Little Chuang

"No matter how you looked at it, you were still human, weren't you?"

"I actually think there's no need for our definition of Honkai Beasts to be so rigid. We can be a little more flexible."

Kaino shrugged and offered his opinion:

"What is a Honkai Beast? An animal that uses Honkai energy and is hostile to humans. Of course, in this world they aren't hostile to humans, so that only leaves using Honkai energy and being an animal."

"I'm an animal, and I use Honkai energy. In that case, isn't it perfectly reasonable for me to be a Honkai Beast?"

"If that doesn't work, we can catch a Knight-class Honkai Beast. Before the competition, I'll sit on that horse, sneak in, and then we can each fight our own battles..."

"But no matter what, the rules are decided by the organizers, right? A trick like that..."

Blue Seele's expression was complicated.

She had a gentle nature and found some things hard to say aloud, but Kaino understood.

The organizers weren't blind—though that was a crude way to put it, that was what Seele meant.

Kaino clicked his tongue regretfully. He had no rebuttal for that.

"Hm? Hey, Kaino, I remember that... didn't the guidebook say Beast Tamers could participate in battle?"

It seemed ice cream held a tremendous attraction for Red Seele, since she clearly hadn't examined the guidebook very carefully.

Even though she had been the one clamoring to enter the competition earlier...

Kaino sighed and began explaining.

"If it's just capturing Honkai Beasts, then Beast Tamers can naturally participate in battle. After all, that's part of taming them."

"But once it reaches the finals, Beast Tamers can only give orders. The fighting has to be left to the Honkai Beasts."

That was easy enough to understand. This was the Beast Tamer Grand Prix, after all. If Beast Tamers could compete too, there was a chance it would turn into the World Martial Arts Tournament.

If it developed that way, the organizers... might actually be happy to see it?

In any case, Beast Tamers were forbidden from fighting in the finals. That was why Kaino wanted to disguise himself as a Honkai Beast and enter the finals.

After all, with his monstrous strength and God Key, even if his maximum Honkai energy capacity was currently low, he should still be able to defeat most Honkai Beasts. Besides, by the time the finals came around, he should have mostly recovered.

As for the Honkai Beasts he couldn't defeat... this was only a competition in one city. There was no way a Judgment-class Honkai Beast would show up.

But there was no point discussing that now.

"Boss, ten more cups of bitter melon juice, and twenty servings of sea salt ice cream to go."

After ordering from the cold drink shop owner, Kaino looked at the two Seeles.

"It's getting late. You two eat here first. I remember seeing an inn on the way here, so I'll go book some rooms. Don't wander off, or I won't be able to find you later."

"Oh, right. Do you two want one room or two? Single beds or a double bed?"

"One room with a single bed is fine. Only Seele needs to sleep. I'll just stay in Stigmata Space."

Red Seele shrugged as she answered.

"Oh, sure."

Kaino froze the bitter melon juice and ice cream the owner had placed on the table, stored them in Imaginary Space, then turned and left the cold drink shop.

After making sure no one was following him, Kaino did not head straight for the inn. Instead, he went to an empty alley first.

The fact that he had fallen unconscious because of the Stigmata on his chest had always bothered Kaino. After all, when he woke up, he had experienced a fainting spell too—and had even crossed into another world because of it.

But after waking up, Seele had remained by his side, and his body had not felt abnormal in any way, so Kaino had never paid it much attention.

Until he caught a glimpse of it while changing clothes at the swimsuit store.

He manifested a palm-sized mirror in his hand and used it to inspect his Stigmata.

Two snakes intertwined with each other, with a hollow diamond shape at their center.

Kaino frowned.

"It really did change... I've never heard of a Stigmata changing shape halfway through."

The hollow space in the diamond between the snakes had grown larger, making it look more like an eye.

Kaino was certain he hadn't remembered wrong. Over the past few years, he had often studied the Stigmata on his chest, so he had long since memorized its appearance.

But why had it changed?

Shaking his head, Kaino gave up thinking about it.

Since his body felt fine, he would set it aside for now. Once he returned to his own world, he could ask Big Auntie to help examine it.

Chapter 52: Little Chuang

The next morning.

Just after sunrise, Kaino and the others sneaked to the place where they had encountered that Knight-class Honkai Beast yesterday, intending to capture it before the other contestants noticed it.

"Kaino... will this really work?"

Seele's voice sounded worried.

"Of course. Since the guidebook says so, this should work in theory."

Kaino patted his chest, his voice full of confidence.

"Seele, that Knight-class Honkai Beast is right ahead of us, right? If it does anything, let us know."

"Okay, okay..."

Red Seele yawned, looking bored as she watched Kaino and Seele feel their way forward like blind people.

The reason for this was simple: both of their eyes were covered with black strips of cloth.

Since making eye contact caused both sides to enter a combat state, then they couldn't enter combat if they couldn't make eye contact—that was what Kaino thought.

