EFB Chapter 31 Life and Death Contract
Chapter 31 Life and Death Contract
The moment the light wings flapped, the flow of time in the entire cave seemed to change.
It wasn't a true alternation of speed and slowness, but rather that Karen's perception had been elevated to a completely new dimension. His vision captured the subtle tremors of every muscle fiber in the tentacle monster, and his hearing distinguished the subtle differences in the movement of the dozen or so tentacles in different media—some made a whooshing sound as they cut through the air, some made a rustling sound as they rubbed against rocks, and some made a deep, surging sound as they went deep into the water.
Every detail was crystal clear, as if the entire world had been slowed down, magnified, and disassembled into its most basic constituent units, and then reassembled into his consciousness.
This is the shared perception of the dawn.
As the overlords of the skies, the Lightwing Lions possess dynamic vision and spatial perception abilities far surpassing those of humans. Now, through a temporarily established spiritual vein connection, Karen is "seeing" the world from the perspective of a Lightwing Lion for the first time.
"The second tentacle on the left is about to slam down, landing one meter directly in front of your current position." Xi Guang's thoughts clearly entered his mind, not as a sound, but as a direct understanding that required no translation.
Karen moved half a step to the left front.
Almost simultaneously, a thick tentacle covered in suckers descended from the sky, slamming into the spot where he had just been standing. The rocky ground cracked, and debris flew everywhere. If he had still been standing there, he would have been smashed into a pulp.
"Three tentacles are fanning out from the right rear, three meters away, at a speed of two meters per second." The second message came.
Karen didn't turn around. The phantom wings of light made of psionic energy behind him flapped backward abruptly—
It wasn't a true physical propulsion, but an explosion of psionic energy. Pure light psionic energy was released from the light wings in the form of a shockwave, pushing backward like an invisible wall. Three tentacles attempting to attack from behind crashed into the light wall with a dull thud, being forcefully pushed back more than two meters, their suction cups rupturing and oozing dark green viscous fluid.
The monster let out a painful roar, all its eyes simultaneously turning bloodshot, becoming even more murky and frenzied. It realized this prey was different from before. Not a weak creature fleeing, but a being capable of fighting back, even capable of harming it.
Hunger was replaced by anger.
"Its energy core is in the center of its body, three meters directly below its mouth." Xi Guang's thoughts continued to transmit, this time accompanied by an image analyzed by the spiritual veins—in Karen's consciousness, the monster's massive body was semi-transparent, revealing a complex network of energy flow within. All the dark red polluted energy spread throughout its body like blood vessels, eventually converging into a fist-sized, constantly pulsating dark red crystal core.
The core is encased in layers of thick muscle and skin, located extremely deep within, making it virtually impossible to attack directly from the outside.
"Conventional attacks are ineffective," Karen quickly concluded. "We need to destroy it from within, or... cut off its energy source."
His gaze fell upon the underground river fissure behind the monster. Deep within the fissure, a continuous stream of dark red energy seeped out, permeating the air like mist, and was slowly absorbed by the monster through its skin and suckers. It was an extension of the meteorite contamination, the "nutrients" that sustained the monster's vitality.
"If we can seal the cracks and cut off the energy supply, it will gradually weaken," Karen communicated with Xiguang in her mind.
"But sealing the rift takes time, and it won't give us that time," Xi Guang responded, the cub's thoughts carrying a calm analysis. "Our temporary contract is based on the resonance of the spiritual veins in a moment of crisis, and its stability is limited. In my current state, this deep sharing can only last for ten minutes at most. After ten minutes, either the contract will collapse, or my life spiritual energy will be completely drained."
ten minutes.
A countdown to life or death.
Karen gritted his teeth. The warmth of the Dawn in his arms was slowly rising, but at the cost of its life force. He could feel that with each cycle of psionic energy, Dawn's very essence was being depleted. It was like using candle wax to keep a flame burning; the stronger the flame, the faster the candle melted.
"Then let's finish this quickly." Karen made up her mind. "Break through head-on and attack the core directly."
"The success rate is less than five percent," Xi Guang objectively assessed. "Its defenses are too thick; our combined attack can only penetrate half of them at most. Moreover, once we get close to the core area, it will retaliate without regard for cost, and the attack frequency of those tentacles will increase more than three times."
