The fights had been intense for the students, but the public was restless and unsatisfied with the poor quality of the show. Beast tamers had a high social status, so people had a lot of expectations. But these young beast tamers with common pets weren’t up to the task. It didn’t help that other beast tamers like Amir taunted his classmates for their underwhelming performances.
The school wanted only two finalists for the fourth match since it was the last round. The organizers decided the final would be between Naila and Artem, as neither one had ever lost. This final match would occur on the first ring to create more enthusiasm from the spectators.
***
The other matches still happened on the smaller rings. For this last round, Galen was to fight Julius and his heron, while Zane was to face up to Bruno and his ferret. Both fights ended early like most matches this round, because the pets had mostly exhausted their spiritual energy, and the beast tamers were injured.
This time, Zane managed to win because Bruno and his Brown Ferret were more injured than him. Bruno had lost first against the fierce Naila in the second round when her pony used its skill [trample] on his ferret. Naila had also injured the boy with her estoc. Then Bruno and his ferret suffered against Metin, who was desperate to gain the Shaytan Family’s recognition. In such a state, the poor boy didn’t have any more energy and just wanted to be done with the exam.
As for Galen, he lost against Julius and his heron. Galen and Lucia were tired, and Galen didn’t want to reveal the real use of his talent, not that it was very useful yet. As of now, people should have confirmed that it was a buff skill to enhance his sight as he pretended on his first day back at school. Galen had deliberately used it at the beginning of his fights in tandem with his ranged weapon to mislead people about his talent.
But Julius deserved his previous victories. His Gray Heron was at the rank F overall. However, Julius’s talent enhanced his pet’s skills. Lyra and Galen discussed it and concluded that it was an offensive buffing skill, adding some cutting edge to what Julius used his talent on. Lyra surmised the talent should be called [Sharpness] and be of the common rank by eavesdropping with her [Divine Hearing] on the other students. It wasn’t a powerful talent per se, but Julius had been able to use it fully. His talent was suitable for his heron's skill [wing attack]. That was the reason why Julius won three of his four matches. Galen wasn’t upset by his loss: Lucia had improved a lot, and she would surely soon evolve some of her skills or learn new ones.
***
But one tamer didn’t follow this trend: Moses waited until his last match to reveal his hand. His opponent was Nasir, who didn’t learn his lesson and thought – again – that he would win easily. A single attack was enough to defeat the arrogant boy because he had refused to dodge the [water bubble] thrown at him. What Nasir didn’t know but should have suspected was that it wasn’t a normal [water bubble].
Those watching couldn’t fully explain how Moses had achieved it, but it was an obvious combination of his pet’s skill and his talent. From what Lyra picked up, Moses’ talent was called [Transference]. It seemed it allowed Moses to transfer all the damages he had received to his opponent through the Water Elemental’s [water bubble]. Such a talent should be of the notable rank at the least.
But what made the beast tamers positive that something else was at play was that the attack also poisoned Nasir. Indeed, Mahlon's frog had poisoned the elemental, not Moses, so the pet should have another skill. Maybe a skill that allowed it to replicate the poison, though it seemed unlikely. Some people even speculated that it could be a special feature from Moses’ inner world.
Anyway, Nasir was utterly humiliated by his loss against Moses, who had bet everything on his last match by enduring his injuries in the previous fights. Nasir took it badly. He rejected all the responsibilities on Zane, to whom he promised retaliation. Lyra witnessed it and noted to warn the twins as she was sure they would want to protect their friend.
***
As the organizers hoped, the final between Artem and Naila attracted most of the public’s attention. Artem chose to equip double swords even if his injury from the Short-Tailed Cat was restraining his moves on his left side. He knew defending against Naila and her pony wasn’t a viable option, so he went for offense and mobility while keeping a longer reach than if he was using daggers.
Ayden placed herself behind Artem and didn’t plan to use [spark] at all, keeping her energy for one big attack. Artem wanted to make their opponents think the fairy was useless to lower their guard. Galen helped by passing over the pony’s weakness through Lyra.
Nevertheless, all this strategy was irrelevant as Naila didn’t charge over as she did in all her previous fights. As soon as the match began, Artem saw Naila extending her hands. She held out an herb in front of her, and a white light surrounded the herb. As soon as Artem realized what Naila was doing, he rushed toward her to disrupt the activation of her talent. He didn’t even try to identify what she was doing: it was more important to stop her.
The big ring was 50 meters wide, so without using [fire trail] – the boy chose to keep his remaining chi in reserve for an attack and hoped he wasn’t making a mistake –, Artem still took more than five seconds to run over. During this time, the herb Naila was holding fused with her chi, and she applied it on her Blue-Eyed Pony.
The pet glowed in a white light that hid its features for a short time before expanding rapidly. Just as Artem came near enough to attack, the glow receded, revealing a notable Mist Horse. The crowd gasped in astonishment and gossiped about Naila’s talent, but Artem stayed focused. His mind was working on overdrive, calculating strategies and possibilities.
Artem remembered that the Mist Horse’s notable innate skill was [fog], a skill used to blind its opponents and conceal itself in a fog it created. Fortunately, even if Artem didn’t manage to keep the pet from evolving, he was in position for close combat, which meant that the horse’s skill would be almost useless.
Artem also noticed that Naila had just finished buffing her pet, so she still hadn’t unsheathed her weapon and was defenseless. Artem pursued this advantage and ruthlessly attacked. Naila dodged, and her horse used [rear kick] to defend its tamer. Ayden had followed Artem, but she lingered in the air behind her beast tamer and didn’t attack. Naila used the time bought by her pet to arm herself.
