Golden Fox with System

The Elders and future Sect leaders, who were closest in the sky, were hit by the shockwave. It was so powerful that it made them vomit blood and have to descend from the sky because they were terrified that this would happen again.

Although they were injured and had to come down, they did not feel wronged or saddened by it. Just because these people could experience this phenomenon was enough for them to be happy.

"<Devour>!"

Theo, in his Golden Fox form, basically screamed while using <Devour>. But before he could be happy about his success, he realized that he had made a miserable mistake…

Just a few feet away, the Chimera had an explosion of speed and advanced even faster than before… "Clack!" - "Clack!"…. Theo, who was staring with his eyes wide open at the Chimera… was shocked the moment his jaws were open wide enough that he could completely swallow this Chimera. Despite the pain from opening his mouth like that, he couldn't even scream, as the Chimera fully entered his large mouth and began to be literally devoured by him.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

He previously thought that he had felt real pain when he devoured the other Heavenly Tribulations… he didn't know whether to laugh or to cry at how wrong he was. For the torture he felt now was the fiercest and most terrible agony he ever had to experience.

Although he wanted to keep the illusions going, especially for the Sects and the girls not to worry… things didn't always go the way you wish them to. Amid their yells, Yuki, Shina, Zaika, Zaira and little Yui were finally able to "see" Theo's real current state. It was a painful sight just to look at him. They burst into tears just seeing him like that.

They ran toward Theo as fast as they could. As fear eroded their wits, they became extremely concerned about Theo's current state. It was even scarier than when Theo had been out of breath for a while at that other time. This is because Theo's appearance right now was anything but reassuring.

Theo's body was under constant pressure, biting into him. There was too much Mana in his body for him to possibly bear. Even more so since using <Devour> causes him to swallow even more Heavenly Tribulation Mana essence. If before, he could take advantage of 60% of the Heavenly Tribulation by using <Devour>, this way, he could <Devour> 100% of the essence of the Heavenly Tribulation.

"Theo!"

"Daddy!"

They screamed as they rushed to Theo, who was covered in blood, with many of his bones fractured, broken or dislocated. Many parts of his body were distorted as the energy continued to break and tear him from the inside. Even some bones of his paws and torso were angled out and exposed.

Theo could no longer bear the level of agony he was feeling. He was about to lose consciousness as he looked toward them. Theo wanted to push himself to handle it so he wouldn't make them worry. Using his willpower, he managed to persist just a bit longer.

"You… I… I'm fine… you don't need to watch this… please go back to the Workshop and… wait for me inside…" Theo said, vomiting a lot of blood as he did so. But even so, he tried his best to force a smile. He didn't want them to "see" his situation and make them sad.

But they saw Theo vomit blood. They also "noticed" him force his smile, which he only put up to not worry them. It only broke their hearts in a thousand pieces, and their tears flowed from their eyes even more.

"No! I won't listen to you this time, Theo! Even though I can't do anything, I'll still stay here by your side!" Shina said as she shook her head from side to side as her tears streamed from her crystal blue eyes. She refused to let him go through all of this alone. As much as it breaks her heart to see him in this state, she decided in her heart that she wouldn't turn her back on it just because she didn't want to see him suffer.

"Shina is right! We'll stay by your side, right here!" Yuki said as she sat on the floor with tears in her wine-red eyes, firmly deciding to not leave his side.

"Daddy, Yui isn't going anywhere, either! Just accept it!" Little Yui crossed her small, beautiful arms across her chest, wanting to look brave and determined, but the tears and mucus that flowed from her eyes and nose revealed her real feelings.

Zaira and Zaika said nothing, but by their gestures, Theo already knew their answers as well. They each sat on the floor while looking at Theo.

"You…"

Theo didn't know what to do. But now he knew there was no chance of him changing their minds. He couldn't take it anymore, either, and he screamed again in agony, making the beautiful faces of the girls squirm with sorrow and pain. It was incredibly frustrating for them, that although they wanted to help, they didn't know what they could do for him.

But then… something strange started to happen. An absurd amount of Mana began to flow out of Theo's body and go toward the girls.

Increasing amounts of Mana began to invade their bodies, surprising both them and Theo.

"My God… what exactly is going on here?" Theo muttered as he felt the pain begin to lessen.

Yuki and the others also began to groan in pain, but seeing that this was helping Theo somehow, they gritted their teeth and were holding on to the pain they were suffering. They were even happy and warm in their hearts, just knowing that they were able to share in the burden for Theo.

Soon after, a gigantic multi-coloured pillar of red, blue, green, orange, black and yellow erupted from Theo's body. It was so large, it went up into the sky to over 900 kilometres. These colours that formed a pillar from Theo's body intertwined further and further. To the point that anyone who was a few kilometres away could easily see it.

Soon after, this also happened to Yuki, and then to little Yui, followed by Shina, Zaika and Zaira.

From Yuki, it was an intertwined white and silver energy pillar, going nearly 100 kilometres upward that formed. Little Yui was not much different, only that the pillar enveloping her body went up into the sky to almost 200 kilometres.

Shina, on the other hand, formed a pillar of light blue energy reaching almost 80 kilometres tall. Zaika's pillar was formed out of red and black, intertwining light going skyward to nearly 100 kilometres as well. Zaira had also formed an intertwining yellow and black pillar going reaching up into the heavens, about 120 kilometres tall.

What Theo and the others didn't know was that this event marked the very moment when they became the first of his Royal Guardians.