Black Phoenix Heir

Chapter 49: Chapter 49 — The Uninvited Guest

Chapter 49 — The Uninvited Guest

Victor stared at the small bird perched on the branch above him, still trying to understand what exactly had just happened. A few moments ago, the creature had hit him in the head hard enough to make his vision shake, and now it was sitting there as though nothing unusual had happened. Its strange eyes remained fixed on him while the small flame at the end of its tail flickered gently.

Victor narrowed his eyes.

The bird tilted its head.

For several seconds, neither of them moved.

Then Victor decided he had had enough.

Spiritual Energy gathered beneath his feet as his body lowered slightly. The bird remained on the branch, watching him with what Victor was beginning to interpret as an unreasonable amount of confidence. A moment later, Flashstep activated, and Victor shot upward through the air, reaching toward the branch with his hand stretched forward.

His fingers closed around nothing.

The bird disappeared.

Victor’s eyes widened as his momentum carried him past the branch. He twisted his head, trying to find where the little creature had gone, but he hadn’t even seen it move. One moment it had been directly in front of him, and the next it was simply somewhere else.

A chirp sounded above him.

Victor looked up just as gravity began pulling him back toward the ground. The little bird was flying overhead, circling him with effortless ease as though Victor’s failed attempt had been nothing more than an amusing game.

"Of course," Victor muttered as he landed.

The bird continued circling around him, chirping repeatedly. Victor stood still for a moment, watching it fly around his head while trying to understand how something so small could move that quickly.

Victor reached toward it again.

The bird slipped away before his fingers could touch a single feather.

He tried once more, this time moving faster, but the result was exactly the same. The creature twisted through the air with ridiculous precision, avoiding his hand by the smallest possible distance before flying past his shoulder.

After several attempts, he finally stopped.

The bird was simply too fast.

Victor stood in the middle of the clearing and watched the little creature continue circling him. At this point, it wasn’t even attacking. It seemed perfectly content to fly around his head and chirp every few seconds, making sure that Victor understood exactly who had won their little contest.

Eventually, the bird flew upward and landed on another branch. It puffed out its chest and stared down at him.

Victor stared back.

For some reason, he could almost understand what the creature was trying to say.

That’s right. Learn your place.

Victor’s eye twitched slightly, but after a moment, he couldn’t help smiling at the ridiculous situation. There wasn’t much he could do about it. He couldn’t catch the thing, and chasing it around the forest would only make him look more pathetic than he already felt.

So Victor slowly shook his head.

"You’re safe for now."

The bird chirped.

Victor narrowed his eyes. "Don’t get too comfortable."

The creature remained on its branch, apparently satisfied with itself. Victor decided to ignore it for the moment and returned toward the large stone near his small camp. He still had no idea why the bird had attacked him in the first place, but since it wasn’t currently trying to hit him again, there was no reason to waste more energy worrying about it.

At least, that was what Victor thought.

He sat down on the stone and raised his right hand. A moment later, a small black flame appeared above his palm as Soul Power began flowing through his arm. Victor immediately focused on maintaining it, carefully regulating the amount of energy feeding into the flame and trying to keep it stable.

The bird chirped.

Victor froze.

He slowly looked upward.

The little creature was staring directly at the Black Phoenix Flame.

Its entire posture had changed.

Victor barely had time to react before the bird launched itself from the branch.

Thwack!

"Ow!"

Victor grabbed the top of his head as the flame immediately disappeared. The bird flew past him and returned to the branch, landing with the same irritating confidence it had possessed before.

Victor slowly raised his head.

This time, he wasn’t smiling.

"What do you want?"

The bird chirped.

Victor stared at it for a moment before pointing toward himself. "I’m trying to practice here. Why do you keep hitting me?"

Another chirp answered him.

The little creature puffed out its chest again.

Victor’s expression became blank.

He had absolutely no idea what was wrong with this bird.

It looked completely insane.

For a few moments, Victor simply stood there while the bird watched him from above. His annoyance slowly began fading, replaced by curiosity as he thought about what had happened both times. The first attack had come immediately after he summoned the Black Phoenix Flame, and the second had happened for exactly the same reason.

Victor glanced toward the bird.

Then raised his hand again.

A small black flame appeared above his palm.

The reaction was immediate.

The bird’s eyes locked onto the flame, and its wings spread as its body leaned forward. Victor could practically see the creature preparing to launch itself at him again.

Victor immediately extinguished the flame.

The bird stopped.

Its wings folded against its body.

Victor stared at it.

The bird stared back.

Victor slowly raised an eyebrow.

So this little bird doesn’t like when I have my flame out.

The realization baffled him more than anything. The bird didn’t appear interested in attacking him otherwise. It had followed him, mocked him, and hit him in the head, but every time the flame disappeared, its aggression disappeared with it.

At this point, there wasn’t much else he could do. The creature clearly wasn’t going to allow him to practice his flame technique while it was nearby, and Victor had already eaten. He had originally planned to continue moving through the safer regions of the forest anyway, so perhaps leaving the area would solve the problem.

Maybe he was standing inside the bird’s territory.

Maybe the strange creature simply didn’t like visitors.

Victor didn’t particularly care which explanation was correct.

He stretched his body, carefully rolling his shoulders before looking toward the forest ahead. The bird remained on its branch, watching him with those strange eyes as though it was waiting to see what he would do next.

Victor bent his knees slightly.

Spiritual Energy gathered beneath his feet.

Then Flashstep activated.

Victor shot forward.

He immediately broke into a sprint, moving between the trees as quickly as possible. The forest rushed past him while he used Flashstep in short bursts, each activation sending him farther ahead before he returned to running normally.

For several seconds, Victor didn’t look back.

Then something caught his attention beside him.

Victor turned his head.

The bird was there.

It was flying directly beside him.

Victor nearly lost his footing.

The little creature kept pace with him effortlessly, flapping its wings as though following a sprinting human through the forest was the most ordinary thing in the world.

Victor slowed down.

The bird slowed down.

Victor stopped completely.

The bird stopped with him.

For several seconds, Victor simply stared at it.

Then he pointed.

"Why are you following me?"

The bird chirped.

Victor waited.

Another chirp.

His expression slowly became flat.

"That explains absolutely nothing."

The bird continued hovering nearby.

Victor rubbed his forehead and looked toward the forest ahead. He considered trying to lose it, but after watching the creature disappear from his grasp earlier, he wasn’t particularly optimistic about his chances.

Besides, what was he supposed to do?

Fight it?

He couldn’t even touch it.

Victor turned around and headed back toward the clearing. If the bird insisted on following him, then apparently it was going to follow him. There was no point wasting energy trying to argue with a creature that answered every question with chirping.

When he returned to the clearing, the bird immediately flew upward and landed on a branch. It settled comfortably among the leaves and looked down at Victor as though the clearing belonged to it and Victor had simply been granted temporary permission to remain there.

Victor shook his head and walked toward the large stone. Since practicing the Black Phoenix Flame was apparently impossible without suffering another surprise attack, there was only one productive thing left for him to do.

He sat down and slowly closed his eyes, allowing Spiritual Energy to gather around him. His consciousness gradually turned inward as he began guiding the energy through his body, though he kept part of his awareness focused on the world around him.

He wasn’t about to completely drop his guard in the middle of the forest.

Especially not with that thing nearby.

For now, though, there was nothing he could do except cultivate.

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