- 5 minutes ago
Apocalypse Beast Master- Drama FULL MOVIES ENGLISH SUB
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00On the first day of school, the teachers handed out magical animals based on grades.
00:04Valedictorian and class president Victoria didn't even hesitate.
00:07She walked straight up and grabbed the SSS tier white fox.
00:11I was dead last in the class rankings.
00:13I got assigned a single F tier brown bear.
00:16Then the ice apocalypse hit.
00:17Because I'd bonded with the brown bear, I shared its innate ability.
00:20Cold resistance.
00:22Victoria's white fox never had the chance to grow.
00:24On day one of the apocalypse, it froze to death.
00:27That wasn't the worst part.
00:28Fueled by jealousy, Victoria rallied the others and jumped me.
00:31They killed my bear.
00:32Then they roasted steaks right in front of me, while they ate.
00:35I was so overwhelmed with grief and died.
00:38When I opened my eyes again, I was back.
00:40Back to the day they handed out magical animals.
00:43As the dead last student of the werewolf academy, I was always picked last.
00:46And sure enough, the only magical animal left was the brown bear.
00:50I was reaching for it when Victoria suddenly shouted from across the room.
00:53Wait!
00:54She sprinted over, clutching a small white fox kit.
00:57And shoved it into my arms without a word.
00:59Then she picked up the brown bear from its crate.
01:02You take the white fox.
01:04I want the brown bear.
01:05The entire classroom went silent.
01:07Even Mr. Harris, our homeroom teacher, frowned.
01:10Everyone knew the white fox had the purest bloodline of any familiar in this batch.
01:14Its ancient lineage concentration was 80%.
01:16The brown bear's was barely 20, and it was considered a low-tier species.
01:20Mr. Harris leaned forward.
01:22Victoria, choosing your bonded animal isn't something to joke about.
01:26This determines your ceiling for the rest of your life.
01:30Sir, Riley needs this white fox more than I do.
01:33My grades are strong.
01:35I can train fast no matter what magical animal I bond with.
01:39But Riley's talent for cultivation is average.
01:42If she's also stuck with a low-blood-blood brown bear, her future is basically over.
01:49The class erupted in applause.
01:51Mr. Harris nodded approvingly.
01:53You are kind.
01:55A pure and selfless heart will carry you further than any familiar ever could.
02:00Then he turned to me and frowned.
02:03Why are you just standing there, thank Victoria?
02:06I blinked.
02:07I held the white fox kit out toward her.
02:10It's fine.
02:11You don't have to swap.
02:12I actually kind of like the bear.
02:14Victoria pulled the brown bear closer to her chest.
02:17She looked at me the way someone looks when they've been wronged.
02:20You don't have to test me.
02:23I genuinely want to trade.
02:25I'm serious.
02:27Keep it.
02:29Before I could finish, something sharp bit down on the web of my right hand.
02:34I looked down.
02:35The white fox kit had bitten me.
02:38Then the fox pressed its tiny tongue against my skin and licked it clean.
02:42The fox had initiated a blood pact with me.
02:46So Riley wasn't being noble after all.
02:48She said she didn't want the white fox, but she went and blood-pasted it the second she got the
02:52chance.
02:52She was just scared Victoria would take it back.
02:54Never seen someone play both sides that hard before.
02:57After the blood pact locked in, the white fox went drowsy and fell asleep in my arms.
03:01I sat there, listening to the whispers and feeling my face go red.
03:05They didn't know the truth.
03:06I genuinely did not want this fox.
03:10Because I knew something none of them did.
03:11In two weeks, this beautiful, high-bloodline white fox was going to be completely useless.
03:19Well, almost none of them knew.
03:21Victoria knew too.
03:22The moment she gave up the white fox and fought me for the brown bear, I understood.
03:26She'd been reborn, just like me.
03:28I stared at the bear tucked against Victoria's chest.
03:31I'd been so close to it in my past life.
03:34We'd trusted each other completely.
03:36Now, Victoria had taken it.
03:38I could deal with losing the cold resistance.
03:40What I couldn't stand was thinking about whether the bear would be fed properly.
03:44Whether it would be treated well.
03:45I was staring at it when the bear slowly turned its head and met my eyes.
03:49Then it blinked.
03:51Once.
03:52Twice.
03:53Not once.
03:54Not three times.
03:55Twice.
03:56My chest lit up.
03:58Two blinks was a signal.
04:00A code we'd created together in our past life.
04:02The bear was using it now to tell me...
04:04It remembered.
04:06It had been reborn, too.
04:08I was still exchanging glances with the bear when something warm and soft wrapped around my fingertip.
04:13I looked down.
04:14My white fox had woken up.
04:16I'm not useless.
04:17The voice was haughty.
04:19Also, undeniably baby soft.
04:21And stop staring at that chunky little lowlife.
04:24I poked the fox gently.
04:26Are you talking?
04:27The white fox gave an imperious little sniff and rolled over in my arms.
04:31I thought about what to call it.
04:33White fox felt too generic.
04:35Little fox felt too soft.
04:37I was going to call it...
04:38Your Highness.
04:39My name is Leo.
04:41It announced.
04:42You can call me Your Highnesses if you want.
04:45I flicked its forehead.
04:46Who taught you to be this dramatic?
04:49Up front, Mr. Harris was explaining how to draw binding circles on the board.
04:53Most bonds were initiated by humans, since magical animals were naturally proud creatures.
04:59Young kits were gentler than adults, but it was still extremely rare for a familiar to seek out a bond
05:05on its own.
05:05Everyone began attempting their bonds.
05:08Everyone except me, since I'd already been forcibly claimed by a fox.
05:13Leo, I said quietly, why did you bond with me?
05:18I didn't like that other girl.
05:20She smells.
05:22Smells?
05:23I kept my voice low.
05:25Victoria is literally the most popular girl in school.
05:29Half the guys here would say she smells amazing.
05:32Those guys are blind.
05:33Leo said flatly.
05:36They can't see the rod underneath.
05:39And me?
05:40Leo buried its nose in my sleeve.
05:43Its voice came out slightly strangled.
05:45You're fine.
05:46You're kind of sweet.
