This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

"Before you enter your first relic though, you need to study all of those books I gave you. Therefore, you have a few months leeway before receiving your first mission. Moreover, you also must first practice and successfully complete some of the relics we have of each type that have already been brought under the full control of the Eclipse Order." Benji finished his speech as they almost completed their tour of the Training Hall.

Kain paused before a screen broadcasting the scene within one of the relics. Due to the large number of individuals in ancient style clothing similar to what many of the Pathfinder's he's seen so far wear, Kain assumed that this was a Memory Relic—he doubted that there were thousands of Pathfinders, much less that they all happened to be in the same relic of the Training Hall.

The city portrayed was shrouded in the thick haze of fire and ash, with buildings crumbling and crushing fleeing citizens below. Screams of terror mingled with the guttural growls and unholy shrieks of the creatures tearing through the streets.

Currently, everyone within that relic was running around in terror as the ground cracked open to reveal massive amounts of magma and fire that instantly vaporized anyone that got close.

The very colour of the sky also changed as it took on an ominous dark red hue.

Moreover, even if the fleeing civilians somehow avoided instantly burning to death due to the flowing magma and bursts of intense flame that spontaneously spurted out of the ground, they may still be killed in a more gruesome and painful fashion by the thousands of chasing creatures that took on a variety of forms.

Creatures that looked like Imps chased them across the cobblestone roads, their wiry, emaciated bodies barely three feet tall but brimming with malevolent energy. Their skin was a mottled red and black, their elongated claws leaving deep gouges in the stone as they ran. One leapt onto a fleeing man, its claws slicing through his back in a flurry of sickening, wet sounds. The imp let out a shrill cackle as it tore out his spine and waved it like a grisly banner before leaping onto its next victim.

A skeletal beast the size of an rhinoceros prowled through the carnage, its ribcage containing a flickering infernal flame. Whenever it caught someone, it would clamp its jagged teeth around them and hurl them into its chest, which was like a cage made of bones, where they burned alive within seconds. The shrieks of agony were enough to freeze the blood of those still alive, forcing them to run faster in any direction just to escape the sound.

However, many of those fleeing were still caught by near invisible threads of giant black spiders, with 3 pairs of glowing red eyes each. Each was as large as a small house, with long, limbs that gleamed faintly in the fiery glow of the city's destruction.

The threads strewn about the fleeing civilians wrapped tightly around them, pulling them together in a grotesque cluster as a spider descended upon them. Its mandibles clicked in anticipation as it approached its helpless prey. One by one, the civilians were pierced by a an elongated tube that emerged from the spider's mouth, their bodies convulsing as they were drained of all moisture, leaving behind dried husks.

Further down the street, a desperate man, his face streaked with soot and blood, released a roar of defiance. From his side, he summoned a spiritual creature—a heavily armored boar with tusks that glowed faintly with a bluish hue. The boar charged at one of the imps, tossing it into the air with its tusks before trampling it underfoot.

For a moment, the man's actions inspired hope in the other fleeing civilians, but it was short-lived. A skeletal beast turned its attention to the boar, emitting a bone-chilling roar that caused the boar to hesitate.

Then, with a leap far too quick for its size, the skeletal creature latched onto the boar, its ribcage opening to envelop the spiritual creature entirely. The boar's anguished squeals were drowned out by the roaring flames emanating from the skeletal beast as it consumed the summoned creature and its master in a fiery blaze.

Kain's attention shifted to another corner of the screen, where a young woman, barely out of her teens, managed to summon what appeared to be a massive serpent with shimmering emerald scales. It coiled protectively around her, hissing at the oncoming horde of imps. The serpent lashed out, snapping up an imp in its jaws and flinging it against a wall.

But even as the serpent fought valiantly, it was overwhelmed by a swarm of smaller spider-like creatures that poured out from the shadows. They climbed over its shimmering scales, biting and tearing until the serpent collapsed, its protective shield broken. The young woman barely had time to scream before she, too, was torn apart.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Kain was surprised to note that aside from those two individuals, and a handful of others, among the thousands of civilians there didn't seem to be more beast-tamers. However, he quickly identified the reason. This scene was likely far before the founding of the Empire, and so there was no affinity ceremony during that ceremony and everyone could only rely on independent awakenings which were rare and unreliable.

However, what shocked Kain the most was the behavior of the fleeing civilians. No one, not even the beast-tamers, seemed to spare a thought for those left behind. It was every man for himself. Which is very different from the values and responsibilities engrained in him as a beast-tamer.

A child tripped and fell, crying out for help, but the adults nearby didn't even glance back.

A man desperately clung to a woman's arm, begging her to wait, but she shoved him away without hesitation, sprinting ahead as he was swarmed by imps.

Some people even went out of their way to push others down. Almost as though their only chance of survival was to outrun the people around them as their torn apart bodies hopefully delayed their pursuers for a few extra seconds.

However, soon Kain found the reason.

Behind the massive tide of horrifying spiritual creatures—which Kain strongly suspected were infernal creatures that had somehow managed to escape the underworld—was a colossus.

Looming over the city was a giant creature, its form so massive it seemed to stretch into the blood-red sky. It resembled a muscular goat, except that it had four solid black eyes and its fur was so dark it seemed to absorb the surrounding light. Its mere presence cast an immense shadow that blanketed nearly the entire city.

Kain's mind reeled at the scale of the creature. Even Aegis, which was relatively large, would be utterly dwarfed by it—perhaps no taller than a strand of this monstrosity's fur.

The creature moved slowly but deliberately, its hooves smashing buildings into rubble with every step. Each time it exhaled, a wave of molten ash spread through the city, incinerating anything in its path. The civilians running for their lives knew the truth: there was no fighting that thing.

Benji walking slightly ahead didn't notice that Kain had paused to stare at the screen displaying the images inside of one of the Training Halls, and continued talking.

"However, don't worry about having to complete the training relics! Most of the relics we have for training are quite easy to beat."

Kain: "…"