At the dining table, Crassus nimbly jumped onto the specially elevated wooden chair beside Logo. After crouching down, he quickly glanced at the food before him.
He curled his lip in a remarkably human gesture, his long whiskers swaying like reeds in the wind. Even his once-contented, smooth purring grew noisier, making his displeasure plain.
"Striped giant-horned antelope meat again? Where's my white buffalo? Long-tailed fox rabbit would do if there's nothing else. Has our Campbell Family really fallen on such hard times?"
A slightly childish voice came from Crassus's mouth. As a Cloud Thunder Tiger who had already reached the third tier of extraordinary life, his inherited memories gave him intelligence comparable to that of an ordinary human thirteen- or fourteen-year-old. He also possessed several spell-like abilities and was fluent in multiple languages, including Astral Common.
But the arrogant, disdainful tone reminded Logo of his spoiled and mischievous young nephew from his previous life.
He had plenty of ways to deal with a little fellow like that!
Logo glanced at the fat cat and said irritably, "Eat it if you want. If not, forget it. I'll eat it myself!"
With that, he reached for the food in front of Crassus.
Crassus panicked. His head, originally the size of a fist, suddenly grew more than tenfold. His scarlet, barbed tongue swept over the food, and every last bit vanished.
His cheeks bulged as he chewed rapidly, then swallowed everything with a gulp.
His enlarged head then shrank back to normal like a deflating balloon.
"Oh, some cat's gotten pretty good at using his enlargement talent!" Logo teased.
Crassus was furious. He hated being called a cat more than anything.
"Sir Logo, please watch your words. I am a Cloud Thunder Tiger, a tiger, not a cat!" Crassus stressed.
"Oh? Then let's hear you roar!" Logo's words struck a nerve. Crassus glared at him, opening his mouth again and again, but couldn't make a sound.
Although the Cloud Thunder Tiger had "tiger" in its name, the creature belonged to the feline subfamily, not the pantherine subfamily.
It could only meow, not roar...
At first, with nothing to compare it to, Crassus had thought his own cry was mighty and imposing. Then he met a Dire Tiger...
Although he killed the Dire Tiger whose roar shook the heavens, Logo had never heard Crassus's "mighty" cry again after that!
"Oh, right, the house is overrun with mice again. Remember to catch them." Logo added another jab without betraying any emotion.
Confronted with his embarrassing past, Crassus had no answer. He simply jumped onto Logo's lap, curled up, and numbed himself with sleep.
Xisi was envious. A superb magical beast like a Cloud Thunder Tiger was not easy to obtain.
In the Sunset Jungle, buying and selling highly intelligent magical beasts was illegal, because its ruler, the Sunset Lord, was an incredibly powerful demigod magical beast, a Three-Tailed Black Cat.
The dominant powers in the Sunset Jungle were also the various magical beast populations: Gale Demon Wolves, Frost Serpents, Earth Bears, Ironclad War Elephants...
As rulers, these highly intelligent magical beast populations naturally would not allow their offspring to be bought and sold at will.
The reason Logo had Crassus as his knight companion was that their grandfather, Viscount Augustus, had once saved a Cloud Thunder Tiger on the battlefield.
To express gratitude, the tiger entrusted his offspring, Crassus, who had been born only a short time before, to Augustus.
At the time, Logo was only two, and Xisi had yet to be born.
Logo's father, Ment Campbell, was first in line to inherit and the future family head.
Logo was also Ment's only son and the sole blood descendant in the family's direct third generation, so old Augustus gave Crassus to Logo.
Xisi's knight companion was a Two-Winged Pegasus with a lower-tier extraordinary bloodline, an extraordinary breed of horse that had been bred in Gendaya for many years.
Two-Winged Pegasi were loyal and brave, could fly, and had light and wind attributes. They were exceptionally fast and made excellent knightly mounts.
But compared with a Cloud Thunder Tiger, they were nothing.
Catherine noticed the envy on Xisi's face. Her gaze flickered slightly, and she looked at Logo. "I remember Father saying that Crassus should be entrusted to the most outstanding heir, so his bloodline wouldn't be disgraced..."
Catherine paused there, seemingly gathering her thoughts.
Logo abruptly raised his head and stared fixedly at Catherine, his gaze as sharp as a blade.
Crassus stopped sleeping soundly. He jumped onto the table, his blue-green pupils gradually widening as his tail beat against the tabletop. His sharp claws slid out, wreathed in dense arcs of electricity that crackled and snapped.
Among Cloud Thunder Tigers, such behavior was a sign of extreme anger.
"Old woman, do you know what you're saying?" Crassus asked in a low voice, making no attempt to hide his killing intent.
He was no actual kitten. He had killed at least eighty, if not a hundred, extraordinary creatures and had a wealth of combat experience. He only seemed cute and cuddly in front of Logo.
The oppressive presence of a top jungle predator crashed over Catherine's mind like a surging tide, leaving her feeling suffocated.
She had not expected Crassus, rather than Logo, to react most strongly to her words.
Facing Crassus, who had entered a full combat stance and looked ready to pounce at any moment, Catherine was at a loss.
Although she was also a third-tier knight, she had little chance of winning against Crassus, whose bloodline held an absolute advantage.
Xisi came to his senses and hurriedly pleaded, "Crassus, Aunt Catherine didn't mean it. Don't be rash. We can talk this through..."
Crassus ignored Xisi's pleas completely. His hind legs slowly bent, his muscles tensed, and blue markings appeared on the surface of his body. These were his final preparations before attacking.
"Brother..." Xisi looked at Logo, his expression anxious.
"That's enough, Crassus!"
Logo finally spoke.
Catherine could not die here. If he killed her over a single remark, he would have no way to answer to the clan, let alone the fact that she was also a member of the Howard Family.
As for family ties, Logo did not consider them.
Because Catherine hated his father, Ment, she extended that hatred to Logo and had never once treated him kindly since he was a child.
Xisi, on the other hand, had been extremely close to Catherine since childhood.
Especially after both his parents died, Catherine had played the role of a mother to some extent, and Xisi was quite attached to her.
Only after hearing Logo did Crassus rein in his imposing aura and jump onto his shoulder. Man and tiger left the hall together.
After they left, Catherine slumped into her chair, her chest heaving and her expression extremely ugly. It had been a long time since she had faced such a death threat.
Crassus... Catherine roared inwardly. As her negative emotions surged, the previously suppressed power of the curse stirred like a venomous snake in a dark abyss.
"Aunt, you shouldn't have said that..." Xisi complained. He was only envious; he had never intended to take Crassus, nor did he have the ability to do so.
Crassus's parents were both still alive, after all.
Aunt Catherine was always trying to be clever, thinking she could guess what others were thinking, but...
Xisi sighed. There was nothing he could do about having an aunt like her.