Interstellar Beast Master

Chapter 96: Solace Verge I

Rebecca Kain led Anastasia through bustling arteries of neon and alloy, past towering spires, market halls, and energy-lit plazas where Initiate and Symbiotic Resonance Beast Masters moved in purposeful currents.

They approached a building that set itself apart.

It was shaped like a crescent moon, the arched structure gleaming with a chrome-white surface that shimmered under the underground sky’s false starlight.

The crescent wasn’t just aesthetic.

It radiated authority.

The kind of place that didn’t advertise its importance.

You simply knew.

Anastasia’s sharp eyes took in the Beast Masters clustered near the entrance, lean, hardened figures dressed in muted, tailored combat suits, each bearing weapons crafted for efficiency over flash.

Inside, the air buzzed with quiet conversation, the clink of glasses, the hum of holographic data streams floating mid-air.

It was a hub, not of commerce, but of power.

Beast Masters traded information, aligned with factions, and maneuvered behind the scenes of the Hollow Stacks’ decay.

It wasn’t chaos.

It was deliberate.

Rebecca Kain walked with confidence, her wild hair bouncing lightly with each step, her Mastiff trailing beside her like a ghostly shadow.

The others glanced at Anastasia, their curiosity palpable, but none moved to interfere.

Rebecca raised a hand, signaling her entourage.

"Report to your superiors," she said briskly, her voice carrying the edge of command. "I’ll handle this."

The Beast Masters peeled off silently.

Anastasia followed Rebecca as they veered away from the main floor, down a quieter, narrower hallway carved in elegant black stone veined with faint silver streaks.

Ahead.

A chamber.

Two figures stood sentinel before the sealed door.

Symbiotic Resonance Interstellar Beast Masters.

The first was a tall, severe man clad in dark armor with silver tracings, his expression one of icy detachment. At his side prowled a Black Panther, fur so deep it seemed to absorb the surrounding light. The Panther’s paws crackled softly with Entropic mist, each step leaving ripples across the polished floor.

The second was a woman with sun-bronzed skin and calculating eyes, her golden hair braided into intricate coils. Her Golden Jaguar lay at her feet, tail flicking lazily. Unlike the Panther, this beast’s body shimmered with solar energy, golden light leaking from the cracks between its plated scales, pulses of Entropy distorting the air around it.

Both Beast Masters radiated Entropic Energy with terrifying casualness, the kind that promised ruin with a mere misstep.

As Rebecca approached, the Panther and Jaguar lifted their heads in unison.

No words were spoken.

Rebecca gave a small, respectful nod.

The guards mirrored her nod and without a sound, the great metal doors parted.

A soft hiss of pressurized air escaped as the path opened.

Anastasia stepped forward, her senses sharpening.

Inside...

A single chamber, vast and immaculate.

The walls were lined with translucent panels displaying streams of data and digital maps of the Hollow Stacks and beyond.

At the center sat a marble desk, dazzling white, polished to perfection.

Papers, handwritten notes, and flickering holoscreens were neatly stacked across it in organized chaos.

And behind the desk...

Him.

A man of impossible poise.

He looked no more than thirty.

His hair was a sharp, oceanic blue, cropped close to his head with a deliberate messiness that somehow seemed calculated.

His eyes were the same shade, piercing, calm, and bottomless like the deep sea, untouched by the world’s noise, but always watching.

He wore a simple high-collared jacket of midnight black with faint blue sigils embroidered along the sleeves, a design so subtle it was almost missed.

But no clothing could distract from the presence behind him.

Hovering, coiling lazily in the air like an emperor surveying his dominion, was his Sea Dragon.

It was breathtaking.

Its sinuous body glistened with sapphire scales that caught the room’s cold light and shattered it into thousands of reflections.

Massive wings, wider than any Interstellar Beast Anastasia had seen, arched overhead, the membrane stretched taut and translucent, tinged with glacial white-blue.

Fins ran along its spine, quivering ever so slightly with every breath, and long feelers trailed from its head like streams of woven mist.

Eyes, two pools of icy wisdom, regarded Anastasia without blinking.

It was a Mythic Unity-grade Beast, without question.

And its Master—

He sat relaxed but alert, exuding effortless command as he steepled his fingers, elbows resting on the arms of his chair.

Rebecca Kain’s usual sharpness dulled into something obedient.

She stepped forward, giving a slight bow.

"Sir Veylen Draas," she said crisply. "I present the one affiliated with the Judge."

The name struck like iron in the silence.

Veylen Draas.

A Mythic Unity Interstellar Beast Master.

Beside Anastasia, the figure of the Hostile Arena Operator floated near her as its eccentric voice buzzed in her ears.

"That right there is someone who is known as The Hope of Solace Verge, a Beast Master that could contend with the most powerful of the Skyglass Heights, someone with a terrifying Interstellar Beast of the Mythical... Dragon Class!"

HAO’s voice teetered with excitement as such an introduction was made.

Anastasia kept her mask steady, but she noted the subtle shift in the room’s atmosphere.

Veylen Draas inclined his head toward her, the barest acknowledgment.

His voice, when it came, was calm and smooth, yet carried the weight of oceans.

"So," he said, studying her as if unraveling her soul, "a friend of the Judge."

Behind him, the Sea Dragon’s tail flicked lazily, scattering motes of mist that dissolved before hitting the floor.

Veylen leaned forward slightly.

"The rest of us are unmasked here. We have no need to hide in Solace Verge." His blue eyes locked onto her. "Would you... unmask as well?"

The room held its breath.

Anastasia stood still.

Calculating.

Mask cold against her skin.

The balance hung there, between secrecy and trust, between risk and opportunity.

And she knew.

Whichever choice she made next would shape everything that followed.

"..."

She said nothing yet.

Only weighed her options with the ruthless patience of a blade waiting to be drawn.