This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Kain narrowed his eyes, feeling the heat wash over him as he leaped to the side. The flames scorched the ground where he had just stood, and the force of the attack sent some of the Vespirae tumbling through the air. But he had anticipated this moment.

'Now Bea!' He directed. The hundreds of threads already produced dispersed and Kain used his spear again to produce a mist that caught the microscopic splits that were previously suspended at the end of each thread. Instead of waiting for the already elongated threads to change direction and come back, it was better to just disperse them.

Using the mist that he could instantaneously produce and suddenly had hundreds of splits dropped into it. He quickly moved the infected mist to surround the area only around the phoenix.

The heat coming off of the phoenix increased as it sensed that something was wrong with the approaching fog.

The hot temperature of the phoenix caused much of the water droplets in the mist to turn into steam and destroy the splits, however, during the time when its vision was obstructed by dense steam, Kain and Bea concentrated their combined spiritual power into creating a thread that approached the phoenix through the steam before it could react.

Thankfully, within the protection of the mental attribute threads, the heat from the flames were ineffective at preventing the advancement of the split inside of it. Additionally, thanks to the properties of the Mindweaver's Spider threads, only a brief graze of the wing was enough to inject the split. Bea no longer needed to be ingested to exert a role as long as the threads were used.

He could sense the struggle within the elemental spirit, the tug-of-war between its consciousness and Bea's control. However, he could also sense the endless supply of spiritual power being channeled to it to fight the infection coming from Serena.

Kain directed the remaining Vespirae to swarm around and attack the phoenix, creating a distraction for Bea's easier control. The combination of Kain's mental threads and the Vespirae's relentless attacks began to turn the tide.

Kain channeled much of his remaining spiritual power into boosting Bea. The Elemental Guardian's thrashed wildly and sent out uncontrolled bursts of heat while struggling against Bea's control.

"Almost there…" Kain muttered to himself, sweat beading on his brow as he maintained the connection while dodging the phoenix's attacks.

The crowd was now on the edge of their seats. Would their be an upset? Will there be a new rank 1?

Kain's heart raced, each moment drawing him closer to victory or defeat. He needed to land a decisive blow. To corner the elemental and ensure that Bea's control solidified.

With this battle, he could prove not only to Serena but to everyone watching that he was the rightful rank 1.

However, just when Kain was getting ready for the final push to exert full control, there was suddenly a new presence in the arena. It was a spiritual creature that Kain had never seen before, but he instantly knew its origins with a sinking feeling.

At the same time that Kain noticed the new addition, so did the audience, which broke out into hushed whispers.

For the first time in the re-ranking, Serena had summoned a second spiritual creature.

Moreover, unlike the other members of their year, it was yellow-grade.

Kain couldn't help but wonder why she had never revealed such a powerful trump card at any point. Not even when there were civilians in danger during the beast-tide. Despite looking extremely cold, Kain could tell from the lack of injuries in her previous opponents that her character was not bad.

However, upon examining the new addition, Kain could tell from the lack of any green-tinge to its spiritual power that it was likely in the very early stages of yellow-grade and had probably only broken through within the past 2 months. Most likely, due to the suddenness of the beast-tide, Serena's yellow-grade contract was actually in the process of breaking through for those days.

Therefore she was greatly limited to what spiritual creatures she could call upon. However, as she'd likely been atleast a 3-star beast-tamer for quite a while, Kain found it hard to believe that she didn't have a third contract. Why limit yourself to only using one? Was something wrong with the third? Or did it have some kind of unusual circumstance.

Serena's second contract was a majestic spiritual creature that appeared like a sylph composed of stars. With a translucent form that shimmered like starlight, she appeared as a tall, graceful figure made of cosmo energy.

Her wings resembled a serene night sky filled with constellations. And she had a serene, almost wise expression that seemed to reflect the universe's vastness, giving her an air of both beauty and authority.

Kain could sense that this contract had one of the most mysterious and rare attributes of the empire. It also happens to be the most worshipped and respected attribute of the empire—the star-attribute.

Kain had never even seen a spiritual creature with this attribute before, nor was he familiar with what a star attribute skill would look like.

Unfortunately, Kain wasn't given much time to examine the rare creature. Not long after being released, the sylph raised her delicate arms and a cascade of stars began to descend appearing like the most beautiful glowing rain.

As the stars approached Kain and his contracts, they transformed into shimmering, golden particles. Kain felt the warmth of the stars wrapping around him, a protective cocoon infused with otherworldly strength. He knew logically that this couldn't be good, but he couldn't bring himself to resist the comfort they provided. However, soon Kain had no more thoughts.

The crowd gasped as Kain and his contracts were gradually made into golden statues flickering with light, their forms frozen in time with serene expressions. The statues glimmered and shimmered, reflecting the sky above which was suddenly covered in stars despite it being daytime still, a breathtaking display that captivated everyone watching.