Arthur stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the other students at the edge of the barrier, his eyes locked on the dusty arena floor. Next to him, Isoreth watched with a cold, analytical detachment.
Alexa was the first to move. She stepped into her command circle, her eyes flashing a deep violet as she thrust her hand forward. "Emerge Umbralon!"
The shadows beneath her feet stretched, violently twisting upward before solidifying into a massive, panther-like beast composed of living black aura. It was easily the size of a grown man, its eyes glowing with an eerie, predatory amber. A floating holographic display from the arena's scanner instantly flickered to life above its head:
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Summon: Umbralon (Beast-Type)
Current Rank: Bronze-Tier
Fortitude: 3.4
Growth Potential: 5.6
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Not bad for a baseline awakening. But Christoffer didn't look remotely impressed. He stepped into his own circle, a cocky sneer plastering his face.
"Don't get embarrassed too quickly, cousin," he mocked, channeling his mana. A massive, runic magic circle erupted on the dirt. "Ironjaw!"
With a deafening, earth-shaking howl, a monstrous wolf clad in thick, bone-white fur and jagged armor plates burst from the light. It towered over the shadow panther, its fangs dripping with acidic saliva. The scanner updated:
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Summon: Direwolf (Beast-Type)
Current Rank: Silver-Tier
Fortitude: 5.8
Growth Potential: 7.7
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The crowd let out an appreciative collective gasp. A 5.8 Fortitude at awakening was a massive head start. Arthur leaned against the rail, a cynical thought crossing his mind. Pitting cousins against each other on day one. The academy really loves its psychological drama.
Arthur watched closely from the sidelines as the match began. Unlike seasoned summoners who could seamlessly link their minds with their beasts to execute high-tier tactical skills, these two were still raw. They didn't know how to channel active abilities through their cores yet. This wasn't a battle of refined magic, but a chaotic dogfight dictated by simple verbal commands and primal instincts.
"You can begin!" Mr. Touchimani droned.
"I won't go easy on you simply because we share a last name, Christoffer!" Alexa yelled, her face setting into a determined scowl. "Umbralon, attack!"
Christoffer smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Try your best, punk. You won't even touch my wolf. Tear the bitch apart Ironfang!"
The Umbralon moved first, a blur of sleek, liquid darkness as it charged across the dusty field. The Direwolf let out a deafening, gravelly snarl and lunged forward to meet it halfway, the ground trembling under its massive paws.
What followed was a brutal exhibition of speed versus raw power.
Because they lacked advanced skill commands, the beasts relied entirely on their natural traits. The Umbralon immediately used the shifting shadows cast by the afternoon sun to its advantage. Just as the Direwolf lunged with gaping jaws, the shadow panther fluidly ducked into the wolf's blind spot, blending into the darkness of its flank.
Slash!
The panther's claws left a glowing trail of dark deep scratches across the wolf's thigh.
"Get away from it! Swing around!" Christoffer barked, his smirk faltering as the wolf snapped at empty air.
The Umbralon was relentless. It used the terrain perfectly, darting from shadow to shadow, weaving under the wolf's belly, and scoring quick, stinging bites. Despite the Direwolf being clearly stronger and tougher, the panther's shadow-meld gave it a terrifying edge. It looked like an upset was brewing as the wolf grew visibly frustrated, its white fur stained with black mana burns.
"Pin it down! Now!" Christoffer roared, losing his temper. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
Alexa saw her chance. "Finish it! Throat bite!"
The Umbralon leaped from the shadows, aiming straight for the Direwolf's neck to completely pin it. But the difference in base Fortitude was an insurmountable wall.
The Direwolf didn't try to dodge. It braced itself, absorbing the impact as the panther slammed into its chest. With a growl of pure, unadulterated dominance, the wolf used its superior physical mass to completely overpower the panther mid-air. It swatted the Umbralon down with a heavy, bone-crushing paw, slamming the shadow beast into the dirt.
A sickening thud echoed across the field as the wolf immediately threw its massive weight on top of the panther, its jaws clamping tightly onto the shadow beast's shoulder, crushing its form. The Umbralon shrieked, its obsidian body flickering violently as its health gauge flatlined.
