A Way Out

With the sun shining brightly over the battlefield, it marks the third day of the competition. Today would be the day war officially breaks out, as shouts, laughs, and cries of anger can be heard all over the battlefield, but off course it was merely a game for the sons and daughters of South Paradise.

Meanwhile, two don't share this sentiment.

One of which is riding on a giant dog running through the field with 2 people on his tail, each riding a beast of their own.

"Adrian, did you think you could beat us just because you beat that trash Yu?"

"Yah, don't get arrogant, no matter what you're just a peasant, stop running like a dog and accept our beating"

The two loudly laugh as they urge their soul beasts to catch up to boy in front.

Unknown to them that they're merely running toward their own demise.

**********

On the other hand, in a place well away from that young boy, within a withered forest, painful wails could be heard coming from an old creepy-looking mansion. Wails that would send chills running down any who might witness this eerie situation.

The second of the two though is residing precisely here, currently feeding the source of the situation.

"You need to eat to go through this transition, but though I don't want to rush you, if you stay out too long your voice will ruin the trap"

Yes, Yu had summoned the wolf back to eat from the puma's body as to help soothe it rumbling belly that demanded food. While this may reduce the purity of the energy gained, it would make the wolfs advancement easier as it dulls the pain when the energy crashes into the food.

At the same time a fire crystal had already been fed to the wolf to soothe its pain at critical conjunctions, which in turn, again, lessened the gains from the Dark Crystal.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you wasted 60% of the Dark Attribute, but I guess this will guarantee your successful advancement."

When the wolf finished his meal, Yu unsummoned it and laid back to get some shuteye.

'The wolf might get a lot stronger, this will increase my chances of survival.. unless it turns to silver rank which would just put it out of commission.'

A smile suddenly found its way to Yu's face.

'But so what? I can just force myself out of the dimension'

The reason Yu had been in a good mood earlier was indeed because he found a way out of his predicament.

'Maybe they thought I would be grieving for my life that I wouldn't notice, or maybe they didn't even think of this as any sane person wouldn't have such thoughts'

"Hahahaha... so what if I can't die near the mansion nor get away from it for too long? as long as I have a minute of time outside I could kill myself and nothing would happen'

Indeed, the method Yu had found to save his life, was to end it. After all, if only the Core's area was a danger zone then that means dying anywhere else would end with the same result as any other noble within the battlefield.

With such thoughts on his mind Yu happily falls asleep, with a bit of a smug grin on his face.

Sometime later, after the sun had crept back beyond the horizon, Yu drowsily opens his eyes, yawning and getting to his feet.

"That Rabbit just had to ruin my pillow, my neck aches like hell"

Though most of the items had been left undamaged or at least functional, there had to be some that were destroyed in the fight, one of which was the newly gained pillows that were apparently of vital importance to Yu.

'Since the wolf didn't wake me up it must be that it decided to bear through the rest, let's see if a result was reached'

Summoning his grimoire and turning to the wolfs page, a portrait of a wolf is shown with slight glow emitting from it, signalling the unfinished process of change.

Sighing to himself Yu picks the items he had deemed necessary for the following step in his plans and goes into the mansion.

What greeted him upon opening the door is the sight of black blood covering the ground, with organs splashed about while cracks dotted the ground.

"Ugh the smell is horrible, well maybe it could make a good cover for my plan"

Scrunching up his nose Yu walks toward the side of the hall where a bunch of small barrels are placed, all holding expensive liquor.

"To think I would be using liquor that costs god knows how much for a single-use trap... sigh my tummy feels bad"

Begrudgingly he carries the barrels to different spots in the room, once finished he summons the spider and has it make threads that connect to the back of the mansion through cracks in the roof or back wall as he pokes the barrels, causing small leaks which he plugs with the threads.

After that Yu breaks the already cracked floor and places the barrel in it, while digging out any of the foundations that got in the way with the tools he got from his recent adventure.

After a while of thorough arrangements, Yu looks at the room with a satisfied but tired face and starts feeding the hard-working spider any of the organs he had collected as he moved about in the mansion.

