The next morning brought an intrusion.
Cairen woke with a strange sensation. The bizarre feeling of being watched.
His eyes opened, and he saw Ling standing beside his bed, motionless as a statue. Her figure, wrapped in the dim light of dawn.
The horn on her forehead seemed more prominent in the darkness, giving her a decidedly inhuman and unsettling air, despite her beautiful face.
He sat up with a start, heart racing.
"Don't you know how to knock? Or wait outside?" Cairen's voice came out harsh.
She looked genuinely confused and spoke.
"No. I don't see why I would. We're getting married soon. Privacy is a needless concept between us now."
Cairen stared at her, irritation overcoming the fright he had felt.
"That's not how it works! We need privacy. We're still strangers."
"Are we?" she said, tilting her head.
"Our essences are bound. What could be more intimate than that? Now, stop complaining and get dressed. The beasts are already in the courtyard." She said as she left, leaving him behind with a face twisted in frustration.
Half an hour later, he followed her into a wide, walled courtyard. And there, in the center, five reinforced cages held their prey.
The courtyard was silent, broken only by guttural growls and the scrape of claws against the metal bars.
Five distinct beasts, each manifesting a primitive fury with the initial strength of the Qi Accumulation Realm.
A feline with black fur and eyes burning with rage, a feathered serpent that hissed, its scales gleaming under the light.
A boar with sharp tusks that slammed against the iron bars of the cage. A three-eyed lizard that spat acidic liquid, and finally, a great raven with metallic feathers.
These were the five beasts prepared for him by Ling.
The princess leaned back against a distant column, arms crossed. Her face was a mix of curiosity and serene observation, silver eyes fixed on Cairen's every move.
Trying not to miss a single detail.
Cairen ignored her presence. All his attention was focused on the beasts, on the hunger to grow stronger that burned in his body.
He walked up to the first cage, the one with the ember-eyed feline. The beast crouched and then hurled itself against the bars, a furious roar echoing in the closed courtyard.
Cairen didn't care. There was no emotion in his heart, only the cold need to grow stronger at that moment.
He raised his right hand, palm facing the beast.
'Shackles of the False Genocider: Judgment!'
The mental command was a trigger. From the center of his palm, the metal of the chain surged from within his body, materializing. The chain shot forward at high speed toward the cage.
The tip of the chain suddenly split in two, hissing through the air. The twin ends of the chain did not pierce. Instead, they wrapped around the feline's neck with extreme speed, snapping shut with a click at the end.
Immediately, the beast screamed as the shackle bound it. A sharp sound of agony and rage, but it lasted only a second.
The fierce glow in the beast's eyes faded, replaced by a profound emptiness, as if its consciousness had been ripped out and hurled into an abyss.
On top of its head, between its ears, a mark was burned into the beast's skin and bone. A stylized eye, half of it.
And it was at the moment the mark appeared that the sound came.
'Ding!'
[Shackles of the False Genocider have judged and transformed a being into a False Fallen]
{Absorbing Fallen Energy}
And then, the process began. It was horrible to watch. The beast's entire body, its Qi, its blood, its soul, its bones, its flesh. Everything seemed to wither.
The beast's robust form deflated in seconds, its fur lost its luster and turned to dust. The bones cracked and disintegrated into a dark mist.
Everything was reduced to a pure essence. The Fallen energy. The chain, now glowing with a sickly gray tone, absorbed all that energy, channeling the entire fallen essence back into Cairen.