05:48I started scratching under Leo's chin while the class droned on.
05:53White fox fur had a reputation, and it delivered.
05:57Impossibly soft, dense like a cloud.
06:00I scratched its ears, squeezed its belly, and eventually couldn't help reaching for its tail.
06:06They say you should never touch a fox's tail.
06:09But Leo was basically a kid, so the usual rules didn't apply.
06:14The moment my hand settled on the tail, Leo went completely rigid.
06:18Through the white fur, I could see its skin flush faintly pink.
06:22Stop it.
06:23What is wrong with you?
06:24It sounded exactly like someone who'd just been caught off guard, and was deeply, mortifyingly flustered.
06:31I pulled my hand back, keeping my expression neutral.
06:35Calm down.
06:36You've got a very active imagination.
06:39Leo's eyes welled up immediately.
06:40It snapped its head away and refused to look at me.
06:43Across the room, Victoria successfully completed her binding circle.
06:47A flash of pleasure crossed her face.
06:50She directed it toward the bear.
06:52The circle activated, spinning fast around the bear.
06:56Inside the light, the bear quietly reached out and made two small adjustments to the formation.
07:01The standard equal bond shifted, without a sound, into a master-servant bond.
07:07The bear was the master.
07:09Victoria was the servant.
07:10It was a technique we'd discovered together in a ruin, years ago in another life.
07:15The bear was now using it to put a leash on Victoria.
07:19The bear caught my eye across the room, satisfied, proud of itself.
07:24Under the table, I gave it a thumbs up.
07:27You are so manipulative, Leo muttered into my ribs.
07:31I was pinching its soft, borderline boneless little cheek.
07:35Me?
07:36How?
07:37You touched my tail and then stared at that chunky lowlife for five whole minutes.
07:43You were making eyes at it.
07:45Leo's voice was escalating toward genuine grievance.
07:49I added another item to my mental description of it.
07:52Prone to completely unhinged jealousy.
07:54After class ended, Mr. Harris handed out cultivation supplies.
07:59One week's worth per student.
08:01I kept a single mana crystal for myself.
08:04I fed everything else to Leo.
08:07Nineteen crystals.
08:08Leo crunched through them like chips.
08:11We hadn't even left the classroom.
08:13The class watched in disbelief.
08:15Is she serious?
08:17That's a week's worth of cultivation resources, and she just fed all of it to the fox?
08:21Did she even listen in class?
08:22Magic animals have slow growth cycles.
08:25You're not supposed to rush them.
08:26The mana crystals are supposed to be for her own cultivation.
08:29The white fox bonded with her for nothing.
08:31Some students should note, mana crystal applications are limited.
08:37The school won't give you more if you waste them.
08:40He was clearly talking about me.
08:41I smiled pleasantly.
08:43Understood, sir.
08:44Honestly, in my past life, I'd always been generous with the bear.
08:47Most students kept a 4 to 1 ratio for themselves.
08:51I split everything 50-50.
08:53Equals deserved equal shares.
08:55But this?
08:55Nineteen for Leo.
08:57One for me.
08:58This was something else entirely.
09:00It wasn't generosity.
09:02It was self-preservation.
09:04Because Leo and I had a blood pact.
09:06A standard equal bond meant one partner's death didn't affect the other.
09:09A blood pact was different.
09:10If Leo froze to death on day one of the apocalypse, the same way the white fox died in my
09:14past life, I died too.
09:16Leo's survival wasn't kindness.
09:18It was my only chance to live.
09:20The mana crystals were an investment in not dying.
09:24After class, students scattered to train on their own.
09:27I carried Leo toward the exit, and Victoria stepped half in front of me.
09:31I know you've been reborn too, she said.
09:33This time, the cold resistance belongs to me.
09:37Then I hope you enjoy it.
09:39You and your useless little fox can look forward to freezing on day one.
09:43I gave you a chance to be useful to me.
09:45You threw it away.
09:46Leo peeled open one eye from inside my arms, completely unimpressed.
09:54Victoria's composure shattered instantly.
09:56She stumbled backward.
10:00What is wrong with you?
10:01Get that disgusting thing away from me!
10:04I turned and walked away, barely holding in a laugh.
10:06The mana crystal problem was serious, though.
10:09I needed a massive supply, and I needed it fast.
10:12I was thinking about it, absently pulling at Leo's fur, when I remembered.
10:16Before the ice apocalypse hit in my past life, a news outlet had exposed a small mana vein.
10:21Based on timing, nobody should have found it yet.
10:25When I reached the rough coordinates I'd memorized, Victoria was already there.
10:33She'd brought twenty-plus workers, and they were already mine in a vein.
10:37I stood at the outer edge and watched them haul out crystal after crystal.
10:42Leo pressed its nose to the window.
10:44I covered Leo's eyes.
10:46Low-quality crystals here.
10:47Let's go find something better.
10:49Then, from somewhere inside my head, a voice crackled to life.
10:54I stopped walking.
10:55Sis, is that you?
10:57You can do telepathy now.
11:00Victoria spent serious resources on me.
11:03I can project thoughts directly.
11:06Sis, take Leo and find somewhere to rest.
11:09Once they're done mining and clear out, I'll call you back.
11:12I finished the mental exchange and came back to the present moment.
11:16A very large, very imperious fox face was approximately two inches from my nose.
11:22Leo had both front paws planted on my shoulders.
11:26What were you doing just now?
11:28You were mentally cheating on me.
11:31I grabbed it by the scruff, and I squeezed one soft cheek by way of reprimand.
11:36Leo, watch your voculary.
11:38I'm not wrong.
11:39I can smell the bear on your thorns.
11:42Was that the chunky low knife?
11:43I raised an eyebrow.
11:45Sharp nose.
11:46For your information, Leo continued voice climbing.
11:49When a white fox makes a blood pact with someone, that person is their bonded maid.
11:53For life.
11:54You can't have secret meetings with a brown bear.
11:58Yeah, you're a child.
11:59Do you even know what to partner means?
12:01Leo's eyes immediately filled with tears that refused to actually fall.
12:05It waved its tiny paws in what appeared to be an angry, thrashing, swimming motion.
