With the number of significant changes in the Official Beast Tournament, White Mist actually felt a hint of anxiousness for the first time in his life. He clasped his hands and breathed air inside, trying to calm himself before he walked towards the grand stage which would decide his fate of surviving another round or not.
Over the past few years, White MIst stood at the top of the food chain. He was the apex predator of beast tamers and no one could defeat him. Not even Black Fog, who had deemed him as his rival ever since he founded his faction, couldn't even step in his shadow. He was simply unbeatable, and his control over his tamed beasts was unmatched.
He was successful, living off of the prize money he won every single time at the Official Beast Tournament. Some even counted the tournament as bullying since no one could dare hope to win against the beast master.
With this comfort came a decrease in people's interest in White Mist. He may be one of the top ten superheroes in America, but he was as popular as someone who's in the top one hundred. Fewer and fewer people would come to the Official Beast Tournament and the same could be said of its participants. No one could defeat him so why bother trying? And if someone were to catch up to him, he'd simply stomp him since he had all the time to improve on his skills. Even this year, he was looking forward to the same outcome since no one could come close to defeating him.
Then came a challenger who dared him with a one-on-one match. The challenger wasn't even famous, nor was he well known. And the first time he met the challenger, he simply looked like a regular dad. He remembered targeting the challenger before since the government said he'd be a threat to their country... but now that he got a good look at him, he couldn't believe that someone so simple-looking could actually be a threat.
In the end, there was no need for him to refuse such a face-off. Besides, it would be a good PR for the upcoming Official Beast Tournament. It's not every day someone knocks on his doorstep to challenge him, so he willingly accepted.
As it turned out, he was just a frog in the well, and he was severely defeated by the unknown person he underestimated. Before he could recover, the Black Fog Faction came knocking at his doorstep as well, showing them how advanced they were when it came to their beast integration and he was left biting the dust. He had a mere two weeks to catch up to the group... but there was no way he could do it.
And as if to rub salt in his wounds, he found out that a mere kid in Japan who awakened his superpower a couple of months ago was actually stronger than anyone else. He was the real apex predator, and he could easily integrate with a number of his tamed beasts while a regular beast tamer couldn't even hope to integrate with one. Even White Mist had a hard time integrating with the two.
And now these newfound thresholds became the new norm for the Official Beast Tournament. Members of the Black Fog Faction were doing dual beast integration here and there, and they were winning. The current round was even saturated with members of the aforementioned faction, and they were proud of it. White Mist could imagine Black Fog, laughing in the background as he looked down on White Mist and his fallen faction. The gap between the two was so wide, White Mist already gave up on trying to catch up.
Right now, the only thing that was on his mind was to survive the third round and hope that he could put up a good fight in the fourth round tomorrow.
"I guess you're my teammate, huh? Are you nervous?" Yun Zhe asked, patting White Mist on the shoulder as he stood by the mouth of the entrance to the grand stage.
"Not really. I just want this to be over. Here I was, thinking that I stood at the top when I was merely a predator in a small food pyramid, akin to rats in a rat-infested ecosystem." White Mist clenched his fists as he let out an exhale.
"You've done well to get this far, young kid. Let's win this and go to the third round." White Mist said. Instead of Yun Zhe encouraging him, he was the one who encouraged Yun Zhe instead— which was ridiculous considering that Yun Zhe was leaps and bounds stronger than him.
Had White Mist watched Yun Zhe's previous matches, he'd have known that he was as strong as Satoshi. He was too focused on image training in his waiting room that he had no idea how Yun Zhe performed in his previous matches.
"Of course, we're going to win this. I'm still looking forward to my finals match with Satoshi." Yun Zhe said as a smile appeared on his face.
"Satoshi? You mean, Midoriyama Satoshi? Heh, dream on, kid." White Mist laughed it off as if Yun Zhe just said something ridiculous.
Yun Zhe was almost offended by White Mist's flagrant shrug, but he managed to maintain his composure as he snorted. "Oh, I haven't introduced myself, have I?" Yun Zhe muttered to himself as he extended his hand toward White Mist. "I wonder how your faction is holding on against mine?"
At first, White Mist had no idea what Yun Zhe was talking about. He still extended his hand to return the handshake though, and in response, Yun Zhe cleared his throat before he introduced himself. "The name's Yun Zhe, Black Fog's master and the behind-the-scenes leader of the Black Fog Faction."
The last few words that Yun Zhe threw at him echoed in his ears for a couple of minutes before they finally sank into his mind. Yun Zhe watched with amusement as White Mist's jaw slowly dropped while his eyes slowly widened. It was a priceless reaction, to say the least.
"Y-you... you are..." White Mist stuttered as Yun Zhe let go of his hand.
Meanwhile, White Mist and Yun Zhe were both called to the grand stage. Once again, the audience started cheering wildly, expecting a grand finale for the final match of the day. Yun Zhe got out with a satisfied grin on his face, waving here and there towards the spectators while examining the other side of the grand stage where their opponents would come out.
Then there was White Mist, frozen in place even though his name was already called. He couldn't believe that such a young kid was actually Black Fog's master. He was at least in his late teens, but he was confident with his words that White Mist couldn't actually refute his claims. Adding to that, there was no way a young kid would say something like that without knowing about the Black Fog Faction first. It was obvious that he was speaking the truth, and White Mist was in denial about it.
"Come on, old man, you're going to miss the match if you keep standing like that." Yun Zhe called out, retracing his steps so he could drag White Mist out and show them to the crowd.
At this point, White Mist couldn't even find the courage to show his face in front of the people. Up until two weeks ago, he was standing at the top, and now he was at the 'bottomest' of bottoms. It was such a big drop from his previous ranking that he felt ashamed of himself. 'I should have put in the extra effort... now look at me. I got too comfortable with my standing that it pulled me all the way to the ground.' White Mist said in his mind as he mustered his courage to fake a smile and wave in front of his people. At the end of the day, this was his moment, and he was the one who made the Official Beast Tournament possible.
He should be acknowledged for that, at least.
"And on the other side of the grand stage, we have another dark horse for this official beast tournament. He calls himself the hooded man, and he's never integrated with his beast in the previous round. His identity remains a mystery but you shouldn't be suspicious of him. Personally, I know him, so that should say a lot about who he is." The commentator let out as a mysterious hooded man came forward.
No one really paid attention to him in the previous rounds since he never did anything flashy. He also never integrated with any of his beasts, that's why the audience was a bit curious as to how he managed to reach the third round. Then again, his skill as a beast tamer couldn't be underestimated since he made it this far without showing off.
"A disciple against a disciple, huh... I wonder who'd win..." A familiar face muttered to himself underneath the hood.
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