"If you won't accept me as your master, then I will force you to submit," Kyle declared, his voice cutting through the ancient trees with the cold finality of a falling blade.
Vaygar bared his razor-sharp fangs, the white flames of his mane surging with defiant fury. "Do you think a lowly human like you has what it takes?" he sneered, the sheer weight of his pride pressing against the air. "Who do you think you are to dare claim ownership of me?"
Unmoved by the terrifying aura of the King of the Forest, Kyle stepped forward with a predatory grace. Before the beast could react, Kyle reached out, clamped his hand around the thick fur of Vaygar's mane, and violently hauled the massive head down to the earth. He slammed his palm directly against the glowing mark on Vaygar's forehead.
Channeling every drop of his remaining willpower, Kyle began forcing a pact of submission through the sigil. The intersecting lines flared to life, but as the seconds dragged on, the light sputtered and began to dim, starved of the immense energy required to bind such a creature.
"You don't even have the mana to form a contract," Vaygar scoffed, a deep rumble of victory vibrating in his chest.
"Think again."
With a sharp mental snap, Kyle reached beneath his scarlet uniform and ripped the magical bracelets from his wrists. The heavy, artificial limiters shattered away, and his mana—previously bottled and controlled—erupted, running entirely rampant through his veins. He seized the chaotic storm of energy, channeling everything he could command into driving the pact home.
Vaygar's golden eyes widened in sudden, visceral horror as he realized the sheer scale of the power flooding into him. This wasn't a standard, balanced contract; it was an absolute annexation. The beast tried to thrash, to fight back against the encroaching tide, but the more he resisted, the deeper he drowned in the suffocating sea of Kyle's boundless mana.
Under the crushing weight of the binding, Vaygar's body began to warp and evolve. *When forming a pact, the lesser being evolves to fit the nature of the higher.*
His thick tail thickened, growing densely muscled with a wicked cluster of jagged spikes at the tip. His razor-sharp claws and fangs hardened, taking on a sturdier, indestructible quality. The white flame of his mane expanded, burning with a hotter, more violent intensity, while a pair of heavy, menacing horns sprouted triumphantly above his eyes. The sigil between his brows flared once, settling into a deep, brilliant gold.
As the violent resonance finally settled, Kyle collapsed backward onto the grass, his chest heaving as he gasped for air, utterly drained of stamina. The crimson mark on his hand crawled upward, spreading steadily across his bare shoulder in a jagged pattern of raw power. He felt the cold, shattered fragments of the discarded bracelets biting into his skin.
He didn't need them anymore. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the broken metal aside into the ash.
*How can a human possibly possess this much mana?* Vaygar thought, staring down at his transformed, subjugated limbs in stunned disbelief.
Slowly, Kyle pushed himself up from the ground, leaning heavily against the rough bark of a nearby tree. He looked down at the colossal beast, his voice dripping with icy mockery. "You acted high and mighty, saying you wouldn't acknowledge a lowly human as your master. What happened now?"
Farther away across the island, the atmosphere of the forest hummed with the echoes of other pacts.
Luke stood amidst scorched earth, having successfully forged a contract with a rare Phoenix hatchling he discovered nestled in the high branches. The bond rewarded him instantly; a profound, airy lightness settled into his bones, granting him the inherent ability of **flight** and absolute **fire resistance**. Every spell he cast burned hotter, his flames shifting into a deeper, more volatile shade. A clean, intricate beastmark burned faintly into the palm of his hand.
Meanwhile, Reo had ventured deeper into the shadows of the western thicket, successfully infiltrating the den of a shadow panther to claim its cub. The pact instantly re-engineered his physical stats, multiplying his speed tenfold and granting him a terrifying utility: the ability to completely erase his mana signature the moment he turned invisible. His mark settled squarely on his left shoulder.
Olivia, on the other hand, had bonded with a quiet, elusive nagzil. While the pact granted her no direct offensive skills or physical enhancements, the creature's innate ability to fire concentrated mana bullets provided her with a reliable, lethal support line. She gently scooped up the small, dark feline, placing it securely on her shoulder, its soft fur brushing lazily against the mark freshly inked onto her neck.
Elsewhere, Caesar had successfully bound a fierce bloodhound—the natural enemy of the shadow panther, prized for its infallible tracking ability to hunt down any prey it had ever come into contact with. Knowing what Reo possessed, Caesar and Reo silently acknowledged they would have to carefully avoid each other in the future to keep their volatile beasts from tearing into a bloody turf war.
