Cold Serenity Before Carnage

"Captain, Captain! Area 1 has been invaded! Area 3 is under attack, we can't hold on for much longer!"

Gunfire resounded in the forest which was nearly devoid of life. Devastated ruins of cars and weapons littered the blood stained floor.

"Dark Hawk Piercer Team! Do you read me? Fuck, comm's down again!"

"Feral Wolf Team's lost in Area 2, we are overrun with Soul Beasts!"

"The Unmanned Particle Cannons are down, we've lost sector one…"

Dozens of armed men fired blindly into the dark. From their pale faces, and dead eyes, one could tell that they've already given up hope.

"Ah~!" One of the men shooting at the extreme rear was suddenly tugged into the darkness effortlessly. Only his blood curdling screams and chewing sounds reigned over the dwindling gunfire.

One of the men, a skinny fellow on blue and grey grabbed the futuristic radio on his waist and began punch commands on it's screen.

"Code Red! Golden Crane Team's Extraction Failed!"

Hearing the mechanical voice that was transmitted throughout the forest, everyone who was still standing and struggling with everything they had suddenly lost their will to live.

"Why me? I still have a pregnant wife and three year old son waiting for me at home!" A short round figure shrieked as he felt a tug on his waist, and that was the last thing he felt before having his head bit off his shoulders in one clean bite.

How did this happen? It was only days ago… When the Confederal Government began hiring trigger happy members of the society who wanted quick ways to earn legal money.

The mission was simple: Extract target, and receive 10, 000 credits.

If they knew the target was a tiger crouching in a den of dragons, then 80% of them would have backed out of the mission.

It was only after three teams containing no less than a dozen armed men were lost trying to find one creature did they know what they have gotten themselves into.

"I see it! Concentrate fire on my six!" A tall bald headed man roared as he opened fire in a certain direction, the trees there were suddenly blasted away and was was hiding beneath was revealed.

It was in the form of an average tiger, but had two pair of wings folded behind it's back, and a massive tail layered with sturdy scales that ran up it's back to it's forehead. It was over 2 Metres tall whilst crouching, towering over all the men before it. It's sturdy silver scales and metallic red fur gave it a deeply cold and domineering aura.

"It's an Asura Holy Tiger! A Celestial Grade Soul Beast!"

Even when dozens of men Rained hell on it, the Asura Descendant Tiger remained unfazed. Bullets which could blow steel apart only left white impact marks on it's metallic fur, shocking the men who were desperaterely shooting at the gigantic red tiger.

Opening it's mouth wide, the red tiger spat out a ball of light that cleaved half of the assaulters in halves. Ignoring the bullets, the red tiger closed it's mouth and rose up slowly with it's eyes fixed to the other men.

Coldness descended upon the battlefield as the red tiger ponched. Soon, only the blood curdling screams of the men could be heard.

——

A young silver haired boy sat in the middle of a vast wasteland with his face buried in a ragged book. The edges of the book which seemed to be crumpled beyond salvation fluttered slightly as a soft wind blew over it.

"What's so important about this book father hide in the basement? There's nothing useful in it! Only these trashy terms I'm unfamiliar with, and some weird symbols."

The silver haired boy frowned deeply before slamming the book shut with a confused gleam in his eyes.

"And here I thought this piece of ancient paper was some way to gain a system or something of the sorts… To many fantasy novels are affecting my brain."

While he was speaking, a small white cat leaped into his arms. After letting out a soft purr, the cat began to rub it's head against the boy's chest.

"What's wrong now, Furball? Don't tell me you've already eaten up all the Spirit Crystals I rained upon you yesterday!" The silver haired boy picked up the white cat in one arm, and held the sorry excuse for a blue book in the other.

The white cat only blinked his big blue eyes innocently at the silver haired boy.

"This is troublesome, I don't have enough star credits to purchase my own lunch not to talk about this hungry ball of fur." The silver haired boy shook his head before standing up to his feet and walking away in a certain direction, "Wang Doghai must have returned by now, I should hurry up home."

While the silver haired boy was busy walking forward, and kicking away any metal on his path to his shabby excuse for a house, a short silver haired girl fell down from the sky.

"Mei'er?! How the hell did you find me?"

The silver haired girl who was half an inch shorter than the 5 feet tall boy, stood up briskly from the ground while rubbing her butt.

"Aiya, that fall really hurt." Liu Mei, the silver haired girl let out a sigh after patting off the dust on her butt. She had a gloomy expression as her eyes raised up to meet her brother's, "Big brother Liu Feng, uncle Doghai came back today with really bad news…"

"What news?" The silver haired Liu Feng was confused as his uncle, Wang Doghai rarely brought home any news. His brows raised as a random thought crossed his mind, "Did he find out Furball and Chicken Wings disappeared? You should have told him not to worry."

"You'd better hear it from uncle yourself… I-I don't believe it."

From some reason, Liu Mei began to tear up. Seeing this rare scene since his sister seldom cried, Liu Feng felt an emptiness in his heart.

"Let's go home, I was just finished with my book anyways." Liu Feng said with a frown as he looked up to the sky with a soft smile on his face. "Chicken Wings has grown bigger! What have you been feeding him?"

Although Mei's eyes were still glistening with tears, she couldn't help but give a low chuckle.

"Much more than that feline glutton receives, I assume." Liu Feng wiped her eyes, then, let out a tired sigh before closing her eyes.

Suddenly, a metallic creature began to descend from the sky. Unlike it's given name, it's majestic silver wings were no comparison to that of a dumb chicken. It's cat like eyes which glowed in a bright red light narrowed as it began to drop from the sky.

Unlike Liu Feng's 'cat', Liu Mei's Soul Symbiote was miles ahead in evolution and thus possessed such a grand appearance. Only years ago, Furball was nothing more than a round ball of white fur while chicken wings was a metal baby with silver chicken like wings.

"Chicken Wings! Hmm, have you evolved again?" Liu Feng asked as he rubbed the back of his head with the image of his 'furball' appearing in his head. "Your little brother has refused to grow, definitely not like you."

"Don't compare that glutton to me, I'm a highly evolved and intelligent being. He is just… a bad kitty." Chicken Wings said in a smooth female voice as her feet touched the ground, and her wings elegantly folded into her back.

Furball, who was still in Liu Feng's arm meowed in disapproval. Although he wasn't capable of speech like Chicken Wings, he had earned emotions and intelligence from his last evolution.

"Chicken Wings, can you carry the both of us home?" Liu Mei's eyes gleamed as she asked the question. It wasn't easy to convince the Soul Beast to carry two people.

"Sigh, who wants a piggyback?" Chicken Wings said with a frown on her face as she looked at the teenage siblings. After seeing that only Liu Mei raised her hand she opened her mouth to speak, "Then I'll have to carry Liu Feng in my arms."

Liu Mei's eyes shone as she jumped jovially before circling around Chicken Wings and leaping into her back. Liu Mei hugged Chicken Wing's waist and buried her face in her back.

Liu Feng only sighed as he was picked up by Chicken Wings and pulled into her grasp. His face went red as he felt Chicken Wings metallic chest pressing into his back.

As soon as Chicken Wings found everyone in a stable condition, she closed her eyes and took off into the sky without bringing out her wings.

Furball meowed in delight as he looked at the wasteland below him. Even the cat knew how amazing instant flight was.

"Let's go home."