The final match of Phase Two.
Serena Storm versus Kain Newman.
Every seat in the College arena was filled. The stands rippled with an almost electric anticipation, a blend of cheers, hushed murmurs, and nervous laughter. Everyone knew what this match meant. Rank #1 would finally be decided—no ties (hopefully), no score draws, no system loopholes.
Only one winner (again, hopefully)
And many people, at least based on the betting pool established by Elias, are also betting on a change in the owner of the throne.
The Queen will be stepping down to crown a new King.
Kain stood on one side of the stage, arms crossed and eyes narrowed in scrutiny as he examined the crowd before him. Almost as if he were already the ‘King’ of his year and was looking out at all of his ‘subjects.’
Pft. Snicker.
Kain stiffened at the mental chuckles that rang out in his mind. Annoyingly, with each person Bea entered and the more memories she absorbed, her intelligence and range of emotions also seemed to be increasing.
Meaning that this punk now knew how to laugh at Kain when picking up on some of his more conceited thoughts!
‘The taste of delusional brain waves isn’t as appetizing. You need to be knocked back down to reality,’ Bea justified.
Eye twitching in annoyance, Kain looked away from the audience at his opponent.
Serena stood opposite him, straight-backed, elegant, unreadable as always. Her pale white hair drifted slightly in the air and glowing under the late-afternoon sun like a halo.
They didn’t speak. They didn’t need to.
The crowd fell into a hush as the referee stepped forward to begin the opening procedures and raised a hand. “The final match between Kain Newman and—”
But he never got to finish.
Before the word could leave his mouth, Serena’s spiritual aura flared.
No. Flared wasn’t the right word.
It exploded.
A sudden, violent pressure cracked through the air like a silent thunderclap, knocking loose tiles from the arena floor. The sheer force of it pressed against the lungs of every spectator in the front rows. Students gasped, some staggering back.
Kain’s eyes sharpened. “What the hell…”
A vortex of spiritual energy coiled around Serena’s body. Wind whipped her hair into a wild, silvery halo, but despite the force of the ‘wind,’ her feet were rooted firmly in place like a spear sunk into the earth.
He stepped forward instinctively, almost without thinking.
‘Is she…?’
It didn’t make sense.
This wasn’t a skill. It wasn’t a flashy entrance. This was—
“Is she trying to break through here?!” the referee finally yelled, staggering back in shock due to the increase in the pressure of the aura emanating off of her.
The poor ref almost wanted to cry. Back then he’d prepared for months, done therapy, extensive meditation, and even used all kinds of crystals and blessed items that were supposed to increase one’s luck (but had no scientific basis). All to increase his chances of successfully breaking through to being a 5-star beast-tamer.
Now this little girl was just nonchalantly breaking through on stage?!
The crack in his heart (and his self-esteem) was practically audible.
But Kain thought differently. He knew Serena better than anyone else.
Breaking through in the middle of a battle? On an open stage, with no barrier, no safety nets, no dedicated guard to protect you? It was practically suicide. The process was unstable even in perfect conditions. A single disruption could backfire catastrophically—best case, she’d lose consciousness. Worst case…
‘She’s not that stupid,’ Kain thought, brows furrowed. ‘She wouldn’t do this. She knows better.’
And then—
He saw it.
Her aura didn’t rise with the wild desperation of someone pushing toward a breakthrough.
It surged with the confidence of someone who had already passed that threshold.
Slowly, the pieces slid into place in his head.
She wasn’t breaking through now.
She already had.
At some point during the last couple weeks—probably soon after the relic, if he had to guess and based on the fact that her control of the aura was still unstable—she must have advanced to 5-stars.
That chaotic pressure wasn’t the birth of power.
It was power being unsealed.
“She suppressed her strength,” Kain muttered, lips thinning into a frustrated line. “She’s been pretending to be stuck at 5-stars this whole time.”
The referee seemed just as confused. He hadn’t said anything to start the match. Hell, he hadn’t even officially confirmed their readiness before her aura detonated like that and he really wasn’t sure if this turn of events was within the bounds of the Re-ranking Tournament rules.
Kain exhaled slowly, steadying his thoughts.