Back at the rendezvous point, Kyle dragged his weary, battered body back toward the griffin landing, the sound of the summoning horn echoing through the canopy. Vaygar had no choice but to follow closely behind, bound by the fundamental rule that he could only stray a fixed distance from his master.
Long before he reached the clearing, Kyle had consciously pulled and refined the ambient mana of the forest, using it to cauterize his exhaustion and sweep away the last traces of fatigue.
A wave of low, stunned murmurs rippled through the group of students who had arrived earlier as Luke stepped out of the treeline with the majestic Phoenix resting regally atop his head.
"He actually contracted a legendary beast," Maya whispered, her eyes wide with disbelief.
"What did you expect?" Freya replied, shaking her head with a wry smile. "That's a Lucas for you."
"Too bad the rest of us didn't find anything remotely close to that," Claire muttered, crossing her arms.
Reo emerged moments later, accompanied by the sleek, silent shadow panther padding softly at his heels.
"Looks like you outdid everyone else today," Reo commented casually, glancing sideways at Luke's blazing summon.
"Not everyone," Luke responded, his gaze shifting past the crowd.
Instantly, the ambient noise in the clearing died. A heavy, suffocating pressure washed over the students, causing a collective shiver to run down their spines. The various mana beasts tethered to the other students instinctively shrank back, hiding behind their masters to avoid the overwhelming gaze of whatever was approaching. Only Luke's phoenix and Reo's panther remained entirely unbothered, their postures rigid and alert.
The pressure mounted, thick and oppressive, until Kyle finally stepped into the clearing.
Tailing right behind him was Vaygar. The transformed beast radiated an apex predator's aura, its golden eyes sweeping the area with haughty disdain. The sheer weight of Vaygar's presence made Caesar's bloodhound whimper and cower in terror.
Mrs. Stella blinked, stepping forward with a sharp, analytical look in her eyes. "Where in the world did you find a beast like that, Kyle?"
"Deep in the forest," Kyle answered flatly. "At the heart of the island."
As Vaygar entered the clearing, Luke's phoenix and Reo's panther instantly bared their fangs, feathers and fur bristling as they hissed in warning. Vaygar sneered back, his spiked tail twitching as he prepared to leap into a brutal two-against-one battle royale.
"Vaygar, stand back," Kyle ordered, his voice an unyielding wall.
Vaygar let out a low, disgruntled snort, casting one last disdainful glare at the other beasts before heavily walking back to heel. Sensing the tension defuse, the other summons lowered their guards, retreating behind their respective masters.
"So, what new ability did you get from the pact?" Reo asked, stepping closer and staring curiously at the edge of Kyle's mark peeking from his collar.
"I haven't bothered checking," Kyle replied indifferently. He turned his head. "Luke, what about you?"
"My fire spells are noticeably stronger, and I'm able to fly now," Luke said, casually conjuring a dancing wisp of crimson flame in his open palm.
"Well, I got the ability to completely mask my presence," Reo grinned, demonstrating his new skill as his silhouette abruptly shimmered and vanished into thin air before reappearing a second later.
A short distance away, Silvia stood waiting patiently by the edge of the path for Olivia to return so they could regroup with the boys.
"So, what skill did you end up getting?" Silvia asked, looking down curiously at Olivia's new companion. Sophie fluttered down from Silvia's shoulder, happily brushing its soft fur against the small beast. "It's so cute."
Olivia flushed slightly, fidgeting nervously with her fingers. "It's... honestly a bit embarrassing to say, but I didn't actually get any new abilities."
"Alright, students! Time to head back!"
Mrs. Stella's voice cut across the clearing. She smoothly mounted her griffin and blew the summoning horn a final time, guiding the students back toward the large airborne carriage. Once everyone was safely packed inside, the griffin dug its massive talons into the chassis, effortlessly lifting the heavy carriage into the open sky—a feat made easy by the advanced wing-magic imbued into its framework.
They reached the academy grounds just as the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in bruises of purple and gold.
Before dismissing them for the evening, Mrs. Stella gathered the class and taught them a specialized spatial technique—how to temporarily alter and shrink the physical appearance of their pacts for convenience. She developed the lesson with particular focus on Kyle, Caesar, Reo, and the others whose newly bound beasts were simply too massive to comfortably navigate the dormitory halls.
Following the instruction, Reo focused his mana, shrinking his lethal shadow panther down into the docile form of a small, sleek kitty.
Kyle raised a hand, channeling a fraction of his energy into Vaygar. With a quiet hum of light, the towering, terrifying King of the Forest compressed, shifting shape until he stood no larger than a small, fuzzy cub, complete with two tiny, jagged horns sprouting comically from his head.