With neither side backing down, the audience watched as Kim Jin Seok and Satoshi inevitably fell into exhaustion. Since they were almost evenly matched, it had become a fight to see who'd run out of energy first. It was clear that both of them were exhausted, but one could only wonder who was more likely to drop out first.
They were on the verge of deactivating their beast integration, but neither side backed down. Of course, they can't afford to give up now since this was the semifinals. One more push and the finals would be waiting for them.
Shifting from close-range to long-range, Kim Jin Seok and Satoshi were literal beasts on the grand stage. Satoshi slammed the ice spear on the ground and a shockwave of ice and snow shot at Kim Jin Seok. It was supposed to send him backward but he used his six wings to dispel the attack. He swung his trident, and an insane beam of fire, lightning, and ice accelerated towards Satoshi. Satoshi barely dodged it, and then he charged at Kim Jin Seok without reprieve. He didn't bother guarding himself since Kim Jin Seok would need a cooldown after such a powerful attack.
And Satoshi was right. Kim Jin Seok had to step backward before he prepared another attack. In the meantime, they entered into a brawl. Kim Jin Seok punched Satoshi before trying to stab him with the lightning bolt. Satoshi dodged, whipping his hand and landing a hook right at Kim Jin Seok's cheek. The strike disoriented him a little bit, giving Satoshi the crucial opening he needed to stab Kim Jin Seok's other shoulder with the ice spear.
This time, instead of using the usual disposable ice spear he created with the Ice Empress's powers, he summoned the real ice spear that belonged to the Ice Empress, giving Kim Jin Seok the frostbite.
At first, Kim Jin Seok thought that he'd be able to block the attack or destroy the spear. In his previous attempts, he managed to easily break the ice spear that Satoshi wielded. That's why, this time, he was still confident that he'd be able to shatter the ice spear before it landed on his shoulder.
Krschchksch~!
A steady crunching sound could be heard as Kim Jin Seok's shoulder turned to ice. His entire arm froze in an instant, and it broke off like a piece of broken pottery, shattering on the ground as it did so.
"What?! How?!" Kim Jin Seok asked. With his entire right arm out of commission, he only had his left hand left. It took him a torrential amount of energy just to activate the innate skill of his tamed beasts and healing all his wounds from the fight already took a toll on him. Now, there was no way he'd have the extra energy to regenerate his limb. If he wanted to win, he had to make do with just his left arm.
Notwithstanding the arm that he had lost, Kim Jin Seok still came at Satoshi without any thought of retreating. If he backed down now, then it will all be over for him. That's why he continued hitting Satoshi with his trident in hopes that one of his attacks would hit.
Despite his ridiculous effort to corner Satoshi, he couldn't even land a hit on him. Somehow, Satoshi's ice spear now was more durable than it had been before. This brought him to the conclusion that Satoshi probably manifested the ice spear with the remaining energy he had. That's the only explanation he could think of at that moment.
But such was not the case. Unbeknownst to him, Satoshi had been hiding the real ice spear all along. He only brought the real ice spear if he was confident enough that his attacks would hit Kim Jin Seok. This was the only way Satoshi could conserve his energy. Every little bit of energy counts, hence Satoshi held back whenever he could in hopes that Kim Jin Seok would run out of energy first.
And his plan worked.
Instead of Satoshi being backed into a corner, it was Kim Jin Seok who got cornered. With only his left arm at his disposal, it didn't take long before Satoshi found another opening, cutting off his left arm with the same technique and leaving him armless.
"To think that I'd be reduced to this state while fighting you. You really are amazing, Satoshi." Kim Jin Seok said. He tried to utilize his energy to regrow his arm but he couldn't do it. As it turned out, he overestimated the amount of energy he had left, and he was left with a measly amount before he realized it.
"It's my loss." Kim Jin Seok said, deactivating his beast integration at last.
"..."
"..."
"AARGHHH~!" The moment he did that, his shoulders exploded with blood.
It was a scene straight out of a horror movie as the red liquid spurted out of the stump on his shoulder. Now that his beast integration had been deactivated, the skills of his tamed beasts had left his body as well. If not taken care of, Kim Jin Seok would bleed to death.
At that point, the audience didn't have the leisure to cheer for Satoshi. While he had just won the match, they could tell that now wasn't the right time to be celebrating. Kim Jin Seok was on the verge of death, and it would be bad news if he were to die on the grand stage.
"I'm going in." The Nurse appeared out of nowhere. She addressed Tatsuki since she knew that he has the flight superpower in his plundered abilities. In response, Tatsuki nodded and grabbed the Nurse by the waist. He started flying towards the grand stage.
Meanwhile, the referee had already waved to the medics to get there as soon as possible. If only he had a healing superpower, he'd have been able to perform first aid on Kim Jin Seok.
The first few seconds of the gruesome scene were aired but Luke Skyrunner was sensible enough to turn off the live stream and show a 'we'll be right back' message. They couldn't just show someone's death live since that might destroy the reputation of the Official Beast Tournament for good.
Now that the match was over, Satoshi immediately summoned Sera so he could regain his energy back. He figured that Kim Jin Seok wouldn't die in a flash so he decided to take care of himself first before anything. This wasn't because he hated Kim Jin Seok, but because he didn't want an accident to happen if his energy was to get depleted and he goes out of control.
After taking care of that, Satoshi asked Sera to heal Kim Jin Seok and grow his arms back. In a snap of a finger, Kim Jin Seok became better. Not only did he grow his arms back, but he also regained a portion of his energy as well, thanks to Sera. Even before the medics got to the scene, Kim Jin Seok had already completely recovered.
"Thanks for that. You really won that match, huh? I was no match for you." Kim Jin Seok forced a smile on his face. He already regained his energy, but he still found it difficult to move due to the muscle pains he had.
Despite the fact that he recovered, he still had to be wheeled out by the medics from the grand stage.
.....
It took exactly ten minutes before the live stream was resumed. Luke Skyrunner stepped up on the plate to explain what happened since he figured the commentator wouldn't be able to explain it better than he. Now, with all that said and done, the audience finally had time to celebrate Satoshi's win, and they couldn't help but look forward to the finals. This was the last event for today, and before the night had come to a close, there can only be one winner of the Official Beast Tournament.
There were debates about whether the finals should be moved to the next day or not but Luke Skyrunner shut down the idea. This setup had remained unchanged for the past couple of years and there was no way he'd change it this year. Besides, this was part of the challenge. If the two candidates for the finals couldn't match up to this aforementioned expectation, then they should have prepared more beforehand.
The finals were happening tonight, and that was final.
Since there was still time before the finals, Satoshi found himself wandering the line of stalls once again. He couldn't help but go back to this place since it was comfortable there compared to his waiting room. Besides, it helped take his mind off of the revelation that he had encountered a moment ago. The premise of Disciples and Managers was still new to him, but it was undoubtedly real and it was only a matter of time before he got dragged into that world.
"What are you thinking about?" Emma appeared beside him out of the blue, interrupting his thought process.
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