"Then let's find another way." Karen's gaze swept quickly across the cavern. Glowing moss, clusters of crystals, calm lake water, the entrance and exit of the underground river...
Lake water.
Karen suddenly thought of something.
"Dawnlight, how much does light spirit energy diminish in water?"
"The attenuation rate in pure water is three percent per second, but if there are impurities or psionic media in the water, the attenuation will accelerate. This lake water contains trace amounts of psionic minerals, so the attenuation rate may be around five percent per second," Xi Guang quickly replied. "You plan to—"
"Utilize water's conductivity." Karen's thinking became clearer. "Although light energy attenuates in water, water itself is an excellent energy conductor. If we inject sufficiently strong light energy into the lake and conduct it to the monster's body through the water, the energy will attenuate, but we can bypass external defenses and attack the core directly from the inside."
"Theoretically feasible, but it requires a massive output of psionic energy," Xi Guang calculated. "With our current combined psionic energy reserves, to reach a level strong enough to destroy the core, we would need to output more than 80% at once. After that, I would immediately fall into a deep coma and wouldn't wake up for at least three days. You would also be severely injured due to the overload of your spiritual veins, and might even suffer permanent damage to them."
"It's better than dying here," Karen said calmly.
Xi Guang was silent for a second.
Then, the cub conveyed a warm, trusting message: "Then let's do it."
The moment the consensus was reached, the monsters launched a full-scale attack.
It seemed to sense the brewing danger and no longer held back. A dozen tentacles shot up, like a deadly forest, simultaneously piercing Karen from all directions. Each tentacle moved at least twice as fast as before, the sound of it cutting through the air sharp and piercing, the rotating teeth at their tips gleaming coldly in the glowing moss.
There was no room to dodge.
The illusory wings of light behind Karen suddenly closed forward, forming a shield in front of her. Tentacles pierced the wings, producing a dense clash of metal. The wings trembled violently, fine cracks appearing on their surface, but they stubbornly refused to break.
The price was a huge drain on psionic energy. Karen felt her psionic energy gushing out like a flood, and the psionic energy from the Dawnlight was barely keeping things balanced, but the cub's life force was visibly weakening.
"Now!" Karen roared in her mind.
He held Xiguang in his arms, used all his strength to leap backward, and jumped into the lake behind him.
puff.
Water splashed up.
The monster paused for a moment, seemingly not expecting its prey to jump into the water on its own. But it quickly reacted, sending a dozen tentacles plunging into the water like a swarm of giant water snakes, frantically searching underwater.
Beneath the lake's surface, Karen held Xiguang tightly as they dived deeper into the lake.
The resistance of the water made movement difficult, but it also provided cover. The tentacles moved significantly slower in the water, and the monster's visual perception was severely impaired due to the refraction of water and the scattering of light. It could only rely on the tactile and energy sensing of its tentacles to locate its targets.
Karen dived to the bottom of the lake, leaning against a cluster of glowing crystals. He gently placed Dawn on the sandy bottom in front of him, then extended his right hand and pressed it against Dawn's forehead.
"Let's begin," he said in his mind.
Xi Guang closed her eyes.
The golden royal markings on the cub's forehead shone brightly, like a small sun blooming underwater. Pure light energy surged from the markings, flowing down Karen's arm and into his body.
At the same time, the silver runes on Karen's wrist began to glow. The silver and gold spiritual energies converged and merged within Karen's body, forming a new, more intense, and purer platinum-gold spiritual energy.
This psionic energy was too powerful; Karen's spiritual veins began to throb with pain, as if lava were flowing through his blood vessels. Fine beads of blood appeared on his skin, a sign that his capillaries were rupturing under the pressure of the psionic energy. A burning sensation came from his nasal cavity, and fresh blood gushed out, spreading into a small red cloud in the water.
But he didn't stop.
He raised his hands, palms down, and pressed them onto the sandy bottom of the lake.
Platinum-gold psionic energy, like two high-pressure water jets, was frantically poured into the lake from the palms.
At first, nothing happened.
Then, centered on Karen, the lake water began to glow.
It wasn't the faint glow of the moss reflecting off the cave ceiling, but light emanating from within the water itself, emanating from the inside out. The light spread upwards from the lakebed, like a slowly blooming flower of light. First, it shone within a meter of Karen, then three meters, five meters, ten meters…
The entire lake began to transform into a giant, glowing, platinum-gold sphere of light.
