Heaven, Earth, Me

Cecile looked sideways and saw everyone look at her with strange gazes. She blinked twice, confused, and while she wanted to ask what was wrong, she had the Mist Beast in her mouth. After a few moments, she spat it out and transformed back into her human form. 

The Mist Beast's ten eyes blinked several times, looking at Cecile attentively. Everyone crossed their fingers. 'Please, don't eat her again!'

And thankfully, their prayers seemed to be answered as the beast tilted its head down and lay flat on the ground. Cecile's lips faintly arched, showing an expression of great joy for someone like her. "Oh! Finally."

Everyone felt their jaws drop and eyebrows lift in pure stupefaction. 'THAT WORKED!? DID SHE TAME A BEAST BY EATING IT AND BEING EATEN BY IT!?'

Cecile patted the chin of the large beast, feeling its soft fur, and her phoenix wings began flapping happily. She asked, curious. "So, Fluffy, can you speak?"

The beast looked down and shook its head in denial. This reaction made everyone gain a more serious expression. 'Oh? This creature has enough intelligence to understand words?'

Cecile also noticed and asked again, her tone as flat as ever. "Do you understand me?"

The beast's ten eyes blinked as it nodded twice. Cecile nodded faintly. "That's great. Would you like to become my contracted… Oh." Cecile blinked a few times and looked toward Yasenia with a faintly sad face. Yasenia walked forward quickly, hugging Cecile into her soft embrace. "Oh, Sweetheart! What's wrong? Why the sad face?"

Cecile muttered while looking up, her face a bit pouty. "I am a beast. I can't have contracted beasts…"

Yasenia also realized, and her eyebrows frowned. "Hm… That's indeed a problem." 

Looking at the beast, Yasenia pondered for a few moments. "Wait… Soluna."

Soluna appeared, curled around a cloud of fire and ice. She slowly opened her sleepy eyes, revealing her gorgeous sun and moon pupils and azure irises. She asked groggily. "What's wrong, Yasenia?"

The dragoness pointed sideways and asked. "Is this a spirit?"

Everyone raised their eyebrows while Valeria at the side gently smiled. 'Oh? She actually realized.'

Soluna looked where Yasenia pointed and saw a gigantic beast with eight legs, a white furry body, and ten sky-blue eyes. Soluna blinked twice. "Oh… Cute."

Evelyn's lips twitched. "Should I say, as expected of Yasenia's two most closely related people? They have similar aesthetics even for this."

Andrea smiled, walking forward to join Yasenia and Cecile. "That has been quite a surprise, right? Cecile and Soluna have quite a few common interests." 

The others nodded in agreement. Meanwhile, Soluna floated on her cloud and poked the giant beast, curious. "Oh!" Soluna exclaimed and looked down. "How did you know, Yasenia? Even I failed to recognize it as a spirit at first!"

Yasenia smiled faintly and commented. "Thanks to Evelyn. Without her, I wouldn't have noticed."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Evelyn looked at Yasenia, confused. "Me? What did I do this time around?"

The dragoness approached one of the beast's legs and flicked it, making the body turn to mist for a few moments before returning to normal. "This."

Everyone else almost smacked their foreheads. 'How could I not think about it?' 

They all basically assumed that the beast had a strange constitution, and while that was true in a way, the main reason was that it was a spirit with a beast form. Angel asked, curious. "Then… Is she still a female?"

Kali tilted her head. "Genderless? A spirit usually doesn't have a defined gender other than its shape, no? Being a beast…"

Cecile looked at Kali and stated. "Female."

Kali raised her arms with a laugh. "Okay, okay. The beast spirit is a girl, then."

Knowing the true identity of the creature, Cecile's eyes glowed with joy as she looked back at the beast. "Fluffy, become my contracted spirit!"

The beast looked at Cecile and shook its head in explicit denial. Cecile frowned. "Why not? My energy is very nice, isn't it? That's why you wanted to eat me. If you become my contracted spirit, you will be able to feed on that as much as you want."

The mist beast shook its head again and stood up, preparing to leave. It understood that they didn't have the intention of killing it, and since it also didn't want to mess with them, leaving was the only option.

Cecile twisted space and appeared in front of the beast, flapping her wings to keep herself at eye level. "Wait." Cecile crossed her arms and stated. "I will help you with one thing you want, and in exchange, you become my contracted beast."

The spirit beast actually paused, looking at Cecile closely. Noticing its reaction, the group looked at the beast with curiosity. 'Oh? Does it really need help with something?'

The beast pondered for a few seconds before looking at Cecile closely once more. Cecile nodded, her eyes sincere. "I will help you."

Yasenia floated upward, Soluna following closely behind. When she reached Cecile's side, the dragoness spoke. "As she said, we can help you with something. She really likes you, so we will try our best as long as you have a problem you want to solve. If we succeed, I ask you to consider Cecile's proposal. I really think you both would make a very good pair."

The beast's eyes moved from Yasenia to Soluna. The Spirit Princess tilted her head. "What's wrong?"

