completed, and Reinhard opened his eyes.

...

Reinhard eyes snapped open to rocky terrain and the others grinning at him. Scáth stood nearby, having finished her own soul devouring. The others had guarded them while waiting to ensure everything had gone smoothly.

Reinhard raised his right hand slowly, looking at the back beneath the black glove. He could feel the new addition, fifth sigil dot orbiting Odin's main symbol. Weakness Peering now part of his arsenal, ready to be tested and mastered.

"How do you feel?" Marie asked with a faint smile.

"Good," Reinhard said with a grin. "Ready to continue."

Roana consulted her map again. "The next place would be inner Area 3 which has the Raging Bull Territory for Joseph's sigil."

Joseph grinned as he says. "Then lets go. Hopefully we can get everyone sigil before night comes."

The others nodded before they began moving deeper into Colin Forest to continue hunting the Phantasm Beasts they needed for advancement.

Behind them, five Three-Eyed White Eagles lay dead, their bodies opened for any beast.