47: Awakened Animal
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On a grassy knoll, a young man appeared to be floating, his charcoal black hair, flowing like a river behind him. Dozens of people were on their knees, bowing at the young man.
"Yes. Bow before me, weaklings. I have mastered all of the elements, and remain the strongest person on this planet."
"ster... up..." a distant voice was heard.
"Who dares interrupt this Chosen One?!" the young man shouted, as a dark void swallowed him.
...
| Master, wake up. |
"Ugh. What the fuck was that dream..." said the teenager, holding his head.
"Reading those fantasy novels was a bad fucking idea... Anyway, thanks for waking me up, Thaddeus. What time is it?" with a yawn, he asked a sitting dog.
| It is time for our walk, Master. | Thaddeus answered, picking up a leash on the floor with his mouth.
"Right, right..."
...
After dressing up, he went outside with the dog. Not even a second later, as he stepped outside, he was immediately covered by a shadow.
"Scy, you wanna come with, right?" the teen asked.
["Yes, Papa!"] answered the enormous bird.
"Alright, come on."
...
As they walked around the neighborhood, Scotus still attracted quite the attention, despite them already doing this on a daily basis.
They got people running up to them, asking, "What species is he?" or "Is it safe to dye an eagle into black?". Shinji mostly ignored them, but Scotus quite liked the attention he was getting.
After a couple of minutes, they stopped on a bench. The teen told the enormous bird to fly around for a bit and unleashed Alfred.
Even though the dog acted timid, calm, and well-mannered in front of Shinji, the teen knew that Thaddeus still had that feral side of a German Shepherd.
Being left alone, Shinji couldn't help but think about the things he had accomplished with his animal partners.
Awakening Thaddeus seemed to make him as smart as a human, while also giving him Telepathy. Scotus on the other hand...
***
[𝕿𝖜𝖔 𝖜𝖊𝖊𝖐𝖘 𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖑𝖎𝖊𝖗...]
Shinji lured Scotus into his "Experimentation Room", as he calls it.
"It's your turn, Scy. Get ready though, 'cause it'll hurt a bit..."
["Okay, Papa!"] the bird cawed.
He used the same procedure he did on Thaddeus and after a few minutes, a surge of energy permeated the room.
"Scy? Scotus, you alright?" Shinji called out to the bird.
As he looked at Scotus, he could see bluish-black energy circling the bird, before erupting.
What came out of the energy was a monstrous-looking creature. Its beak and talons sharpened, feathers stood up, and its eyes missing, only cold blue energy in them. The thick bluish-black energy could still be seen around the bird as it quivered.
It released an ear-piercing screech, before dashing toward Shinji. The teen managed to dodge and immediately trapped the bird in a cage of ice.
"Hey Scotus. What the hell do you think you're doing?"
'There's no denying it... That looks like the Awakening of Cain's panther... I can't believe Scotus' Ability looks the same as that.' Shinji contemplated, getting a clear look at the bird.
[A/N: Cain Luterain's panther, Lancelot.]
'Is he still not moving on from being fucked up by that bitch's cat?... That wouldn't explain why Scotus' Ability is similar, though...' he noted inwardly, remembering the time in the WAA.
'Sigh, I should stop overthinking this, and should calm him down.' he decided.
The bird was cracking the cage, but the teen just reinforced it with water. Fortunately, after a few minutes, the bluish-black energy that was enveloping the bird dissipated, and it calmed down.
["What happened...?"] Scotus asked.
"You Awakened, Scy." Shinji responded with a smile.
'So, he doesn't have any idea what happened?'
"The Training does not stop, does it." the teen sighed, but later gave a smirk.
***
[Back to the present...]
Shinji, Thaddeus, and Scotus all went back to the mansion. They were all headed to the "Experimentation Room", and even though the teen wanted Thaddeus to stay outside due to the danger, the dog was adamant about being in the room.
"Alright, Scy. We're going to do what we did last time. Try to control it this time, though." Shinji told Scotus while forming a protective wall for Thaddeus.
| I wish you both good luck. | the dog barked.
["I'm going to start now, Papa!"] Scotus informed the teen.
"I'm ready." he nodded.
The bird looked down, and the bluish-black energy swallowed him. When the energy vanished, the same monstrous-looking bird could be seen.
However, this time, his actions were milder and more controlled than the first time.
Scotus' head snapped at Shinji. The teen immediately got ready to use his Ability.
With stretched wings, the bird slowly walked toward the teen with a silent, angry squawk. But once it got close, it seemed to struggle with itself as it trembled.
Shinji could faintly hear Scotus say, ["I can... do it!"]
But, not a minute later, the bird dashed toward the teen. However, he seemed to anticipate this since the bird was instantly covered in an ice cage.
Shinji waited for Scotus to calm down before releasing him.
The bird looked down, not meeting eye contact, feeling unhappy with itself. The teen, instead of feeling disappointed with the bird, was ecstatic with the progress they had made.
"That was great, Scy!" he yelled out.
["Really?... But, I couldn't control it..."]
"That's nonsense! Like I always tell myself, it's still progress, no matter how small it is. But this, though, was great progress, comparing it to your first time!" Shinji told Scotus.
["Y-yes... Thank you, Papa..."] the bird cawed, and if they could smile, Scotus would be grinning in joy.
*****
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