Tamer Braian G. Moreiras (P.O.V)

Day 6 AFP (After Fluffals Pillars) 11:05 PM

Saint Isaac's Cathedral and its surroundings are covered in a carpet of dead armored Crow monster bodies. Hundreds of them had been rotting here for the last five days. Quite a few heads and limbs were missing, but electrocution is the most prevalent cause of death.

Several large bodies of Crow Gryphons had been Skewered from underneath their bodies by twelve-foot tall spikes made out of precious gemstones. In addition, several walls made from the same material seemed to have been erected to block the advance of the Crow monsters who could not fly.

Flies swarmed over all the corpses, countless maggots devoured their burnt flesh, and the smell of decay filled the air to the point it made me want to puke. The titanium-grade armor that once protected the bodies of the Crows is covered with lightning scorch marks.

One spot that did not have any corpses was the area right in front of the entrance of the Cathedral. The floor is made from precious gemstones of all colors fused together, just like the walls and spikes nearby.

Braian. "This spot must be where Asher came out of his bunker to fight the Crow monsters."

I informed Angel's Tengu Armored Crow minion that flew down to my side to inspect the floor. It then nodded back to me in agreement after checking the surroundings.

I picked up a titanium-grade weapon from one of the Crow monster corpses nearby and repeatedly struck the Gem Floor. Finally, I noticed a few marks had been left behind on it after my seventh strike.

My eyes glanced towards the huge cracks near my mark, which was the work done by the Crows me and Angel's Bird minions took out when we got here.

If Asher sealed himself in the bunker this way, the entrances provided in the mission files might have also been secured with the same method. I doubt the Crow monsters would have wasted time trying to break through this point if they weren't.

Braian. "Looks like the only way to get to Asher is by shattering this floor with heavy metal attacks. Angel, can you order your minions to come here and try to break it? I will make sure to watch out for threats."

The Tengu Crow minion nodded. Then, several Bird minions who were recently brainwashed ran or flew to my location within a minute from across the deserted city after she gave them the orders.

The heavyweights like the Crow Gryphon and the Bird minions who carried massive metal weapons began a half-hour job of attacking the floor.

I stood by and watched the surroundings as they worked since there was still the chance of Crow monsters coming out of the pillar at the city's center.

There should not be any living crow monsters left in the area, but I did not want to take any chances of letting the mission get screwed up after all the work we did to get here.

Angel and I had to spend quite a bit of time eliminating the Armored Crow monster left behind as sentries.

Initially, Angel had wanted to send her new minions to check out the status of our comrades. But she changed her mind when she realized they were needed here to help me clear out all the monsters still infesting the city.

Going all Assassin's Creed on them by myself with my monster skills would have taken too long for me to reach the VIP's bunker. Even though I made Angel aware that I knew her darkest secrets which she never shared with anyone in the UGP, she remained professional and worked silently with me through her minions.

It was a relief that Angel didn't hate me enough to refuse to help me.

Angel always kept her Tengu Crow minion close by to follow my stealthy progress towards the Cathedral and relay my instructions to the other minions.

The elephant-sized Crow Gryphon, who I helped turn into her minion, battled every armored Crow monster patrol squad that had too many numbers for me to take on silently or quickly. She would then brainwash the strongest of them to join her collection.

Angel could only store ten of them in her Basic Hangar Dimension. Unfortunately, this meant she could only acquire eight Crow monsters because she already had two Eagle monsters in her Hangar Dimension whose presence would complicate things, so they were not summoned.

Why do Bird monsters have to be racists of their own kind? I guess ethnic tribalism is a universal truth that can never be overcome, no matter the species.

Angel's intelligence network increased her power to brainwash with every minion in her control. But not all birds share the same level of intelligence. There are quite a few who use brute force, like the heavily armored crow Gryphon.

So it was essential to pick new crow minions with higher intelligence to increase her brainwashing ability. This did not mean she was stuck with those minions she already had in her collection.

They could be released to make room for a new minion she desired. But she refused to give up those two Eagles in her Hangar as they were too precious for her to release.

Angel only swapped out a crow minion whenever an opponent seemed way too strong for her minions and me to take down quickly by either force or stealth. Which was quite rare, but there were still a few of those types left behind in the city.

Angel would use her Intelligence network skill to power up her ability to brainwash those powerful Crow monsters within a dozen seconds of entering their minds. Sometimes they resisted, but most of the time, they looked like they had died and gone to heaven in sweet bliss.

Her minions would immediately kill the ex-minion Crow to prevent it from raising the alarm now that it regained control of its mind.

This way, I always had eight Armored Crow minions who assisted me in taking down their brethren that figured out there was an enemy in the area or sensed something wrong and wanted to raise the alarm.

