"My beast, come to me!" Owen called calmly. There was not even a hint of his previous scared and cowardly self in his voice. Instead, there was a hint of maturity.
Hearing the words Owen uttered, a crisis arose in Carol's heart. He froze on the spot. He could not gather the courage to swing the spiked mace at Owen.
Behind Owen, a little over his head, a blue circle appeared.
"I-It's the portal!" A student from down the arena shouted, pointing at the little blue portal above Owen. "H-He is summoning his beast."
The shock on the faces of the students was evident, and Alden and Neo were no exception. To summon your tamed beast out of your mental world, one must be at least in the 1-star warrior realm.
They did not expect the scaredy and weak-looking Owen to be in the 1-star warrior realm, much less to have a beast.
However, Linda was not shocked at all. She had seen through Owen's cultivation since he introduced himself in class in the morning. So, since he was in the 1-star warrior realm, she expected of him to have a beast.
But most beast tamers in the 1-star warrior realm also had a beast. She wanted something more of Owen, something befitting the nickname: "The Heavenly Genius of the Military."
Out of the portal behind Owen, a little blue sparrow with a white head emerged.
True, to someone powerful, this would have been funny. After all, the anticipation the portal built when it appeared was immense, but out of it, only a little sparrow, several times smaller than the portal, emerged.
But Carol, who was about to face the little sparrow, was terrified. His legs were trembling, and fear enveloped his heart. Tears welled in his eyes, regretting the decision of attacking Owen.
It was common knowledge that even the weakest beast had the power to obliterate an ordinary human in seconds.
"Kill," Owen ordered, pointing with the scythe in his right hand at Carol.
Zap! Zap!
The sparrow's wings sparkled with electricity. It flapped its wings, and in the next second, it was before Carol, about to smash into his chest.
Zap!
Linda appeared before Carol, catching the little sparrow with her hand.
"How cruel." She commented, releasing the bird. There was a tiny scratch on her palm. "Had I not stopped that, you would have put a hole in his chest," Linda said, looking at Owen.
Hearing her words, Carol fell on his butt.
"A-A hole?" He touched his chest in panic. "I-I give up!"
He shouted through tears as he got up. He stumblingly ran to the stairs leading down the arena, and in fear of Owen attacking him again, he jumped down the stairs.
Thud!
With a loud thud, Carol fell at the foot of the stairs before all the students, greatly injuring his shoulder.
But none of the students bothered to look at Carol. They were too focused on the fight going on in the arena.
"Kill!" Owen ordered, pointing with the scythe at Linda.
The sparrow launched another attack. It flew with a lightning-fast speed toward Linda, aiming for her head.
The moment the sparrow flew at Linda, Owen dashed at her as well.
However, in comparison to Linda, the sparrow and Owen were too slow.
Slap!
With just a slap, Linda sent the sparrow flying in the air.
Owen, who had just reached her, raised the scythes above his head and swung them down at Linda.
Swoosh!
Linda dodged the attack and appeared instantly behind Owen.
"Alright, stop it!" She ordered, angry that Owen dared attack her.
"I will not let you hurt my friends!" Owen shouted, the energy in him rising.
"Element Striping!" He shouted.
Linda's eyes widened. "Crazy!" She shouted angrily.
In the next second, Owen's eyes shone in a lightning-blue color. Lightning ran down his arms and enveloped his dual chain scythes.
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Owen released a barrage of attacks on Linda, each several times faster than the previous.
He threw the scythe in his left hand at Linda, and with the scythe in his right hand, he controlled the trajectory of the flying scythe.
Before the flying scythe could reach Linda, Owen spun. Thanks to the spin, the flying scythe was forced to make a full circle before slamming into the side of Linda's body. Thanks to the spin, the flying scythe had gained an enormous increase in strength.
However, the gap in strength between Linda and Owen was like a bottomless abyss. Even when releasing all those combos, he barely scratched Linda.
"Lightning Eagle!"
Owen was about to summon another beast as another portal started appearing above him.
"Enough!" Linda commanded.
Swoosh!
The next second, she appeared behind Owen.
Thud!
She struck him in the neck.
Owen's vision blurred, and he collapsed to the ground.
