Chapter 637: Spirit kings

They say that when the goddess first shaped the world, six beings were born alongside it.

Not living creatures… but living elements—pure mana given form, consciousness rising from the very fabric of creation itself.

These six opened their eyes as the newborn world breathed its first breath.

They wandered, explored, and nurtured the land as it grew.

Their presence alone helped stabilize the world’s mana, its cycles, its balance.

These were the Primordial Spirits.

Six entities who moved freely between the mortal world and the spirit realm—pillars of existence itself.

To call them mere “spirits” was an insult.

To call them “creatures” was impossible.

They were closer to gods than anything else.

They didn’t represent the elements.

They were the elements.

Takal, the Burning Wolf — flame itself given a body.

Groak, the Stone Bison — the weight and will of the earth.

Zolia, the Storm Eagle — the freedom and ferocity of wind.

Neru, the Sea Dragon — the vastness and depth of water.

Salen, the Ebony Deer — darkness, silence, and shadow made alive.

Malahard, the Golden Lion — brilliance, radiance, and pure light.

Each one was a foundation stone of the world.

A contract with any of them—even a fragment of their power—was enough to elevate a mortal into something close to a demigod.

After all, if you held the loyalty of the being that is an element, then you essentially controlled that part of nature itself.

Because of this, every nation on the continent strictly monitored any attempt to form contracts with spirit kings or higher.

It wasn’t forbidden, but it wasn’t something you just… did.

Though extremely rare, the number of people in history who had successfully contracted with a spirit king wasn’t zero.

Beneath the volcanic range of mount Kalzamor.

A lone wolf woke up.

…..

’Be careful, master… she’s powerful.’

Oh, I know~

The cheers from the crowd shook the entire arena, yet on the stage, Stacia and Flamme faced each other with calm, steady eyes—almost like the noise didn’t reach them at all.

’She reminds me of Takal…’

Neru murmured in Flamme’s mind, his voice low and heavy like a tide pulling back.

Well isn’t that quite the compliment, Flamme replied casually, though inside her chest her heartbeat wasn’t nearly as calm.

Neru never compared mortals to the Primordial Spirits unless he genuinely meant it.

And Flamme knew Neru’s judgement had weight. Stacia wasn’t the same girl she sparred with months ago. She had grown… a lot.

’Her flames mimic the sun,’ Neru continued. ’If you clash with her directly, she will burn through your mana. I suggest using spirits opposite her nature.’

I doubt that’ll make it any easier though… Flamme mentally sighed.

’Regardless… as your contracted guardian, I will protect you with my full strength. But master—do not open the gate yet. My full power will crush your body. Wait for the right moment.’

Yes, yes~ I know, I know.

Flamme grinned faintly despite her nerves.

She wasn’t a hundred percent confident she could overpower Stacia head-on, but she was confident she could win.

Stacia’s flames could burn mana—but spirits weren’t normal mana constructs.

They were tied to the world itself. Even defeating a low-rank spirit took effort.

And Flamme had more than one.

Flamme still had Neru by her side if things went south.

Even though Neru’s current form was only that of a high-rank spirit, his true nature—the weight of a spirit king—still leaked through him like an ocean held behind a thin veil.

“Let the battle begin!”

At the host’s signal, Flamme’s mana burst outward, clean and sharp, and the spirits around her responded at once.

One by one they took form—shapes of animals born from the raw elements of the world.

A water lion.

An earth bear.

Smaller spirits gathered behind them, their forms flickering like half-shaped silhouettes.

GROOOAAAHHH!!!

“Go,” Flamme commanded, her voice steady.

The spirits lunged forward in a coordinated rush, the water lion sprinting low while the stone bear charged straight in with heavy, ground-thudding steps.

But—

SWIISSH—

FOOOOSHHH!!!

It only took a single motion.

Stacia slid her sword from its scabbard, and the moment the crimson blade left its sheath, golden-red flames roared out like a living sun bursting awake.

The air warped.

Mana twisted.

Everything within reach of her blade was swallowed in burning light.

The mid-rank earth and water spirits didn’t even have time to scream—they simply evaporated, their forms burning away as if the flames had erased their right to exist in the world.

The arena instantly turned hot.

Too hot.

Mana itself trembled under Stacia’s aura, bending, melting, destabilizing.

A phenomenon that simply should not happen naturally—yet here she was, doing it as casually as breathing.

