'But even that is not the main reason behind why the kingdoms of Anfang fear the shapeshifters.'

Eren narrowed his eyes as he listened to Altashia. A range of thoughts kept forming in his head before disappearing just as quickly. But he didn't say a word hinting Altashia to continue. The latter did just that.

'But even that is not the main reason behind why the kingdoms fear the shapeshifters. You have to understand that the power of shapeshifting doesn't belong to this world. Humans can't shapeshift by the natural order of this world.

They say that whenever someone taps into the power of shapeshifting, they corrode this world's consciousness and allow a foreign world's mana and consciousness to seep into it.

I don't know what that entails. But considering the measures taken by all the establishments in unison despite all their grievances and conflicts, we can assume that it's not something good.'

Altashia said and looked at Eren who was seen smoking while immersed in thoughts of his own. Her gaze focused on his lips for a moment, remembering the kiss they had just shared. She then looked at his facial expressions and realized that he wasn't thinking anything even remotely related to that moment.

'How stupid of you, Altashia. Of course, it's not a big deal for him. It's only a big deal for you because it was your first kiss. That guy must have'

Altashia wandered off on a different tangent for a while in her head before coming back to the point of getting discussed between them.

'The blood ritual is you validating a demon beast's existence in this world under your name as the native resident of this world. It's sort of like you are making the beast an extension of yourself so that it doesn't get treated like an outsider. You are taking responsibility for that beast.

In return, the demon beast's personality changes when you bind it with yourself through the blood ritual. The beast absorbs a part of your existence and personality. That's why the tamed demon beasts are often a lot like their masters.

That freedom-loving individuality you see in Argo? A part of it is the beast itself. However, your personality also played a role. Or a facet of it at least.

The demon beast becomes loyal to you and only you, who is a native of this world. And by that extension, it becomes loyal to this world because you are part of this world.

As for why such a deep bond gets created between the demon beast and their tamers? Well, if something is an extension of your existence, why would you not feel attached to it? Will you ever feel detached from one of your limbs?'

Eren nodded his head in affirmation after hearing Altashia's response. He didn't get why demon beasts were treated as outsiders of the world. They were supposed to be just mana beasts with higher intelligence. So he started hypothesizing in his head.

'Were the mana beasts getting possessed by something foreign to the world resulting in the creation of demon beasts? If so, why are demon beasts vulnerable to being bound by rankers at the time of their ranking breakthrough? Does something happen when they are breaking through? Do they lose some form of protection at the time of their breakthrough?'

These were the assumptions Eren had come up with after reading through a lot of information he had collected from various sources in his past and present timelines. Nina's explanations about foreign mana along with Altashia's statements created a blurred picture for him that could only get clearer as he kept on learning new things.

"One last question, Altashia. Is it possible for a ranker to get bound with more than one demon beast?"

Eren narrowed his eyes looking at the void. This was the last doubt he had. He knew his guess in this matter was spot on. Still, he wanted to confirm.

"Um no. Not by normal methods at least. The lost paths of mana may contain cultist methods that I am not aware of. But they would also have negative side effects for rankers with more than one mana beast. And they should be apparent from the very moment someone tries doing something like that."

After confirming something in her head, Altashia spoke. As if she was trying to read something she had come across a long time ago. She took a short pause before continuing.

"Normally, if someone tries to blood bound a second demon beast, their mind breaks and the blood ritual fails. Even demon beasts don't come out unscathed from this. Their mana cores get destroyed and most just die. There are plenty of records regarding this very thing, tried by cultists and rogue rankers. The records are available in my family's ancestral library. So this is something I can say with confidence.

Why are you asking though? It's not like you would always get lucky and find another demon beast by chance. Hehe."

Altashia chuckled and looked at Eren who was also smiling. The latter was smiling for a different reason though.

While Altashia was explaining things to Eren, he suddenly remembered that he was technically bound with two demon beasts. Which, to his knowledge, was something that was considered nearly impossible.

He didn't feel any negative side effects of having been bound with the second demon beast. His mind was as clear as it was before Argo was hatched. Ago seemed to be in good shape as well.

He then remembered Eliza calling Reen a clean slate. One of her traits as a demon beast was supposed to create zero-conflict with any form of elements, mana or existence. She was created to keep this world's consciousness from seeping into her very being.

It meant that her bloodline powers gave him the ability to transcend the limits set for ordinary rankers. He realized why he was so compatible with foreign magic after he got over the initial rejection.

'Clan of Samael and its last scion Eliza. I don't know what you were thinking by creating someone like Reen. But your legacy I'll show you how it should be used.'