The portal that was about to appear above him also dispersed.
'Element stripping.' Linda looked at Owen with a kind of pity in her eyes. 'I can not imagine what he went through to become like this, what they did to him. But no matter what, I have to admit. He is truly a genius.'
Down the arena, all the students were in shock.
"Element Stripping," Neo muttered quietly. "How cruel."
Alden, who stood next to Neo, heard him. "Neo, what is element stripping?" He asked.
"The humans can not use elements." Neo started explaining. "Element stripping is a special technique developed by the military and is also a technique exclusive to those with deep ties to the military."
"Does that mean Owen is..."
"Yes." Neo did not let Alden finish his sentence, as he already knew what Alden wanted to say. "Owen's background is not ordinary."
"Then what does the technique do?"
"It is a cruel technique that forcibly strips the element of your beast," Neo explained. "For example, the little sparrow Owen summoned had the lightning element. Thus, when Owen used element stripping, he gained control over the lightning.
But this technique is extremely cruel to the beast. After the beast tamer uses this technique and strips the element of the beast, not long after, the beast will die." Neo's expression was dead serious. And this was the first time Alden saw this side of his. Most of the time, Neo was cheerful and hot-headed.
Of course, he knew Neo for barely one day. But in that one day, a lot of things happened. So he regarded him as a close friend, the closest he had ever had.
"Then does that mean..." Alden quickly turned toward the arena. There, on the ground, he saw Owen's little beast. The little lightning sparrow was not moving. It was dead.
"How could Owen do that?" Alden could not believe that Owen would sacrifice his own beast. After all, the beast tamer and their tamed beast shared a special bond. Like a parent and a child.
"I think Owen was not right in his mind," Neo said. "If he was, he would not have attacked the teacher. And more importantly, with his personality, he would not have sacrificed his own beast."
"Right? Owen is not that kind of person." Alden was confused. "Then what is happening?"
"If my guess is not wrong, then Owen should have two personalities."
Hearing the answer to his questions, Alden returned his attention to the arena.
Linda had picked up the unconscious Owen and was carrying him down the arena. She had also placed the little dead sparrow on his stomach.
When she brought Owen down the arena, Carol hid himself in the crowd of students.
"Carol Martin," Linda called as she put Owen down on the ground and put the dead sparrow next to his head. "Come here."
Carol had no choice but to obey. He walked out of the crowd and stood before Linda, holding for his injured shoulder. "Teacher, how can I help you?" He asked politely. Linda had saved his life, so he felt immense gratitude toward her.
"Wood Slug, come out," Linda called.
The next moment, a green portal opened next to her.
All the students stepped back in fear, with the scenes of the terrifying little sparrow replaying in their minds.
"Don't be afraid." Seeing that the students were afraid, Linda reassured them of their safety.
Out of the portal, Linda's beast stepped out.
It was a disgusting-looking, green slug. The slug's body was about a meter in length.
"Heal him." Linda pointed at Owen.
The slug slowly glided to Owen's body and climbed up his chest. When it reached his injured shoulder, it attached itself to the injured place. The next moment, a blinding green light emitted from the slug.
When the green light dispersed and the slug got off Owen, all the students were left in amazement. Though there was the disgusting sticky green liquid left where the slug stood, Owen's injuries had disappeared. He was completely healed, even his palms.
"Alright, Carol, come here and get healed," Linda ordered.
When Carol fell down the stairs, he injured his shoulder, so he was in immense pain.
He was disgusted by the green slug and the green liquid it left wherever it passed, but the pain he felt in his shoulder made him unable to reject the healing.
He bent down on his knees, and the slug slowly climbed up to his shoulder. The green light appeared again, and Carol felt his pain slowly lessened. When the green light disappeared, Carol did not feel pain anymore.
"I-It does not hurt at all," Carol announced with a smile on his face.
However, the students just stared at him angrily. They still remembered how Carol wanted to beat Owen with his fists till unconscious. So they thought that he did not deserved to be healed.
"Wood Slug, go back," Linda spoke, and the next moment, the green portal opened again, and the slug went back in.
"Alright, there is still about half an hour till the end of the class." Linda announced. "Move to another arena and let Owen rest here." She ordered. "We will continue."