Esley Restrio. The greatest tamer that the world had ever known. He is the sole inheritor of the one who created the soul taming arts, and in his passion to learn all things of a tamer, he became a scholar of the traditional blood contract techniques.

With unrivalled knowledge in both paths, he is more advance by a hundred years than anyone else in his field. Moreover, possessing a rare multi-faceted soul, he could form more than one Soul Contract, allowing him to have several powerful creature to share their strength with him.

If he only had a Two-tailed Cat Soul, it would already make him the envy of all tamers; Duo-faceted souls are as rare as it comes, with no more than three such people in the world.

For tamers, the more facets one’s soul is, the better. The power of having two Soul Contracts isn’t a simple one plus one.

To share strength with even one more creature makes the combat style totally different.

In history of the world, there was only one who was born with a Four-armed Monkey Soul and was once considered the most talented tamer ever. When those that feared his power had held his daughter as hostage and accidentally killed her, he turned into a terror that nearly wiped out all the empires on Gaia. It took the combined might of every fighter at the Triple S rank level and the temporary alliance of the Calamity Class Beasts – Ex Ranked creatures - to finally take him down. Although, none could tell was it truly victory when almost all those practitioners and even several great beasts perished in the battle and the world fell into a dark era.

Esley, although young, possesses the Nine-Parallel-Soul; a thing that existed only as a theory in the past and a legend among legends.

His potential is unrivalled, only his youth and the difficulty of forming multiple Soul Contracts are hindering him.

So far, he had only managed to form two Soul contracts. If not for his Blood Contract Techniques as a supporting field, to become a Martial King at his age and without prior war achievement is a doubtful thing.

He looked at the dark figure once again, the words still reverberating in his mind, “Do you wish for power?”

He couldn’t deny the thumping desire of his heart, but good sense and fear stopped him.

“To make Saint Empire safe again?” Esley breathed hesitantly.

The shadow did not answer, instead he began to say, “Your cultivation method is unsuitable for your Nine-Parallel Soul, making your progress slow, and most importantly you’ve become the weakest link in battle amongst your tamed creatures.

If you wish for power, then show me your resolution.”

Esley could not trust this mysterious person, but just as he was about to reject, the dark shadow started talking about the flaws of cultivation method.

“As you should know, Soul Taming requires you to accept the energy of different creatures. If you are unable to assimilate the multiple types, you cannot progress.

The 6th, 8th, and 12th, meridian pathways. The Spirit Gathering point, Wisdom Break point, Life Gate, Death Gate, and Hundred Gathering point.

Those are the blockades in your cultivation.

Once you break through them, your Ki will become more refined and concentrated, allowing you to tame two more creatures.”

When Esley heard the words of this mysterious man, he couldn’t help but feel an excitement that scared him, stirring from his heart.

The man cloaked in darkness took a look at him. The next moment, a hand gloved in black leather is placed upon his forehead.

The shadow said in that same cold voice, “Power always come at a cost. Blaze across the battlefield and mow down all who dare turn their swords at our empire.”

At the same time, a powerful energy that Esley had never felt before entered him. There was no element to it, just a fearsome force that churned like a stormy sea. It flooded into him, but instead of acting like an invading foreign energy, it was immediately accepted by his body. Welcomed, even.

It filled his meridian channels, pulsating through like lightning, and one by one, the blockades that was mentioned was broken apart.

Esley understood what the voice meant by showing his resolution.

Tremendous pain shot through his body as unopened pathways were forcefully gorged out. If he fainted, or if he recoiled from the pain, not only will the process cease, he will likely take a crippling amount of internal damage.

Instead of cowing, he have to encourage the process, to welcome the agony.

“I… I must focus!”

The Martial King, a Mid Triple S ranker, closed his eyes and he went into complete meditation beside a stranger that he had yet to determine as a friend or a foe.

