As he continued on his journey, he had to fight monsters along the way since he's currently in the Black Zone.
He later found a small clearing and saw a hooded individual fighting a Gray Wolf. These beasts hunt in packs and are rarely alone, however, this guy is struggling on a single wolf. The wolf was fast and possesses terrifying power, both physically and with its sonic sphere blasts.
"Ahhh! Shit! Just lemme dominate you already!" The man shouted in frustration as he hurled a javelin made out black energy that he pulled out from a chakram-like structure of the same material from behind his back.
Jose watched the battle unfolds and despite the hooded figure using many abilities from the aforementioned energy constructs to magic spells, the gray wolf was quite easily able to fight back and overwhelm the man even.
With one final sonic sphere, the wolf launched it and struck the man on the abdomen, blasting him away.
"Shit…!" He exclaimed as he was blown back far away beyond the trees back at the forest.
Boom—!
Jose followed the injured man into the forest and found him lying on the ground, casting healing spells on himself. "Are you all right?" He asked worriedly.
"Do I look alright to you?"
Jose offered his hand to help the man back up but he smacked it away.
"I don't need your help." He went back up on his feet rather quickly and they faced each other on the same level.
'Huh…?' Jose was dumbfounded, because the man's eyes looked like a cracked mirror with his pupil seemingly being where the cracking started.
"Jose, do me a favor, will you?" Hearing this, Jose was confused even further.
"How'd you…"
"How I knew your name doesn't matter... But do me a favor, hit me." The man spoke in serious tone.
"Eh…?" Jose was dumbfounded at that request.
"Yeah, when she comes, hit me with your hardest, then feed her this…" He gave Jose a large piece of juicy red meat that's still fresh with blood dripping down from it and the latter still being obviously confused.
"W-why?"
"Just do it, got it?"
"No… I'm not going to do that."
"Sigh… Whatever, just take that, I'll go and leave." The man then turned his back away and finally left.
Moments later, the gray wolf arrived, baring its fangs towards him.
'I do not want to fight this…' Although there's no way he'd lose, this beast is still terrifying. It managed to fight against that previous man who Jose know are surely strong based on the abilities he showcased earlier.
Looking at the piece of meat at hand, he slowly walked forward, after all, even if the beast really did want to fight him, he can just run away effortlessly.
He gulped and as he approached it, he knelt down slightly as it still bared its fangs while growling. But this all changed as soon as he presented the meat.
Its tail began wagging excitedly and drooled uncontrollably at the sight of that piece of meat.
"Eh?" The gray wolf quickly snatched it from Jose's hand and then began munching it delightfully while its tail wagged like a puppy's.
"It really… enjoyed it…" Seeing that the wolf is no longer hostile, he tried petting it slowly and he successfully done so while it continued feasting.
"Wow… Grandpa said that gray wolves can be tamed… Can I make this… a familiar?"
He began stroking its fur a few more times, and after it finished, it looked up at him as it sat and pant like an obedient dog.
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Jose smiled slightly at it and said, "Can I… make you my familiar—?" but before he finished, it bit his right hand. "Ack!" He quickly hopped away as the blood gushed out from the back of his hand.
Grasping it and quickly thinking whether to prepare for battle or not, he saw his blood flowing back up towards the wound and forming a circular symbol with a sword at the middle of it.
"What is this…?"
It glowed brightly with a golden color and he looked at the wolf away from him, it also began glowing brightly with the same color and finally, it transformed into energy that was sucked into the symbol. He could feel the heavy weight of the energy as it transferred itself over and felt as if his mana was being mixed with it. "What… are you…?"
It was painful for him to some extent, prompting him to kneel on the grass underneath him as he grasped his right hand. "Argh!"
The pain later subsided and when he opened his eyes, he saw a sword formed from it. It possesses a blade with a golden glow, a black handle, and a cross shaped hand guard with a glowing golden circle around that hand guard.
He then heard a feminine voice inside his head, "Initiate Contract..." He was then taken within his mindscape where there's nothing else but white void. A distance away from him, a girl of most likely the same age as him stood there. She reached her hand forward to him as if inviting him to her.
