Kael stood outside the arena entrance with Nyx on his left and Rexia on his right.
Across the field, Lucian Veyr waited beside the Bloodsteel Mantis.
Finn stood a few steps behind Kael, arms folded.
“You’re still doing this.” Kael glanced at him.
“Why wouldn’t I?” Finn lowered his voice.
“Because the person who’s been investigating your beasts is about to fight you.” “Maybe.” “That isn’t reassuring.” Kael looked across the arena again.
Lucian was calm.
Too calm.
The anonymous notes remained in Kael’s pocket.
He had read both enough times that he no longer needed to look at them.
One claimed his beasts weren’t from Greenriver.
The other asked how many more he could obtain.
Dangerous questions.
But questions weren’t answers.
Whoever sent the notes still didn’t know about the Infinite World Tree.
Didn’t know about the Pocket Worlds.
Didn’t know about unlimited contracts.
And Kael intended to keep it that way.
“Actually,” Kael said, “this is useful.” Finn stared.
“How?” “I get to study him without looking suspicious.” Finn considered that.
Then sighed.
“I hate when your bad ideas sound reasonable.” Kael smiled faintly.
A soft scrape came from the arena entrance.
Lucian approached.
Alone.
The Bloodsteel Mantis remained behind him.
“I’ve wanted this match,” Lucian said.
Kael studied his face.
No hint of mockery.
No reference to the notes.
“Because of Nyx?” Lucian glanced toward Rexia.
“Not anymore.” Kael’s suspicion sharpened.
Rexia immediately noticed the attention.
Her golden eyes narrowed.
Lucian smiled.
“Two rare beasts in less than a month.” “Unknown doesn’t automatically mean rare.” “No.” Lucian’s gaze returned to Kael.
“But unusual things are rarely worthless.” Nyx shifted.
Kael rested a hand against its armored neck.
Lucian noticed.
“You’re cautious.” “I prefer careful.” “Same thing when hesitation becomes habit.” Kael raised an eyebrow.
Lucian looked toward his Mantis.
“Rare beasts are wasted on Beast Masters who hesitate to use them.” Kael’s expression cooled.
“And what happens when the beast doesn’t want to be used?” For the first time, Lucian’s smile changed.
Not much.
Enough.
“Then the Beast Master failed to establish authority.” Silence.
Finn stopped smiling.
Kael looked at the Bloodsteel Mantis.
It stood perfectly still.
Waiting.
Not relaxed.
Not curious.
Waiting.
Kael returned his gaze to Lucian.
“I think we’ll disagree on a few things.” “I expect so.” Lucian turned.
“Good.” He walked toward his side of the arena.
Finn leaned closer.
“I officially dislike him.” Kael almost smiled.
Then Lucian raised one hand.
A second contract mark appeared.
The arena murmured.
Something dark emerged beside him.
Long.
Heavy.
Scaled.
A serpent nearly five meters in length coiled across the ground.
Black metallic scales reflected the sunlight.
Two pale fangs extended from its upper jaw.
Finn’s expression changed.
“He has a second beast.” Kael watched carefully.
Gravecoil Serpent.
He recognized the species from class.
Control-type beast.
Venom.
Constriction.
Territory denial.
The formation became obvious.
Bloodsteel Mantis.
Execution.
Gravecoil Serpent.
Control.
Lucian.
Command.
Kael exhaled.
“Nyx.” The Xenomorph lowered itself.
“Hunt.” Its posture changed.
“Rexia.” Rexia’s claws dug into the ground.
“Break.” Approval hit through the bond.
Kael tightened his grip on his spear.
“Anchor.” The bell rang.
Lucian didn’t attack.
He waited.
Kael waited too.
Then Lucian said one word.
“Divide.” The Gravecoil Serpent moved.
Not toward Kael.
Between them.
Its long body swept across the arena, forcing Rexia one direction and Nyx another.
Kael immediately understood.
Lucian wasn’t trying to defeat the beasts first.
He was breaking Kael’s formation.
Nyx moved left.
The Serpent’s head turned.
Kael frowned.
Nyx hadn’t revealed itself.
