Chapter 208 - 196: 2 People, 2 Birds

Meanwhile, Flora Bloom had fallen into a deep sleep after her consciousness returned to her sea of consciousness. The Golden Crow’s blood essence had suddenly invaded her body, its pure energy initiating a contract that her current power level could not resist.

The Golden Crow didn’t wake Flora Bloom. Seeing the fiery Crystal Stone pursuing it with a hungry look, it steeled itself and quickly recited a Contract Spell.

"By my blood essence, I greet your eternal life. By the virtues of heaven, I bless the land and sea. With this body of pure blood, I acknowledge you as master. Contract."

Golden contractual power drilled into Flora Bloom’s sea of consciousness, forming a golden Array above the whirlpool there. At the center of the Array was a golden, bird-shaped pattern. However, the bird in the pattern had three legs.

Once formed, the Array transformed into a single, fiery-red point of light. It gathered above the small cloud at the center of the whirlpool, faintly emitting a dense Fire Element Energy and bathing Flora Bloom’s sea of consciousness in a warm, bright light.

After the Golden Crow completed the contract, a surge of energy entered Flora Bloom’s body, eventually flowing into the Fire Element Crystal Stone within the seven orbits of her sea of consciousness, causing it to grow a size larger.

When Flora Bloom slowly stirred awake, she found herself cradled in Lex Cross’s arms, sitting at the entrance to the same grotto they had first entered.

"Flora, you’re awake?" Seeing Flora Bloom awaken, Lex Cross’s previously grave expression immediately softened with a smile.

The cave separated two worlds: inside, a dry, air-filled passage; outside, the vast expanse of the ocean.

Besides them, there was a bird, pitch-black all over except for its golden eyes and claws. ’No, it looks more like a strange, three-legged crow,’ she thought.

"What is this thing?"

"WAAAH, you heartless tyrant! You bad woman! AH!"

A familiar, young boy’s voice came from its beak, but before it could finish, its entire body began to twitch as if it had been struck by lightning.

It then turned to Lex Cross. "Don’t you think you can do whatever you want to me just because Cyrus Cross is your grandfather! Let me tell you, if I hadn’t just been reborn and didn’t have to cultivate my body from scratch, I could crush you with a single toe!"

Lex Cross’s dark eyes slowly turned to the Golden Crow. With a CRACKLE, a thick arc of lightning blasted the black feathers on its head.

"I—I was wrong! Hmph! None of you in the Cross family are any good!"

Flora Bloom slipped out of Lex Cross’s arms. "This crow?" She suspiciously pinched the black feathers on its tail between two fingers and looked at Lex Cross. "This can’t possibly be the Golden Crow you mentioned, can it?"

Flora Bloom stared in disbelief at the inky-black crow in her hand. "So after all that, the Golden Crow is just this ugly thing?"

After being dangled by its tail and thoroughly denigrated by Flora Bloom, the Golden Crow finally burst into tears, WAILING loudly.

"I slept for a thousand years! Only to wake up and get contracted by a demoness like you! And you have the nerve to call me ugly? What part of me is ugly? I was the number one pretty boy of the Golden Crow clan back in my day! WAAAH!"

Flora Bloom looked at it, confused. "Contract? What contract?"

Lex Cross, who had been holding back his laughter, finally let out a snort of amusement as he watched the two of them.

"This Golden Crow originally wanted to form an equal contract with you. But your internal space siphoned off most of its blood essence, which weakened the contractual power. Its blood essence was nearly devoured completely by your space."

Flora Bloom had been asleep, completely unaware of what had transpired in her sea of consciousness. ’So much happened while I was out?’ She looked down at the Golden Crow in her hand, which looked just like a common black crow, and asked, "What’s an equal contract?"

The Golden Crow immediately stopped struggling at her question. ’If she finds out what an equal contract means,’ it thought frantically, ’as my current master, she has the power of life and death over me. If she gets angry, she might just kill me and I’ll have to be reborn again right after hatching!’

’Rebirth isn’t the problem! The master-servant contract is the most tyrannical of all. It’s forged with the soul as an offering and heaven and earth as witnesses. Even rebirth can’t break it! Not unless my soul is completely annihilated.’

"I-it... I... I didn’t mean any harm!"

Flora Bloom’s lips curled into a smirk. "I asked you what an equal contract is!"

