“Keeeeh!”
The egg cracked and out came a chick that had its eyes closed, which he didn’t open for some reason. It was coated with amniotic fluid when it first broke free of its shell. It didn’t have any feathers over its body.
The chick had its beak open because it was crying at Roo who was now sitting over his master’s shoulder. He had stopped trying to scare Eren. It was his time to be subdued by a beast of a higher tier than him.
Eren had been taking care of the egg in his free time just as instructed by Layla ever since he came out of Purgatory. He would often imbue it with a semblance of his mana in a controlled manner. Then he would wrap his mana sense around the egg to make the embryo get attuned with his mana sense.
Apart from safeguarding the egg, the runes over the egg were also meant to act as the medium between the beast and its tamer. They allowed the beast to get familiar with Eren’s Ace Rank mana straight away while it was still in its pre-birth state.
Eren also poured his blood over the runes from time to time so that the beast becomes bound by him even before it is born. This served as a form of blood ritual that was required to tame the demon beast.
Eren had started feeling another channel of mental connection had been opened between him and some entity that didn’t seem to have any thoughts for a few days now. He had tried talking to the chick on that channel but so far he only felt the emotions of endearment from it.
This was how the hatched beast could detect Eren getting affected by Roo’s psychic waves, even if only a bit. It had already started treating the butcher as its kin. So it decided to break free from its eggshell instead of waiting for things to proceed naturally. To set the records straight with the baby bird who had dared to act this impudently in front of his kin.
The chick stopped screaming and stopped releasing psychic waves when it felt that the tiny bird which had dared to against its master had been quieted down. The sheer intensity of those waves made Roo realize that the newborn would be treated as the leader between them if they decided to subdue the nearby mana beasts at the same time.
The chick was in the Ace Rank from its very birth, thanks to Eren familiarizing it with his Ace mana through the runes’ help. This enabled the beast to become compatible with Ace rank mana at its starting point.
That’s right!
The chick was a creature of Ace rank from birth. And yet, it wasn’t done with its progress. It opened its mouth once again. It wasn’t to intimidate anyone.
A mini whirlpool of lightning and fire element mana was created as the chick opened its mouth. It started growing longer and wider ever since its inception.
‘He is… devouring fire and lightning element mana in the air. That looks like a derivation of my half-blood powers.’
Eren thought to himself as he watched his newborn demon beast strengthen his position in the Ace Rank by devouring the surrounding mana with his unique inherent spell. He could only come up with one explanation to answer the question he had asked himself.
‘It seems that those runes and the blood ritual were the reason behind how this beast turned out to be the way it has.’
Eren concluded and watched as his demon beast progressed further and underwent drastic physical changes. Eren and Altashia stepped aside as the mana storm was created around the newborn demon beast.
The limbs that looked malnourished were the first to be strengthened in the process. The skin without any hair suddenly started growing beastly golden brown fur. The fur could be seen to have a subtle shine over it, which was an indication that it had been strengthened by mana.
The beast’s forelegs looked just like the hind legs except they grew bird-like claws and black talons that gave off a menacing vibe. The hind legs of the beast were more beastly.
The beast also grew a tail that was the same length as its torso, which looked flexible and prehensile. Eren concluded that the beast could use the long tail like a whip.
Except for its shoulders and up, the demon beast now had a lion’s body. He also seemed to have a very flexible spine considering it had its back bent inwards way more than normal to deal with the pain of the mana-induced sudden growth spurt.
The hind paws also grew thick black talons that looked retractable. The beast appeared to have a very low body fat percentage. Its body seemed to have been packed with muscles that still looked underdeveloped for the time being.
The limbs grew rapidly and stabilized, enabling the demon beast to stand on its four legs firmly. Next, dense feathers could be seen to erupt just below the beast’s shoulders, starting at the high back. They looked glistening and smooth as if they were waterproof. Contrary to golden brown fur, the feathers were snow-white in colour, making them have a distinct visual appeal.
The beast’s body measured 5ft in height and 7ft in length. But his growth didn’t end there. Two eagle-like wings erupted from the tops of the beast’s shoulders with a wingspan twice its torso’s length for each of the wings.
Eventually, the beast’s head became more of what it was born with. It looked even more eagle-like with a sharp, razor-edged sickle beak.
With his Ace Rank progression stopping after breaking into the solid stage of the Ace Rank, the beast’s body also stopped progressing any further and stabilized. The mana storm around it simply vanished into thin air, allowing the spectators to take a closer look at his regal form.
“This… this is a gryphon. Epic tier!”
Altashia mumbled to herself. But because everything around her was quiet, Eren could hear it as well. The latter shared her surprise as well. That’s because beasts like gryphons were very rarely seen by normal rankers. Rankers’ teams usually had to go deep into the Badlands for this to happen.
The butcher looked at his newly acquired demon beast and had to admit that he looked intimidating, courtesy of his inborn regality. And this was when he was just born.
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AN: Chapter 298’s author note foreshadows Eren’s demon beast. It’s featured in the cover pic of my profile here. 😉
