The Beast God was seated on a balcony, in the shade of a giant golden tree outside the palace, overlooking a massive training area next to it. Half her blonde hair was tied up in a bun, held up by a golden hairpin. The other half lay on either side of her shoulders, moving along with the soft breeze of noon.
She turned around as Flastride appeared in the room, with Alex and the rest following behind him.
The mont her eyes landed on Alex, her eyes narrowed an imperceptible amount as she sensed sothing quite shocking.
She looked at his face, trying to determine if this was the sa young man from a millennium and a half ago or not, but no matter how much she searched for it, there were no clues telling her that he wasn't.
Alex stepped halfway into the room before bowing toward the woman. "Greetings, Beast God."
The woman looked exactly the sa as she had back then, not a single difference at all. He half-expected her to stand up right away and start charging at him to capture him, but she lazily sat on the balcony, continuing to stare at him.
"So you did survive," she said. "Not just survive, you managed to escape Hell all by yourself."
"I wouldn't say I did it all by myself," Alex said. "I had help!"
"Don't try to be modest. Senior Bladedance has told of your exploits. You navigated through the Void all by yourself, taking everyone out of Hell," the Beast God said.
Flastride's eyes widened slightly, turning to look at Alex with more surprise. He had not been aware of how Alex had escaped Hell, and this was certainly quite surprising to him.
He couldn't rember a single person who could be said to have been able to navigate the Void, after all.
Alex smiled. "Then I shall be arrogant and take your complints, Beast God."
The woman said nothing to that and kept staring at him, as if searching for sothing. Her eyes wandered ever so slightly, as if reflecting the constant changes in the thoughts running behind them.
Alex waited for her to speak, but when it didn't look like she was going to, he continued. "May I ask where my master is? I had expected to et her here."
"She's in a cultivation chamber," the Beast God answered, coming out of her stupor. "She should be out in a bit."
"I see. I'll have to wait until then."
The woman nodded before gesturing toward the others in the room. "Are these the beasts?"
"Hmm? Oh, yes," Alex said. "Guys, introduce yourselves."
Pearl stepped forward. "I am Whitepearl, senior. You may also call Pearl."
The woman's eyes narrowed for a mont as she stared at Pearl. "What are you?" she asked.
"I'm a White-"
"A White Tiger was what I thought at first," she continued. "But you have sothing more than that too. It almost feels like the Azure
Dragon."
Pearl paused for a mont, his eyes moving between the god and Alex. After a brief pause, he nodded.
"Senior's senses are excellent. I am indeed a White Tiger and an Azure Dragon."
The Beast God raised an eyebrow. "A hybrid of the Heavenly Beasts?"
"Pearl wouldn't count as a hybrid," Alex explained. "He doesn't have a combination of the two bloodlines, but rather he has both bloodlines. He's evolved twice to gain both bloodlines."
Those words seed to be far more shocking than Alex had intended, as the woman suddenly stepped away from her chair and arrived inches before Pearl, staring directly at him.
Alex's eyes moved already, his hand reaching out to stop her, but he stopped himself at the last mont before fully extending his arm. Not that he could've moved before the Beast God arrived. It was just his eyes that saw things long before his body could react to them.
Neither Flastride nor the Beast God missed that, however, as they both turned toward Alex for a brief mont, taken aback by his reflex. They didn't give it any more thought, though, and returned to Pearl. "You carry both of the two bloodlines?" she asked Pearl.
"Y-yes," Pearl said, slightly hesitating now. Should he not have revealed this?
"How?" she asked, her words practically a demand at this point.
"My father was an Azure Dragon, and my mother a White Tiger," Pearl answered, not knowing how else to explain.
"Those two beasts hold incompatible essence. They should not have been able to conceive a child," she explained. "Not unless one of your parents was a human, or both of them were, but in that case you should have been born a human or a half-beast, which wouldn't grant you this bloodline. Your existence is impossible."
Pearl froze, unable to think of what to say. How could he explain sothing he had no understanding of?
"Not impossible, senior," Alex said. "Highly improbable, yes. But not impossible. The proof is right in front of you."
The Beast God turned toward him. "You know a lot about beasts?" she
asked.
"I know a decent bit about life," Alex explained. "You're focused on the fact that a dragon and a tiger can't have children because their bodies hold incompatible essence, but you've completely ignored the
possibility of mutation."
"Mutation?" the woman asked, her eyes slowly growing wide. "A mutation did this?"
"The mutation changed either of his parents, or both, just enough so
that their essence beca compatible. That is how the impossible
beca possible."
The woman's eyes narrowed. "A mutation that allowed two incompatible beasts to have a child together. I've never heard of such
a thing before."
"And yet here we are, senior. The proof is right before you," Alex
explained.
The woman nodded, her mind filling with many ideas for the future.
"I'm glad that I t you. Pearl, was it?"
"Yes, senior," Pearl said with a bow.
The Beast God then turned to the other two, waiting for their
introduction.
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