Satoshi subconsciously raised an eyebrow while watching the performance. It was certainly original, but to him, it was childish. But then again, the audience had a positive response to it so he digressed. A sigh left his mouth as he remembered that he was also connected to that certain animated series. After all, he was named after the protagonist of that show... courtesy of his dad who named him when he was born.
"Do you think that Link guy could win? I've seen Jessie and James's performance during the second round. They're certainly not subpar compared to Link." Yun Zhe asked, sinking into the couch as he sipped on his canned drink.
"Without the Grundauge (his tamed beast which is also known as the Beholder), I don't think he'll last. But who knows, he was severely put at a disadvantage during the second round since Jana used a fire-type tamed beast."
"I guess... but it looks like that Korean wouldn't be fighting. Look at utter disrespect, turning his back from the fight and sitting down. Is he that confident that Link would be able to take care of them?" Yun Zhe heaved a sigh, but he didn't dwell too much on it. After all, he's got his own fight to worry about.
Knock.
Knock.
This time, Satoshi was not surprised anymore when he heard a knock on the door. His full experience with the Official Beast Tournament was filled with nothing but surprises. Another knock on the door is not enough to shake him up anymore.
"That's probably for you." Satoshi gestured, pointing his lips towards the door as another set of knocking was heard.
Knock.
Knock.
"All right," With a grunt, Yun Zhe stood up to greet the person who was by the door. He wasn't expecting any visitors, but he decided to open the door for the person in question since Satoshi didn't have any intention of standing up.
"Who is it?" Yun Zhe asked before peering through the peephole. A girl stood by the door, and Yun Zhe immediately knew that she was looking for Satoshi. After all, he'd never interacted with a girl before, except in a training match or a fight. So there's no way a girl would go looking for him.
Yun Zhe turned around. "Satoshi, it's for you." He called out. Without saying another word, he opened the door to let the girl in.
It was none other than Jana Alexis.
Compared to her fidgety demeanor an hour or so ago, she was now enveloped with a strong presence as she walked toward Satoshi. "I have to go, and I'm not going to waste any time. Here you go." Jana said in a rush, handing Satoshi a piece of paper that had one word written on it. "I can't explain anything to you right now, but please don't lose it. You'll understand why I'm giving you that paper."
"Huh?" Satoshi was befuddled but he received the piece of paper anyways.
Confirming that Satoshi was already clutching the paper as if he was holding onto it for dear life, Jana pivoted and headed out the door.
"Oi~! What are you doing?! That's against the rules!" Yun Zhe suddenly raised his voice, much to Satoshi's surprise. Unbeknownst to him, Yun Zhe actually caught a glimpse of what was written on the paper, and that word was enough to trigger him.
"What do you mean? I simply handed him a paper. I didn't tell him anything about it. Besides, he's going to need it." Jana continued, her face still wearing that constant serious expression.
"No, what I'm saying is... he's not a Disciple! You can't just hand out invitations like that!" Due to his panic, he blurted out something that he shouldn't have. And upon realizing what he had just done, his eyes widened in surprise as he covered his mouth. "You didn't hear anything, Satoshi," He mumbled.
"I'm a disciple, you're a disciple, and Link, too, is a disciple. He's stronger than any of us, so what rules him out as one? And even if he wasn't, I'm sure that my... yes, I'm sure that she'll be more pleased to have him on board, even if he wasn't a disciple." Jana explained. Unlike Yun Zhe, she didn't lose her composure, that's why she managed to withhold some of the words that Satoshi shouldn't hear at that moment.
"Still, this goes against the rules! If your Manager finds out... no... if another Manager finds out..."
"Then you'd better keep it a secret. Trust me on this one, Yun Zhe, he's our only hope." Jana continued before exiting the room.
"What's going on?"Satoshi asked, but Yun Zhe just heaved a sigh in response before returning to his seat.
"Don't get me started. There are a lot of things wrong... I just can't tell you everything since that would be against the rules." Yun Zhe shrugged.
.....
Meanwhile,
While Kim Jin Seok calmly sat on their side of the grand stage, Link had already activated his dual beast integration. He decided to integrate with one of his grass-type beasts, which looked like the bark of a tree and specializes in defense. As for his second tamed beast, he opted for mobility— a tamed beast that looked like a bug, with leaves as its wings.
With his dual beast integration out of the way, Link looked like he came straight from medieval times with his hardened wooden armor, paired with a wooden sword and shield to match the aesthetic. Wings grew out of his back as well, and it looked like a lush branch of a tree filled with leaves and flowers.
As for Jessie, she integrated with a snake tamed beast, which specializes in speed and poison attacks. And her second tamed beast was another snake, which has the special skill petrify. This skill allows her to temporarily stun her enemy if he or she made eye contact with her— a pretty nifty support skill that works every single time.
On the other hand, James integrated with a grass-type tamed beast that looked like a venus fly trap. His second tamed beast had the appearance of smoke... and once he integrated with the two of them, he transformed into a haze of smoke with vines lashing out from it. It certainly looked like bona fide dual beast integration, seeing that his two tamed beasts didn't match their themes at all.
"So, he's not going to fight us? What a waste." Jessie mumbled as she turned her head toward James. Her appearance was certainly not family friendly, since her lower body was replaced with that of a snake, and his upper body had skin-tight clothing, which really accentuated her proportions.
"I don't think he's going to back down that easily. There's no way a beast tamer of his caliber would rely on someone who's clearly weaker than him. I think he's testing us." James muttered to himself.
Meanwhile, the commentator and Luke Skyrunner were beginning to see patterns of the third round. This was just the second match and yet two consecutive pairings were already similar to each other. The commentator heaved a sigh since there were only three participants fighting on the grand stage, much like what happened in the first round.
"I guess we should've done a one-versus-two match, seeing that these participants want that kind of setup." The commentator muttered, forgetting that the mic was still on.
"But it sure does spice things up a little bit. I'm fairly certain that there are a lot of beast tamers out there who wanted to experience such a scenario as well."
"Based on the first two rounds, I guess that's how it is."
Without further ado, Link screamed his lungs out as he accelerated toward Jessie and James. While he only had a wooden sword and shield with him, he was confident that he'd be able to keep up with the two.
That's when Jessie nodded at James before she made a move. As soon as Link was within five meters, Jessie crouched as she slithered toward Link. Her eyes were fixated on his gaze, waiting for that right moment when she could petrify her with her pseudo-medusa skill.
The reason why it was only a pseudo-medusa skill was that her skill doesn't activate as soon as their eyes meet. She has to activate it manually. In other words, her petrify skill was an active instead of a passive skill.
And while this gives her a lot of control over her overall fighting style, it also limits her effectivity as well. After all, she had to make a conscious decision every single time she has to petrify someone. It might work when they're only fighting one opponent, but fighting two or more is greatly disadvantageous for her.
With Kim Jin Seok not participating in the match, Jessie knew that this was her moment. As Link closed in, a creepy smile plastered on her face as her long tongue lewdly slipped out of her mouth.
"I got you now!" She cackled as soon as Link's gaze and hers connected.
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