Ghost town

The tiger was being torn apart by the manticore. It was not even given a chance to fight back. Licht and Midas continued eating the rabbit's meat while Daren was watching the gruesome scene with a frightened face as he was wondering what if the tiger chose to attack him 'would he have been killed' or reacted fast enough to prevent his death.

"Never let your guard down, you never know what or who is lurking in the shadows," Licht said as he ate his meat.

Daren just nodded at what Licht said as he stared at the tiger trying to fight for its life but was clearly losing. The tiger was finally too exhausted to fight back and was swiftly killed by the manticore who had grown bored.

The soul was absorbed by Midas who was still nonchalant about what was going on. Then Licht said, "What do you think would happen if you merge a beast soul and the soul of a human or better yet, already-merged souls."

Midas was hit with an epiphany and went into his soul space. Wrath was in a state that seemed like hibernation, the same as the tiger too. As Wrath sensed Midas in the soul space "Master, you are here" Wrath said

"Yes, I want to try a new experiment but it involves you and the new soul I just acquired"

Wrath looked at the tiger soul and she understood "I shall carry out what you desire, Master"

Midas just nodded and began the merging process. It was not a painful process as Wrath was just as soul and after a few minutes. Another cocoon was formed. Licht felt Midas awakening from his meditation and looked at him again with a questioning gaze.

Midas said "It is going to take a while"

Licht nodded and then said " We might as well start leaving. We have a long journey ahead of us"

They soon departed from where they were. They continued their journey and after a few hours, Midas spoke "Master, the merging is complete". The carriage stopped and both Licht and Daren got down to see what spectacular sight they will witness.

Midas summoned Wrath from his soul space and the sight was spectacular indeed. Standing before them stood a two-meter-tall woman, she had pointy ears with stripes, her eyes had a tinge of gold now, and the fangs looked sharper and longer, with striped fur around her neck, torso, arms, and legs, decorated with sharp claws.

She looked like an actual tiger kin. Wrath felt more powerful than she had been before, she was now at late blue rank. She was pleased with her increase in strength then all of a sudden, she burst into flames.

Daren was startled and shouted "Mother"

Midas held him back "Look, she is not in any danger. I think that is her new ability"

She had the same ability as the flame tiger. Her body could stay lit and not burn, but she was now using a new type of flame called phantom flame. It was not green like Midas and Licht's flame but more like the color of her skin, reddish black.

Everyone watched her as she let the tush of power out of her system. She was done and bowed at Midas and Licht "Masters, I would be able to aid you properly in combat now"

Midas nodded then he recalled her back into his soul space. Daren was just pleased to see his mother even though her appearance had changed a lot, he knew she was still there.

After such a great sight, they continued their journey onwards as there was still a huge distance to cover. After another couple of hours, they came across a town. It looked to be around the same size as the same town Licht encountered when he had first awoken, Flamehaven.

They continued onward into the town and noticed something odd. The town was deathly silent and there was no one around. It would have been a normal town if not for the eerie silence and lack of people. They walked around the town like it was nobody's business but for Daren, it was scary. He felt like he was being watched but he calmed down after he remembered he was with Licht and Midas, the two strongest people he knew.

After walking for what seemed like forever, Licht stopped first and then said "Do you feel that?"

Midas stopped too and extended his senses to the max and he finally felt what Licht felt. It was a weird dark aura. It was similar but that the same time, it felt like it was the polar opposite of Licht's aura. If Licht's aura was a warm but domineering aura that made people want to willingly submit to him, this type of aura was a cold threatening aura that made a person feel as if they did not submit to it, they will die. It was not as strong as the aura Licht had when he released his but it was still overwhelming.

Licht was silent for a while and said " Can it be? Is she here?" And then began to walk in the direction of the aura. Midas felt the aura and knew it was not something he could handle as he felt it was at least a green-ranked being's aura, but he followed Licht because of the trust he had in him. Daren had no idea what was going on but he was on his way to find out. They walked and walked till they were walking out of the town from the other end. As they walked, they continued to look into houses and shops to check but did not seem to find anything. It was really odd as not even the souls of dead creatures could be seen roaming around. They finally exited the town and walked till they came across a cave.

At this point, Daren already felt the aura and was terrified but kept on pushing because he saw Midas and Licht move on and did not want to look weak-willed. He stared at the cave and really did not want to go in but it looked like he had no choice as Licht stepped in and Midas swiftly followed.

Daren sighed and ran in after them as he shivered.