12:09I leaned forward and stuck my tongue out at it.
12:12A small, damp nose pressed against my cheek.
12:15Before I could react, the culprit had already retreated.
12:18Voice very small.
12:19I kissed you.
12:21That means you're mine now.
12:22Nobody else is allowed to kiss you there.
12:24Leo had just made a move on me.
12:26A very small, very smug, very baby-toothed move.
12:30I pulled myself together and went to find somewhere to wait.
12:32I reclined in the car with the air conditioning running, watching a nature documentary on the
12:37center screen.
12:38The documentary put me to sleep almost immediately.
12:41When I woke up, it was dark.
12:45Right on cue, the bear's voice appeared in my head.
12:49Sis, come now.
12:51They're gone.
12:52Leo was staring up at me, suspicious and accusatory.
12:55My conscience flickered.
12:57This was exactly the energy of someone who'd just been caught.
13:00We were just talking.
13:02I'm not listening.
13:03I'm not talking to you for the rest of the day.
13:05Just as the bear had said, the area was empty.
13:09All that remained was a concealment formation to hide the vein's location.
13:13The bear deactivated it from inside and poked its head out.
13:17Sis, over here.
13:18It had grown enough to speak clearly.
13:20The white fox in my arms took one look at the bear and immediately bared its teeth.
13:25Leo's going through a phase.
13:27The bear took the lead.
13:29That thing is a fake, nice snake in the grass.
13:32Get your hand off me.
13:33I'm going to bite it.
13:34I am biting it today.
13:36Riley, don't hold me back.
13:38It went on like that for a while.
13:41I didn't address it.
13:42I looked at the bear.
13:44Its aura drifted quietly around it, steady and calm.
13:47I released Leo and let it jump to the ground.
13:50Leo hit the dirt, spun around, and stared at me.
13:53Its expression said it had not expected me to actually let go.
13:57It shuffled forward at approximately the speed of a very indignant caterpillar.
14:02Every few steps, it looked back at me.
14:04On its fourth look back, it hesitated.
14:07You're not stopping me?
14:08What if your little buddy gets actually hurt?
14:39I glanced at the bear's aura.
14:40Finally, it walked back and sat down next to my feet.
14:44Fine.
14:44You showed good remorse this time.
14:47I'll let the secret meeting go.
14:50But don't let it happen again.
14:52Inside the vein, the bear had divided the crystal stockpile into three piles.
14:56One very small pile for itself, a medium small pile, and a pile roughly the size of a small hill.
15:03Leo's eyes went green, literally luminous.
15:06This is all I need, sis.
15:09A voice in my head.
15:10Okay, that chunky thing is definitely not in two.
15:14Sis, this one's for your cultivation.
15:17And that one's for my little sibling.
15:19The bear pointed to the medium pile and the mountain.
15:21Riley, it does not have feelings for you.
15:24I have been worried for nothing.
15:26Run everything through the romance filter, don't you?
15:29I do not.
15:30I flicked Leo on the forehead.
15:31I said simply,
15:33Mana crystals.
15:34Leo went quiet and well-behaved immediately.
15:37If we take all of this, won't Victoria figure out it was you?
15:41She does everything I say right now.
15:45Full compliance.
15:46Victoria stared at the hollowed-out vein with all the color drained from her face.
15:51You used all of it?
15:52You used every single crystal?
15:54The bear sat on its haunches, eyes wide and guileless.
15:58Under the rules of its master-servant bond, it only had to give basic responses.
16:03The truth was not required.
16:04I don't know.
16:05I was asleep all night.
16:06Maybe the vein just ran dry on its own?
16:09Victoria shook with rage.
16:10She brought her entire crew back and tore the cave apart.
16:14Not a single crystal shard remained.
16:17She stared at the bear for a long time.
16:19Something felt wrong.
16:20She could tell.
16:21But the bond formation read completely normal.
16:23The bear's cultivation aura showed no irregularity.
16:26She had no choice but to swallow it.
16:29Useless, she snapped.
16:30I just left you for a moment, and you couldn't even hold off a bunch of stones.
16:34The bear let its ears droop.
16:36Internally, it was ecstatic.
16:38It sent a message to me.
16:39Sis, she tried to hit me just now.
16:42The bonds punished her for it.
16:44Hidden in the brush nearby, I pressed my face into Leo's fur to muffle my laughter.
16:50Good.
16:50She tried to steal from us.
16:51The traitor earned it.
16:52I tugged one of its ears.
16:54Don't call the bear that.
16:55It's our teammate.
16:57It looked away.
16:58But its tail quietly curled around my wrist, warm and soft and completely involuntary.
17:04Once Victoria and her crew were gone, we slipped into the cave.
17:07The bear had already bundled the crystal stockpile with vines.
17:10Multiple bundles.
17:12Organized and ready.
17:13Sis, these should keep the little one fed for a while.
17:17Leo's eyes locked on the pile and did not move, and started crunching.
17:21The sound echoed through the cave like someone eating gravel.
17:24We loaded the crystals into the car.
17:26They filled most of the trunk.
17:27The bear couldn't come with us.
17:29It had to stay and keep up the performance.
17:31Before we left, it said,
17:32Sis, the apocalypse is ten days out.
17:34Stock up on supplies.
17:35Be careful.
17:37Don't let her spot the cracks in your act.
17:41The bear grinned in its easy, unbothered way.
17:44She does whatever I tell her.
17:45We're fine.
17:46We drove back.
17:47Leo sat in the passenger seat with a crystal in both paws, crunching contentedly.
17:52Like a squirrel that had found an entire winter's worth of food in one afternoon.
17:58Watching it, I thought about the bear in my past life, always saving the best of everything
18:03for me.
18:04The shape of that care was different now, but the feeling was the same.
18:08Back in the city, I skipped my apartment and went straight to the largest supermarket
18:12in the room.
18:13I loaded two carts with everything useful.
18:15Compressed ration bars, canned goods, bottled water, instant food.
18:22Leo rode in the cart, pointing.
18:24More of those chocolate ones.
18:25And the meat jerky, the spiced kind.
18:28I loaded both.
18:29The store staff watched me with visible unease.
18:32I didn't slow down.
