Chapter 17: Substitute Familiar
*Pzzt*
The arrow was released aiming at the shadow demon, but the creature suddenly disappeared, making it miss and got impaled on the wall.
"It disappeared?"
Jane cannot believe what she just saw. Everyone cannot believe what they just saw. This alarmed them making them grip their weapons tight, waiting for the unknown beast to make its move. But not even the slightest sound did they hear.
It was at this moment.
"What is that? That's not it." Doctor Angelo said uneasily. Seeing the look on the old man's face, Knight Faller and Hamon was taken aback.
"What? Don't tell me you haven't said something important to us?" Knight Faller said, eyeing the old man furiously.
"It's different. That creature cannot possibly be something that mage Cannon can create. What was that red eyes?" Doctor Angelo looked at the houses with eyes so wide that he looked like it seemed he had been tricked by a vile vixen and was now in great debt to loansharks.
That settled it.
Doctor Angelo who was one of the four royal doctors must have came with them all the way to this little town in the South border, not to merely help the people, but to do something about the magic item that the rogue former-mage of the kingdom stole.
Corre noticed the look on Knight Faller and Hamon, and saw that they were not happy. Like them, it looked like they were not given too much details on this mission, and they had already lost their subordinates.
"Doctor, I'm not sure about what you know and how much can you say, or if you can even say anything, but can you at least tell us the minimum of what is really going on here?" Corre said, trying to stay calm as possible, as his mistake had contributed to what happened to the knights and Kara.
Doctor Angelo was a warm-hearted old man. With his remaining powers, he had really wanted to help the people here if he can, but his other secret had instead made the knights suffer from something they were not even aware of.
"The magic item that Cannon stole from us."
"So there is indeed something?" Knight Faller angrily said.
"What is it?" Corre asked.
"The magic item is a necklace that can turn any beasts the user slays into a familiar but it's not a familiar from the familiar world. It's like a substitude familiar."
"A substitute familiar? What is that?"
"Familiars live in a world different from us, and mages have the ability to summon them to our world. But we created the magic item so we can turn any beast creature to a familiar. The physical body of the beasts would remain, but the soul will be taken by the user after they slayed the beast. It would effectively be the user's familiar slave until the user dies.
"They won't have to live in a different world, nor we have to summon them. They live on our sides forever. Because they are practically the soul of the creature, the user could control whether the familiar could turn transparent or not."
"Then, the wolves that were killed were all turned to the things you're talking about?" Knight Faller asked.
"Yeah," Doctor Angelo said lowly. "But, the substitute familiar is still not the same with a normal familiar. The substitute familiar is weaker, and it has a high tendency of going berserk as soon as it sees and feels of what it used to be.
"If a substitute familiar used to be an ape, it would go berserk once it sees an ape, meaning if Cannon use the magic item on a wolf, as soon as the wolf would see living wolves it would kill them."
"How cruel."
"It was unstable so we sealed it, but we were not aware a certain organization was eyeing it. Former-mage cannon is a member of that organization and his position as a mage of the kingdom became instrumental in stealing it from us. I'm sorry but I could not say anything much further."
"Who knew there was something like that going on here?" John said.
"What about the people here? Where did they go?" Ellie asked.
"I don't know. The magic item does not have the ability to turn humans to a familiar. That's why I am so shocked and terrified. That black beast that was like a human could not possibly be a product of the magic item."
"Supreme Shadow," Chris mumbled, thinking of Kara.
Chris naturally knew about shadow demons. He had never seen the supreme shadow use that skill, but Kara transforming to the shadow demon 'the demon of the shadows that simply wants to hide in the darkness' could explain that black beast.
'It only is a coincidence that the stealth ability of the shadow demon is the same with the substitute familiar they are talking about,' Chris thought.
Jane was looking at Chris' face and couldn't help but noticed he also had a calm look on his face. Kara, his only brother, was taken. They don't even know if he was still alive.
"Chris, don't worry," Jane tried to say the normal words. Maybe Chris was just too shocked. Chris was still a child, after all.
Seeing the look on Jane's face, Chris knew he messed up. So, he thought of the situation, and opened his mouth, "Don't worry, I and Kara had seen a lot of things, and I'm sure Kara won't die here. I'm sure he's still alive."
"Such a good boy."
"Such faith."
Everyone was able to lift their spirits hearing Chris' words.
Meanwhile, Kara was almost finished touring the whole town at great speed. It was a little town, after all.
At this moment, he had arrived at the last building and had entered. The building was the same as any other house in the little town—splattered with beast's blood. But just then, he saw something on the top of the stairs that caught his eye. It was a black shadowy wolf covered in a dark purple aura, and a person with blue eyes.
"Great." Kara thought, and grinned.
He had superior hearing when he was transformed in a shadow demon, thus, he had not failed to hear Doctor Angelo's revelation. If there was indeed a magic item that could turn any beast to a familiar that would be on your side forever, obeying your every whim...
"Maybe taking it would not be so boring at all."
-- Gift
received