The Golden Crow glanced at Lex Cross, who was acting as if this had nothing to do with him, currently preoccupied with curiously inspecting the Thunderbird egg in his hands. It finally stammered out an answer.

"An equal contract... is, is..."

"Spit it out!" she demanded, giving its tail a little shake.

"It means... if we sign, if I die, you die. If you die... I don’t."

"What the hell!" Flora Bloom’s hand, still clutching the Golden Crow, trembled with the urge to crush it. "Heh, you little rascal. Guess you got a taste of your own medicine, huh?"

"Hmph! If your internal space hadn’t saved you, do you really think you’d be able to talk to me like this right now?"

CRACKLE! Another arc of lightning zapped the bird. The Golden Crow, convulsing, glared at the instigator, Lex Cross. "You... you shock me again! I dare you!"

CRACKLE!

The Golden Crow’s golden eyes glared at Lex Cross. After gathering its power for a long moment, a jet of fiery-red flame, tinged with gold, shot from its beak.

FWOOSH!

The jet of fire lasted for all of three seconds before the Golden Crow began to choke. COUGH, COUGH, COUGH.

Flora Bloom’s gaze fell on the Thunderbird egg in Lex Cross’s hands, which had absorbed the Golden Crow’s flame. Her brow furrowed deeply when she noticed a hairline crack had appeared on its surface.

"Uh... it’s not cooked, is it?" Flora Bloom asked, looking awkwardly at the crack on the egg.

Lex Cross, however, suddenly bit his fingertip and let a drop of blood fall onto the crack, seeping into the Thunderbird egg.

Pale blue, lightning-like patterns surged from the crack in the shell and shot into Lex Cross’s forehead, quickly vanishing into his sea of consciousness.

"CHIRP, CHIRP, CHIRP."

Following the clear, crisp chirps, a tiny, pure-white bird slowly broke through the shell and emerged.

"Hey, are you even a real Golden Crow?" Flora Bloom taunted. "Forget spitting fire for only three seconds—you call that True Sun Fire? Looks like your ’fire’ is only good for hatching eggs."

"Shameless! You humans are absolutely shameless! Forcing a contract on a young, innocent chick, making it acknowledge you as its master!"

Lex Cross placed the Thunderbird chick on his fingertip and turned, casting a sinister gaze upon the Golden Crow.

"Shameless? And where was your sense of shame when you tried to force an equal contract on a human?"

"Hmph! In my previous life, I was the Lord of the Golden Crows! Contracting a mere human is an honor for her!"

"AH!"

"An honor for who?" Flora Bloom demanded, her grip tightening on the Golden Crow, which was no bigger than her palm. "You do something this despicable and shameless, and you’re still spouting nonsense? Believe it or not, I’ll crush you, you little crow!"

"Master, I was wrong!" ’How do I keep forgetting,’ it thought, ’that this human girl is my master now? For her, crushing me would be as easy as crushing a sparrow!’

’Oh, forget it. Barring any miracles, I’m probably going to be stuck in this human’s hands for the rest of my life!’

After repeated threats of violence from Flora Bloom and Lex Cross, the Golden Crow finally settled down. Its attention, however, shifted to the chick on Lex Cross’s hand.

"Oh, right. What about that Thunderbird couple? Why aren’t they here?"

Lex Cross raised an eyebrow. "I didn’t see them when I carried you out." The tiny body of the Thunderbird chick on his fingertip was about the same size as the Golden Crow.

"Heh heh, allow me to remind you," the Golden Crow piped up, "when a Thunderbird chick hatches, the mother has a special sense for it. I’m sure that pair of Thunderbirds will be tracking us down very soon!"

Flora Bloom shot the Golden Crow a fierce glare. "You blasted black crow, why didn’t you say so earlier?"

The Golden Crow flapped its wings with an innocent air. "How was I supposed to know the little fellow would use my True Sun Fire to hatch ahead of schedule?"

"There’s no time to lose. Let’s go!" Lex Cross said, pulling Flora Bloom toward the grotto’s exit.

"But even if we return to the base, won’t they just follow us there?"

At this, Lex Cross flashed a wicked grin. "Don’t worry. The moment they leave this place, they’ll be no match for us."

’The special rules on Earth don’t just apply to me, after all!’