Agent of Seraphim-Chapter 57: Ifrit

The light emanating from her pendant intensified, flickering like a tiny fire dancing in the void.

"Relax! You see how capable my boy is, right?" The ethereal little angel poked at the pendant in Ruby’s hand.

"Oh yeah? You’re trying to scare him?" Seraphine giggled.

’She’s talking to the pendant?’

Neither Brand nor Ruby said anything, but Ruby seemed to be attentive to something. He had seen her Spirit Form earlier, so he suspected that a spirit beast resided within her.

’So nice to have a guardian spirit.’

Of course, there could be complications if they weren’t compatible. Like a certain boy and a fox in a particular village.

He waited patiently for her to open up. Her fingers fiddled with the gemstone pendant, searching for the right words.

Ruby took a deep breath, calming her nerves before speaking.

"As you can see..." Her voice was so soft he had to lean closer to hear. As he did, she gasped, and a flame spread across his face.

Startled, he took a step back, his eyes fixed on the flame. It began to take the shape of a lion, its mane enveloping Ruby before dispersing into the air.

"The spirit beast asks you to keep your distance," Seraphine whispered to him.

Brand raised his hands and bowed to the flickering flame aura. "Sorry if I overstepped..."

"He’s just a bit dense." Seraphine floated to the flame and began weaving the aura with her hands.

Ruby’s eyes widened as she watched the flame swirl in mid-air. She looked at him, seeking an explanation.

"I do hear Ifrit mention a ghost floating around you, but..." While Ruby spoke, Seraphine clapped her hands at the flame aura, looking annoyed.

"Ghost? You’re just a chained cat!" He heard Seraphine banter with what must be Ruby’s spirit beast.

’Ifrit?’

The name reminded him of mythological beasts. In his world, the Ifrit was a supernatural being whose origins were rooted in Arabic tradition, specifically through the concept of the jinn.

The flame spread out again, reaching Seraphine, who hovered in the air. For a moment, Brand worried for the little angel.

But Seraphine simply slapped away the flame, curled it into a ball, and tossed it aside.

The flame bounced on the ground before transforming into a cat.

Now, he could see the flame’s expression. The cat looked surprised.

"This is..." Ruby showed a complicated expression at how things had developed.

The cat’s demeanor shifted from wariness to curiosity, and then to excitement. It bounced around, as if it had just broken free and regained its freedom.

Wings sprouted from its back, and a pair of curled horns appeared at the sides of its head.

The cat approached Ruby and licked her leg in a show of friendliness. At first wary, Ruby soon lifted it up and began to pet it.

"He said thank you..." Ruby muttered softly, her eyes searching for Seraphine.

"He deserved it. He helped Brand earlier, when he was unconscious."

Brand blinked at her, still trying to process what he had just seen.

"I gave him a blessing," Seraphine explained, noticing his baffled expression. "That was nothing."

’That was nothing?’

He recalled her display of extraordinary powers ever since he arrived in this world. The white tutorial space was, in fact, outright reality manipulation.

While he was lost in thought, Ruby continued her story, interrupting his reverie.

"As you see, Ifrit here is a spirit beast." She lifted the cat so he could see it. "He was an annoying prick at first, but lately, he’s gotten soft-hearted."

The cat licked its paw and purred, seemingly unfazed by Ruby’s words.

’Does he actually agree with her?’

"He’s been with me since I was a child... My life was hard because of him." She pinched the cat’s cheek and glared at it.

"This is troublesome... Why has he become so cute?" Ruby muttered, staring at the spirit beast in her arms.

’She’s soft-hearted, too.’

Ruby had always shown a fiery temperament, but ever since manifesting her Spirit Form, she’d softened.

Brand wondered what had caused this change, but soon drew his own conclusion.

’She’s found common ground with the cat...’

He was amazed that they had come to a mutual understanding in such a short amount of time, while he was still falling from the fissure above.

’I’m the catalyst for their mended relationship, he thought, feeling an odd sense of satisfaction.’

Even if it looks more like a miniature tiger with demon horns and wings.

"You didn’t seem surprised when you saw him?" Ruby asked, a bit wary.

"I was surprised, actually—to think a mythical beast was residing in you." He replied honestly. "He seems to like you a lot."

He crouched to get a closer look at the spirit beast.

Though this must be Ifrit’s chibi form, it still looked powerful.

And cute, too.

"There might be some hidden pact?"

"I’m not sure what it is, but something in the past must have hurt you." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"And are you worried others might judge you?" Brand guessed, considering how Ruby had kept Ifrit hidden until now. "But I don’t care about any of that."

"I have my secrets, too. I’ll tell you about them later, I promise." Brand offered a handshake, a gesture not usually seen as a greeting in the tribe.

Ruby looked at him for a moment, then extended her hand in return.

"The spirit beast may have hurt you before, but now you just need to focus on your bond, on how you move forward together."

"The most important thing is, have you and the spirit beast reached a mutual understanding?"

If the boy and the fox could do it, so can you!

Ruby nodded as she listened, then admitted that Ifrit had always been a part of her, something she had kept sealed, fearing its power.

"I’m not a native of the Emas Tribe," Ruby revealed. "I’m from a fallen kingdom in the west."

"But the kingdom is gone now."

Her fist clenched, lips trembling.

"I burned it down."