At first the situation looked grim for the Scarlet Tigers and Akata, but then it turned completely around in their favor. Not only had they been able to maintain order and save Akata, they had also been able to fully form back together and gain much more power. Now they could fully be called the number one tribe and the leaders of the Great Aka Tribe.

The battles quickly ended and nobody moved a muscle. Golden Runic Lord Taple took in a long deep breath and smiled. “Earthen Beast Tribe, Meteor Wolf Star Tribe, and Flying Dragon Snake Tribe this competition is now over please return to your homes. Lafui, Yaner, and Laque please escort our guests out of the palace.” He spoke with an air of power and authority.

All of the leaders had grim looks on their faces as they slowly made their way out of the palace. Star Sovereign Allica had the grimmest look of them all as she was escorted out. Dragon Emperor Hymna could only sigh to himself. ‘It seems it was never meant to be.’ Only he knew what that meant.

After a bit of time had passed and all of the other tribes had exited the palace. Golden Runic Lord Taple had dismissed most of the Scarlet Tigers. Only a select few remained which were Great Priest Bayou, Priest Bambe, Scarlet Runic Lord Tafei, Tabet, Balii, and his favorite servant Lawou.

“Lawou, tend to any injuries that Tabet, Balii, and Akata might have.” With that, the leaders and former leaders talked amongst themselves. Even though they were clearly speaking to each other, no sound could be heard coming from their area. It was as if they were blocked off from the world.

Lawou turned to face the three young people and asked politely, “Where are you all hurt?” Her voice was soft and kind. It could nurture a fallen baby bird back to full health.

“I’m ok! Just a bit drained that’s all. With a little rest I will be perfectly fine.” Tabet laughed. Lawou shot him a meaningful glance and then turned her attention to Balii and Akata. Without even asking them the same question she began to lift up her paw and swipe it down.

This simple movement caused her cultivation base to wash over the two. She was able to get a very good idea of what their bodies were experiencing. Continuing on without stopping she flashed an incantation gesture and caused an aqua colored rune to manifest in the air. The light of the aqua rune showed on Balii and Akata and quickly healed them of whatever injuries they had. Not only that but their mind was healed as any fatigue they had felt was utterly washed away.

Akata felt a huge pressure release from his body as the aqua light hit him. His body lightened up and his mind became much clearer. It felt as if he was back in his peak state. He looked deeply at Lawou and smiled graciously. “Thanks!” he said happily.

Lawou’s body sagged a bit but she nodded nonetheless. With that she stood there and waited for further orders from her leaders.

Soon, the high ranking Scarlet Tigers stopped talking to each other and faced the young people. Golden Runic Lord Taple looked at Akata with a wry smile as he sighed and said, “Young Akata. I really appreciate you helping my tribe. Without you, we would’ve been done for and none of this would have been possible. But it seems that in order for my Great Aka Tribe to truly thrive I have to combine the effort of all of the tribes who make it up.” Golden Runic Lord Taple paused as if weighing what he was about to say.

Akata could see the conflicted and complicated look in his eyes. He wasn’t an unintelligent child and knew where he was trying to go. With a smile he stepped forward and said in a respectful tone, “Golden Runic Lord Taple, it has been my honor to save your people and dwell amongst them. However, I will be leaving soon to go back to my own sect. Given the time, I say in about a day or two I will be ready to go. If you would please watch out for me within these two days I will greatly appreciate it.” Akata said as he was bowing.

Golden Runic Lord released a sigh of relief as he nodded his head. “Alright then.” Not only him, but the other higher ups sighed with relief as well. Although they felt very grateful towards Akata, this tribe was their future to glory. Akata was a mortal and he didn’t know what the beasts community was actually like.

“Then it is settled, you’ll stay in the palace for the remainder of your stay until it is time for you to go.” Golden Runic Lord Taple stated.

Tabet looked at Akata with a complicated expression. He didn’t want Akata to leave but he knew that this day would come soon. His mind was filled with lots of different emotions. Even though he had only known Akata for a short while, it felt to him like Akata was his everything. He wanted to stay with Akata, to adventure with him, to experience life and grow powerful with him. But alas, they were two totally different beings with different ways of life. It just wasn’t meant to be.

Night soon arrived and the starry sky illuminated the land below. Akata and Tabet were meditating in a room quietly. Akata’s face was completely calm but Tabet could be seen as having a mixed face. Various emotions surfaced upon it that he just couldn’t manage to hide.

Akata had his nature sense spread out and could obviously feel that Tabet wasn’t focused at all. He sighed and then stood up. Tabet lifted his head to look at Akata standing there.

Akata walked to a window and then looked out of it. Although he couldn’t see anything, he could feel that the starlight was shining on his face. “Tabet. Don’t take this as a goodbye, only as a see you later. I had someone that I thought was going to die once. But it just so happened that they are living healthily and that I will be able to see them again. You never know when or if you will see someone again but you should never treat their departure as a goodbye.”

Turning his body to face Tabet, Akata spoke extremely calmly. “We’ll meet again in the future. I can promise that. And when we do I’ll be much stronger than I am now and we can spar. I still have to make up for our first encounter haha.” Akata laughed.

Tabet’s mind cleared up and eased a bit as he laughed with Akata. Although what Akata said didn’t completely end his worries and tensions, it did help with easing it. They talked for a little while and then went back to meditating.

Akata was completely focused on merging his two movement skills together and make them completely one. Since he had begun merging the two he had made huge strides. They could now be considered twenty percent merged.

In this fashion a day quickly passed by. Not much happened in the Great Aka Tribe besides the news that spread about the competition and the addition of new Scarlet Tigers. The Scarlet Rune Tribe undoubtedly became the number one tribe and the leader of the Great Aka Tribe. If before it was iffy considering they weren’t actually the strongest, now it was as clear as a sunny day. Even when Earthen Beast Overlord Gingo broke through to the Temporal Rank, the Scarlet Rune Tribe’s position wouldn’t falter even a bit. That was because they had two Temporal Rank Grade 3 beasts among their members. And they were both fairly young!

Given a few more years, Scarlet Runic Lord Tafei would also break through to the Temporal Rank and that would increase their power even further! This was going to be the beginning of their rise to utter power and take back their mainland.

During the time that Akata was in the palace he was given some pills as well. One pill was a bright orange and blue color that showed with an aqua light. It bathed on his body and made him feel tougher. This was none other than the Beast Body Pill. Akata accepted the pill and immediately went to use it.

It wasn’t a regular pill that you had to consume, but one in which you had to put in a bath to use. Akata instantly used this and tried to break through in his body. But he soon realized that he had underestimated the effect of this pill.

‘This really hurts.’ Akata thought to himself as the pain made his body feel as if it were burning and freezing at the same time. It was a heart-wrenching pain that was borderline unbearable, but to Akata it just felt like a couple of fierce stings here and there. He could tolerate this level of pain easily.

All of a sudden however, a new sensation came which brought a terrible level of suffering. Akata’s skin started to turn orange and his blood became blue, he also started to glow with an aqua light as well. His skin felt as if it were on fire while his blood was rapidly freezing over. This kind of pain would be little to nothing to Akata but soon the two effects started to interact with each other.