Finally, the first round of the semifinals had come to an end. The audience reverted to their usual quietness while waiting for the second match. They all knew Kim Jin Seok and Midoriyama Satoshi shouldn't be underestimated, but they weren't sure which would win.
On the one hand, there was Satoshi, who had clearly shown his capabilities by efficiently performing multiple beast integrations without difficulty. Then there was Kim Jin Seok, who fought alongside Link, and he managed to tame down the berserker beast tamer. Then again, it's not like the people witnessed his insufferable defeat in the beast dimension after he dragged Link away. Had they seen a single footage of that one-sided beating, they'd immediately change their minds and place their bets on Satoshi.
There was still time before the decisive match between Kim Jin Seok and Satoshi came to pass— roughly half an hour or so. Due to the damages that White Mist and Yun Zhe brought upon the grand stage, the second match had to be postponed for a long time so they could repair all the damages, including the breakage and cracks on the barrier that protected the audience from friendly fire.
Waiting in the waiting room gave Satoshi a suffocating feeling. In the end, he decided to walk back and forth between the stalls lined up by the interior of the American Dome. It's not like he wanted to meet someone he knew over there. He just wanted to be surrounded by the noise to blockade the anxiousness in his head.
Kim Jin Seok might be more formidable than him for all he knows. That little performance he did while trying to stop Link's rampage must have been fake, and he had been hiding his strength all along. Based on what Yun Zhe had told him, Kim Jin Seok is possibly another Disciple. He might have a Representative (tamed beasts significantly stronger than legendary tamed beasts) in his possession.
But what was weird about him was his confidence. Every single match, he was oozing with confidence. And even when he was backed into a corner, he would miraculously pull through. He was holding back in all his previous matches, hiding his true strength and waiting for the right moment to reveal his power. He was a dark horse among all the dark horses, and he had gained considerable support from the audience.
For fun, Luke Skyrunner put up a poll during the break, making it more interesting for the audience. It was a voting session on which candidate was more likely to win the second match of the semifinals. Fifty-one percent voted for Satoshi, while forty-nine percent voted for Kim Jin Seok.
Satoshi found the entire event amusing. He couldn't believe he had gotten this far on his official debut as a beast tamer. Not every day could one say that they reached the semifinals after joining a competition for the first time. And while he stayed on that train of thought, he began thinking about his brief meeting with the Manager who called himself Bucky Barnes.
"So... I guess there's a lot of mysteries regarding Managers and Disciples, huh. And what is this World Eater anyways? I should talk about it with the Eye Goddess; she seemed to know something about it." Satoshi vehemently shook his head. Right now, he should be thinking about his upcoming match with the mysterious Kim Jin Seok instead of thinking about something so problematic.
Bzzt.
Bewildered, Satoshi turned around, thinking that someone was staring right at him. Somehow, his danger sense activated while he was in the midst of the crowd, and it caused him to swivel his head without thinking. What was even weirder was that there was no one behind him. Not even an acquaintance was present in the vicinity.
Weird.
Shaking his head, Satoshi decided to walk towards one of the stalls that sold candy apples. He had no idea why he went there but bought a candy apple anyways. His purchase reminded him of Aira, who had a sweet tooth. And after much contemplation, he decided to buy her cotton candy before the match began.
'I could've sworn someone was looking at me.' Satoshi muttered in his head, keeping a close eye on his peripheral vision just in case the person staring at him would show up.
.....
A couple of hours ago.
It was supposed to be a typical morning for a certain young woman named Otomi Elimine (superhero name Plume). Because she pulled an all-nighter last night, she woke up late the next day, which was perfectly understandable since she didn't set the alarm in the first place.
It was pretty late, eight o clock in the morning. She had just woken up later than usual.
As the sunlight peered through the gaps in her room's curtains, she stirred from her slumber and stretched her body. Her folded wings fluttered as she did so.
Wiping the drool off her face, she got up and headed to the bathroom to prepare for the morning. She needed to report to the Eye Goddess first thing in the morning regarding allocating missions to the recruits. She checked the time, she still had an hour before her usual time-in at the agency.
She did not want to rush first thing in the morning, but on the off-chance of an emergency, she could fly straight to the agency, cutting her travel time by a lot.
After a quick breakfast of eggs and toast, she headed outside, walking towards the main road to flag down a taxi. Everything went usually, and she couldn't wait to get home after the day so she could watch the recorded fights of the Official Beast Tournament (that's precisely the reason why she woke up late— she had been watching the fights while cheering for Satoshi behind the television screen)
A couple of minutes later, she finally arrived by the foot of the agency. After paying the taxi driver, she walked up the flight of steps and headed towards Eye Goddess's office. She was a bit early but thought Eye Goddess wouldn't mind since she wasn't the type of person to be fussy about schedules. "Besides, it's not like she's busy in the mornings," Elimine said to herself.
"Pardon the intrusion." She called out before opening the door to Eye Goddess's office. She was relatively close with Eye Goddess, but that doesn't mean she could act all giddy during work hours.
There was no one in the room.
"That's weird?" Elimine muttered to herself as she slowly approached Eye Goddess's desk. She patiently waited for her to return in five minutes, thinking she just went out of her office for a quick bathroom break.
She still didn't come back.
At this point, Elimine wondered if there was an emergency she didn't know about, so she headed to the bathroom to check. There were no signs of Eye Goddess anywhere.
Finally, she returned to the reception area to ask one of the receptionists. One of the receptionists gave her a curious look before informing her that Eye Goddess left early in the morning to go to America, accompanied by one of the new interns named Lydia Schwarz.
"What?!" Elimine exclaimed before storming out of the agency. She could only think of one reason Eye Goddess went to America on such short notice, and she was a tad bit enraged by it.
pàпdá-ň?νêι.сóМ "How unfair. Why didn't she bring her with me? I also wanted to see Satoshi live." She sniffled. However, as soon as she got out of the agency, she jumped upwards and started flying. She has her passport in her pockets, and it's not like this was her first time flying to America.
On such rare occasions, Plume decided to wear her specialized armor for flying long distances. This would cut her travel time by half and protect her from being mistaken as an ICBM flying from Japan to America.
Driven by her rage, she pierced through the skies, intending to arrive in New York City in a record time of five hours.
.....
It took her a total of four hours and fifty-ish minutes before she arrived in America. The airport welcomed her and only asked for her passport and verifications before letting her in. While it's not every day someone would come to America through the power of flight, it wasn't unusual.
After another short flight to the American Dome, Elimine let herself in, hoping that the match between Kim Jin Seok and White Mist still hasn't started. To her relief, she was just in time, and she even came across Satoshi, who was walking in the middle of the lined-up stalls.
She was about to call out his name but hesitated at the last second. How could she explain her sudden appearance?
That's why when Satoshi turned around, she hid. At this point, she decided to continue cheering her childhood friend on by the sidelines.
"Elimine-san? What are you doing here?" A familiar voice asked her out of nowhere, causing her to turn around in surprise.
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