Legendary Beast Master: Starting with Contracting SSS Rank Dragon

Kael stared at Rias, wondering what it might be that she wanted from him. After all, she was a Demi-God, and aside from his Essence, Kael couldn't think of anything that he could give her.

She could achieve everything and get anything pretty easily. And if even she couldn't get it, then how was he supposed to get it?

Rias was silent for a moment, as if she was organizing her words, and then she said, "I'm guessing you have some way to look into the secrets of the soul, right?"

Kael raised an eyebrow in surprise but didn't keep her waiting for his answer, "In a way, yes, but not really that much."

"Then, can I ask you to examine my soul?" Rias asked, turning towards him to look deep into his eyes.

Her beautiful eyes were as breathtaking as always. They seemed to draw him into something that he couldn't escape—and didn't want to.

It was a strange feeling that he didn't hate, certainly.

Kael didn't answer immediately, as he wasn't the one doing the work. He asked mentally, 'What do you think, Alpha?'

[I can only analyze your soul so deeply because I'm basically living here, so it will be tough to do the same with her. Especially since she's a Demi-God. But I can take a glance at it if she allows me to.]

Alpha paused as if she was considering something.

[Actually, you would have been Corrupted right when we tried to probe her soul, even if she allows it—because her soul is way too strong. But that strange warmth in your soul will keep us safe.]

Kael nodded in understanding and said, "I can only see it a little, and even that's only if you allow it. Looking into souls is already very dangerous, and you're a Demi-God, so I hope you understand."

"It's fine. I want you to just look at it and tell me about it," Rias said. "To be honest with you, I can't access my soul. It's like something is blocking me from it, and I'm sure other Demi-Gods can do it easily."

"And you think because of my Essence, I can get past that blockage?" Kael asked, having a guess already.

"Yes. Soul is where my memories are too, and considering that I can gain them back, it's clear they are just sealed away and your Essence can somehow weaken that seal." Rias nodded.

Kael thought for a moment, considering if it was worth the dangers to probe her soul, and the answer he came up with was...

'Hell yeah!'

[Master… you really need to have control over your curiosity.]

'I know, but I have a feeling that we'll be fine as long as we are careful,' Kael comforted her—or rather, himself.

The last few times he had given in to his curiosity, he had found himself in worse situations, so he was quite scared. Yet, he couldn't suppress the curiosity to know how a Demi-God's soul looked.

[Fine! I'll try my best to keep us both safe.]

Kael mumbled thanks to his personal assistant and then turned towards Rias, "Let's begin."

Under the dark sky, sitting on top of the Giant Storm Tree, the two of them faced each other with resolve burning in their eyes.

Kael followed Alpha's instructions and activated his Astral Vision, as he found himself looking at the colorful world again.

He didn't waste time and touched the Astral Projection of Rias, which was hovering just above her.

It worked as the medium, so Kael wanted to reach the soul through it.

'Let's see what you've got.'

He closed his eyes as he felt his mana draining rapidly, but he didn't care about it. The most that would happen was him losing consciousness because of overusing his mana, after all.

His world once again turned dark as he floated in this eternal darkness, with Alpha leading him somewhere. In this strange world, Kael couldn't keep track of the direction.

He only knew that he was moving somewhere.

Just as he was checking out his bland surroundings, he felt his body passing through a thin flimsy barrier. It seemed to have blocked him at first, but then let him pass.

He still couldn't see it though.

But the moment he passed through the barrier, he found himself in a bright place, which made his state a little unstable.

He turned around towards the source of the brightness, and his heart shook upon witnessing it.

He was floating in the eternal cosmos, and in the distance, he could see a gigantic Silver Hole devouring everything in its path.

The grinding of planets, stars, and whole galaxies against each other as they got swallowed by the Silver was producing the brightness.

A black hole… in the shape of a Silver Hole? Kael wondered, still reeling in shock that he found this terrifying thing in Rias's soul.

[I think Demi-Gods have souls based on some concepts or something else maybe. This Silver Hole is perhaps the manifestation of the concept her soul follows. What does it represent… wait… what are we discussing again?]

'What do you mean? We are inside her soul, so we are obviously discussing… wait? Who is her?' Kael found himself perplexed by the situation, as he seemed to have forgotten some stuff.

In the next moment, his eyes widened in shock and terror, 'Fucking hell! We need to get out of here!'

[Here? Where are we, Master?]

'Yes, where are we? Wait! Who are you?' Kael questioned in shock.

How was someone speaking in his mind? Was it a monster? What was a monster?

[That's my question… who are you?]

'Who am I?' Enjoyingthestory?DiscovermoreonM|V|LEM6PYR.

Kael wondered, unable to find an answer to that question as his sense of self seemed to be dissolving completely into nothingness.

Just as he was about to fall into the nothingness, a burst of Essence bubbled inside him, sending bolts of thick lightning all over his body.

Clarity returned to him along with all the memories he had lost. Everything made sense now, and he was back to being… Kael again.

With that, understanding also came as Kael stared at the spinning Silver Hole in terror. Without wasting a second, he commanded, 'Alpha, get me out of here.'

He didn't know if his Essence had only helped him, but Alpha was basically connected with him, so there were high chances she was fine too.

[... Understood, Master.]

In the next moment, he found himself getting pulled away from the flimsy barrier and passing through the dark world before his consciousness returned to his body.

His eyes snapped open as he gasped for air, with beads of sweat rolling down his toned skin. He could still feel his heart pounding against his chest because of the horror he felt in her soul.

Rias stared at him with a worried look in her eyes but didn't know what to do. She was completely at a loss as to what to say or do.

Then, she remembered how Kael used to pat Kiona—and she also liked it—so she stretched her hand and stiffly began patting his head.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what you saw in there, but I shouldn't have asked you to do that."

Kael was stunned, forgetting what he went through for a second and turned towards her. Seeing the guilt and worry in her eyes, he once again remembered what he had seen in her soul.

Only now, instead of feeling terror, he felt pity for her. He sighed, feeling the warmth in her hand, and hugged her, taking her by surprise.

She was puzzled and asked, "What happened?"

"Nothing. Just let me hug you for a while. It's the payment for going through your request," Kael whispered, burying himself in her smooth hair.

"Is that so? You only want just this?" Rias asked, as her body relaxed and she let him hug her properly.

Kael hummed and silently stroked her hair. He felt sad for her, even more after understanding what was happening with her.

He couldn't do anything to help her aside from giving her Essence, but he wanted to let her know there existed a warmth like this which she could ask for whenever she wanted.

Rias didn't quite understand his reaction, but she let him be, thinking that he just wanted to hug her because he liked her.

After a while, Kael broke the silence as he backed away, "I think I know the reason why you don't have skills."

"Really? Why is that?" Rias asked.

"It's because you simply can't have any skills—or at least that's what my guess is," Kael sighed. "Your soul represents the concept you follow, right?"

Rias nodded in agreement, "Yes, that's a unique quality of souls of Demi-Gods. This is also the reason why one can't see that normally—because they will get overwhelmed by such high level of knowledge."

She paused and then said, "In fact, if you are a higher-ranked Demi-God, you can bring that manifestation into the real world, bringing true destruction—as they are the amalgamation of true Concepts."