Previously, Black Fog only showed his Red Salamander and Blue Salamander during his confrontation with White Mist. And during his fight against Jean Grey, he only ever used his Red and Blue Salamander when he activated his Dual Beast Integration. In other words, Black Fog hasn't shown his cards yet, and this made Satoshi worry a little bit.
While Satoshi was still unsure whether Black Fog is a Disciple or not, he could tell that he was indeed strong. He didn't even break a sweat when he fought against Jean Grey, whereas Satoshi barely won a round against him. It was clear that Black Fog still has a lot of tricks up his sleeves and Satoshi knew he wouldn't think twice about using them when he's backed into a corner.
Just to be on the safe side, Satoshi put his guard up as he stood on the other side of the Grand Stage. He didn't feel nervous at all regarding the match, but he felt oddly challenged by Black Fog since he too could use Dual Beast Integration easily. There's a good chance that he could use Trinity Beast Integration, or even Quad Beast Integration.
"So, I'll be fighting you, huh, Midoriyama Satoshi?" Black Fog said, approaching Satoshi and extending his hand, to which Satoshi replied with a handshake.
"Let's have a great match," Satoshi said, seeing the referee as he skittered to his original place by the center of the Grand Stage.
"You're a Disciple, right? I can tell..." Black Fog said as a smirk plastered itself on his face. "But then again, I'm going to win this match and climb up to the third round. You're a mere stepping stone for me. Jean Grey, I could tell that he's not a Disciple since he didn't even have a Representative. That's the reason why he lost against me."
"I'm not a Disciple... or at least, I'm not sure if I'm a Disciple or not since I only recently awakened my superpower," Satoshi replied, returning the same smirk that Black Fog wore for him. "Don't be too quick to assume that you're going to win though. I fought against the Hero Disciple during the first round and even stopped Link from rampaging. From what I deduced, both of them were Disciples... " Satoshi's voice trailed off. He didn't bother continuing what he was going to say since he already got his message across.
"I'm no Disciple either, but I'm going to bring you down, Satoshi." Black Fog called out, pointing his index finger toward Satoshi before bringing his thumb down to the ground. He was like a kid taunting a grownup for a fight.
"Your master, Yun Zhe, told me not to defeat you too much. He sends his regards." Satoshi said with a smile.
"..."
"..."
Switch!
"Whoa~ it looks like there's some intimidation going on over the grand stage. What do you think, Luke?" The commentator asked as the camera switched to them.
"Ten minutes? No, maybe five or six minutes. I can tell that this match won't last past that." Luke Skyrunner commented as he intently watched Satoshi. 'Now, show me what you got, Satoshi, Disciple of—'
"Well, I guess this is one fight we should intently watch. Without further ado, let's start the match!" The commentator raised his voice, interrupting Luke's thoughts.
The camera then switched towards the view of the referee who stood still by the edge of the Grand Stage. He raised his hand. "Second round. First match. Midoriyama Satoshi versus Black Fog. Let the match begin!" He announced with a straight face while simultaneously bringing his hand down.
"Gladiaros, I'm relying on you on this one, all right?" Black Fog said to himself as he summoned what seemed like a man in full armor. Its red eyes seemed to laser at Satoshi when it glanced in his direction.
In that split of a second, Satoshi immediately felt the bloodthirst emanating from the tamed beast.
Gladiaros was more of a human than a tamed beast, much like Satoshi's familiar, the Ice Empress, who has pseudo-human features. Its legs and arms were made of metal, its golden sheen shining against the bright floodlights of the American Dome. A helmet covered half of its head like a masquerade mask, and its hands were in the shape of a blade. "Whoa, that looks like a pretty cool tamed beast," Satoshi muttered to himself.
As soon as he muttered that to himself, he felt a spark in his mind, almost as if one of his tamed beasts was calling out to him. He wasn't wrong though. Someone really was calling for him from within the dimension that Orb Oboros set up for all of Satoshi's familiars.
"Are you sure you want to fight alongside me? This is going to be your first fight, you know, your debut fight." Satoshi asked out of curiosity.
'It's all right, master. I've prepared myself for this moment. I will become even stronger in this fight, all so that I can proudly present myself as your sword.' The voice in Satoshi's head spoke with a soft and gentle voice, clearly the exact opposite of her character. Even until now, Satoshi could still remember how she managed to corner her using his own superpower, even reaching the point where she pressed a chainsaw on Satoshi's neck before he was forced to admit defeat.
"If you say so... but if you were to fight with me... we'll win this fight in a snap of a finger." Satoshi stated. "Do you want to fight him by yourself... or do you want me to borrow your powers?"
'I'll fight with you, Satoshi. I'm sure I can win alone, but I'd rather fight with you than fight alone. Besides, aren't they fighting together as well?' Copycat asked.
"You're right. At the very least, I should return the favor, right?" Satoshi said.
While Satoshi and Copycat were conversing in his mind, Black Fog had already finished his beast integration with his Gladiaros. He then proceeded to summon two more of his legendary tamed beasts and integrate with them.
"Come out, Hezna, Vaiter," Black Fog screamed as he threw two more Grens into the field.
At first, Satoshi thought that Black Fog would be summoning a dragon or something like that. But when the silhouette of the tamed beasts came out, Satoshi realized that Hezna and Vaiter looked the same as Gladiaros. The only difference was their exterior. While Gladiaros has a golden metallic skin, Hezna has a black charcoal skin and Vaiter has a sheen akin to diamonds. Satoshi immediately concluded that the three of them, Gladiaros, Hezna, and Vaiter, were part of the same circle of legendary trios.
Satoshi was contemplating whether he should attack Black Fog while he was in the middle of his beast integration or not. His gaze, which lands on the audience from time to time, detected that the audience wanted to see some real action and they couldn't wait anymore. Some of them were even frowning since it was taking Black Fog a bit too long to integrate with his beasts. But then again, it wasn't every day that they get to see a Trinity Beast Integration so they didn't complain.
In the end, Satoshi concluded that he shouldn't do something so underhanded. Sure he'd win by a landslide if he were to interrupt Black Fog's beast integration, but that wouldn't look too good in his image. Technically, he could already attack Black Fog since the match had already started, but that kind of action is frowned upon by the ethics of the match. At the very least, he should wait for Black Fog to touch up his beast integration before he makes a move.
"Why is Satoshi just standing there? Shouldn't he attack right now? The longer he waits, the more advantageous that Black Fog would get." Midori asked, leaning towards Hiroshi as he spoke.
"Sure, but would you call that a match? We've known Satoshi for quite some time now, and one thing he never fails at is putting on a show. I'm guessing he's waiting for that Black Fog to reveal all his cards before he engages him in combat." Hiroshi responded.
"Still, I couldn't believe that beast integrating with two beasts is possible, let alone three beasts." Hiroshi continued. Up until now, he's never heard of anyone beast integrating with two beasts. That's why he was at awe when he first saw it during the first match of the first round (when Satoshi fought against the Hero Disciple).
The audience held their breaths as Black Fog continued his beast integration. Sweat trickled on his forehead as he raggedly breathed. It was taking every bit of his concentration to beast integrate with his three beasts, but he knew he should at least do that much if he wanted to stand on even ground against Satoshi.
"He's still not attacking, huh," Black Fog muttered to himself as he forced a smile toward Satoshi.
As if on cue, Satoshi reached inside his bag (which was his familiar, the Orb Oboros) and pulled something out of it. He then summoned a tamed beast that was never seen before.
"Copycat, come out," Satoshi muttered under his breath.
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