Water is an excellent conductor. The light energy spread in all directions along the lake water, its speed increasing rapidly. Soon, the entire lake in the cave was illuminated, and even the cracks at the entrance and exit of the underground river emitted a dazzling light.
The monster sensed danger.
It tried to retract its tentacles and escape the lake, but it was too late.
The light energy had already seeped into its body along the suction cups and wounds on the surface of the tentacles.
The underwater conduction efficiency was even higher than Karen had anticipated. Because the monster was already in the water, its skin and suckers were constantly in contact with the water, essentially immersing its entire body in a psionic medium. Light psionic energy flowed along the water, through every wound and pore on its tentacles, surging wildly into the monster's body.
It was warm at first.
Then it becomes scorching hot.
Finally, there is the burning.
The monster let out the most piercing scream of its life.
The sound didn't seem to come from living organisms; it was more like a mixture of rubbing rocks, twisting metal, and tearing souls apart. Its dozen or so tentacles convulsed and thrashed wildly underwater, churning the entire lake. Its massive body slid into the water from the riverbank, trying to escape, but its light psionic energy was already permeating its entire body, making escape futile.
Its skin began to bubble and wrinkle, like leather scalded by boiling water. The suckers burst one by one, oozing boiling, dark green mucus. Its eyes began to melt, and a murky yellow liquid flowed from its eye sockets, quickly being purified and evaporated in the glowing water.
But the most deadly attack comes from within.
The light spirits traveled upstream along the monster's energy network, eventually reaching the dark red core.
The platinum light clashed head-on with the dark red pollution energy.
There was no explosion, no loud noise.
Only silent annihilation.
Like darkness meeting sunlight, or ice and snow meeting fire, the dark red energy rapidly melted and disintegrated under the illumination of the platinum light, turning into the most basic fragments of spiritual particles. These fragments were then further purified, transforming into harmless, pure spiritual energy particles that dispersed into the water.
The core began to disintegrate.
Starting from the outermost crystal structure, it crumbled and dissipated inch by inch. The dark red light grew weaker and weaker, and the pulsation slowed down.
The monster's struggles became increasingly futile.
One by one, its tentacles went limp and sank to the bottom. Its massive body began to sink, like a collapsing mountain. A final, faint hiss escaped from the depths of its throat, filled with resentment, fear, and also a hint of... relief.
Then, everything returned to calm.
The platinum-white light in the lake began to slowly dim.
Karen knelt at the bottom of the water, his hands bracing against the sand, gasping for breath—though underwater he could only swallow more water. Blood was flowing from all seven orifices, his vision was blurred, his hearing was ringing, and every bone, muscle, and vein in his body was groaning in pain.
The consequences of the overloaded spiritual veins began to appear.
His psychic perception was rapidly deteriorating, from a state of absolute clarity to a blurriness worse than that of an ordinary person. He couldn't even feel the spiritual runes on his wrist, nor could he feel the connection to the Dawn.
Is the contract... about to collapse?
He turned his head with difficulty and looked at Xiguang beside him.
The cub lay motionless on the sandy bottom of the water. Its golden fur had lost all its luster, resembling faded old velvet. The royal markings on its forehead had dimmed to the point of being almost invisible, with only a faint point of light struggling to flicker at the very center.
Xi Guang's chest was no longer rising and falling.
"No..." Karen tried to speak, but only managed to exhale a string of bubbles. He tried to crawl over, but his body wouldn't obey him, and he could only move inch by inch.
Half a meter apart feels like the ends of the earth.
He finally moved to Xiguang's side, his hands trembling as he gently stroked the cub's cheek.
It's cold.
A bone-chilling cold.
"Dawn..." Karen's consciousness began to fade. "Wake up...please..."
no respond.
The cub lay quietly, as if asleep, or perhaps...
Karen's tears mingled with the lake water and disappeared.
He remembered the first time he found Xiguang in the warehouse, the cub's amber eyes filled with helplessness and fear. He remembered the warmth he felt when Xiguang licked his hand. He remembered on the Cloud Whale, the cub secretly sharing half of its dried meat with him. He remembered in the maze, Xiguang standing in front of him, letting out a childish yet resolute roar at the giant insect.