18:33In ten days, none of this would matter to them anyway.
18:35Beyond food and water, I grabbed thermal underlayers, sleeping bags, flashlights, batteries,
18:41lighters, a few sharp kitchen knives, a hand axe.
18:44Anything with practical value in sustained sub-zero conditions.
18:48Two full cart.
18:49I drove home to my apartment and spent an hour hauling everything upstairs.
18:52The living room, the bedroom, the balcony.
18:55All of it stacked floor to ceiling.
18:57Leo sprawled across a pile of chocolate bars.
18:59Its tail swayed slowly.
19:01I collapsed onto the couch, completely winded.
19:06Not bad.
19:07You actually know how to shop.
19:10These are retinif only.
19:12Our survival supplies.
19:14The next several days, I took Leo to different locations every day and kept stocking up.
19:19The pharmacy, cold medicine, fever reducers, antibiotics, bandages, antiseptic.
19:25The outdoor supply store, a tent, climbing rope, anti-slip boots.
19:29A hardware store for gas canisters and basic tools.
19:33My apartment ran out of space.
19:35I rented the unit next door and the one upstairs.
19:37Both became storage.
19:39Victoria texted a few times, cheerful and fake, asking how I was doing, casually mentioning that
19:45her brown bear had broken through to tier two.
19:48I sent her three word replies.
19:50I already knew.
19:52Everything the bear showed her was deliberate.
19:55Every breakthrough was calculated theater, designed to keep her compliant.
20:00Leo's growth was outpacing everything I'd projected.
20:03It ate crystals, slept, and woke up noticeably larger each time.
20:07It had started out the size of a kitten.
20:10Now it was halfway to the size of a medium dog.
20:13Its fur had deepened to a white so pure it was almost blinding.
20:17And its eyes had shifted from pale to a vivid, saturated crimson.
20:22The kind of beauty that made it hard to look away.
20:25Its cultivation aura was also deepening fast.
20:28Something close to tier three was stirring at the edges.
20:32I was combing through Leo's fur when it went still.
20:35Something's happening.
20:38In my bloodline, there's pressure building.
20:42My pulse jumped.
20:43The white fox in my past life had never awakened any ability at all.
20:48It died before it had the chance.
20:50Was this what happened when you gave a white fox proper resources and a blood pact?
20:55An early awakening?
20:56Don't force it, I said quietly.
20:59Let it come on its own.
21:01Leo closed its eyes.
21:02A soft, white light kindled across its fur.
21:06The mana crystals around it began losing their glow.
21:09All that energy pouring steadily into Leo's body.
21:12A small spiral of concentrated mana formed around it, rotating slowly.
21:18Its fur stood up along its spine.
21:20Its tail filled out further, the individual hairs catching the light like fiber-optic threads.
21:26An hour passed.
21:28The light faded.
21:29Leo opened its eyes, and there was something new in them.
21:33I awakened.
21:34What did you get?
21:35Leo tilted its chin up, tail flicking with casual superiority.
21:39A small, perfectly formed spike of ice materialized from empty air and dropped to the floor with a clean, crystalline
21:48tap.
21:48Ice manipulation and void storage.
21:51I stared.
21:53Ice manipulation.
21:54In an ice apocalypse, an ice affinity ability wasn't just useful.
21:59It was like being native to the environment everyone else was trying to survive.
22:03And void storage.
22:05One of the rarest abilities in existence.
22:08In my past life, people with spatial abilities could name their price at any base.
22:14Every faction wanted them.
22:16Leo, I said, and pulled it into a hug.
22:19I kissed the top of its head without thinking.
22:22Leo's ears went crimson.
22:23Its entire body locked up for half a second.
22:26Then it twisted away, deeply offended.
22:30Stop doing that.
22:32Its tail, however, had already wrapped around my wrist again.
22:35The same involuntary habit.
22:38I smiled and squeezed its cheek.
22:40My little highness is absolutely terrifying.
22:44We're going to be fine out there.
22:46Leo made a dismissive sound and climbed back into my lap to resume eating crystals.
22:52Three days out from the apocalypse, the temperature had already started dropping.
22:56Daytime lows were hitting negative 15.
22:59People on the street moved fast, buried in their puffer coats.
23:03News coverage was starting to pick up on the anomalous cold snaps.
23:07Experts offered competing theories.
23:10Extreme weather pattern.
23:11Greenhouse rebound effect.
23:13Nobody said what was actually happening.
23:16Nobody saw what was coming.
23:18Victoria called.
23:20She sounded casual and then deliberately didn't.
23:23Riley, my bear just hit tier 3 peak.
23:26Almost to tier 4.
23:27I'll be able to take care of myself once things get rough.
23:31A pause pointed.
23:32How about you?
23:34Has your little fox even hit tier 1 yet?
23:37It's fine.
23:39Tier 3, roughly.
23:41Silence on the other end.
23:43Then a short, dismissive laugh.
23:45Riley, you don't have to make things up.
23:48White fox maturation timelines are long.
23:50There's no world where it's already tier 3.
23:53Another pause.
23:54Look, if things get too hard, you can come to me.
23:57You can work for me.
23:59I'll keep you alive.
24:00I hung up.
24:02Leo was lying next to me, expression flat.
24:05She thinks tier 3 peak is impressive.
24:08It said.
24:09When I hit tier 4, I could end her or run her.
24:12I scratched behind its ear.
24:15Don't get careless.
24:16Victoria is reckless, but her family has real reach.
24:19When the apocalypse hits, she'll have numbers.
24:22We play it smart.
24:23Leo pressed its nose down onto its paws, still eating crystals.
24:28Those last 3 days, I didn't go out.
24:30I stayed home with Leo, and we trained together.
24:33Leo had already gotten a solid handle on his void storage.
24:36The space inside wasn't enormous, roughly the size of a basketball court,
24:40but more than sufficient for supplies.
24:42We loaded the majority of what I'd stockpiled into the void.
24:46My own cultivation was moving faster than I'd expected.
24:49The blood pack shared mana flow between us, and with the crystals on top of that,
24:53I'd pushed to tier 2 mid-level.
24:56Not close to Leo or the bear, but solidly mid-range for a human practitioner.