Even though this was a time-consuming approach, taking on all the Crow monsters in the city by rushing in Rambo style would result in the main flock being called back to support the defenders.

Since the flock that went out to investigate the blast site on Kotlin Island hadn't returned yet, I assumed that the distraction team was still alive and working hard to keep the Crow monster flock away from the city.

Now that the leftover monsters around the Catherdral had been neutralized. There was no opposition to block our entry into the bunker and escape from the city.

After standing guard for almost half an hour, Angel's bird minion's last waves of physical and Mana-type attacks had finally broken through the gemstone floor.

I rushed over to inspect what had been hidden behind the Gem floor and discovered an albino Russian boy of fifteen years old dressed in a white winter jacket dodging out of the falling debris.

I was relieved when the kid successfully dodged the rock in time but collapsed to the ground on his back. After nearly being squished, it took him a few seconds to recover his senses.

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The kid looked up and froze when his eyes locked onto the Crow Gryphon, the Humanoid Crows, and me staring down at him from above the hole in his bunker's ceiling.

I bet the kid must be overjoyed that the cavalry is here to rescue him even if we almost killed him with our entry.

Fear appears on Asher's face for some reason. He pulls out his phone and launches the monster app.

[Summoning Monster: Radiant Odd-Eyes Statue (Aaron)

Type: Mind, Mountian, Intelligence, Dinosaur, Lightning

Mastery: Enhanced Elemental Damage

Skills: Radiant Force Field (Master), Trident Statue (Master), Radiant Mirror Force (Master), Gem Terraformer (Beginner)

Skill Features:

Radiant Aura - This skill will automatically activate along with the Trident Statue skill. The lightning that strikes the trident horns will partially be redirected to create a Lightning field around the body.

Trident Statue - This skill will activate when the Monster runs out of Mana. The body will cease moving while the trident horns on the Monster's head call down lightning to charge the crystal orbs on its body to convert the lightning into Mana. The skill will deactivate when the Mana has been refilled to a hundred percent.

Radiant Mirror Force - When this skill is activated, it will create a barrier that reflects all Mana-based attacks back at the attacker. The Monster needs to supply Mana to sustain it.

Gem Terraformer - When this skill is activated, the Monster can terraform the gems in the Earth to create Walls and Spikes. The Monster needs Mana for this skill]

A twelve-foot-tall trident horned Allosaurus covered in Marble Armor and precious orb gemstones on its back materialize next to Asher.

Seeing the Monster up close was different from the descriptions in the files, which did it no justice. I was almost jealous, but I heard something I wasn't expecting.

Asher. "Aaron! We have to fight our way out of this city."

Aaron. "Asher fuse with Aaron?"

Asher. "Can you handle these Birds on your own and still protect me?"

Aaron. "Aaron is strong on his own! Aaron will eat all these fucking Birds for Asher!"

A heavy smoker parrot voice boomed from the mouth of the marble armored Dino. Saliva dripped from its jaws as if a delicious snack was waiting for him to chow on.

Aaron uses its tail to grab Asher and then leaps out of the hole in the bunker's ceiling to face his rescuers on the surface outside. My mind was too stunned to process what was happening when it finally kick-started to understand what I saw and heard.

What the fuck! Did that Dino monster speak? Why did it say it wants to eat... Oh shit! I forgot the kid doesn't know who we are!

Braian. "WAIT! We are the Tamers sent by the UGP! Don't eat us!"

I rushed in front of Angel's bird minions in a panic and held my hands up to surrender. My actions and ability to speak shocked Asher. Guess the kid figured out that the Monsters that came out of the pillar can't talk.

Unfortunately, his talking Dino partner ignored me and is ready to chomp my head off first.

Asher. 'Aaron, stop! Monsters don't speak like you or me. They must be the people my uncle said would rescue us."

The big Dino called Aaron stopped his attack, but it didn't look happy following that order. Instead, a hunger in its jewel eyes made my body shiver.

So this is what it feels like to have a T-Rex-like creature staring at you. It's freaking terrifying to be seen as a tasty snack.

Aaron. "Only this stupid fucking bird who can speak is a Tamer. The rest smell to Aaron like the stupid birds that tasted good after hitting them with lightning."

Wait! If Aaron knows I am a Tamer, why is he still longing to eat me? And can you really smell stupidity? Damn, I can't blame him if he did. Why did I think it was a good idea to walk in here with Crow monsters who had been trying to kill him for five days.

Asher. "Calm down, Aaron! Something about them doesn't seem right. Let's give the Tamer a chance to explain."

Braian. "Those Crow monsters are the brainwashed minions of another Tamer who controls them from far away."