Just now, Xi Guang used her last strength to convey her thoughts: "Together...live on..."
"We promised..." Karen whispered hoarsely, though she couldn't make a sound, "to live together..."
He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against Xiguang's forehead.
Last attempt.
He forced the last remaining trace of spiritual energy within his body—not light spiritual energy, not any type of spiritual energy, but the purest life spiritual energy, his own origin—out of his body and into Xi Guang's body.
This is suicide.
Life energy is the foundation for maintaining the soul and body. Once it is exhausted, the soul will separate from the body, which is death.
But Karen didn't care.
If Xiguang dies, what's the point of him living alone?
The psionic energy flowed slowly, like a small stream, flowing from Karen's brow and into Xiguang's forehead.
At first, nothing changed.
Then, the almost extinguished spot of light in the center of Xi Guang's forehead suddenly flickered.
It was very faint, but it was definitely pulsating.
Karen's spirits lifted, and she pushed herself to the limit, transferring even more life energy to him.
The light flickered again, becoming slightly brighter than before.
Xi Guang's eyelids trembled slightly.
The cub's chest began to rise and fall slightly again.
efficient!
But Karen's own consciousness was rapidly sinking into darkness. He felt cold, an endless cold, spreading from his limbs to his heart. His vision went completely black, his hearing disappeared, and his sense of touch went numb.
He knew he was about to die.
But it's okay.
Xi Guang came to life.
Just as his consciousness was about to completely dissipate—
A warm, familiar spiritual energy suddenly flowed back from Xiguang's body.
It wasn't light energy, nor any type of combat energy, but the purest life energy, just like the one Karen had channeled out.
Xi Guang is feeding back her life energy to him!
Two souls, on the verge of life and death, began their final and most complete sharing of life.
In Karen's mind, fragments of memories that didn't belong to him resurfaced, but this time they were more complete and more profound—
He saw an endless sea of luminous clouds, with thousands upon thousands of luminous lions soaring through them, their wings scattering golden dust. He saw the birth of Dawn, not hatching from its shell, but naturally emerging from a luminous cloud imbued with a thousand years of spiritual energy. He saw Dawn's mother—an elegant and majestic female luminous lion—gently nurturing her newborn cub with her nose, teaching it how to spread its tender wings.
He witnessed the migration of his race, traversing three floating domains, enduring storms and thunderclouds, finally arriving at a sacred land of eternal light. He saw the training of the cubs: how to capture psionic streams while flying at high speeds, how to purify polluted clouds with their flames, and how to protect their companions with their bodies in times of danger.
Then came the attack by the black airships.
The Silver-Striped Knight's magic circle sealed off the sky, and the roar of the Lightwing Lion Chieftain echoed through the heavens. The mother hid Dawn within the thickest clouds and turned to face the enemy. Through the gaps in the clouds, Dawn saw her mother pierced by three silver longswords, golden blood raining down. She saw her tribe scatter and flee, saw herself stunned by a shockwave, and awoke alone in an unfamiliar forest.
Hunger, wounds, cold, and a deep, unspeakable loneliness.
Until he met that blond-haired human boy.
The person who carefully treated its wounds in the archives.
The one who stood in front of the Order's knights, spreading his arms to protect them.
The person who held it in the storm, conveying a message of calm to soothe the navigating jellyfish.
The person who recklessly jumped into the abyss in the maze and fell with it.
The person who grasped its paw in the face of despair and said, "Let's live together."
All memories, all emotions, all trust and bonds, are completely intertwined at this moment.
In Xiguang's consciousness, it also saw everything about Karen—
The boy who copied illustrations day after day in the archives of Dustlight Town had nothing on his wrists and could only silently stroke them amidst the cheers outside the window.
That gentle woman who, despite being afraid, still chose to help the injured spirit when she discovered it late at night.
That courage that trembled but never retreated when facing the longsword of the Order's knights.
That clumsy yet earnest effort as he learned how to work as a crew member on the Narwhal.
That sense of responsibility that led them to proactively seek out the source of pollution in the Emerald Forest.
That stubbornness that repeatedly puts oneself in danger in order to protect one's companions.
That steadfastness of holding it in the darkness, warming it with body heat.
Two souls saw each other in their truest form.
Not a perfect hero, not a powerful spirit.
They were just two lonely lives struggling in the torrent of fate, yet still choosing kindness and courage.