25:01The night before the apocalypse, the temperature had already dropped to negative 30.
25:05Outside, the snow came in heavy, diagonal sheets, and the wind sounded like something screaming.
25:11I stood at the window and looked at the city disappearing under white.
25:15In my past life, I had been so afraid, so completely alone.
25:19This time, I had the bear, and I had Leo.
25:23That was enough.
25:24Leo came and pressed against my leg.
25:26Its head reached my hip now.
25:28Stop stressing.
25:30It said.
25:31I'm here. Nobody touches you.
25:33I crouched down and pulled it close.
25:35I know. We're going to make it.
25:37The bear checked in through telepathy.
25:39Sis, Victoria, and her people have retreated to her family's underground facility.
25:44Good supplies. Good infrastructure.
25:47I've already made some adjustments now.
25:49We'll figure out what that means once the apocalypse hits.
25:52Good work. Stay safe.
25:54I didn't sleep.
25:56When morning came, the world outside had ended.
25:58Negative 50 degrees.
26:00The window panes had cracked from the cold, ice flowers blooming across the glass.
26:05Outside, cars had frozen into sculptures.
26:07People who had been caught in the streets were down and still.
26:10The power grid was gone.
26:12Communication networks were gone.
26:13The city was silent.
26:14The ice apocalypse had arrived.
26:16I layered on everything I had, pulled on my hat and gloves, held Leo against my chest, and walked out
26:22of the apartment.
26:23The wind hit my face like something solid.
26:25A burning cold that cut through even the layers.
26:27But Leo and I both had cultivation auras as a buffer.
26:30Leo's ice manipulation shaved off another layer of the cold on top of that.
26:34We could bear it.
26:35The streets were a wreck.
26:37Abandoned vehicles everywhere.
26:38Frozen bodies half buried in the drifts.
26:41Mutant beasts prowled the snow between the cars.
26:43Eyes sharp and predatory, tracking us as we passed.
26:47The apocalypse had done something to the wildlife.
26:49The extreme cold triggered genetic shifts.
26:52And what came out the other side was faster, meaner, and far more adapted to the temperature than anything that
26:58had existed before.
26:59Leo dropped out of my arms.
27:00Its body expanded in one smooth motion, doubling in size.
27:04The white fur settled, dense and wind-resistant.
27:07Its eyes locked onto the nearest creature with the calm of something that had already decided the outcome.
27:12You're looking at my person.
27:14Bad call.
27:15Its tail swept sideways.
27:17Six ice spikes launched simultaneously.
27:20They punched through the throats of the closest mutants before any of them could react.
27:24The bodies dropped and were still.
27:26Completely ridiculous.
27:27Completely dramatic.
27:28Completely reliable.
27:29We moved toward the city center.
27:31That was where the survivor base was.
27:32In my past life, the government had organized several large-scale shelters in the weeks after the apocalypse hit.
27:38The central base was the biggest and the safest.
27:41Two hours on foot.
27:42Then the base appeared through the blizzard.
27:45A ring of steel walls rising over ten meters.
27:48Soldiers posted on the upper walkways with rifles, scanning the perimeter.
27:52A crowd of survivors was already queued at the gate.
27:55We joined the line.
27:56The couple ahead of us had a baby pressed to the woman's chest.
27:59The baby was crying.
28:01The woman's face was hollow.
28:03The man looked like he hadn't slept in days.
28:06The woman said to the soldier at the checkpoint,
28:08She hasn't eaten in three days.
28:09The soldier's expression didn't move.
28:12Entry requires a resource payment.
28:14Ten pounds of food, five bottles of water, or one warm garment.
28:18No exceptions.
28:20The man's voice cracked.
28:21Everything we had was taken by a mutant pack.
28:24We have nothing left.
28:27Please.
28:29Policy is policy.
28:30The woman started crying.
28:32The baby cried louder.
28:33I'd been there before.
28:35I knew what it felt like when every door was shut and there was nothing left to bargain with.
28:40I reached into my pack and pulled out two cans and a water bottle.
28:43I held them out to the couple.
28:45Use these for your entry fee.
28:47They turned around.
28:49The woman looked at me.
28:50You're a good person.
28:51You're a good...
28:52I smiled and didn't say anything.
28:54Leo made an irritated noise beside me.
28:56You're going to keep doing this, aren't you?
29:00Helping complete strangers.
29:01We might need a stranger's help someday too.
29:04Leo said nothing more.
29:05But it didn't argue.
29:07When we reached the checkpoint, the soldier looked at Leo and went wary.
29:11Handed over five pounds of rations.
29:14Is that enough?
29:15The soldier checked it.
29:17Nodded.
29:18You can go in.
29:19We were almost through the gate when a familiar voice called from behind us.
29:23Riley!
29:25I turned.
29:26Victoria was pushing through the crowd, surrounded by a cluster of people, with the brown bear
29:30walking calmly at her side.
29:32She was wearing an expensive puffer coat, her face perfectly composed and confident.
29:36Her group had weapons.
29:38I didn't expect you to make it this far.
29:40She looked me over with a slow, deliberate appraisal.
29:42I guess that fox of yours isn't completely decorative.
29:45Leo's fur went electric.
29:47Its body expanded, hackles lifting, lips pulling back.
29:51Say that again.
29:52Victoria took a step back without meaning to.
29:54Then collected herself and shifted behind the bear.
29:57The bear stepped forward and positioned itself between them.
30:00It glanced at me.
30:01Its expression said,
30:02I know.
30:03I tried to stop her.
30:04She wouldn't listen.
30:05I looked back at it and gave a small signal.
30:08Not now.
30:08Too many people.
30:09What happens to us in there has nothing to do with you.
30:12I said and pulled Leo toward the gate.
30:15Hold on.
30:15Victoria's voice sharpened.
30:16Riley, you think a tier 3 fox is enough to hold any ground in there?
30:21This base runs on strength.
30:22My bear is tier 4.
30:23That makes me the top of the food chain here.
30:25You have two options.
30:27Fall in line and work under me, or I make sure you can't move in this base without running into
30:31a wall.
30:31The crowd around the gate had started paying attention.
