Opening his eyes, Victor saw the familiar academy stadium. He looked around and saw there were a lot of students waiting around.
Once he appeared, someone seemed to have recognized him immediately, shouting his name across the room.
"Look! It's Victor Cruz!"
Victor simply ignored the person and walked away. He was thinking on ways to train Nyx and Sentinel, as well as how he would get their food.
He looked at the two beasts inside his core, his mouth twitching. Sentinel was on the corner, looking at Nyx with indescribable fear.
Nyx, on the other hand, seemed to be building her new "home" without a care of the world around her. She was as dedicated as him, what a good little girl.
Victor couldn't help but smile a little. But his smile washed away once he heard something that truly angered him from one of the students.
"The beasts he chose are probably trash! A trash beast tamer will only have trash tamed beasts! Haha!"
He paused on his tracks, immediately spotting the person who spoke those words.
His gaze pierced through the crowd, as if nothing could get past him, landing on a chubby male student.
A hush fell over the crowd. Everyone suddenly felt their hearts skip a beat, and they couldn't figure out why.
Victor furrowed his brows, finding the person familiar.
"V-Victor Cruz…" The male student forced an arrogant smile. He clenched his hand, but didn't dare stare back against those eyes. "What are you looking at?! That time in the gym was different! I-I'm a beast tamer now!"
Ah—it was the barking dog from two days ago.
The dog held himself up, with a smug but fragile smile. Putting up a brave front, but his fear was all the more the obvious to everyone watching.
'Of course, it's him…' Victor thought, walking toward the male student. There were some people in the world that couldn't be stopped with a warning.
Sometimes, one needed to experience a thorough beat down and humiliation to shut them up.
The chubby student suddenly felt chills. But this time, he fought off the fear and stood his ground.
"Again. Y-you think your puny tricks will work on me?!"
Victor glanced at the student's shivering legs. He shook his head and asked directly: "What's your name?"
The student was stunned. Then, his eyes lit up. His lips curled into a confident smirk: "My name is Darren Lock. The Lock family…"
Victor cut him off.
"Darren, right?"
"Y-yes?" Darren gulped, taking a step back when faced with Victor's cold gaze.
"Come with me. We'll fight in the Beast Arena. Now." Victor said casually. But no one thought he was joking at the slightest.
As though remembering something, he added: "A no-limits match. That's the only way I can beat you up to death without the academy fussing over it."
Everyone's eyes lit up. A no-limits match!
Faced with such a request, Darren didn't know what to think. But at this moment, he saw another follower of Maxwell gaze land on him, nodding at him.
Gritting his teeth, he replied: "You think I'm scared of you?! Fine, let's fight there! I'll show you…"
Victor didn't bother to pay attention the brat's remaining words. He glared at the other students and walked away.
***
Skysworn Arena.
As a beast taming academy, the Skysworn Academy naturally has its own dedicated arena for students looking to spar.
Of course, sometimes sparring was not enough, especially when grudges were involved—so the academy established a "no-limits" match.
A no-limits match only ends when the opposing beast tamer fall unconscious, and their tamed beasts unable to move any longer.
Students crowded the arena, with first-year students taking up majority of the seats.
"Bets are up! Come on here and bet!" the worse Skylar Scholar in history vs Darren Lock!"
"Victor's going to fight? Does anyone know which beasts he chose in the Colosseum? Maybe he has a chance."
"Not sure, but I heard it started with Darren insulting Victor's beasts… we'll see."
"What chance? Are you guys serious? Don't you know that Darren's first core is Gold Quality! He's not just any student a random jade scrub can take on!"
That reveal surprised many students. If that was the case, then Victor's chances of winning were close to nil.
"Damn, I betted on Vic…"
At that moment, the wide screen outside the arena flickered, revealing the participants and their beasts.
[Victor Cruz: One Core Realm, Grade 1 Shadow Crawler, Grade 1 Darkscale Scorpion]
[Darren Lock: One Core Realm, Grade 1 Stormtalon Hawk, Grade 1 Desert Earthwyrm]
Everyone's eyes lit up.
"Victor's line up is full of dark beasts…?!"
"Darren has a rare beast in his line up! The Stormtalon Hawk, one the most popular grade 1 lightning beasts…"
"Anyone knows what a Shadow Crawler is?"
Someone in the crowd asked, confused. Nobody chided him for it since most of them didn't know either.
"Is Victor insane?"
One student stepped out and complained. Everyone turned to look at the student, recognizing her.
"That's… Xianna Talis! A Skyscholar with Lord Quality core! Why is she here?"
"Now this is a true Skyscholar, not like someone with a Jade Quality core…"
"Hey boss, do you know what the Shadow Crawler is? It sounds menacing…"
"It's normal for you guys to not know." Xianna nodded wisely, looking at everyone as she explained, "The Shadow Crawler is one of the strongest common-tier attack-type beast, but…"
Her voice lingered, hesitant. Everyone was bewildered, then wouldn't it be a good thing for Victor to choose it?
"It has a fatal weakness that makes it very trashy. Too trashy, in fact, choosing it is like killing yourself…"
Xianna shook her head.
"It's durability is so weak that it can barely last a single attack. Faced with the lightning fast Stormtalon Hawk, it's good as dead!"
"Only madmen would pick such a beast!"
Everyone's eyes turned strange as they looked at Victor's profile in the screen. They reiterated what Xianna said before…
Was this man, Victor Cruz, insane?
At that moment, the display screen changed. More than ten battlegrounds were shown, varying in terrain.
It was time to select the battleground for the match. Since it was a no-limits match, the choice was left to fate. The randomizer off, and everyone watched with interest.
"If it's a dark type arena, Victor may have a chance…"
Just as Xianna said this, the arena selection landed on the Sunset Cliff arena.
A fire and earth type arena.
She closed her eyes, shaking her head: "It's over."
Rumble!
At that moment, the arena rumbled. The plain earth submerged, and the sky above seemed to shake as well.
As the dust cleared, an elaborate battleground with a tall, jagged cliffs appeared in front of them.
The Sun seemed to shine below the battleground, desert heat scorching through the arena.
Following the change, the beast tamers and their beasts appeared in the battleground, looking at each other.
Start!