Leo watched the Umberscale Lizard like a hawk.
His right fist was squeezed tight. Blood kept running down his wrist, but his face stayed calm. Steady as a rock.
*Don’t shake. Don’t blink. Don’t you dare quit.*
Golden halos rolled over the lizard’s body, one after another. White smoke curled up from its skin. The wounds on its back were slowly turning into old news.
It was obvious. The lizard’s Dark energy was being attacked by holy energy. And it hurt. A lot.
If they hadn’t been tied together by the equal contract, the huge amount of holy energy pouring out of Leo, the Dawnborn Vessel, would have crushed it in seconds.
---
Veins stood out on the lizard’s face. Blood dripped from its mouth, and its whole body shook like a leaf in a storm. All four claws were dug deep into the ground, so it wouldn’t jerk away.
It lifted its head and looked at Leo.
Human and beast stared into each other’s eyes. In both pairs, there was the same thing. Stubbornness. Trust.
And something more. The look that only family has.
Meanwhile, Leo’s face grew paler and paler. His weakness was easy to see. He had already crossed the 1,000 Spiritual Energy mark, sure. But in the end, he was still a human being.
If a person loses a third of their blood, they can die. And at this speed, it wouldn’t take much longer.
---
Minutes passed. Then seconds.
Kessel and Elder Marrow were both so tense that neither of them could breathe properly.
Elder Marrow wasn’t young anymore, and he had seen this kind of thing before. He knew the ways this could end.
The first way was that the lizard couldn’t take the holy blood bath and died.
The second was that the bath finished and the lizard became a light-attribute beast, and Leo got what he wanted.
The third was that the lizard couldn’t stand the pain and ran away halfway. In that case, everything would be wasted.
And the fourth was the one that Kessel and the Elder feared most. Leo wouldn’t be able to bear it and would give up, and with all that blood loss, his own life would be in danger.
*Please,* Kessel thought. *Not the fourth one.*
---
Leo’s right hand, once as steady as stone, slowly began to shake.
His fair skin had gone pale. His natural glow was long gone. The blood flowing from his wrist also began to slow down. Besides the inner damage to his body, he had lost so much blood.
But strangely, the lizard’s body had stopped trembling.
The black scales on its back began to catch a faint golden shine. The rotting wounds were closing at a shocking speed. The worst was over. Its body was changing, fast.
The strangest change was in the contract marks on Leo and the lizard. They were slowly turning purple and gold at the same time. The mark had been purple before, but with a soft golden glow mixed in, it looked even more magnificent. The purple mist around it grew lighter, and behind it, strange swirling patterns could faintly be seen.
Leo’s body shook. He almost fell.
"This isn’t right, Leo can’t take it!" Kessel’s heart pounded. He couldn’t stop himself from running toward him.
"Stop. Wait." Elder Marrow raised his hand and held Kessel back.
---
Leo lifted his left hand and put it on the lizard’s neck to hold himself up.
He couldn’t see anything clearly in front of his eyes now. He was dizzy from losing so much blood, and he could fall at any moment.
*Don’t let go. Don’t give up.*
He clenched his teeth and said those words in his mind, over and over, through the pain.
He hadn’t spent much time with this lizard. But this was the first time he really felt the power of the equal contract. It gave him a feeling like he was with a close relative. He hated even thinking about leaving it behind. That told him it had already found an important place in his heart.
Leo had no brothers or sisters. In the past few years, Mira had been like a sweet big sister to him. Earlier, he had made this big decision because he thought, *If this happened to me, wouldn’t Mira do the same?*
*What is a partner? The one who stays with you through life and death. That’s a real partner.*
At that moment, as he looked at the lizard with blurry eyes, it didn’t look ugly to him at all.
By now, Leo had lost more than a third of his blood. His condition was very bad.
---
Elder Marrow was holding Kessel back. But he was ready to step in at any moment. If Leo’s life force reached its very last limit, he would act at once.
*"Rooooar!"*
A cry of joy rang out. Golden light burst from inside the lizard. The scary Dark energy was completely gone.
A golden light shot from the old man’s hand and landed on Leo’s wounded wrist. It healed right away.
Leo felt weak all over. He had already fallen to the ground. But he hadn’t passed out yet, because he wanted to know if he had succeeded.
A wet tongue gently licked his face. Two small red eyes, full of health and life, looked like two rubies set in a face.
The golden-purple mark on its back was slowly disappearing. The lizard’s wounds were already gone. Its scales had taken the shape of a shield, and golden light shimmered around it.
Kessel let out a long breath and moved forward, wanting to feed Leo some medicine. He knew Leo had succeeded. But he had paid a heavy price. With that much blood lost, it would sadly take him almost a year to recover fully.
---
*"Rooooar!"*
The lizard suddenly turned toward Kessel. It let out a deep roar and stared at him with its healthy red eyes. And then, without warning, it spat a huge ball of fire straight at him.
"Hm?!"
Kessel never expected that. A Sanctum Veil wrapped around his body at once to block the incoming fireball.
"Don’t go near it right now!" Elder Marrow shouted. "It looks like it’s trying to do something!"
The little fireball stopped Kessel in his tracks. Then the lizard’s eyes turned back to Leo’s weak face.
And at that very moment, a purple light suddenly shot out of its back, straight toward the ceiling of the cave.
It was a perfectly straight beam. It looked like the lizard’s back had cracked open and bright patterns had burst out. Then the lizard lifted its head again.
And now, in its red eyes, a purple glow could be seen.
Eyes covered in purple mist. Eyes that looked cold, and noble, and very, very old.
Leo, lying on the ground, looked up into them, and his heart gave a hard, strange thump.
*That’s not a little lizard looking at me.*