30:34Tier 4 was rare in the early apocalypse.
30:36People recognized what that meant.
30:38I let the moment sit for exactly one breath.
30:41Then I looked at Leo.
30:42Leo understood without being told.
30:44Its cultivation aura detonated outward.
30:47Tier 4 pressure rolled across the gate plaza like a physical force.
30:51The snowflakes still drifting in the air simply stopped moving.
30:55The cold deepened noticeably.
30:56Several people stumbled back.
30:58Victoria's face lost its color.
31:01That's not possible.
31:03How is your fox already tier 4?
31:05Leo tilted its chin up to a frankly insufferable angle.
31:09You assumed your bear was the ceiling, embarrassing the stake.
31:12The bear chose that moment to release its own tier 4 aura alongside Leo's.
31:17Two tier 4 signatures layered together.
31:20The crowd scattered back from the gate, half of them barely staying upright.
31:24Victoria stood there, mouth open, staring between Leo and the bear.
31:28The bear, which was supposed to be hers, aligned with the girl she'd been trying to humiliate.
31:34She tried to form words, couldn't find them.
31:36I walked through the gate with Leo and the bear on either side of me, and left Victoria and her
31:41group at the entrance with whatever was left of the impression she'd tried to make.
31:45Inside, we were brought to a registration desk.
31:48Name, cultivation tier, magical animal.
31:50The soldier processing our forms looked at Leo's tier 4 listing, then at the bear's, and spent a long moment
31:55saying nothing.
31:56Then the professionalism kicked back in, somewhat overcorrected.
32:01Ms. Riley, with two tier 4 familities, you qualify for our highest tier accommodations.
32:05We'd like to offer you a room in the VIP wing.
32:07Independent room, heating system, full resource allocation.
32:10That works.
32:11Can I get an additional room for my companion?
32:13Of course.
32:14Absolutely.
32:15Right away.
32:15The soldier escorted us to the VIP wing.
32:17It was its own building, near the center of the base.
32:20Inside, functioning radiators, hot water, a private bathroom, a small kitchen, a sitting area.
32:26The soldier handed me a keycard and stepped back with the careful deference usually reserved for people who could level
32:31buildings.
32:32I opened my room and started pulling supplies out of Leo's void storage.
32:36Organized the space, stacked what we needed.
32:38Leo jumped onto the couch and stretched its full length, tail hanging off the edge.
32:43Finally, that walk was miserable.
32:45The bear appeared in the doorway, eyes warm.
32:48Victoria and her group got assigned to general housing.
32:52Leave her alone.
32:53Let's rest and get our bearings.
32:54Over the following days, we mapped the base.
32:57Around 5,000 survivors.
32:59The majority were civilians with no cultivation ability and no magical animal.
33:03A small fraction had some level of training and bonded mates.
33:06The base ran a strict allocation system.
33:08Resources distributed by contribution level and cultivation tier.
33:12Victoria established herself quickly.
33:14The tier 4 bear was enough to pull in followers.
33:17And she assembled a decent sized crew within the first week.
33:19She used them to push people around.
33:21The kind of entitlement that survives context changes because it was never really about context.
33:27One afternoon in the base cafeteria, she walked in with her group and found us eating.
33:31You have some nerve.
33:33These rations are for people who actually contribute.
33:35Not passengers who coast on the strength of their magic animal.
33:38Leo set down its jerky strip.
33:39Its eyes went flat.
33:40Repeat that.
33:41Victoria was visibly unnerved, but committed.
33:44I called you a passenger.
33:46Your fox got lucky hitting tier 4.
33:47That doesn't make you anything special.
33:49I set my chopsticks down, stood up, and said...
33:51Then let's settle it.
33:52If you win, I don't set foot in this cafeteria again.
33:55If I win, you leave the base and stop terrorizing everyone in it.
34:00Victoria's expression lit up.
34:01She'd wanted this for days.
34:04Deal!
34:04Don't cry when you lose.
34:06People crowded in from three directions.
34:08We moved to the training yard.
34:10Victoria summoned the bear in front of me, arms crossed, smiling.
34:14You go first.
34:15I'll be generous.
34:16I looked at Leo.
34:18Show her, little highness.
34:19Leo expanded to full size.
34:21The tier 4 aura hit the arm and tossed weight.
34:25It launched itself at Victoria's tail.
34:27The bear rucked and met it head-on.
34:30Ice spikes against bear claws.
34:32The impact sounds concussive.
34:34The training yard floor, spider webbing, cracks from the force.
34:39But Victoria's bear had no real combat death.
34:42Leo did.
34:43And beyond experience, Leo's ice affinity directly countered the bear's earring.
34:49Crossed against Teru.
34:51Leo controlled the pace of the entire fight from the first exchange.
34:55Victoria screamed from the sidelines.
34:58Pin harder!
34:59Kill it!
35:00The bear tried.
35:01It was already coming back.
35:03Leo moved faster than it could track, the ice in the air responding to Leo like an extension
35:09of its own body.
35:10One massive tail strike caught the bear square and launched it across the rock.
35:15It landed hot, with blood in the snow.
35:18It didn't get back up.
35:20Leo landed, turned, and looked at Victoria with no expression.
35:24Anything else?
35:25Victoria stared at the bear on the ground.
35:28Her composure had completely disintegrated.
35:31It's possible.
35:32My bear can't lose.
35:34I walked up to her.
35:36You made a bet.
35:37Honor it.
35:38Take your people and go.
35:40Victoria looked at the crowd around her.
35:43At every face watching.
35:44At every person she'd pushed around for the past week.
35:48Her expression went through several colors.
35:51Then, she grabbed the injured bear and walked.
35:53The base watched her leave.
35:56That night, the bear came back on its own.
35:58It stopped at the edge of our shelter and looked at me.
36:01Victoria hadn't wanted it.
36:03She'd only ever wanted to win.
36:05I let it.
36:06With Victoria gone, things settled quickly.
36:09Our position in the base became something people organized around instead of something
36:13they resented.
36:14Survivors approached us.
36:15A lot of them.
36:16I didn't take everyone.
36:17I looked for people with usable skills and genuine character.
36:21Eventually, we had a small, functional team.