This was not burying his head in the sand. Judging from how the Honkai Beast had acted while others fed it yesterday, Honkai Beasts should be extremely kind in their normal state.

At least, that was true for this Honkai Beast in this world.

So Kaino guessed that eye contact was probably like the red cloth in a matador's hand to a Honkai Beast. Without it, the Honkai Beast should not attack them.

If his guess was right, then they could cheese captures whenever they encountered powerful Honkai Beasts in the future. And if he was wrong, that was fine too. It was only a Knight-class Honkai Beast.

"Alright, alright. That Honkai Beast is right in front of you now."

Red Seele's slightly surprised voice rang out.

"It clearly saw you, but it seems to have mistaken you for visitors here to play rather than Beast Tamers... Your idea actually worked?"

"Chuang~"

A somewhat childish voice sounded in front of him, and Kaino felt the Knight-class Honkai Beast nudge against his body.

His body stiffened involuntarily.

This low-level Honkai Beast could actually speak?

And it seemed to have mistaken him for a playmate.

"Mm... good girl?"

After hesitating briefly, Kaino reached out and gave the Honkai Beast a thorough petting. In his experience, most pets enjoyed being petted.

At least, that was how the cat his little sister had raised when she was young had been.

"Chuang~ Chuang!"

"Whoa! You're actually pretty good at soothing pets. It looks quite happy now."

Red Seele's voice rang out again.

"So then, what do you plan to do? Even if covering your eyes doesn't provoke its hostility, you'll still have to rely on battle to tame it in the end, right?"

"That's true. We can only tame it through battle, but when it comes to battle... no one said it had to be fair."

Kaino smiled, a hint of cheer in his voice.

"Seele, come over and help me soothe it."

"Huh? O-Okay!"

Seele hurried forward upon hearing that and took over Kaino's task of soothing the Honkai Beast.

Kaino stepped back slightly, stirring up a breeze to observe the Knight-class Honkai Beast's current condition. Then he pressed one hand against it, his voice carrying a trace of apology.

"Well then, sorry about this!"

"Chuang?"

Confusion filled the Honkai Beast's voice, but it quickly turned to panic.

"Chuang!"

Chains appeared out of thin air amid flashes of blue light, locking up every joint of the Knight-class Honkai Beast. It was bound so tightly that it could not move, like a crab trussed up in a seafood restaurant.

"Heh, done!"

Kaino removed the black cloth over his eyes and made friendly eye contact with the human half of the Knight-class Honkai Beast.

Though it was a Honkai Beast, it was not lifeless. Its expressions were lively. Upon seeing Kaino's eyes, it seemed to realize something and immediately became furious.

"Chuang!"

"Kaino, is this really okay? It looks like it's very angry now..."

Blue Seele looked worriedly at the Honkai Beast before them.

Red Seele nodded and began fanning the flames from the side.

"Yeah, yeah. To do something like this to an innocent and weak Honkai Beast, you really are... Hey, wait, what is it trying to do? Kaino, let's beat it up!"

The bound Honkai Beast looked extremely unwilling. The horse beneath it kept snapping its jaws at Blue Seele, as though it wanted to bite her, making Seele's body tremble.

The sight made Red Seele's anger flare.

"It probably entered a combat state, right? Even with its body locked up, it still wants to attack. Its will to resist is pretty strong."

Kaino rubbed his chin as he examined the rider desperately stretching its head out in an attempt to bite him.

He had calculated the distance in advance, so he was not worried that it could bite him. Instead, he found its effort to stretch its head out and hurt him rather cute.

Setting aside its ferocity, the undead were all fair-skinned, beautiful girls. Though this one was a Honkai Beast, its upper half was also a humanoid undead.

"Kaino, we kind of look like the big villains from a comic..."

"Setting aside the fact that it's a Honkai Beast, what villain defeats the protagonist just to tame them into a battle companion?"

Kaino shrugged.

"But speaking of which, it lost the ability to resist during battle. That should count as us taming it, right?"

"Chuang..."

After hearing Kaino's words, the Knight-class Honkai Beast suddenly stopped resisting. It merely lay on the ground and made dejected sounds, while the girl on its back lowered her head in disappointment.

"Giving up?"

Kaino pushed the girl's head and confirmed once more.

"Chuang."

The girl and horse nodded dejectedly together.

Kaino snapped his fingers, and the chains binding the Honkai Beast instantly vanished. The Knight-class Honkai Beast climbed up from the ground and followed step by step behind Kaino.

"It somehow feels like it's very unhappy."

Blue Seele looked at the Honkai Beast hanging its head, unable to bear the sight.

"What does it have to be unhappy about? We didn't hurt it. We didn't even use weapons! On the other hand, those two kept trying to bite us."

Kaino shrugged, signaling Seele not to worry.

"Chuang?"

The Knight-class Honkai Beast raised both heads and stared blankly at Kaino. A moment later, it looked at Blue Seele with tears in its eyes.

"Chuang~ Chuang~"

Kaino:?

It could even act cute?