Adding salt to his inconceivable wounds, the drone cams started circling around White Mist from afar, focusing on the slightest changes in his expression. They were like bullies, waiting for White Mist's downfall before they pressed down on him mercilessly.
"What on... Penta Beast Integration? Is such a thing even possible?" White Mist's eyes widened as he despaired, looking at Yun Zhe, who overpowered him in all categories.
At first, White Mist's face was filled with hopeful eagerness as he was able to act first. There was a moment when White Mist had assumed that the possibility of a victory could be achieved. After all, he managed to summon his trusty Representative, the Death Metronome, and he managed to curse his opponent's Representative. It was all going well...
... it was all going incredibly well until Yun Zhe revealed one of his hidden trump cards. As it turned out, his Representative, the Primordial Excalibur, wasn't affected by curses at all.
White Mist's path to victory vanished in an instant. One moment it was seeable; the next moment, it was nonexistent. With that shred of hope gone, White Mist's face shifted from a rigid smile to straight-up despair.
Helplessness overcame him as he stared at the all-powerful Yun Zhe in front of him with his Exodia: The Forbidden One transformation. He was aware of the reference, and he knew that once such a combination was activated, there was no going back.
In simple terms, he had already lost before the fight had even started.
White Mist looked up at Yun Zhe, barely managing to regain his tranquility while heavily breathing in and out. As for Yun Zhe, he patiently waited for White Mist to react. Even though he could've just knocked down White Mist right then and there, he still waited.
He wanted to have a decent fight against him, and besides, there was no way the audience would find it acceptable if he were to attack White Mist before he could even prepare.
"I'm not going to wait all day, old man. It's either you integrate with your tamed beasts, or you forfeit." For one, Yun Zhe absolutely despised a forfeit. That's why he was patiently waiting for White Mist to act. But then again, there was nothing he could do if White Mist decided to forfeit.
In the face of great power, one would just stare in awe without questioning its legitimacy. White Mist was experiencing such enlightenment, and he gulped to reenact, swallowing his pride before he raised his hand to forfeit.
With the time pressure on him, coupled with the audience who held their breaths while waiting for his next move, White Mist turned away from Yun Zhe as he inadvertently closed his eyes in frustration. There was no doubt about it...
... his era... his era had ended. The curtains had finally been drawn on his reign as the beast master of the Earth. It was time for him to humbly step down and give way to the new generations of beast tamers who had come a long way and had become superior to him.
Clenching his fists while raising his hand, White Mist was about to forfeit the match.
"Oi~?!! WHAT ARE YOU UP TO, OLD MAN?! DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE GOING TO DISAPPOINT EVERYONE AND FORFEIT?!" A familiar voice screamed from the audience.
White Mist and Yun Zhe stopped short as the man continued speaking. He was none other than Jack S. Michael (the number one superhero of America who goes by the superhero name Star Spangled). Apparently, he had been staying undercover within the crowd since he didn't want all the attention to be directed at him.
"LAST TIME I HEARD, YOU'RE STILL THE RENOWNED BEAST MASTER! DON'T GIVE UP TOO EARLY, YOU OLD FOOL! SHOW THEM WHAT A BEAST MASTER IS ALL ABOUT!"
"ARE YOU GOING TO FIGHT OR NOT?!" He screamed for the last time.
Meanwhile, the audience, who had a different mindset, finally realized what was going on. For the last couple of years, they had considered White Mist to be the most powerful, most formidable beast tamer in the entire world.
But now, they've gotten too used to the new generation with their dual beast integration here and there. Undoubtedly, they had overshadowed White Mist's presence, but that didn't give the audience an excuse not to support him.
At the end of the day, White Mist is still one of the top ten, an American Superhero who has taken care of countless catastrophes with his superb skill as a beast tamer. He was there when the country needed him, but now that he needed the country to support him, they were nowhere to be found.
A change of heart soon swept all over the audience. It was all thanks to that heartfelt speech (or scream) coming from the number one superhero. Starting from one spectator, who was holding a newspaper right beside Star Spangled, stood up and started chanting White Mist's name.
Then another one stood up, pumping his fist while cheering for White Mist as well. The chain reaction soon reached the farthest corners of the audience, and a majority of them started cheering for the former beast master.
"White Mist! White Mist! White Mist!"
And yes, White Mist's name is really White Mist. He's one of those superheroes who used his real name as his superhero name. It's not at all weird during his generation, but then again, it's extremely outdated for a superhero name these days. (It still sounds rather cool though, a fitting superhero name for a beast tamer)
Even Satoshi and the others who had only known White Mist for a couple of weeks started cheering for him as well (Satoshi was still in his waiting room, but he joined in on the fun).
"Would you look at that. It looks like you still have a lot of fans, old man." Yun Zhe turned around to face the audience, who had been chanting his opponent's name. He didn't feel at all bad about it.
After all, if the cheers were enough to get White Mist to fight, then it had done its job. White Mist would get the redemption he deserves, and Yun Zhe would get the fight he wanted. It's a win-win situation for the two of them.
White Mist's expression softened as he rubbed his nose. He tried to hide his bashfulness, but it leaked out of his face. "I'm sorry. Could you wait for me for a couple of seconds? I swear I'm going to give you all I got." White Mist asked such an absurd request.
"Old man, I've been waiting for you for more than five minutes. Can't you hurry it up?" Yun Zhe called out, extending his hands towards the audience while cheering for White Mist's name as well. He figured he'd chime in while waiting for the beast master to sort himself out with his beast integration.
"Ready whenever you are, old man." He continued.
"Working on it."
White Mist started with his most stable beast integration— the White Wolf. Throughout the years, the White Wolf had been his partner in most of his missions, and he had activated beast integration countless times with it. That's why he was confident that the beast integration wouldn't deactivate even when he attempted a Dual Beast Integration.
"Satoshi did say that I shouldn't focus on one tamed beast but rather focus on two at the same time... man, I hope I succeed properly this time." White Mist muttered to himself.
This time, he used the Beast Integration on his Death Metronome and Jurah. He figured that he'd do both of them at the same time since it would be more unstable if he integrated them one by one. He had seen Satoshi integrate with three of his tamed beasts at the same time, and that gave him the inspiration to try it.
Grunt.
Holding his breath, so much so that he was about to burst, White Mist tried to keep everything under control. His mind felt like it was going to split open, and his head had turned a nice shade of red while the beast integration went on. Of course, no one saw such an embarrassing sight since he was illuminated with a bright light while all that was going on.
Everyone shortly stopped chanting White Mist's name while the transformation took place. They were well aware that White Mist could hardly perform the Dual Beast Integration, and now he was attempting a Trinity Beast Integration. His actions screamed of failure, but everyone wished that he'd succeed deep inside.
Even Yun Zhe, who had been watching the entire process from up close, had hoped that White Mist would succeed. Because if he didn't, then he won't be able to fight against him just as he had wanted to all this time.
Then the brightness dissipated. White Mist looked oddly different. He was covered in fur, and the head of the White Wolf was comfortably nestled on his head. His arms were long and slender, which was one of the main features that Death Metronome was supposed to have. And on his chest was a burning black wisp of flame that danced with the breeze.
He had successfully activated the Trinity Beast Integration.
"Now we're talking." Yun Zhe's lips curved upward as he brought his arms up in a defensive stance.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