36:23We ran daily operations.
36:25Resource runs outside the walls.
36:27Mutant beast hunts.
36:28Leo's ice control and void storage were decisive in both.
36:31The bear handled direct engagement.
36:33I coordinated and covered flanks.
36:36The team filled in around us and learned fast.
36:38Mutant beasts had energy cores in their bodies.
36:41Dense, crystallized patterns.
36:43Both the cultivation resource and the base's functional currency.
36:47We found supply caches that others had missed.
36:49Brought back more cores than any other team.
36:52Leo's tiered had a climb.
36:53Tier 5 came quickly.
36:55Its ice domain expanded.
36:57Able to suppress an entire zone.
36:59Slowing enemy movement and attack ships inside.
37:02The void storage grew larger.
37:04The bear hit tier 5 too.
37:06My own cultivation reached a tier 4 mid-level.
37:09Then, the temperature dropped again.
37:11Negative 80.
37:12Supermormers, stronger vehicles.
37:14Reports from other bases.
37:15Some had been overwhelmed.
37:17Others had collapsed from starvation.
37:19The pressure on our base was closing.
37:21The mutant waves at the walls were hitting the target.
37:23The more the waves.
37:24Our team became the base's first line of the base.
37:27During one of the large-scale defense operations,
37:30something came out of the storm that stopped everyone cold.
37:33A tier 6 mutant snowball.
37:36Massive.
37:36White-furred and yellow eyes.
37:39Perfectly adapted in a way that suggested the coal is no longer its environment, but its element.
37:45It hit the outer wall at speed and punched straight through the defense line.
37:50Soldiers scattered.
37:51The walkway section nearest the bridge was cleared in seconds.
37:55This is bad.
37:56My stomach dropped.
37:58A tier 6 and the wolf's legs was something we hadn't planned for.
38:02Leo and the bear exchanged one look.
38:05Both moved at the same time.
38:06Leo drove ice spikes into the wolf's path and froze its legs to the ground.
38:10The bear closed the gap and brought both forefathers down hard.
38:15The wolf broke the ice restraints faster than either of them had anticipated.
38:18It lunged sideways and locked its jaws on the bear's shoulder.
38:22The bear's blood hit the snow.
38:25Bear!
38:25My voice came out louder than I meant it to.
38:28Leo saw the blood and something shifted.
38:30The temperature around it dropped independently of the ambient cold.
38:34It called up a full ice storm.
38:36The biggest construct I'd seen it produce.
38:38It brought it down directly after the bear.
38:41The wolf released the bear and came up to the sword head off.
38:44A defensive blood clearing wiped out his body.
38:48A collision and a detonation.
38:49The shockwave threw every soldier within 20 meters off their feet.
38:53The wolf had taken a serious wound.
38:56Deep enough that blood was running steadily into the snow.
38:59But it was still moving.
39:00And now, it was furious.
39:03It wheeled and drove at Leo.
39:05I made the call.
39:06Letting this drag on wasn't an option.
39:08Every additional exchange cost us money.
39:11I reached into my pack.
39:12Pulled out the hand axe.
39:14I ran my cultivation through my arms until I could feel it pushing at my joint.
39:18And I threw the axe directly at the wolf's left eye.
39:21It hadn't expected a human to engage in that way.
39:24It turned too late.
39:25The axe connected.
39:27The wolf screamed.
39:28A sound that rolled across the base walls.
39:30And thrashed its head violently.
39:32Leo took the opening.
39:33I saw it straight down.
39:36Clean.
39:36The wolf's body settled into the snow and went still.
39:39We stood there for a moment, breathing.
39:41The bear's shoulder wound was deep.
39:43I had the antiseptic and bandages out before anyone else moved.
39:47Leo was on the ground.
39:48Sides heaving.
39:50Cultivation reserves nearly empty.
39:52Sists?
39:52Leo said, lifting its head toward the wolf's remains.
39:56That core is going to be something.
39:58I extracted it.
39:59It was the size of a closed fist.
40:02Tier 6.
40:03Enough concentrated energy inside to push Leo's cultivation to a level we hadn't projected for months.
40:09Back at the base gate, the facility director was waiting to receive us personally.
40:13Without us, the wolf would have been through the walls and into the civilian sectors.
40:17Leo spent the next several days absorbing the tier 6 core.
40:20Tier 6 came steadily, and with it, Leo's ice domain became something else entirely.
40:25Inside the field, it could now project.
40:27Every enemy was running at a fraction of normal capacity.
40:30Movement slowed.
40:31Attack force dropped sharply.
40:33The cold inside the field was a different kind of cold from the ambient apocalypse temperature.
40:37It had intent behind it.
40:39The bear's wound closed, and its cultivation pushed to tier 6 as well.
40:43Its defensive strength reached a point where smaller mutants couldn't break through even without active effort.
40:48My own cultivation crossed into tier 4 peak during that same stretch.
40:52Not comparable to either of them, but functional enough to contribute real value in a fight.
40:56We were the strongest team in the base.
40:59People came looking for us constantly.
41:01I kept filtering.
41:02The ones I added were worth adding.
41:04The mutant incursions kept escalating.
41:06Tier 6 became the new baseline outside the walls instead of the exception.
41:09Other survivor bases sent messages when they still could, and those messages grew more desperate.
41:15Some stopped coming altogether.
41:16We started ranging further out on our supply runs, into the deeper city where higher tier mutants had settled,
41:21and where the ruins held things worth finding.
41:23That was how we found the ancient ruin.
41:26The structure shouldn't have been there.
41:28It predated everything around it by what felt like centuries.
41:31The architecture didn't match anything currently in use.
41:34The interior was layered with old formation arrays, pressure-sensitive trap zones,
41:38and guardian beasts that hadn't been active in a long time, but had woken up when we came in.
41:43We moved carefully.
41:44Some of the traps caught us anyway.
41:46The guardians were tough.
41:48A different kind of tough from the mutants outside.
41:50Older, more deliberate, less wild.
41:52We took losses in terms of supplies and time, and a few team members needed serious recovery afterward.
41:59But we came out the other side.
42:00Deep in the ruin, past the densest section of guardian formations, we found two things.