Yet Lucian already knew where it wanted to go.
The Bloodsteel Mantis remained beside him, blades raised.
Kael felt the trap.
No blind angle.
No simple flank.
Lucian had watched his previous matches.
Rexia charged.
The Serpent shifted.
She changed direction.
It shifted again.
Kael’s eyes narrowed.
He’s not fighting Nyx.
He’s not fighting Rexia.
He’s fighting me.
Nyx attempted another route.
The Serpent blocked it.
Kael moved forward.
Lucian smiled.
“There you are.” Steel flashed.
Kael barely raised his spear.
CLANG.
Lucian’s sword struck hard.
Kael retreated half a step.
Too slow.
Lucian followed.
Another strike.
Kael blocked.
Third.
His wrists hurt.
Lucian’s technique was clean.
No wasted force.
No dramatic movements.
Just pressure.
Kael countered.
Lucian stepped aside.
The Bloodsteel Mantis moved simultaneously.
Nyx launched.
Its tail struck one blade.
The Mantis twisted.
The other blade caught Nyx’s flank.
Not deeply.
Enough.
Kael felt irritation through the bond.
Then the Gravecoil Serpent lunged.
Nyx jumped.
The serpent’s coils passed beneath it.
Lucian didn’t look away from Kael.
“Your beast is predictable.” Kael’s jaw tightened.
“Nyx isn’t.” “No.” Lucian’s sword slid against Kael’s spear.
“You are.” That landed harder than the weapon.
Rexia attacked the Serpent.
The Gravecoil moved again.
Rexia stopped.
Watched.
Kael felt something shift in her mind.
Observation.
Pattern.
Lucian noticed her too.
The Serpent coiled.
Rexia didn’t attack.
She stared at Lucian.
Then at the serpent.
Then back.
Lucian’s eyes narrowed.
“That beast thinks.” Kael blocked another strike.
“All beasts think.” “Not like that.” Rexia moved.
Not toward the serpent.
Toward the space behind it.
The Gravecoil shifted automatically.
Exactly where Lucian wanted.
Rexia stopped.
Watched.
Again.
She wasn’t attacking the beast.
She was studying the command pattern.
Good.
Kael almost smiled.
Then Nyx found an opening.
It burst forward.
Straight for Lucian.
Lucian didn’t dodge.
“Mantis.
Guard.” The Bloodsteel Mantis intercepted.
Tail against blades.
Claw against steel.
Nyx attacked again.
The Mantis deliberately accepted a glancing strike to its armored shoulder.
Kael saw it happen.
Too late.
“Nyx!” The Gravecoil Serpent struck from behind.
Its coils wrapped around Nyx’s hindquarters.
Kael felt the pressure.
Pain.
Lucian had sacrificed his Mantis’s position to trap Nyx.
Cold anger entered Kael’s chest.
Nyx felt it.
Its aggression spiked.
Kael immediately forced himself calm.
No.
Not like this.
He wouldn’t turn Nyx into something reckless just because Lucian treated his own beast like a disposable shield.
“Nyx.
Control.” Nyx froze for half a second.
Then changed.
No rage.
No panic.
It twisted inside the coils, using its tail rather than claws.
Good.
Lucian was already on Kael.
Sword struck spear.
Kael stepped back.
Again.
Again.
He was losing ground.
Finn watched from the stands.
His hands gripped the railing.
“Kael’s losing.” Damian stood nearby with his Thunder Griffon.
“Right now.” Finn looked at him.
“That’s not comforting.” “It isn’t supposed to be.” On the arena floor, Kael changed formation.
Hunt.
Break.
Anchor.
Nyx attacked.
Rexia pressured.
Kael held center.
Lucian answered everything.
Mantis blocked Nyx.
Serpent redirected Rexia.
Lucian drove Kael backward.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Too clean.
Too prepared.
Kael suddenly understood the problem.
Lucian had already solved Anchor–Break–Hunt.
Because Kael kept using it.
Rowan’s voice returned.
Give them objectives.
Not movements.
Kael had followed that.
Then made the roles rigid.
Hunt always hunted.
Break always broke.
Anchor always anchored.
