A Quick Trick

The last thing Xilo wanted to do right now was scare away the Beasts. Hovering his body low to the ground his breathing quieted as he covered himself and Relia in darkness. "No mistakes this time." Feeling a layer of energy surrounding her body Relia accepted it as she followed Xilo. "Darkness..." Watching his body move forward she let him do all the work. After a little bit of moving Relia saw the Astral Beasts Xilo was talking about a little bit in front of them. It was two big dog Astral Beasts that would be perfect for pulling a carriage. "We found them but now for the hard part." Killing an Astral Beast like those two was easy, taming them was a bit harder.

"How...do you...want..to do this."

"Oh? Been a little bit since you've talked to me, I was thinking of freezing them in place and beating them up. Pain isn't the method I'd like to go with but it's the fastest and we don't really have time to spare. Unless you have another idea?"

"..Nothing..."

Ideas were far from her strong point and without Azalu helping out she was useless.

"Alright let's try and make this quick. These Astral Beasts tend to not be in packs so we're lucky."

Touching some of the leaves that scattered around the ground beneath him Xilo charged up some energy. Sending ice through the ground he sent it straight at the two dogs as a field of ice sprung to life. In an instant the air around them turned cold. Without any time to react the two dogs felt their paws get stuck to the ground suddenly. Struggling they tried to break free but nothing worked. While they were dealing with that, Xilo broke his cover as he rushed at them before the ice started to crack. Trying to adjust his energy he made sure he would hurt them but not kill them.

"Hopefully no permanent injuries as well."

Growling at the sudden presence that entered their senses the two beasts quickly turned towards Xilo trying to defend themselves. Their struggles turned frantic as they tried to escape but compared to Xilo they were a lot weaker. Smashing into them he bashed both of their heads with his fists hard enough to hear cracks. "Oh, just the ice." A little worried for a second, he looked at the ground and saw the cracks he had made. Shaking their heads with some freedom now, they looked at their attacker while they lunged at him with jaws wide open.

*Rrrrr*

Both of them snapped at Xilo's hands but he just casually pulled back causing them to miss. Once he did that he punched them into the ground again but didn't go any further than that. Waiting for them to stand back up, Xilo heard Relia speak up from behind him. "Hmm?" Turning around he didn't let the Beasts attack him, instead he forced them to lay on the ground after knocking them down once more. Walking over to Xilo, Relia sighed as she looked at the beasts . "Why didn't you say something sooner Azalu?" "It was funny to watch him try this." "I swear..." Shaking her head she crouched down and looked at the Beasts on the ground.

"...I lied, I have a method...to...tame them. Though...they needed to..be...knocked out."

"Well, that's good then, I kind of felt like a big bully doing that. They shouldn't be awake now if you wanted to try. I wish you told me sooner though."

"I...forgot..at first.."

She didn't have any better excuse than that. Crouching over the Beasts she made sure they weren't going to wake up anytime soon as she began. Listening to Azalu's instructions she created an Astral Collar imbued with her energy. Latching it onto their necks she let Azalu do the rest of the work. "Can we free them after this with no problems Azalu?" "Yup, we're just going to give them a few "orders" for now. Afterwards they can go free." With Astral beasts this dumb controlling them with a simple spell was quite easy for Azalu. Spending less than a minute doing that, she finished as the Beasts woke up.

"....Should..work now."

Feeling them wake up suddenly, they jumped to attention as they stood up. Looking at the humans in front of them, they didn't attack like before and instead patiently sat waiting for a command. Azalu had planted a small seed in their mind that would let them listen to basic commands for a small period of time. Once that was done it would break and they would be free. If commands were complicated or truly something they didn't want to do it wouldn't work. So if none of that stuff happened then they were just slightly more obedient Astral beasts just a lot less wild. Most Tamers used variations of this technique depending on their level of skill or cruelty.

"...Sit..."

Watching them sit down Xilo raised an eye as he heard her say stand next. Seeing them listening to Relia, Xilo nodded in approval as he rubbed Relia's hair. She had made this a lot easier on him and had done it quite quickly. Enjoying the feeling of her soft hair running through his fingers he realized it had been a while since he last did this. Unmoving Relia's body froze as she felt her hair get touched by Xilo. Feeling panic rise through her body she froze up as her face turned bright red. She had no idea what to do as her brain melted in emotions. Thankfully for her XIilo eventually stopped as he started to walk back to the girls.

"Thanks Relia."

Watching him walk away from her, she felt a little lonely suddenly.

".....Don't stop..."

Standing there for a couple of seconds she eventually picked up her pace to catch up with him as the two dogs followed behind closely.

"...What's..wrong with me..."