Inside the imperial palace corridor, Calyxianov rushed forward with inhuman speed, his figure blurring past marble pillars and gilded walls. His boots barely touched the floor as he pushed off, one hand brushing the wall to adjust his trajectory.
'Sophia, where are you?'
He had been searching for Sophia for a few minutes now, but he couldn't find her anywhere. He had even checked the bedroom where she was supposedly staying, only to find a house cat perched on the bed.
'Where is she even going at this hour?'
As he ran, his thoughts went back to his father's words about Sophia becoming a nine-stroke beast tamer.
'It's impossible.'
Out of all the people in the world, he was perhaps one of the few who understood Sophia's condition better than anyone else.
'It shouldn't be possible.'
From what he knew, Sophia's body was among the weakest he had ever seen, so fragile that she couldn't handle even a small amount of mana running through her 'mana circuits', let alone forge an actual beast contract. Even worse, she somehow managed to contract with a Nine-Stroke Beast.
'That's just beyond impossible.'
It was too much of an absurdity for him to digest at once, so he shoved it aside. For now, his sole focus was to confirm things with his own eyes. But still, finding Sophia was proving to be the biggest issue.
'Is she even at the palace?'
By this point, Calyxianov had searched roughly thirty-four percent of the palace. Although there were still places he hadn't checked, he wasn't worried. He knew the limits of Sophia's speed and stamina; the remaining areas were pretty much out of reach for her.
As he ran, something unusual suddenly caught his attention. He halted for a fraction of a second, his stride faltering, before his head snapped toward the source. It didn't take him even a second to realize what the anomaly was.
'You idiot, why are you staying outside in this cold?'
Without another thought, he veered toward a nearby window, shoved it open, and leaped outside from his position on the third floor of the palace. Cold air roared past him as he descended. He landed without a sound, knees bending smoothly to absorb the impact. Immediately, he began running again toward a specific location: a solitary bench situated at the center of the Imperial Palace Garden.
***
On a bench in the middle of the Imperial Palace Garden, Sophia sat quietly, hugging her knees close to her chest. Her breathing was steady as she kept her gaze fixed on the ground, her chin resting lightly on her knees. Despite appearing calm, her mind was anything but. Inside her head, the memory of the incident, when the guard suddenly stabbed himself relentlessly, kept repeating in a loop.
Although unsightly and mentally torturing, this constant repetition was actually part of the therapeutic regimen prescribed by the imperial psychologist. The purpose of this treatment was to prevent the 'memory' from solidifying into a 'trauma'. The principle was simple: to prevent or cure trauma, one must face it. The psychologist's job, in this case, was merely to help resurface the traumatic memory for a considerable amount of time, pulling it from the unconscious realm in low, digestible portions, allowing the patient to slowly acclimatize to and overcome it. And so, for the entire night, Sophia would experience the traumatic memory, constantly repeated in her head. The treatment would conclude by tomorrow, when the psychologist would finally help to properly compartmentalize the traumatic memory.
"I guess this is just like that day," Sophia whispered with a quiet chuckle, her breath forming a faint mist in the cool night air.
She suddenly realized that this circumstance felt familiar. It was like the time when she first met Cal. Although the season was different, she was sitting on the exact same bench, in the exact same position. Back then, she also had a lot going on in her mind, mostly because she had a fight with her father.
"No… never mind. I guess it's not the same."
Upon closer reflection, Sophia realized the experiences were different after all. Before, she had felt hurt and devastated, crying throughout the night. But this time, she wasn't sad; she was brimming with inner excitement, and most importantly, she didn't feel weak.
Out of nowhere, someone entered her peripheral vision. She flinched slightly and looked up, her grip around her knees loosening as she noticed the person approaching. He had a friendly face, beautiful golden slit eyes, and straight hair that fluttered gently under the moonlight. Yet, for some reason, he wore a perpetual stoic expression.
"You idiot, you shouldn't be here at this hour; you'll freeze to death," the person called out.
'Ah, I guess his first words were different than before; they were harsher?' she thought, amused.
"But Cal, I'm not cold though," Sophia said with a smile, lifting her head slightly.
She wasn't lying. But also, upon his arrival, Cal had subtly cast a heating spell, warming up her entire immediate surroundings.
"Your mouth is still shivering," Cal said with a sigh, crossing his arms as he looked down at her.
Sophia just chuckled, rubbing her lips with her sleeve. She couldn't deny that.
"Anyway," she added as she stood up, brushing dust from her clothes, and grabbed Cal's hand. "Let's get inside, I want to show you something really amazing!"
***
Inside the palace guest bedroom, Cal and Sophia were now sitting across from each other, the glow of the mana lamps casting soft shadows across the walls. In front of them, a black cat was sleeping, lying belly-up on a small table, its paws twitching occasionally as it breathed.