Jose, while hesitant, quickly went there and saw her face up close. Her fairly long hair were black and her eyes are golden orange. She is quite petite and she wore a happy expression.
"Who are you…?" Jose asked hesitantly.
"I'm… Emilia! And I am an Ego Weapon!" She said excitedly.
"Aren't you a Gray Wolf earlier?"
"Yup! That's how I was born, but I am still an Ego Weapon!" She replied adorably, sticking her thumb up towards him and winking.
"Then, why did you bring me here? Isn't this my mindscape?"
"Oh! How'd you know?! But no, this is my mental domain, hehe..." She smiled.
"So that's why there's nothing here…" Jose said that remark with confusion but Emilia frowned upon that statement.
"What are you trying to say…?"
Not getting what she's insinuating, Jose replied. "Eh…? I'm not trying to say anything…"
"Okay… All right! Let's form a contract! I accept you as my wielder! I, Emilia, an Ego Weapon, accepts this man as my wielder. Initiate Contract!"
'An Equalizer Contract?' Jose thought. 'Is this what grandpa had told me?'
"Hey, are you going to say it too? Say it with me!" Emilia complained while clenching her fists and pouting.
"Wait… I'm not ready for this…"
"Come on! Everyone wants an Ego Weapon! That's why that guy tried to take me by force earlier! I'd rather settle having you as my wielder instead of another guy trying to force me... Besides, you seemed nice…" She blushed slightly while clasping her hands together and swaying her body as if she's embarrassed.
Jose sighed and just accepted it in defeat. Besides, having an Ego Weapon would surely help him immensely in trying to bring back Andres. He's just lucky to stumble upon such occurrence right now. But he's still being skeptical a little. 'That man earlier looked like he set this up… He also know my name…' But he can't find any correlation to that previous man, and no person that he, or probably Andres, knew of such man. If there was, Jose would have recognized him by now.
But maybe his grandfather knew of that man and he don't. Still, he would just take this opportunity to grow in power, knowing that Ego Weapons give such massive boost in power since it's literally two individuals pooling their powers together to fight as one.
"Hellooo…" Emilia called out, bringing Jose back to his senses.
"Oh… sorry…"
"Have you made up your mind? Say it with me, okay?"
"Okay…"
Jose braced himself and began counting mentally, after a few seconds of delay, they shouted together.
"Initiate Contract!"
An interface window then opened in front of the two of them and read as follows:
[Equalizer Contract Initiated!]
[State your Conditions]
"My only condition is that you won't do anything bad to me… and also feed me."
A set of words then began appearing after that.
[Emilia's Conditions:
1. She must be well fed.
2. She must not be harmed.]
[State your Conditions. Their quantity must not be two more than the other party's]
Jose began thinking while caressing his chin and then finally stated his conditions.
"All I want is for you to help me with my journey."
[Jose's Conditions:
1. Emilia must accompany Jose in his journey.
2. Emilia must help Jose in his journey.]
"Well, that's easy! That's my job!"
[State your desired Exchanges.]
"You'll take care of me, got it?" Emilia smugged.
"Then… All I want is for you to lend me your power."
"Of course, I would!"
[Exchanges:
1. Jose will take utmost care of Emilia.
2. Emilia will lend Jose her powers as an Ego Weapon.]
[State the Effective Duration of this Contract.]
"Effective until cancelled by both parties! That's what we need anyway, right? So, Deal!"
"Okay," Jose smiled. "Deal…"
[Creating Contract…
Contracting Parties: Emilia/Jose.]
[Emilia's Conditions:
1. She must be well fed.
2. She must not be harmed.]
[Jose's Conditions:
1. Emilia must accompany Jose in his journey.
2. Emilia must help Jose in his journey.]
[Exchanges:
1. Jose will take utmost care of Emilia.
2. Emilia will lend Jose her powers.]
[Effective Duration: Effective Until Cancelled By Both Parties.]
[Contract Created! Equalizer Contract is now in full effect, failure to adhere to the imposed conditions will be met with DIVINE JUDGEMENT!]