7 Really just an Egg?

Selene could feel the world around her becoming blurry and dim. Even though she had tied off her leg, the wound was simply too deep and was bleeding too much. She didn't have enough strength left in her arm to tie the cloth tight enough.

Both of the wounds that the panther-like beast had ripped into her limbs tore through the muscle, rendering her limbs immobile.

As the beast watched Selene's eyes gradually become dimmer, the perverted glee in its own eyes could be seen flashing. It made no move to try to kill Selene, instead opting to watch her slowly bleed out, feeling the full fear of death as it approached.

In her heart, Selene felt aggrieved and regretful. She finally realized just how foolish she was to come out into the forest like this.

Looking into the eyes of this terrifying beast, she understood that no matter how hard she had trained, against a monster like this, there was only death. She was not even ten years old, yet she had actually tried to come out here to fight a magical beast? What a joke!

Holding back tears, she closed her eyes and thought about how sad her father would be when she never came back.

As she slipped into darkness, there came a small flash of golden light from deep within her pupils. The light only manifested for a brief moment, though, as her eyelids closed shortly after.

The snow panther was too busy enjoying the moment, and simply began to approach the now unconscious Selene.

Swallowing the chunk of her leg it had ripped off, the beast began to drag away the now cold body of Selene with a satisfied expression on its face.

"Rumble..."

Then, to the beast's shock, a deep rumbling sound shook its body, causing it to drop the little girl in shock. In a flash, the snow panther had moved away from Selene, looking towards her body with a cautious expression.

The snow panther watched in horror as the originally cold body of Selene began to rise up from its distorted position in the snow.

Opening her eyes, Selene's originally green eyes were now flashing with a brilliant golden light, and her body radiated a strange aura. Deep inside of her body, the golden light that contained her Arcane Spirit began to break apart. The egg that was contained inside began to tremble violently, and tiny cracks began to appear on its surface.

As the cracks widened, the originally strange yet weak aura began to intensify rapidly. The egg that had originally seemed so ordinary and weak before, began to emit a shockingly terrifying arcane energy. The snow panther, who was being subjected to this arcane energy leaking out from Selene's body felt as though it had no place to resist.

The arcane energy seemed to demand that everyone and everything was to bow before it. It was rampant and domineering, unwilling to see anything defy it.

Towards the panther which was desperately struggling to resist the energy, it began to condense, attacking it more and more aggressively.

In an instant, the arcane energy released by the egg had encompassed the beast, which was utterly terrified as it felt the monstrous power crush down on its body.

"Crack! Crack!"

As the panther continued to struggle futilely in the face of the arcane energy, its body finally began to give way. The tremendous pressure began to shatter the bones of the panther, before beginning to crush it into a bloody mess.

"Hooowl!"

The guttural howl released by the panther demonstrated its agony at this moment. It looked towards that little girl, who was simply standing there in front of it with absolute terror.

Selene simply stood there, her wounds still bleeding profusely, yet her body was completely still, standing straight and firm. Her eyes were no longer the vibrant green they used to be, and instead were a glowing golden color. When the panther looked into those eyes, it felt its soul tremble uncontrollably.

"Crunch! Puff!"

Then, in a disgusting and gory display, the panther's body was crushed into a blood mist. From the bloody mist, a small crystal dropped onto the ground, while the mist itself was all absorbed into Selene's body.

Seeping into her skin, Selene's cold body began to warm up, while the wounds that were on her arm and leg began to mend rapidly. New muscle tissue began to form, while the fat and skin closed over the top of the wound at a speed visible to the naked eye.

It only took a brief moment before the originally heavily injured Selene appeared to be completely unharmed. In fact, her skin was now glowing with health, as all of the old scars she had from living in the remote Bluewater Town completely disappeared.

The golden-eyed Selene began to walk towards the small crystal that had fallen into the snow. Picking it up, she held in her hands a finger-sized icy blue crystal. This was the Arcane Core of the magical snow panther beast. It contained the violent arcane energy of the magical panther.

Opening her mouth, Selene swallowed the ice blue crystal, devouring it in a flash. If there were anyone around to see this, they would all drop their jaws in shock.

The violent arcane energy contained in even a weak Arcane Core was enough to cause most arcanists to suffer serious injuries if they directly consumed it. Let alone someone like Selene, who had not even become an arcanist!

Yet, Selene's body did not even tremble from the energy contained inside the ice blue crystal. Instead, it quickly dissolved, bathed by the golden light. Slowly, the ice blue crystal was refined into a glowing ice-blue orb of Arcane Energy. Inside of the light, the vague aura of the snow panther could be felt, and after the golden light retreated from the ice blue orb of energy, a single strand of golden light connected it to the golden egg in Selene's heart.

Then, the ice-blue orb began to orbit the egg, seemingly attempting to find a balance around the golden light of the egg.

This mystical scene occurred rapidly inside Selene's body, and once completed, the golden light that had spread through her body quickly retreated to its original halo around the now cracked golden egg.

Her eyes lost their original golden glow, returning to their green color before closing. Selene's body fell face-first into the snow, unmoving.