"Winner: Christoffer Vance," Mr. Touchimani announced, barely looking up from his clipboard.
Alexa bit her lip, reluctantly recalling her dissipated panther back into her rift, while Christoffer's smirk returned tenfold as his wolf let out a victorious howl.
Up on the elevated VIP podium, Mrs. Alger and her assistant immediately began scribbling notes on their glowing tablets, likely analyzing the pacing, reaction times, and core stability of the two Vance cousins.
"Well, that was a pretty shitty fight. Very boring indeed," Mr. Touchimani sighed into his wind mic, rubbing the back of his neck with an expression of pure, unadulterated exhaustion. He tapped his holographic clipboard, his eyes scanning the next randomly generated pair. "Let's speed this up. Next up... Cade Maddok. And... Isoreth Godolkin."
Isoreth's lips curved into a sharp, beautiful grin. "Finally. My turn."
Arthur opened his mouth, wanting to say something standard like 'good luck.' But the words caught in his throat as he realized she didn't need it. Not even a little bit. She was carrying the undeniable heavyweight champion of the freshmen class inside her soul rift.
As a pale, anxious-looking boy named Cade Maddok reluctantly dragged his feet to the opposite command circle, Isoreth stepped up to hers with the grace of a queen ascending a throne. She didn't shout or dramaticize. She simply snapped her fingers, her core flaring with a brilliant, blinding blue light.
The temperature in the massive arena plummeted instantly. The dusty ground beneath her feet froze solid, frost spreading across the dirt like a spiderweb.
From a rupture of freezing mist, her wyvern materialized. The beast was an absolute masterpiece of natural destruction, stretching a staggering twenty-five feet long from its snout to the tip of its blade-like tail. Its pristine scales looked like armor carved from solid glacier ice, reflecting the stadium lights with a blinding, diamond-like sheen. Two massive, leathery wings folded neatly against its sleek, muscular body, kicking up gusts of freezing wind as they settled. Its piercing sapphire eyes locked onto the arena with the natural, chilling arrogance of an apex predator.
The holographic scanner above the beast practically flashed in warning:
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Summon: Frost-Vein Wyvern (Dragon-Kin / Beast-Type)
Current Rank: Gold-Tier
Fortitude: 8.7
Growth Potential: 9.8 (Platinum-Tier)
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Cade looked at the towering ice dragon, let out a massive sigh, and shoulders slumped. "Damn. Talk about discouraging. But hey, what kind of summoner would I be if I just curled up and cried without a fight?"
He braced his legs, channeling his own mana into a heavy, muddy brown circle. "Drag your ass out here, Gunther!"
The ground groaned. Bursting from the upturned earth came a hulking, terrifying creature. It stood nearly fifteen feet tall, a monstrous, heavily armored juggernaut resembling a bipedal mountain bull. Its entire upper torso was encased in natural, stone-like black plates, and two massive, twisted horns wrapped around its skull like a crown of jagged rock. It looked like a living fortress built out of granite and muscle.
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Summon: Black Golem-Hide Caprin (Demihuman / Beast-Type)
Current Rank: Silver-Tier
Fortitude: 5.9
Growth Potential: 8.0
"It's like a dung beetle staring down an eagle," Arthur murmured from the sidelines. Despite the sheer size and impressive, heavy armor of Cade's beast, the disparity in their raw aura was overwhelming. The wyvern hadn't even unfolded its wings, yet its mere presence was already suffocating the giant stone bull.
"Begin!" Mr. Touchimani's voice lacked any real enthusiasm, but the crowd's collective breath hitched regardless.
"Gunther, don't let it take flight! Heavy Impact Charge!" Cade roared, desperately trying to seize the initiative before the dragon-kin could claim the sky.
The fifteen-foot juggernaut let out a guttural, earth-shaking bellow. It lowered its massive, stone-crowned head and charged, its hooves tearing up massive chunks of the arena dirt. As it accelerated, the earth mana surrounding it fractured. In a brilliant burst of muddy light, the Caprin split into three identical shadow clones, all four behemoths rushing forward in a coordinated, crushing wall of stone and muscle.