"Eat up and grow strong and one day you might end up as strong as the legendary spider that's famous for her "Nai Waa" "

Imagining his own cute Nai Waa spider while looking at the timid fearful spider Yu laughingly smiles at the thought as he can't relate it to the adventures spider from his memories, though she also practised a heavy amount of caution.

While his thoughts ran about a scene suddenly caught his attention as he gazed wide-eyed at the spider scratching its skin seemingly wanting to peel it off which it, must to his surprise, actually succeeded after what seemed like an hour of constant struggling.

Gazing at the spiders shed skin and then back at the double-sized spider itself Yu still had his dumbfounded expression.

"At this rate it might actually turn my dreams into reality"

Bending down to pet the spider as he smiled happily Yu suddenly finds himself touching the ground awkwardly as the spider had moved around his body with its eight fearful eyes gazing at him.

"Nope never mind I take back what I just said"

Standing up in a huff Yu unsummons the spider and returns to the back of the mansion.

"Today everyone must be very busy with protecting or attacking each other that they surly don't have much time for poor me, plus they probably think I'm already out one way or another"

Plopping down and taking out his food Yu starts talking to himself as he eats slowly, which makes many wonder if loneliness had some adverse effects on him.

"Though I don't need to take the risks of staying here I'd rather go out fighting than kill myself and make things easier for them. Well fighting then fleeing off course, I wouldn't get myself killed for real"

Gazing at the beautiful night sky once again Yu stares, as if trying to see through the illusion and into the outside world.

"There's that benefit from surviving too"

He mutters as he continues to munch his food and stare aimlessly until a surprising feeling flooded his face.

"It finished"

Hurriedly roping his food and chanting, Yu summons the wolf in mere moments.

A larger smaller than usual hexagram appears this time, from it the wolf sprang out and headed straight toward Yu with fast an incredibly fast pace. But before Yu could process the situation the wolf had already passed by him and dived onto his self-made backpack as it ate whatever meat contained within before it ran into the forest after a mad howl, signalling its dissatisfaction.

As for Yu, he had his back covered in cold sweat as he gazed at the fleeting wolf with a complex look in his eyes.

'Damn I thought I was a goner; I didn't even have the time to think of putting up a shield by the time it was near my face.'

Since the wolf was his Guardian Soul-Beast it was a fact that it would die with his own death, meaning, it wouldn't have any reason to attack at all.

'But it wouldn't matter if it went crazy though.'

Yes, the first thing that passed through Yu's mind when he got his head around the situation was the fact that the wolf had gone mad like the Rabbit which would make sense since it hated Yu and had been through a painful fast advancement like the Rabbit.

'Yu get a grip on yourself, if it had indeed gone mad you would have been dead now, DEAD! don't mess around just because you got some leeway now.'

Mentally reprimanding himself Yu calls up the Grimoire to take a look at the wolf.

What came into his sight was the image of a wolf standing aloofly with a look of arrogance radiating through its eyes, it had black fur covering it from head to toe, even its belly wasn't spared, the only other colour that shared its fur was the dark red that had surprisingly taken even more space than before. The other thing worth noting was the fact that it had actually grown a size smaller, either than that there were hardly any other changes.

"What? smaller? Also why did the fire attribute seem to be getting stronger rather than weaker? oh god, why is this wolf so controversial."

Lifting his eyes Yu sees the bronze frame that holds a single star signifying the rank up of the wolf.

But, as he had expected it, rather he expected even more for that fact, he diverted his attention toward the name instead.

Soul Guardian: Wailing Flames Wolf

A Wolf with its Pure Dark Attribute and Fire Attribute Half merged. Unbalanced state. Strengthened through Sacrifice.

Reading this Yu's eyes went as wide as saucers as he gazed unblinkingly at the words in disbelief.

"Half-merged? from one silver crystal? ridicules! even guardians aren't that susceptible to change, this wolf must have had it in from the start."

Any Beast or Soul-Beast that had merged elements would far outmatch those of its rank, to the point that it can sometimes even cross-rank fight. Let alone one with Pure Dark as one of its Attributes.

"The Unbalanced state is unnerving though. Need to get it a good fire supplement, not a crystal though, its body can't take another round with its recent unnatural advancement. Must get something natural."

With different thoughts swirling through his mind Yu falls into another daze, while the cries of the wolf echoed from the dead forest.