Cal glanced at the cat for a few seconds, his fingers tapping lightly against the armrest, before looking back at Sophia, who was radiating pure glee, her posture straight and eyes practically sparkling.
"Isn't it amazing?" Sophia asked, her voice excited as she leaned forward slightly.
Cal looked back at the cat for a few more seconds before leaning back, covering his face with one hand.
'How did it come to this?'
For about thirty minutes, Cal had been hearing nothing but an explanation from Sophia about how amazing the cat's fur was, to the point where she even performed a demonstration, gently running her fingers through its coat and giving him tips and tricks on the best way to pet him.
"Cal, come on, try it out. You'll understand how amazing his fur is!"
Cal took his hand away from his face and looked at Sophia.
'Can you at least be more serious?'
"Sophia, are you sure this is a Nine-Stroke?" Cal asked instead, folding his arms.
"I knew you would ask. Please wait, I've come prepared," Sophia said as she jumped from her seat. She then walked toward her bed, the hem of her clothes swaying, and came back holding a pitch-black piece of paper.
"Ta da!" She presented it to Cal, holding it up with both hands.
This pitch-black paper was a certificate, bearing the insignia of the Grand Tamer, proving the authenticity of her Nine-Stroke Beast. This was one of the many certificates that she would receive from the other Grand Title holders, along with the Kalashnikov Family.
Cal, however, upon seeing the insignia of the Grand Tamer, narrowed his eyes slightly. His fingers curled faintly as he accepted the paper. It was clear that he wasn't happy upon seeing it.
'So that demon has confirmed it.'
Despite feeling doubtful, the fact that the Grand Tamer had confirmed it meant he had to believe it too. But this made things even more complicated for him. That was because, through his Eyes of Discernment, he could see nothing but a regular cat.
'Is it a beast that specializes in concealment then?'
Putting down the pitch-black paper, Cal then asked, "Can I see the contract patterns?"
"Here you go," Sophia said, removing the black glove on her right arm and presenting it to him, her sleeve sliding back to reveal the mark.
'A moon and stars?'
"Sophia, did she mention anything about the race of your beast?" Cal asked, leaning closer, his gaze fixed on the pattern.
"She? Oh, you mean Miss Shira? No, I don't think she figured out Seraphix's real origin. To begin with, I'm sure Sir Seraphix knew and made sure to hide it, too," Sophia said, thinking that Shira wasn't aware of Seraphix being from the Abyss.
'You have that much trust in him already?'
"How about your body? Do you feel any change? Or do you have some new craving for something?" Cal asked, his voice lowering.
"Hmm…" Sophia hummed, closing her eyes briefly as if checking herself. "I don't feel particularly different."
"Then—" Cal tried to speak, but was cut off.
Sophia suddenly spoke, placing both of her hands on Cal's shoulders, her grip firm yet gentle. "Cal, I know that you're worried, but I can tell you now that I'm alright, and I made sure to remove all of the evidence. So for now, can we just focus on celebrating?"
Cal looked at Sophia for a moment before looking down, his shoulders dropping as he let out a sigh.
"I understand. Congratulations… you actually managed to pull it off…" Cal said weakly.
"What do you mean? It's us, remember? We managed to pull it off," Sophia corrected with an excited smile, squeezing his shoulders lightly.
The whole summoning from the Abyss plan was indeed a project planned by both of them. But in actuality, it was Cal who contributed most of it. From preparing the offerings, the summoning incantation, the symbol for the summoning coordinate; everything, all of it, was Cal's doing. The only contribution Sophia made was suggesting a few minor things from whatever 'sources' she found.
"Hey, Cal, why aren't you looking happy? We actually did it! Come on, be happy with me!" Sophia said, shaking Cal's shoulder relentlessly.
"Sorry, I just… never thought you'd pull off a Nine-Stroke…" Cal replied, steadying himself.
"I know, right? I couldn't believe it at first, too!!" Sophia said, even more excited.
She then added softly, her grip loosening, "Cal, really… I'm so grateful for your help."
Cal then looked up, seeing Sophia looking the happiest he had ever seen her.
'No, you don't understand.'
In this world, even attempting a summoning from the Abyss was considered a capital crime. The only reason he decided to humor this madness was that Sophia had promised that this would be her final 'try'. But even with that promise, Cal never really had any plan to go along with it easily.
There was a reason why he trusted Sophia to do such a dangerous summoning by herself in her room. Because, from the beginning, everything about the summoning plan was a fraud. All the content inside the guidebook Sophia used, which he himself wrote, was nothing but a play. He even made sure to make the summoning ritual as disgusting as possible, thinking Sophia would stop midway. And even if she managed to finish the whole ritual—
'Sophia, you shouldn't be able to summon anything.'