The Wyvern stood perfectly still, its sapphire eyes tracking the rumbling stampede with nothing short of absolute disdain. It didn't lift a claw. It didn't flare its wings.
"Glacial Breath," Isoreth commanded, her voice smooth and entirely unbothered.
The Wyvern unhinged its jaws. Instead of a standard, localized blast, it merely exhaled a casual, sweeping mist of pure sub-zero energy. The fog rolled over the arena floor at a terrifying speed. Instantly, the dirt in front of the charging Golems flash-froze into a perfectly smooth, thick sheet of solid, mirror-like ice.
Running at full sprint with tons of momentum, the real Caprin and its three clones hit the ice sheet. Their heavy hooves lost all traction. The clones' legs buckled violently, their massive bodies skidding out of control and crashing hard into the frozen ground. The illusions shattered into dust upon impact, leaving the lone, original Caprin sliding helplessly across the ice on its side, completely defenseless.
Before the beast could even attempt to find its footing, the Wyvern pivoted with fluid, predatory grace.
Its massive, blade-tipped tail whipped through the air like a localized hurricane. The heavy, ice-hardened appendage struck the sliding Caprin squarely in the ribs with a deafening CRACK.
The sheer kinetic force of the blow lifted the fifteen-foot monster entirely off the ground. Gunther flew sideways across the arena, smashing heavily into the reinforced barrier field, which rippled with violent golden energy before the beast slumped into the dirt, completely unconscious.
"Winner: Isoreth Godolkin," Mr. Touchimani announced.
Cade dropped to his knees with a groan, immediately recalling his battered stone bull into his rift. "Yeah, figured that would happen," he muttered to himself.
Isoreth didn't celebrate. She simply gave her Wyvern a dismissive nod, causing the majestic beast to dissolve into a swirl of beautiful frost particles, and walked calmly back toward the sidelines, her eyes locking straight onto Arthur with a smirk.
Mr. Touchimani didn't even wait for the frost particles from Isoreth's wyvern to completely settle before he tapped his holographic tablet again.
"Alright, that was slightly less boring," the instructor muttered into his wind mic, his voice echoing over the stunned silence of the stadium. "Let's keep the momentum going before I fall asleep standing up. Next match... Sidwig Gudgeon versus... Arthur Cole."
A sudden, sharp ripple of whispers cut through the student section. Heads turned in unison, eyes darting between the front row where Sidwig stood and the back corner where Arthur was leaning against the railing.
Up on the VIP podium, Mrs. Alger sharpened her posture, her eyes narrowing as she grabbed her digital stylus. Beside her, Principal Kalik set his coffee mug down completely, peering intently through his round-rimmed glasses. The unclassified wildcard was finally stepping onto the field.
"Yes! Finally!" Sidwig barked, letting out a raucous, mocking laugh as he violently cracked his knuckles. He turned to Christoffer, throwing him a celebratory high-five. "The gods are good, man. I get to put this little charity case back in the dirt where he belongs."
Sidwig strutted down the steps, intentionally flexing his arms as he marched into his designated command circle, his chest puffed out like a rooster.
Arthur didn't move immediately. Beside him, Isoreth paused, her sharp sapphire eyes locking onto his face. The playful smirk she usually wore faded into something more calculated.
"Don't hold back," she whispered, her voice low enough that only he could hear."Good luck. Give him hell."
Arthur offered her a small, quiet smile, one that carried absolutely zero anxiety. "Don't worry. I plan to."
He stepped away from the railing and walked down the steps, his hands casually shoved into his pockets. He felt the heavy, suffocating weight of dozens of judgmental, mocking gazes locking onto his back, but he didn't care. With every step he took toward his command circle, the rhythmic, powerful pulse of the soul link in his mind grew stronger.
He stepped into his circle, facing Sidwig across the dusty expanse.
"Both summoners, call forth your beasts," Mr. Touchimani commanded, his bored eyes flickering with a sudden, hidden trace of curiosity as he looked at Arthur. "Let's see what we're working with."
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