A Strange Connection

A man looked up to the sky, letting the rain fall upon his face where it would begin to sizzle and evaporate as if it had landed on a hot surface. His hair however must have been less hot because although it was releasing vapour into the air like the top of a volcano, it was still undeniably soaked. However, this only ended up enhancing the golden undertones in the man's white hair, making them sparkle like precious material.

And the rest of the man wasn't any less impressive. He had an imposing height of 2.2 metres, tanned skin, a pair of giant wings on his back with the same colour tone as his hair, and 3 peculiar eyes. 2 of them were completely golden with no other colour, but the 3rd vertical one on his forehead had white sclera and a bright blue iris. All 3 eyes burned like flames.

Evidently, he was a bird-type Beast in Enlightened Form, and had an incredibly rare Evil Eye to boot.

This was no other than Pharaoh, the Progenitor of the Golden Roc race and the 2nd Apostle of the Heavenly Sun Flame. Moreover, he wasn't alone.

Surrounding him and gathered on the Eastern shore of the West Continent were the deadliest creatures the Continent had to offer. Nobody here had cultivation that was inferior to the upper levels of the 3rd Realm, but there were still many of them there. Most of them were imposing giant birds from the 3 legendary races (Phoenix, Purgatory Vermillion, and Golden Roc) but there was a noticeable group of Humans that didn't have any of the animalistic features of a Beast in Enlightened Form.

They all had tanned skin, blonde-to-gold hair, and brilliant gold eyes that shone with powerful mana. They looked a lot more imposing than the general human race but that was exactly what they were. Humans.

In actuality, they were the first followers of the Heavenly Sun Flame. Granted an Earth Grade Bloodline by the Contract with the Heavenly Sun Flame, they had been transformed into higher quality lifeforms that could not be put on the same level of the rest of the human race, and they called themselves Heavenly Sun Humans.

But that was not to say that they had actually evolved or even mutated. They were just Humans with Bloodlines and better techniques that lived much better lives under the nurturing of the Heavenly Sun Flame and the Sacred Land they lived in.

Leading those Heavenly Sun Humans was the beautiful Liyanda, the first Apostle of the Heavenly Sun Flame. She could be considered very old if you were to go off by the standard lifespan of the human race, but thanks to her 4th Realm cultivation, age had not left a single mark on her body and she looked like a young woman in her twenties.

Long golden hair tumbled down to her knees, caressing each of her proud curves and tanned skin, but her most remarkable feature was her completely gold and fiery eyes that matched Pharaoh's. This was a trait of the Physique that they both shared, which was of course the Heaven Grade [Sun Apostle Physique].

But different to Pharoah, where he was uncharacteristically cold and possessed an aura that pushed others away, Liyanda had a heroic demeanour that was just as fiery as her affinity. It was very domineering but it had an exotic charm that drew others close. However, whether that resulted in a desire to follow her leadership or the desire to dominate her, was up to beholder.

At this moment, she was standing by Pharaoh's side, eyeing the drops of rain that evaporated against his skin or dripped down his hair.

Pharoah snorted inwardly.

Even without spreading his Spirit Sense, he could always tell when that girl was looking at him and it seemed to work the other way around too. At this point, neither of them could deny that they seemed to possess a strange and mysterious connection with each other, but they had never explored it and rarely ever spoke about it.

Despite both being Apostles of the same entity and even living on the same Sacred Land, both of them were just too busy with their own races to let that strange connection draw them into doing something potentially stupid.

So they fought against it, acting antagonistic towards each other whenever they met and staying far away from each other whenever they didn't have to, no matter how much their thoughts strayed. No, it was BECAUSE of how much their thoughts strayed that they had to do that.

Fat help their attitude against each other had done. The more arrogant and rude Liyanda acted towards him, the more it stirred something within him. He wanted to tame that wild woman.

Every other woman he had bred had been either submissive by default, or dominated into submissiveness too quickly. And it didn't help that they didn't have any other use outside of expanding his race either, so he couldn't care less about their individual desires and aspirations.

But Liyanda would never break and she could never be useless. Outside of the almighty Heavenly Sun Flame, she was probably the only other lifeform that he admired and didn't simultaneously hate. So just the thought of wrapping his hand against her throat as he…

'Tch.'

Ridiculous thoughts like that was exactly why they stayed far away from each other. A Beast and a Human breeding? It had happened a few times before considering just how close their 2 races were, and although it had resulted in a few miracles of life who were way too young to be here, it had also resulted in more than a few startling tragedies. These tragedies heavily outweighed the benefits of the miracles so Beast-Human sexual relations had pretty much become banned.

Both he and Liyanda had worked together to ensure this ban and in the process they had severed 3 real relationships that had been more than just mating. He himself didn't care much about that because nobody dared to violate his rules, irrespective of their emotions, but Liyanda cared. And it wasn't like he couldn't see the foolishness in banning something because it was bad and yet indulging in the same thing yourself, so it had just become another reason to stay away from Liyanda.

It made moments like these where she was so close to him, looking up at him the way she was… unbearable.

"Everyone get ready!" A voice suddenly yelled.

Pharaoh finally lowered his head to look at the man whose golden wings he had been chasing for many years. The rival he had been dominating the continent with. The one man he wanted to defeat at any cost. Chad the Phoenix King.

"I think our allies have arrived." Chad said in a quieter voice now that he had everyone's attention.

Everyone looked forward, but only those with keener eyes began to notice something in the distance beyond the rising waves.