Seeing the back and forth between Yasenia and herself, Soluna realized that the beast noticed her connection with Yasenia. She smiled happily. "Oh! So you noticed~. Hehe, indeed! I am Yasenia's contracted spirit!" The pride and gloating in her echoey voice was quite adorable, making Yasenia chuckle and yank her into a hug with her tail. "Hehe~, you are very cute, Soluna."

Soluna giggled as Yasenia played with her cheeks. 

The beast looked at that interaction, and then she looked at Cecile. Cecile blinked. "Do you want me to pull your cheeks as well? I can do it if you want."

The spirit beast actually leaned forward, and Cecile gently rubbed the beast's furry face. Cecile nodded, satisfied. "Hm~, Fluffy is very fluffy. The perfect name and body combo."

Meanwhile, the Spirit Beast was feeling something a bit confusing about it. The sensation of Cecile's Extreme Yin energy was highly compatible with itself, so Cecile's touch felt extremely comfortable and pleasant. 

After receiving her caresses for a few moments, it pulled its head back, and the spirit beast looked at Cecile. After exchanging glances with her, it nodded. 

Everyone looked at that nod with pleasant surprise. Without further ado, the beast turned and started walking away. As they walked, they saw with bafflement that the spirit beast's body changed. The eight legs became shorter, and the claws at the end changed to hoofs. Slowly, the back of the creature became more similar to that of a horse, changing into a ten-eyed and eight-legged white furry horse. 

The body was gorgeous, showing elegant muscles along its figure that didn't stand out, resulting in a streamlined body. It actually appeared fantastical and stunning, leaving many in the group breathless. Cecile was astonished at the change. "Oh… Fluffy went from cute to gorgeous."

The horse creature looked back, flicking its white, misty hair and looking at Cecile with five of its eyes. Cecile approached and asked, curious. "Do you want us to follow?"

The graceful horse nodded faintly. Then, it began galloping forward. 

Everyone ran after it, but soon, they noticed that the Spirit Beast was accelerating more and more. Yasenia's face became a bit serious as she needed to put in effort. Eventually, everyone was using their movement techniques to catch up and not be left behind as the speed had increased to ridiculous levels.

Kali asked, surprised. "It is still accelerating!? How fast can it go!? I am going to reach my speed limit soon!"

Valeria spun her staff, creating a green ripple that enveloped everyone. The pure Life Energy flowed into their bodies, eliminating the chill that was slowly accumulating in their muscles and bones and making their bodies feel much lighter. 

Kali smiled, feeling much more at ease. "Thanks, Valeria."

Valeria gently laughed. "Now, speed up, or we are going to lose it."

Looking forward, they noticed that they could barely see the Spirit Beast's tail in the distant mist. Everyone used accelerating skills and rushed forward.

They ran across the cloud surrounding the mountain for three days straight, and eventually, the Spirit Beast slowed down and came to a stop. Once it stopped, Kali dropped onto her back. "Woah! That was quite intense!"

Evelyn laughed. "Indeed, it has been a while since I had jogged in this manner."

Andrea looked at the giant spirit horse with a smile. "What's impressive is that the horse looked leisurely during the entire journey. It probably could go much faster."

Yasenia nodded, looking at the horse with a smile. "Indeed. This is a very good spirit for Cecile. I can already imagine her shooting arrows from its back~."

The Spirit Beast's hoofs gently stepped on the snow as it reached a place and stomped twice. Then, it blew forward. The breath carried an incredible chill with it as the clouds in front of them were blown open. There, a massive altar with an entrance appeared, surrounded by fantastical energies. 

Angel exclaimed, surprised. "Hidden ruins?"

Evelyn added, looking at the Spirit Beast. "Is it the guardian of these ruins?" 

Confused, Andrea asked them. "If so, why was it so far away and hunting people?"

While they pondered, the Spirit Beast looked back and tapped the ground twice to gather their attention. Then, it moved its head, inviting them inside. They all looked at each other, and finally, all eyes landed on Yasenia. 

The dragoness hummed and used Mirrory's technique to feel the aura of the altar. The sensation was one of lethargy and time—a strange feeling of analyzing something old and forgotten. 

However, in that aura, there was a hint of active hostility. The dragoness squinted. "It will be dangerous… But…" Looking between Cecile and the Spirit Beast, she spoke to the rest with a resolute expression. "Let's go inside and see how we can help this spirit."

All of them nodded and looked at the Spirit Beast. Noticing their agreeable nature, the Spirit Beast walked forward and shrunk in size, eventually becoming the size of a large horse. 

With it leading, they approached the entrance of the altar. Once they all stepped on the rocky grey surface that made the altar, a massive formation activated and warped all of them into another place. 

Yasenia and the others were stunned when their surroundings shifted and changed from ruined and forgotten to luxurious and untouched. They were in a large hall with many large flags on the walls and gorgeous decorations. 

"Welcome to the Trial of the Lost Moon Palace."