The F-Rank Tamer's Mythic Beast

4

"Step onto the testing plate with that deformed mongrel in your coat. If your beast can register even one single point of combat force on the monolith, I will let you walk out the front door."

"And if it cannot?" Cassian asked.

Julian smiled with cruel satisfaction. "If it cannot, you will drop to your knees, crawl between my legs, and bark like a dog while you lick the mud off my boots. Then my guards will break your fingers and throw you into the canal pits."

The onlookers laughed, Clara clapping her hands in sheer delight. "A fitting wager for a beggar! Crawl for your life, Cassian, or call the city guards to carry you out in chains."

Cassian looked at Julian with steady, unblinking eyes. "A wager requires stakes from both sides, Julian. What do you put on the table?"

Julian let out a booming laugh, throwing his arms wide. "What could a penniless orphan possibly demand from an heir of the Vance house?"

Cassian pointed directly at the carved jade pendant hanging from Julian's belt, a glowing sphere of deep crimson mineral that radiated concentrated heat. "The three hundred year old Fire Vein Core your father bought at the capital auction last winter. Put that on the pedestal, and I will take your bet."

The entire hall fell dead silent.

"The Fire Vein Core?" one of the academy instructors gasped. "That is a high grade Silver catalyst! It is worth at least two thousand silver crowns!"

"Julian, do not listen to this lunatic," Clara hissed, grabbing her betrothed by the sleeve. "He is stalling for time."

Julian's pride puffed his chest outward. In front of forty wealthy patrons, two instructors, and the daughter of the magistrate, backing down from a Grade F beggar was completely out of the question.

"You want my Fire Vein Core?" Julian unclipped the glowing red talisman from his belt and slammed it onto the rim of the testing platform with a sharp clatter. "Done! The core sits on the stone. But remember your words, Creed. When your mutt fails to make the needle twitch, you crawl."

"Clear the floor," Cassian said quietly.

Julian smirked, turning toward his Iron Horned Bull. "Allow me to show this peasant how a true Silver grade beast commands the monolith. Stand back and watch!"

Julian snapped his fingers, channeling his soul reservoir into the iron collar around the bull's thick neck. The massive slate colored beast stepped onto the platform, its iron horns gleaming under the chandeliers. With a thunderous bellow that rattled the glass cases along the walls, the bull lowered its skull and drove its heavy forehead straight into the basalt pillar.

Boom!

A heavy shockwave swept across the rotunda, fluttering the robes of the instructors. Along the front face of the monolith, seven vertical runes lit up with intense white light, illuminating a numeric score etched into the stone.

"Force rating eight hundred and forty!" the clerk shouted, adjusting his spectacles in admiration. "Mid Silver tier impact! Truly worthy of the Vance family bloodline!"

The spectators applauded warmly, several merchants nodding in approval while Clara beamed with triumphant pride.

"Top that, sewer rat," Julian sneered, crossing his arms over his chest as the bull stepped back, snorting hot gray vapor into the air. "Put your little rat on the plate. Let everyone see the glory of your Grade F partner."

Cassian did not waste words. He reached into his rough coat, scooped the sleek black pup into his hands, and set it gently down onto the center of the basalt testing plate.

The pup looked tiny on the wide stone circle. Its dense midnight black fur absorbed the bright chandelier light, and its two golden eyes stared ahead with complete, cold disinterest.

A few muffled snickers broke out among the patrons.

"Is that it?" Clara laughed, pointing her fan at the small creature. "It does not even have enough meat on its bones to make a bowl of stew! Bark for us, Cassian! Get on your knees and start barking!"

The black pup tilted its head, looking directly at the Iron Horned Bull standing ten feet away.

Then, with an air of utter boredom, the pup lifted its right front paw and tapped the surface of the basalt plate with a single black claw.

It did not bellow. It did not charge.

A sudden, suffocating pressure fell from the ceiling like a collapsing mountain.

The air inside the grand rotunda turned instantly heavy, so dense that several elderly merchants stumbled backward, gasping for breath as invisible gravity pinned their boots to the floor. The chandeliers above began to screech, their heavy iron chains groaning under the sudden downward pull.

A brilliant ring of pure golden radiance flashed outward from beneath the pup's paw, blinding every spectator in the hall.

Crack!

An ear splitting sound, like the breaking of a continental shelf, echoed through the chamber.

A jagged fracture line tore up from the base of the basalt monolith, ripping straight through the activation runes and splitting the ten foot stone pillar entirely in two. The internal spiritual conduits of the monument shattered with sharp, popping explosions, raining fine stone dust across the polished floor.

Before anyone could even scream, the Iron Horned Bull let out a pathetic, high pitched shriek.

The massive beast lost all control of its limbs. Its four thick legs buckled instantly, slamming its heavy belly into the marble with a sickening thud. The proud bull pressed its head flat against the stone, trembling so violently that its iron horns clicked against the pavers, while a warm, yellow puddle of urine spread outward from beneath its hindquarters, staining the immaculate white floor.

The golden light vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

The black pup gave a quiet chuff, turned around, and trotted back to Cassian's boots, sitting calmly on its haunches as if nothing had happened.

Dead, unbroken silence swallowed the Azure Cloud Pavilion.

Nobody spoke. Nobody breathed.

Clara Sterling stood frozen, her fan slipping from her limp fingers and clattering against the marble floor. Her mouth hung open, her face drained of every drop of color as she stared at the shattered testing monolith and the trembling, terrified bull soaking in its own waste.

Julian Vance leaned against the brass railing, his knees shaking uncontrollably. His eyes were wide, glassy, and completely hollow, staring at the ruined stone pillar with the blank horror of a man whose entire world had just collapsed beneath his feet.

Cassian stepped forward, his boots crunching lightly on the powdered basalt.

He walked past the groveling bull without a second glance, stopping right in front of Julian's frozen frame.

Julian did not move. He could not even lift his arms.

Cassian reached out, picked up the glowing crimson Fire Vein Core from the rim of the shattered platform, and tucked it securely into his coat pocket.

"A pleasure doing business with the Vance house," Cassian said, his voice ringing crisp and clear through the silent hall. "Thank you for the wager, Julian."

Cassian bent down, scooped the black pup into the crook of his left arm, and turned his back on the paralyzed nobles.

With calm, measured steps, he walked down the center aisle of the rotunda, stepping over the shattered fragments of stone, and exited through the grand archway into the afternoon light of Central Avenue.