Slowly, the flames settled back down, gathering onto her sword like obedient pets.

Stacia planted her foot forward with calm confidence, her crimson eyes locking onto Flamme.

A gentle smile formed on her lips.

Flamme wasn’t smiling back.

Her eyes were wide—surprised, wary.

The spirits behind her shivered, their forms flickering at the edges from the overwhelming heat radiating from Stacia alone.

Stacia’s mana surged again, smooth and unstoppable, and she took another step toward Flamme.

The message was clear.

Your move.

Flamme clicked her tongue, her eye twitching.

This bitch… seriously…

“HEY! Do you know how painstakingly hard it was to nurture those two?!” Flamme yelled, almost stomping her foot like some furious gremlin. “You burned them like weeds! You better pay me compensation for that, I swear—!”

The crowd stared at her, confused—some amused, some shocked that the rank 1 magician was whining about spirit maintenance in the middle of a duel, though nmost of then were just surprised by the way she spoke so openly loud.

“Tsk~ tsk~ this is why I don’t like royal people,” Flamme went on, flicking her hair dramatically. “No class. No appreciation. Just swish-swish burn-burn. Sigh… but I guess it was my fault for trying to gauge you out first—”

She didn’t even get to finish.

Because Stacia simply vanished.

One blink she was there—next blink her burning red sword was already slicing toward Flamme’s throat.

A streak of crimson light cut through the air like a bullet.

Flamme’s eyes widened—too slow to dodge, but Stacia was also too fast to fully land the hit.

And then—

BAAAAAMMM!!!

A massive crystal fist slammed into Stacia’s ribs from the side, throwing her like a ragdoll.

Stacia hit the ground and skidded across it, flames sputtering, her breath knocked out of her.

She forced herself up, wincing, one hand clutching her side.

Even with her last-second defense, that blow hurt like hell.

She looked up—and saw Flamme grinning like she’d just pulled the funniest prank of her life.

“My~ my~ surprised?” Flamme teased. “If you’d let me finish, I could’ve properly introduced you.”

She thumbed to her side.

Standing there was a massive crystal gorilla, its body glittering like a mountain of gemstones, its fist still raised from the punch.

The damn thing was huge—big enough that if it sat down, it could pass as a small house.

It thumped its chest, the sound reverberating like thunder.

Flamme smirked.

“Meet my buddy. And before you get any ideas—yeah, he hits way harder than he looks.”

Flamme then pointed straight at Stacia, her grin stretching wider.

“Kal, go play with her properly!”

The crystal gorilla pounded its massive chest, the sound echoing like thunder before it launched forward in a blur that didn’t match its size.

The arena floor cracked under each step as the giant beast charged.

Flamme let out a slow breath, relief creeping into her expression for just a moment.

T-that was close… seriously, fuck…!!!

She still felt the phantom chill of Stacia’s blade on her throat. If she hadn’t made the precautionary hand signs earlier, if she hadn’t kept Kal half-summoned from the moment she stepped on stage, she would’ve been done for already. That speed wasn’t normal.

Not even close.

Unlike her low and mid-ranking spirits that answered instantly to her mana, high-ranking spirits demanded more. Hand signs, mana flow, sometimes chants or a medium.

They were picky, stubborn, and powerful.

Summoning one on the fly wasn’t something she could do unless she prepared ahead of time.

This is way harder than I expected…

Any low or mid-ranking spirit she called out now would only get erased by Stacia’s flames and drain her mana in the process.

It’d be pointless.

A waste.

So she snapped her hands together, forming a ring with her thumbs and hooking her right and middle fingers, weaving the sign she needed for what came next.

Troublesome… but if she didn’t go all out, she’d lose.

’Buy me a bit more time, Kal!’

At her mental command, Kal roared. Mana surged through its crystal body, gathering in its fist like pressure building inside a bomb.

Across the field, Stacia squinted.

How did I not sense this one…

Instead of frustration, she smiled — excited, almost curious. She raised her crimson blade once more, letting flames coil around it.

CLAAANNNGG!!!

VOOOOM!!!

The collision shook the whole stage.

A shockwave spread out as Stacia caught the gorilla’s massive fist head-on.

The ground beneath her cracked open into a deep crater, dust exploding upward, yet she didn’t budge an inch.

She stood firm.

Sword raised.

Fire swirling.

And with that same calm, unfazed expression

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