Speed Is King

Jul'Taras gave a light peal of pleasant sounding laughter and linked her arm with Jessica's.

"Come, Jess. Let's go back. I want to see how Elliot plans to force Jagor Tawlon to sign a slave contract with him. Although I detest the idea of having such a powerful being like Jagor serve a mere native player, he did have it coming if he dared to participate as an Insert with his pathetically low power level. He must think that his unique ability to turn ethereal would be enough to save him from most dangers."

"Ohh yes yes you're right! Let's go then." Jessica brightened at the thought of watching Elliot gain another powerful helper and immediately dispelled the Void Confinement. "And yes, what's with his strange ability? I didn't know that Phoenixes could do that."

"I have no idea." Jul'Taras shrugged. "I will have to ask Uncle about it."

Monkey King merely smiled and followed the two girls back to the Diamond Sponsor VIP room. He was a rare generational talent in his clan, and even so, he was barely able to fight Jul'Taras to a draw.

"Great grandfather was right." Monkey King sighed. "The universe is truly a vast place full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. These two girls are prime examples of that. One is a powerful freak of nature, and the other is a mindlessly rich young mistress. I must quickly accomplish my mission perfectly here, and resume my training. If not, I will be left behind by these monsters."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Crack!

Jagor Tawlon's blue Fenix egg cracked open for the final time, and revealed a chubby and cute little bird.

Although he looked downright hideous as an adult with his freaky four arms, four legs and six wings, as a little baby, he looked rather adorable.

"What the heck is wrong with this damned ugly bird?" Red screeched in disgust when he peered down from Elliot's shoulder and saw Jagor Tawlon.

Jagor Tawlon immediately looked up and glared at both Elliot and Red.

"You dare! You're dead! You're dead, I tell you! You and your ugly red bird!" Jagor Tawlon squeaked cutely.

Red hopped down from Elliot's shoulder and landed next to Jagor Tawlon. He towered over the newborn Mutated Six-Winged Fenix and shoved it roughly with his wing and sent it rolling away.

"I'm right here! Come kill me, you ugly bird!" Red taunted him.

"Dieee!!" The little Jagor Tawlon immediately got up and launched a powerful attack at Red.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

His quad-slash hit Red's thick feathers and dealt absolutely no damage at all.

"HAHA! Weak! You're ugly, AND pathetically weak! Why do you even bother to revive? You should just roll over a'¦ WHAT THE HECK!?" Red was happily insulting the little Jagor Tawlon when it suddenly began to grow at a rapid pace.

A strange energy was swirling around and entering Jagor's small body, causing it to increase in size at a very visible rate. Within two quick seconds, it was as large as Red, and it was still growing!

"Ellie, poison him." Elliot calmly ordered. He had summoned Ellie earlier on and got her to stand by to do exactly that.

Immediately, Ellie leapt in and bit the rapidly growing Jagor Tawlon on one of its legs!

"ARGHHH!! This venom again?!" Jagor Tawlon roared angrily.

"As before, sign the slave contract, and live. Or you can die in'¦ Oh maybe fifteen seconds?" Elliot threatened him casually.

Elliot stared at Jagor Tawlon intently and diverted his full focus on sensing their connected mindspace for any anomalies.

There were only three ways the situation could develop.

One, there was a Shadow Parasite in Jagor Tawlon. And in that case, it would definitely make its move right before Jagor Tawlon died to avoid leaving any witnesses to its presence. He'd end up with a dead Jagor Tawlon and a captive Shadow Parasite. Perfect.

Two, there wasn't a Shadow Parasite in Jagor Tawlon. In that case then Jagor would probably submit and he'd have a new and powerful slave with a whole bunch of information in his hands. Perfect as well.

As for the final possibility, there was no way that a parasite-less Jagor Tawlon would pick death over slavery.

"The Shadow Parasite is shaped like a disgusting slug. It could flatten itself and change its shape freely due to the lack of bones in its body. Usually parasites which control the host's brain would leave through its ears or eyes. But because the Shadow Parasite can turn ethereal at will, it could simply disengage that way, and leave the host's body from anywhere it wanted." Red had told him earlier.

"However, the Shadow Parasite could only turn ethereal for a very brief moment. So be ready to catch it when it comes back into this reality."

"Frosty, get ready to release Frost Domain and fire your Ice Beam at the bird's head on my command." Elliot ordered Frosty who was looking at the growing Jagor Tawlon curiously from the side.

It hopped closer to him in response to Elliot's orders.

"Ten seconds. Submit, or die." Elliot spoke up once more.

"I will never submit! You can dream on! All you'll get from me is my useless corpse!" Jagor Tawlon snarled at Elliot in disgust.

"So be it then. Have it your way." Elliot shrugged and turned quickly into his White Dragon Beast Form. Inwardly, his heart began to pound really quickly. "There's probably a Shadow Parasite within him! Frosty, on my mark! Ellie, Red, move back a hundred meters!"

The dying Jagor Tawlon looked at Elliot's White Dragon Beast Form in surprise and suspicion, but time was running out for it. There was nothing it could do. It would die very, very soon.

"Three'¦ Two'¦" Elliot counted in his mind. At the final second, he finally sensed a familiar power begin to recede from Jagor Tawlon's consciousness!

"This is it! FROSTY! NOW!" Elliot shouted and released his own Frost Domain!

PEW!

An Ice Beam shot out from Frosty's maw and a powerful frozen aura exploded forth from it.