The eight Crow monsters around me vigorously nodded their heads in unison. The Bird minion's eyes took in the sight of Aaron as if he were their Paragon.

Why was Angel making them do that? Aaron is a... oh, Aaron does look pretty much like a giant bird covered in Marble and Jewels, so I guess it must be worthy of her interests.

On the other hand, maybe Angel doesn't really need feathers as long it is related to a bird. Some Dinos are technically the ancestors of birds or at least part of the same family tree.

Asher. "Are you and the Tamer controlling those monsters, the only ones here?"

Braian. "There are three others who are distracting the main flock. They blew up the Transport Drone we used to get here on Kotlin Island to get the Bird monsters out of the city."

Asher. "I remember feeling the shock waves from the explosion, but if you blew up the transport, how will we get to Alaska?"

Braian. "It's our job to fly you out to the Ships belonging to the Russian Navy. There is a fleet anchored out in the Gulf of Finland. They will take us to Stockholm, and from there, we will get another Transport Drone to fly back to Alaska."

Asher. "But what about the main flock at Kotlin island, aren't they in our way?"

Aaron. "They are all dead!"

Asher. "Huh? How do you know that?"

Aaron. "System says a Bee killed them all."

Bee, who killed them all? That must be Zao... damn! He must be the reincarnation of a War God if he has already finished them off.

But how does Aaron know about Zao? Is this Monster an omnipotent god or something?

Braian. "How can your monster know what happened?"

Asher. "He once said, 'Aaron is the system, and the system is Aaron'.

The system is the Monster App. I am not sure what it really means, though."

My mind runs through possible explanations, but they get interrupted when a sonic boom bursts over the sea. I thought a missile was heading our way for a second, but it decelerated when it reached the city shoreline.

An Eight Foot Tall Golden Exo-Suit that looks like a Gundam slowly descends to our location by reducing the output from the bee wing-like thrusters.

The frame is covered in dried blood with black feathers clinging to its surface. It looked like it had been through a gory battle with the Crow monsters. However, metal braizing had already mended the cracks and broken armor pieces that covered almost every inch of its frame.

Only one Tamer I know has this kind of skill and color scheme that has to be...

I stared at Golden Exo-Suit with my mouth hanging open in shock.

Did Zao evolve in the middle of the battle? What kind of anime bullshit is that?

My eyes are ready to cry tears of blood as childhood memories of watching Mecha anime flashed before my eyes. The only way Zao could have gotten that form is if he secretly was a Mecha Otaku.

The Chest area of the Exo-Suit opened to reveal Zao's face inside. Zao stared at Asher and his Monster Aaron with deep interest. It almost looked like he was constipating, but then he cleared his throat and spoke to me.

Zao. "It looks like you found the target. Grab him, and let's get out of here before more Crow monsters come out of the pillar."

Braian. "Where are the Commander and Jia?"

Zao. "The Commander was heavily injured, so I told Jia to take him away to safety while I fought Crows alone. They might be on the ships waiting for us."

Braian. "You fought the entire armored Crow flock alone, and you won? HOW?"

The two conical Lance swords in Zao's exo-suits hands began heating up until the metal turned into Plasma.

Braian. "Are those what I think they are?"

Zao nodded without saying a word. There is a look of embarrassment and excitement on that thirty-year-old face of his.

Aaron. "Aaron smells murderous intent coming from the fucking Bird Tamer who speaks too much."

Braian. "Keep your nose out of my thoughts! That there is a cheat-"

I had to stop because the Pink Pillar of light in the city's center began glowing so bright that I had to close my eyes. While my eyes are closed, the butler on my app read out a message.

[Message from the Monster App:

Fools! Do you think capturing a pillar created by the Majestic Pink Fluffals the Third is simple? Then, feast your eyes on my Pillar guardian and tremble before its might, you filthy Humans!]

The light from the pillar returns to normal, but a giant figure passes through it.

A Twenty-Foot Tall Armored Black Crow Monster with six large wings on its back steps out. The ground shakes as its Crow's feet squish the vehicles abandoned around the pillar.

Like how my Icy-Mist skill disguises my presence from enemies, this giant Crow is shrouded by steam that pours out of its body, making it difficult to see its features clearly.

The metal armor on its body groaned as it moved, which created an irritating metal grinding noise that stung my eardrums. The ground vibrated with every step it took towards us.

Then I hear a voice that drowns out the painful noise and fills my head with a familiar presence. The emotions I start feeling are lust, awe, and the need to devour that creature's mind.

I could feel my control over my body slip away, and the one now in the driver's seat made an announcement.

Angel. "THAT BIRD WILL BE MINE!"