This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

More closely examining Serena's contract, Kain was struck by a sense of familiarity, but it took him a while to figure out from where…

Finally with the reminder of Bea, he seemed to vaguely remember that in all of the texts he was asked to memorize as a Pathfinder, there was a brief paragraph during the Warring States Period about one of the stronger city-state being built around a 9-star beast tamer whose strongest contract was… a deceptively weak appearing rabbit made of crystals.

'I think it was called a Prismarin…damn it! Of course, none of her contracts could be simple!'

During such a chaotic period of history for a city-state to be built largely on the back of this rabbit-like creature and its master, of course it couldn't be simple.

Unfortunately, aside from that brief paragraph about that city state, no more in depth information about its attributes or skills were described. Explore more stories with empire

'Did she get this contract while fulfilling a mission for the Eclipse order? Or did she exchange for it using points she obtained from the mission?'

Either way, she couldn't have had it for long, so Kain hoped that their coordination and tacit understanding would be comparatively weak in the next match.

The Prismarin twitched its crystalline ears, and the battlefield shimmered. It was as though light itself bent around the arena, scattering into dazzling rays that obscured visibility and distorted perception.

Seeing this effect, Kain didn't waste any more time.

He directed Bea to focus on the Prismarin, aiming to either remove this disruptor of his carefully laid plans, or control it to better figure out its abilities.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

At the same time, Queen directed her Vespid guards to harass the Elemental Guardian, which had now shifting into its fire phoenix-like form.

Meanwhile, sensing that the Prismarin seems to be good a distorting perception or manipulating light, Kain directed Aegis to build barriers of rock that would likewise obscure the vision of their enemies and act as additional protection if they somehow manage to sneak up on them.

The Starweaver reacted quickly, a constellation resembling a bow lit up on its wings and then it fired arrows of starlight that rained down on the Vespids. Several guards were struck mid-air and fell to the ground, while Queen narrowly avoided the assault.

However, even the struck guards weren't too badly injured as they managed to move slightly so that only non-vital areas were struck. And despite the arrows of light being nearly as fast as literal light, they had fought against a simulated version of the Starweaver at least dozens of times, so by now they had grown accustomed to its tricks.

Unless it suddenly pulled out a new, never before seen skill, Kain had countermeasures in place for every other ability it had shown in the past.

Meanwhile, the fire phoenix shot a wave of flames toward Aegis and his barriers, however he managed to withstand the heat with some straint, and most of his barriers barely stayed in tact as well. In preparation for the rematch against Serena, Kain had been collecting rocks and minerals with a high resistance to heat, just for this moment and Aegis had been steadily absorbing them to make them a natural part of himself for a while.

If only he hadn't had some of the stone integrated into him damaged in the previous matches, then he'd have probably been able to effortlessly carry the fire attack.

On the other side of the arena, Bea's targeting of the Prismarin has hit a snag. The rabbit didn't even bother to dodge the threads coming toward it, but once they made contact, it was almost as if nothing was there. Bea was completely unable infect it with a split.

'Is that not it's real body? Is it an illusion? Or can it form splits like Bea?'

Still, Kain decided to look on the bright side despite the failed attempt, any information that could be gleaned about this mysterious creature was a positive to him.

The Vespids surrounded the Starweaver that had finally paused its rain of arrows, however at that moment Serena's new contract released a burst of refracted light that created dozens of illusions of the Starweaver around the arena. Kain's team was immediately thrown into disarray, unable to discern the real threats from the false ones.

Kain's jaw tightened. The illusions appeared to have no differences from the real thing, so he couldn't tell which was the real body.

"Stay alert!" he shouted through his bond to his contracts, his tone sharp.

Queen and the Vespid guards immediately adjusted their positions, but the confusion was evident. The swarm buzzed around the battlefield, targeting several illusions only for their stingers to pass harmlessly through the projections.

Kain quickly assessed his options. He couldn't afford to waste resources on fake targets. Bea, attempted to use her threads to scout for the real Starweaver.

In the chaos, one of the illusions lunged at a Vespid guard, its glowing palm flashing with a faint starlight. However, Kain could tell from the energy it emitted during this so-called 'attack' that it was not the original body and, like all illusions, wouldn't have any physical attack power.

Kain, having dismissed the illusions as harmless, ignored the attack, instead directing Queen to focus on the phoenix-like Elemental Guardian and its fiery barrage. He'd have to wait until the real body revealed a flaw.

However, to his shock, the illusion's strike landed.

The Vespid let out a high-pitched screech as the starlight palm smashed into its side, leaving deep imprint and breaking its left wing. The guard fell, its remaining intact wing struggling to lift its weight.

Kain's eyes widened. "They can attack?!" How can the attacks directed at these substance less illusions go straight through them, and yet they can physically attack Kain and his allies?

That has defied all the common sense he knew about illusions, at least when created by creatures at their level. This shouldn't be possible!

He immediately shifted tactics, directing his team to treat the illusions as potential threats.

But even so, the damage had been done. Losing a Vespid guard was a blow, not just to their combat strength but also to morale.

Moreover, when they attacked that same Starweaver in retaliation, their stingers went straight through.

'What kind of disgusting and unfair ability is this? You can hit me but I can't hit you?!'