The movement was so quick, Bastian barely had any time to react.

Woah! So fast! How did he do that?

"Answer me, or die!" said the boy. He even pressed the edge of the sword even more on Bastian's throat, in an attempt to further intimidate Bastian.

I am afraid of ghosts, but little boys are a different story.

"Wait I can explain. Just promise me you will let me explain." The boy nodded his head, and gestured with his chin for Bastian to continue.

Bastian then started narrating the entire story, from the arena to their current situation. Throughout the entire explanation, the boy eyed him like a hawk. Bastian was rather calm and explained in a fluid and relaxed manner.

From time to time, the boy would ask a few questions, and Bastian would answer. Until Bastian reached the part where he said that he had launched a Soul Brethren contact in order to save the boy.

The boy was shocked, which momentarily caused him to let down his guard.

Chance!

The entire time, Bastian had been lowering a strand of Soul Force from above the boy. At this moment, he quickly wrapped the strand around the boy's neck and pulled him backward.

This move caught the boy of guard, leaving him no room for countering. Bastian then used this chance to completely wrap the boy in a bubble of Soul Force linked to the membrane.

This was easy due to Bastian's mastery of Soul Force, which he had acquired in his time here.

"Now let me continue." said Bastian, completely ignoring the vicious stare from the boy.

"I initiated the ritiual in an attempt to save you. As to why I would try to help you, I have no logical answer. To me it just felt natural." said Bastian calmly.

At first the boy thought of laughing at Bastian's ridiculous answer, but he noticed Bastian's serious expression. The boy's mocking expression faded away with his anger.

"Why would you launch such a ritual? Would it not put your soul at risk as well?" said the boy curiously.

He did not really believe Bastian's story but he wanted to know where this was going. At the moment, the boy knew that he was at Bastian's mercy, so he relented and decided to take the patient route.

"I knew that my body and soul were immune to the poison, due to our little bout in the arena, as you can see." said Bastian as he pointed above.

It was at this point that the boy finally realized what the buzzing going on around them was. From inside the bubble, nothing could be seen but intuition told the boy that Bastian was spot on.

"So what do you want me to do now?" said the boy.

"Simple, form a Soul Brethren contract with me." said Bastian.

The boy's face grimaced when he heard this. It must be understood that a Soul Brethren contract was a powerful binding contract. Its effects were even far more powerful than that of a Meister and their Soul Sworn.

Unlike Soul Sworn, One could only have one Soul Brother or Sister. This made it a very valuable process. Not to mention the fact that the relationship was on equal footing. That made things a bit trickier.

Once people were Soul Brethren, they would be able to read each other's minds, share abilities, and other things that were incredible.

It was said that, the bond between Soul Brethren was stronger than the bond between a parent and their child. Such a bond could not be taken lightly.

Bastian saw the look on the boy's face. It was understandable. It was a serious decision and to make it with a stranger, was absurd but then again, he did not have a choice...

"Do you know what this poison is?" asked Bastian.

The boy nodded.

"Then do you know of any other way you can remove the poison from your body?"

The boy remained quiet, until he said, "The poison cannot be removed. It is already part of my soul. Even a grandmaster of the Dao of the Spirit could not remove it from me."

The boy thought his words would discourage but Bastian was smiling.

"Who said anything about removing?"

“I do not follow."

"Look. The poison is a part of you is it not?"

"Yes that is true."

"But you still suffer, because there is an imbalance within you right?"

"Hhmm, I guess you can put it that way."

The boy was not sure where Bastian was taking this conversation. He at least hoped Bastian would be able to suppress the poison somehow. These were the boy's own thoughts, yet they felt naïve even to the owner, yet the boy still hoped.

"If a grandmaster of the Dao of the Spirit could not remove it, then could a sovereign of the Dao of the Taiji help?"

Bastian's words were not making sense at first, and they were still not making sense then.

A sovereign of the Dao of the Taiji? Where the heck can we find one? In fact, what is that?

Bastian's idea was simple. He wanted to use the power of his awakened bloodline to help the boy. This idea was a bit tricky.

Bastian had awakened his bloodline but whether or not his soul was affected, was a bit of a gamble. However, seeing the purple colour of his Soul Force, did give him more hope, but how far that hope could take him, was uncertain.

According to what Bastian knew, the magic of bloodlines was quite profound. If one was to say that it was a matter of the flesh, then that would be somewhat inaccurate.

Bloodline magic was very mysterious. For example, some of the abilities one could gain from bloodlines had to do with souls. On the other hand some bloodlines could increase one's Soul Force.

Some Bloodlines could actually grant one legacies involving soul magic, such as telepathy, astro projection etc.

So there was a link between one's bloodline and one’s soul. The only question in Bastian's case was, did it extend far enough to assist in such a situation?

"I have awakened a bloodline. It is from a beast called The Tyrian Double Headed Storm Dragon. Its abilities are-"

"It has sovereignty over fire and water. It also controls the Dao of balance." The boy interrupted Bastian, much to the latter's surprise.

"Now I understand what you meant by a sovereign." said the boy.

Bastian was surprised. He did not know the boy's name, nor his history. He had assumed that the boy had an extraordinary background but not to the point where he knew a beast that an Inkume tribesman did not know.

Bastian was tempted to ask the boy who he was, when the boy surprised Bastian yet again.

"You interfering is probably due to your bloodline. You must subconsciously seek to balance the imbalance caused by the poison." said the boy calmly.

"You! How did you know?"

What Bastian wanted to really ask was who are you?