‘Okay. Okay. She broke through. Big deal. I’m not exactly a slouch here.’
After all, his aura was calm. Stable. He hadn’t just recently broken through—he had consolidated his realm, stabilized his star space, and was fully in sync with all his spiritual creatures.
Serena’s aura, by contrast, still appeared unstable. It was fierce, yes, but it lacked refinement. Not to mention, it may actually be a con for her. If she lacks control over her spiritual power, she may not even be able to activate the spiritual skills she was used to using.
‘It’s like a toddler wielding a giant hammer. Just because her weapon is bigger, it doesn’t mean it’s actually more effective’
He could work with that.
‘She’s got power now. But she hasn’t had time to fully adjust. That’s my edge.’
A faint grin tugged at the corner of his lips.
Besides—
He focused, scanning the energy signatures of the three contracts she’d always used and had boarded the stage with her: the Starweaver, the Prismarin, and the Elemental Guardian.
Still green-grade.
Unmistakably.
‘They didn’t have time to break through with her,’ Kain concluded with relief. ‘She must’ve used a method to conceal her own breakthrough, but it doesn’t appear as though she concealed the strength of the others as well.’
Even if Serena was now a 5-star beast-tamer, it is unlikely that she now has another contract, so these should be all of the weapons she has at her disposal.
Meaning—
‘I still have the advantage. Two blue-grade contracts, and five in total. She’s still stuck at three green-grade ones.’
But then—
She did something he didn’t expect.
Something she had never done.
She summoned a fourth contract.
A swirl of light erupted behind her.
The stadium collectively gasped.
A creature emerged from the light.
The creature resembled a scale—the kind found in ancient halls of law—but polished to a mirror-like shine. Its two balance plates hovered on either side, held by thin chains that glowed faintly with spiritual power. In the middle of the scale, a vaguely human face was carved into the metal. Its eyes glowed faintly, and it slowly turned its gaze toward Kain. It looked almost the exact same as the last time Kain saw it…maybe a little shinier? The only major difference now was a ring of sigils Kain was unfamiliar with now etched around its base, glowing and rotating with each pulse of its aura.
It floated forward and… smiled stiffly using its expression carved into metal.
It could barely even be recognized as a ‘smile’
But Kain knew it was smiling based on his familiarity with it. Well, a smirk full of schadenfreude directed at Kain may actually be the more accurate description.
It was clearly pleased with their successful deception.
The pressure it released was immediate. Cold. Alien. Unrelenting.
The audience buzzed.
Whispers swept through the crowd like wildfire.
“Is that—?”
“Wait, she had a fourth contract all along?”
“What is that thing?!”
Kain’s brow furrowed.
He knew what it was.
Balens.
Her initial contract. He’d met it a long time ago, but never has it been shown in public before.
The one contract that she rarely summoned. The contract whose uncontrolled side-effects made even her afraid.
Because of its “wishes.”
Because of the risk of collateral damage.
Because it never targeted enemies alone.
The announcer’s voice crackled through the arena speaker, breathless and unsure. “I-I believe what we’re seeing may be a rare classification of spiritual creature… possibly an Emanascion.”
Another ripple spread through the crowd. Some were asking what an Emanacion even was, since they were so rare and then exclaiming in awe once it was explained to them.
The term wasn’t common, so it was understandable that they didn’t all know.
Most beast-tamers would never see one in their lifetime.
An Emanascion wasn’t a specific species. It was a designation.
The word came from Old Imperial. It meant “concept given form.” These creatures weren’t born through natural processes. They weren’t bred, or hatched, or summoned from the wild.
They were born from spiritual phenomena. The embodiment of an idea so intense that it gained shape.
They were all unusual and had extremely high potential.
Most of them were unstable. Incompatible with taming. Even violent.
But some—rarely—could be bound.
Balens was one of them.
Kain’s jaw clenched.
He wasn’t afraid of the crowd’s reaction. He wasn’t even surprised by the announcer’s reveal about its identity.
He didn’t even care that his 5-to-3 numerical advantage was only 5-to-4 now.
No.
His mind was focused on one thing.
‘Why does it have the aura of a blue-grade spiritual creature?!’
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