42:05A cultivation manual.
42:07Ice system, high grade.
42:09Title?
42:10Frost God Codex.
42:11And a sword.
42:12Ice-forged, single-edged.
42:14The blade holding a sustained cold that made the air around it visible.
42:18Bound to an ice practitioner.
42:19Both were meant for Leo.
42:21After Leo absorbed the Frost God Codex and bonded the ice sword, its cultivation moved faster than I could track.
42:28Tier 7 came within days.
42:30Its ice manipulation had crossed from skilled into something that felt more like fluency with a fundamental force.
42:35It could project a full glacier construct now.
42:38Hold it.
42:39Shape it.
42:40Move it.
42:40In combat, it summoned a faint reflection of something vast and cold above itself.
42:45A presence that made enemies hesitate before they understood why.
42:48The bear found a high-grade Earth system manual in the same chamber.
42:52Earth Warden Codex.
42:54Tier 7 followed shortly after.
42:56Its defensive capability became nearly absolute at close range.
43:00The ground responded to it in ways that were useful in ways we were still discovering.
43:03My own cultivation, drawing on the dense ambient energy inside the ruin, broke through to Tier 5 mid-level.
43:10We left the ruin, carrying more than we'd expected to find, and returned to the base to prepare for the
43:15next phase.
43:16Because we had decided.
43:17We were done staying in one place.
43:20Before we left, we distributed the base's stored supplies to the civilians.
43:24The ones who couldn't fight, who had no familiar, who had survived this far by nothing except luck and stubbornness.
43:30We left them what we could.
43:32Then, we loaded our team into a convoy of modified SUVs, every vehicle packed with supplies and equipment, and drove
43:38out.
43:39The road was what the apocalypse had made of it.
43:41Stripped vehicles, frozen terrain, weather that shifted from brutal to catastrophic, and back without warning.
43:47Mutants on every major route.
43:49Survivors in varying states of desperation allowed them to live.
43:53We didn't run from any of them.
43:54Leo's ice domain covered a wide enough radius to make a convoy defensively on the moon.
43:58The bear took point in the lead vehicle's cargo bed.
44:01Our team had developed into something cohesive.
44:04People knew their roles, executed them, adjusted without needing to be managed.
44:08The enemies that came at us found out quickly that the cost wasn't worth it.
44:12We drove through city after city.
44:14In each one, we looked for survivors.
44:16We pulled out the ones who could be helped, assessed the ones who wanted to join us, turned away the
44:20ones who were dangerous.
44:21The convoy grew.
44:23Dozens became hundreds.
44:24We found our location in a valley that sat inside a mountain dream.
44:28Flat ground in the center, multiple resource nodes within range, defensible perimeter with natural geographic support on three sides.
44:35We built steel and stone for the outer wall, formation arrays adapted from techniques we found across our travels, running
44:42along every section.
44:44Armories, a cultivation training area, a medical facility, storage warehouses with rotation schedules,
44:50a residential district laid out for actual human habitation, not just survival stacking.
44:56The system we ran.
44:57You contributed.
44:58You received.
44:59Roles were assigned based on skill and inclination.
45:02Resources were distributed based on what you did with your time.
45:05The ratio was transparent and applied to everyone equally, including us.
45:09We formed a dedicated hunting team and a dedicated exploration team.
45:14The hunters ran operations against the mutant populations in our range, bringing back cores and raw materials.
45:20The explorers ranged out to ruins, dead city blocks, and resource points, returning with supplies and occasionally something significant.
45:28As the base grew, so did its reach.
45:30The names spread outward through whatever communication network still existed in the apocalypse.
45:35Survivor channels, word of mouth, other bases making contact.
45:39People arrived in groups, sometimes in large groups.
45:43We took the ones worth taking and built the capacity to house and integrate them.
45:47The base became something that people talked about in terms of whether it was real.
45:51A place in the ice apocalypse where the structure didn't collapse under pressure.
45:56Where you ate if you contributed.
45:58Where the walls held.
45:59Victoria dropped off the map entirely after leaving the first place.
46:03Some accounts said she hadn't survived the weeks that followed.
46:06Others said she'd found another faction to attach herself to and was someone else's problem.
46:12Neither version concerned us particularly.
46:14Whatever happened to her, happened somewhere that wasn't our business anymore.
46:18I stood on the wall one evening, looking down over the base.
46:21The light was wrong for the apocalypse.
46:24Too warm.
46:24Coming from the fires and the lanterns and the lit windows of the residential block.
46:29People were moving in the streets, talking, working.
46:32A few were laughing, which still felt strange every time I heard it out here.
46:38Leo pressed its flank against my leg.
46:40It had grown into something that came up past my waist now.
46:44And its fur in the firelight looked less white than Lucas.
46:47The way fresh snow looks in the dark.
46:50The bear stood a few meters down the wall, watching the same scene.
46:54Ears relaxed.
46:55Posture easy.
46:56In my past life, I had lost everything.
46:59I had survived the early apocalypse alone, holding onto a bear I loved.
47:04And even that had been taken from me before the end.
47:07This time, I had come back with the memory of all of it.
47:11Every mistake.
47:12Every moment I had been too slow or too trusting or too unprepared.
47:16I had used all of it.
47:17And what I had now, I had built from it.
47:20There was Leo, who had crashed into my life by biting my hand and never really let go.
47:25Who was absurd and dramatic and thin-skinned about everything and completely, unflinchingly
47:30there when it mattered.
47:32There was the bear, who had recognized me across a classroom in another life and blinked
47:36twice to tell me it remembered.
47:38And had then spent the next months doing what it always did, watching my back without being
47:42asked.
47:43There was a base full of people who were alive because we had gotten to them in time.
47:47Or because we'd built something worth surviving inside.
47:50The ice apocalypse was still out there.
47:52The cold hadn't broken.
47:54The mutants kept evolving.
47:56There were still ruins we hadn't opened, and threats we hadn't identified.
48:00And territory we hadn't mapped.
48:02But I had stopped counting the days until things got better, and started measuring what
48:06we were building.
48:07The world was still frozen.
48:09We were still standing in it.
48:10And we were going to keep standing.
Comments