Predictable.
Kael stopped.
Lucian’s sword came.
Kael blocked.
Then smiled.
Lucian noticed.
“What?” Kael didn’t answer.
He sent one thought.
Not Hunt.
Not Break.
Not Anchor.
Just— Win together.
Nyx went still.
Rexia’s eyes sharpened.
Then everything changed.
Nyx moved openly.
No stealth.
No attempt to flank.
It charged the Bloodsteel Mantis directly.
Lucian reacted immediately.
“Mantis.
Hold.” Exactly what Kael wanted.
Rexia disappeared into the mist of churned dust near the serpent.
Not truly invisible.
Enough.
Lucian looked toward Nyx.
Wrong direction.
Rexia backed toward the arena boundary.
The Gravecoil followed.
“Bind.” The serpent lunged.
Rexia waited.
Waited.
Then jumped aside.
The Gravecoil’s own momentum carried its front half too far.
Rexia slammed both forelimbs onto its body.
Pinned.
Lucian’s battlefield control broke.
His expression changed.
Only slightly.
Nyx attacked the Mantis again.
Tail.
Claw.
Feint.
The Mantis blocked each.
But something was different.
Lucian’s commands had to travel.
Nyx didn’t wait for Kael.
It made its own decisions.
The Mantis was technically superior.
Nyx was freer.
Kael saw it.
So did Lucian.
Nyx attacked high.
The Mantis guarded.
Nyx abandoned the strike before contact and swept low.
The Mantis adjusted a fraction too late.
Its leg buckled.
Kael moved.
Lucian intercepted.
Their weapons collided.
This time Kael was ready.
One strike.
Two.
Kael didn’t try overpowering him.
He let Lucian press.
Then stepped inside.
Exactly as Rowan had taught.
Spear shaft caught Lucian’s sword arm.
Turn.
Lucian’s balance shifted.
Kael’s spear came up.
For one second— He had him.
Then something struck Kael’s ribs.
The Gravecoil’s tail.
Rexia hadn’t fully immobilized it.
Kael flew.
His spear left his hand.
The world rolled.
He hit the arena floor.
Air vanished from his lungs.
“Kael!” Finn’s voice sounded far away.
Rexia abandoned the serpent.
Nyx abandoned the Mantis.
Both moved toward him.
Lucian saw the opening.
“Mantis.
Finish.” The Bloodsteel Mantis charged.
Nyx intercepted.
Metal screamed against tail armor.
Rexia stood over Kael.
Protective.
Furious.
Kael looked up at her.
She could have kept the serpent pinned.
Nyx could have kept pressure on the Mantis.
They might have maintained advantage.
Instead, both chose him.
Pack first.
Winning second.
Something inside Kael settled.
He pushed himself up.
“I’m fine.” Rexia didn’t move.
“I said I’m fine.” Reluctantly, she stepped aside.
Kael retrieved his spear.
Across the arena, Lucian waited.
His Mantis had fresh damage.
The Gravecoil Serpent struggled to fully recover position.
Lucian was breathing harder.
Still composed.
Still dangerous.
Kael stood.
One final exchange.
They both understood.
Kael moved first.
Lucian met him.
Spear against sword.
Nyx pressured the Mantis.
Rexia attacked the serpent.
Kael stepped left.
Lucian turned.
Kael feinted high.
Lucian blocked.
Kael swept low.
Lucian jumped.
Kael twisted.
Spear knocked the sword aside.
Opening.
Kael thrust.
Lucian shifted closer rather than retreating.
Wrong range.
Kael realized too late.
Lucian hooked Kael’s ankle.
Pulled.
Kael fell.
The Bloodsteel Mantis broke away from Nyx.
One blade stopped at Kael’s shoulder.
At the same instant— Nyx’s tail stopped at Lucian’s throat.
Rexia pinned the Gravecoil’s neck.
Silence.
Nobody moved.
Instructor Hale raised his hand.
“Hold!” The arena froze.
Hale looked toward the Mantis.
Then Nyx.
Then Kael.
“First decisive threat…” A pause.
“Bloodsteel Mantis.” Kael already knew.