Then, at the moment when life sharing reaches its peak—
The contract was established.
It is not a temporary spiritual resonance, nor a stopgap measure in a critical moment.
Rather, it is a complete and permanent bond at the soul level.
The silver runes on Karen's wrist began to change.
The originally relatively simple lines began to extend and branch, intertwining into more complex and intricate patterns. The color of the lines also gradually changed from pure silver to a faint golden luster, as if coated with sunlight.
At the very center of the pattern, a tiny, exquisite golden lion's head appears—that is the spiritual imprint of the Dawn.
At the same time, the royal markings on Xiguang's forehead also changed.
A silver vein seeped into the golden patterns, like an embellishment embroidered on gold foil with silver thread. At the very center of the patterns, a tiny human silhouette made of silver lines appeared—Karen's spiritual imprint.
The moment the contract was completed, an unprecedented power surged from the connection.
It's not simply an enhancement of psionic power, but a deeper, more fundamental change at the level of rules.
The illusory wings behind Karen solidified from their ethereal appearance.
Although still composed of psionic energy, it has already acquired some physical characteristics. The texture of each feather is clearly visible, with silver specks interspersed among the flowing golden light at the edges. The wings of light gently flap, bringing no longer just a simple airflow, but a gentle, healing psionic wave.
Karen's injuries began to heal at a visible rate.
The broken ribs automatically reset and joined together; the swelling at the fracture site of the right leg quickly subsided; the scabs on the skin scabbed over and fell off, revealing healthy new skin. The damage to the spiritual meridians was also being repaired; the excruciating pain gradually subsided, replaced by a warm and full feeling.
The light of dawn is also recovering.
The cub's body warmed up again, and its golden fur regained its luster, becoming even brighter and softer than before. The royal markings on its forehead steadily emitted a soft golden light, and its amber eyes slowly opened, clear and bright, reflecting Karen's face.
It called out softly.
This time, his voice was full of energy.
Karen smiled.
He picked up Xiguang and held him tightly in his arms. The cub also stretched out its front paws, hugged his neck, and rubbed its cheek against his chin.
No words are needed, no thoughts are needed.
They are now one.
At the other end of the contract, the Dawn transmitted its first formal contractual message to Karen—not in words, but through a direct transfer of knowledge:
[Contract Ability 1: Manifestation of Light Wings]
[Description: Consumes psionic energy to partially or completely materialize the illusory wings behind the user. The higher the degree of materialization, the stronger the flight capability, but the greater the psionic energy consumption. Current maximum duration: 15 minutes.]
[Contract Ability Two: Proficiency in Spiritual Language]
[Description: Permanently enhances the ability to communicate with all spirits via spirit language. Communication effectiveness is increased by 300% for Light-attribute spirits and by 100% for spirits of other attributes.]
【Contract Ability 3: Life Sharing (Passive)】
[Description: A deep connection of life energy is established between the contracting parties. When one party is injured, the other can actively share the damage; when one party is near death, the other can use their own life energy to sustain the other's life. Cooldown: Seven days.]
Karen processed this information, deeply shocked.
This is no ordinary contract. The depth, the strength of the power, the mechanism of life sharing... he had never seen anything like it in any encyclopedia.
"This is..." he asked in his mind.
"The Royal Contract," Xiguang responded, her voice clear and steady. "The highest-level life-and-death contract between the Lightwing Lion Royal Family and the Guardian bloodline. Once established, it can never be broken until one party dies."
The bloodline of the guardians.
Karen remembered that both Shadow and Dark Shadow had mentioned this word before. He thought of the pendant his mother had left him, and the special silver spirit mark on his wrist.
There are still many mysteries.
But now is not the time to delve into it.
Karen held Xiguang in her arms, her wings of light gently flapping as she slowly brought them to the surface of the water.
The lake has returned to calm. The monster's enormous corpse lies at the bottom, slowly being purified and decomposed by the pure lake water. The stench in the cave has dissipated considerably, and the air has become fresh.
Karen flapped her light wings and flew towards the exit fissure at the other end of the cave.
It's time to get out of here.
It's time to go back up, find Lydia and Grom, and deal with that black meteorite.
It's time to begin fulfilling the true mission of a contractor.
The wings of light traced golden trails in the darkness, like a ray of dawn piercing the long night.