In his trance, he did not see a hole ripped apart in the space behind him. Two powerful creatures and a cloud of dust arrived quietly in waiting.

When Esley reopened his eyes, he saw that his tent had returned to normal and the mysterious stranger gone.

“Was I trapped in an illusion? No, my furniture are all smashed,” he mumbled to himself, then his irises dilated as he saw a Stone Kirin and a Fire Spitting Serpent sitting there besides him.

A formless creature made of dust gathered before his eyes and spoke, “Human. I am the Rolling Dust, Greater Earth Spirit. I came to offer you a spirit contract, and I’ve brought your mount and protector.”

The Kirin lowered its head while the Serpent hissed.

“What did you just say?!”

The Martial King looked at the patiently waiting trio and rubbed his eyes, unable to believe everything that happened.

Granted, he was hesitant to accept these creatures, but no tamer could resist the trio in this place. Beasts with ancient bloodline and an Elemental born from the earth.

“He could even command such proud nature spirits? I don’t get it. Shit just who is he? Just to make Saint Empire safe again?! Who are you kidding?

And that ease he dodged my attack with. These precious spirit beasts. Moreover, his presence, it was like a sword was rubbing against my neck. Yes… just like a revenant of war.”

Esley slapped his cheeks, chiding himself for losing his nerve. The dark shadow made him who had walked the battlefield for years to turn cold with nervousness. A fear he only felt when facing an opponent far superior than him.

It was after a while when he recovered that an insuppressible ecstasy engulfed him.

No, he had yet to reached the level he was promised.

Esley looked at the two beasts and the Greater Earth Element still waiting for him and started forming contracts with them.

Normally, to absorb even one more creature’s energy into himself would’ve killed him outright. It wasn’t even the case of risking his life. The mire of energy sources within him is already a mess in the first place. It was hard for his Ki to suppress the two creatures’ wild energies, and now that he is about to add two more, the veteran commander found himself hesitating.

As if about to take an arrow, he gritted his teeth and summoned two glowing runes on his hands. Created by his Ki, it is a symbol of a tamer and his beast.

The two creatures lowered their heads and he placed it on both their heads at the same time.

Earth and Fire from the Five elements of creation rushed into him, wild and unbridled but filled with life force.

His own Ki surged up at the same time and coiled around the foreign energy. It surrounded the two creatures’ energy and swallowed it, making them his.

A day and night later, waking from his cultivation, he looked at the two new creatures with great satisfaction, then kept them. On his body, two new runic symbols appeared, one in the form of a Kirin’s horn, and the other as an emblem of fire.

He muttered to himself, “This favour, how can I repay it? Or, actually, how will he extract it from me?”

As he spoke those words, Esley’s new Elemental appeared besides him and handed him a letter.

“That man sure is quick for his payment.”

…..

Kairos, Luciette, and George, were sitting by a round table going through their next action plan.

They were making their own strategies then revealing it to each other.

George: “I believe the best course of action now is to lure the enemy out to find the weakness in their attack. Then, send an army with our team hidden within to attack it, and in the midst of battle, we can detach from the main group and rush towards the Ku Kang fortification.”

Luciette: “Strange… I had the most similar battle plan as you. But my focus is on attacking the enemy after we lured them out. Having multiple strike points to create a tunnel for our group to easily detach from the battle and sneak behind enemy lines.”

Kairos: “Great, we are in agreement then. My plan is focused on luring the enemy out. And to do that, I wanted the Snowdrifts to be the first arrow in this battle.”

George and Luciette: “Seriously?!”

Luciette sighed, “Aren’t you going to leave this task to the frontline army?”

George nodded in agreement, “Seemed like too big a bite for us to take right at the outset. We’d be announcing our arrival and making our position known.”

“That’s exactly what I want,” Kairos grinned, “Don’t worry. Esley has got our backs covered.”

The two other commanders looked at him puzzled by his confidence. When did Kairos make acquaintance with the East Wind?