“Winner—Lucian Veyr.” The crowd erupted.
Kael remained on the ground.
For several seconds, he stared at the sky.
Then he laughed.
Quietly.
Finn stared from the stands.
“Why is he laughing?” Damian smiled.
“Because now he knows.” Lucian moved the Mantis away.
Then extended his hand.
Kael looked at it.
Accepted.
Lucian pulled him up.
“Your beasts are extraordinary.” Kael glanced toward Nyx and Rexia.
“So are yours.” Lucian’s expression remained calm.
“Mine obey.” Kael looked at the Bloodsteel Mantis.
Then the Gravecoil Serpent.
Then back at his own companions.
“Mine choose.” Lucian’s smile disappeared.
Only for a heartbeat.
Then returned.
“Perhaps that’s why you lost.” Kael smiled faintly.
“Maybe.” Neither looked away.
Later, Finn found Kael outside the arena.
“You’re taking this suspiciously well.” “I lost.” “I noticed.” “Good.” Finn stared.
“Good?” “Now I know what to fix.” Damian approached.
Finn immediately pointed.
“Don’t say good.” Damian paused.
Then said: “Good.” Finn groaned.
Kael laughed.
That evening, Rowan listened to the entire match description.
Then said something Kael didn’t expect.
“You don’t have a two-beast team.” Kael frowned.
“I literally used two beasts.” “No.” Rowan pointed toward Nyx.
“You have Kael-and-Nyx.” Then Rexia.
“And Kael-and-Rexia.” Kael became still.
Rowan continued.
“They trust you.” “Yes.” “They know you.” “Yes.” “Do they know each other?” Kael looked toward his beasts.
Nyx and Rexia were currently competing over who could reach a hanging strip of meat first.
Not deeply enough.
Rowan nodded.
“That’s your weakness.” Kael understood.
If his future really held dozens of companions…
He couldn’t simply bond with each individually.
They needed bonds with one another too.
Pack.
Real pack.
Not temporary battlefield labels.
That night, Kael compared the anonymous notes again.
He also found Lucian’s official match form among publicly posted records.
Different handwriting.
Not even close.
Finn noticed.
“That proves he’s innocent?” “No.” “He could disguise it.” “Exactly.” Finn sighed.
“Wonderful.” The mystery remained.
Kael hated that.
He also respected it.
Better uncertainty than a wrong assumption.
Far from the academy dormitories, inside the spectator district, an unfamiliar man closed a notebook.
Ordinary coat.
Ordinary face.
Nothing memorable.
He had watched the entire match.
Nyx.
Rexia.
Kael.
Two biological lines absent from every known archive.
Unusual synchronization.
Adaptive combat.
He wrote one sentence.
Subject possesses two unregistered biological lines.
Further observation warranted.
Then closed the book.
A black ring rested on his finger.
For one moment, when he adjusted it, the inner surface became visible.
A dark circle.
Partially covered.
An eclipse.
Then it disappeared beneath his sleeve.
Kael knew none of this.
That night, he entered the Infinite World Tree.
Nyx appeared beside him.
Rexia followed.
Kael approached the third bud.
He expected silence.
Instead— Click.
Three red dots appeared on his chest.
Nyx growled.
Rexia lowered herself.
Kael didn’t move.
The leaf opened slightly.
For the first time, the figure beyond it became clear.
Tall.
Humanoid.
Broad shoulders.
A mask covered its face.
Something rested over one shoulder.
Blades extended from one wrist.
Thick tendril-like strands hung behind its head.
Kael stared.
The creature stared back.
No hostility.
Evaluation.
Then impressions came.
Not through a contract.
Through the leaf.
Defeated.
Kael’s jaw tightened.
Then— Learned.
Pause.
Continued hunt.
Kael slowly smiled.
“So that’s what you wanted.” The red dots disappeared.
Click-click.
Then something appeared beneath the forming leaf.
Not an egg.
A small object floated in darkness.
Metallic.
Angular.
A mask.
Kael stepped closer.
Nyx hissed.
Rexia growled.
The masked hunter beyond the leaf tilted its head.
And somewhere inside the third world…
the hunt continued.