A rough, hard combat followed as Artem had to fight against both Naila and the horse that was bigger and stronger than the pony. Artem was holding on, but he was hurt and exhausted, especially after fighting against Anan and Caleb, who both were on par with him, without even mentioning the injury inflicted by the Short-Tailed Cat. Only the worst of his father’s training ever put him in such a state.
Artem was waiting for an opening to use [chain of blast] with his talent simultaneously with Ayden. Despite his disheveled state, Artem knew he could still win because Naila was a worse fighter than him. Moreover, Artem speculated that her talent needed a huge amount of chi, and this couldn’t be a permanent buff as it looked like a one-shot trick. This early in their studies, Naila shouldn’t have enough chi to hold her pet’s transformation for long.
Finally, Naila made a mistake, and Artem capitalized on it. Ayden followed his lead smoothly. Under the onslaught of a double [chain of blast], both their opponents were stunned, and the horse returned to its original form. Artem didn’t waste such a good opportunity. He disarmed Naila and held his swords at his enemies’ neck, threatening both the girl and her pony.
The referees declared Artem the winner. Without speaking to him, Naila turned around and left the ring to the crowd’s acclamation. Artem frowned in frustration as he also left the ring. Now that the fights were over, he was allowed to see Mrs Bousrani to heal his injuries.
“What got your panties in a twist?” Lyra asked in an exasperated tone.
“She should have won,” Artem muttered in his mind. “If Naila hadn’t used her talent, she would have won. She made a mistake only because she tired herself by using her chi.”
“Well, speaking of her talent, from what Galen and I gathered in the stands, her talent is called [Step Up],” Lyra explained in a carefree voice. “It should be of the notable rank at the least. She needs to sacrifice a special item to help her pet awaken its potential evolution for a short time.”
“That still doesn’t explain why she used her talent!” Artem interrupted her as he couldn't fathom the girl’s strategy.
“I wasn’t finished!” Lyra exclaimed. “The notable Mist Horse was obtained using a blue breathing herb. Galen said it’s an expensive pharmaceutical plant. Depending on the item, she should be able to maintain the transformation longer or explore other evolution paths. In fact, such a talent could be of the rare rank.”
“You just underlined my point!” Artem growled in frustration. “She wasted a good and expensive trump card since it uses materials. What’s more stupid is that it didn’t bring her a clear advantage!”
“Well, maybe she was trying to show off to get better grades?” Lyra mused as she thought that was what Moses chose to do with his stunt during his last fight.
Artem fell silent as he thought over Lyra’s suggestion. “You might have a point. Anyway, she couldn’t have used her talent on the small rings. With only 20 meters in diameter, she wouldn’t have the time to use ‘Step up’ before being interrupted. As it is, she created a big splash in the finale even if she lost.”
While Artem was getting healed, the first group results were published on the big screen above the first ring. Artem and his Fire Fairy were first with six points, while Naila and her Blue-Eyed Pony were second with four and a half points. Then there was a tie for the third place: Julius and his Gray Heron, and Caleb and his Green Dog both got four points. Then, several tamers got three points: Anan and his Earth Sheep, Yanna and her Short-Tailed Cat, and Galen and his Light Fairy. But the ranking didn’t reveal that Anan should be above Yanna and Galen because he had three real victories, while Yanna’s and Galen’s third points came from staying in the winner group longer.
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While these results should help to diminish the scorn the twins had to endure, Artem and Galen weren’t sure it was the right move, especially now that they knew their parents had a plan for their fairies.
But soon, the Jamra boys led the crowd to mock them. Did Nasir’s humiliation make them more ruthless? Under Amir’s lead, the Jamra boys promptly pointed out all the twins’ shortcomings. They denounced Galen’s second fight as a thrown match and declared that Naila’s talent was much more impressive than Artem’s. The twins outwardly showed a dark face, but Artem and Galen were strangely relieved to see they were still scorned and underestimated.
***
The crowd got heated as the fights with the higher-ranked pets were announced. The twins stayed to watch the other groups’ five matches. As they took their place in the stands, they saw Sarah and Larissa entering the arena. It didn’t surprise the twins that these girls snubbed the common pets’ fights.
The notable group of beasts tamers awed the public. These beast tamers showed more skills thanks to their pets. The most impressive student was Orsella Mancini and her notable Cave Bear. They emerged as the big winners, terrifying all their opponents with their crushing power.
Artem watched Orsella's fights with focused attention and noticed the girl made very little use of her talent. Artem wished he could fight Orsella too, because he was very curious about her talent.
Orsella got seven points, while the second in the ranking – Shahin Jamra and his Red Falcon – only got four and a half points. The third in the ranking was the other Jamra boy – Basic Jamra and his Light Camel – with four points.
Artem and Galen also took notice of Benjiro Takahashi’s and Melanie Karras’ results. The boy and his Air Butterfly ended in fourth place with three points – which was quite honorable as he was unlucky enough to be the first one to be beaten by Orsella before losing again in his second fight against Shahin. As for Melanie, she and her Venom Spider got two and a half points with two victories, two losses, and one draw, thanks to her intelligent use of her talent in manipulating dark energy and her pet’s poison.
These results created some dissents, especially since some fights ended in draws but gave no points to either fighter. Among the complainers, Yaron Cantor was the loudest. This tamer and his notable Musician Swan had one win, two draws, and two defeats, but Yaron only got one point in the end. Yaron was talking about unfairness and didn’t seem ready to shut up until Mr Carter threatened to take the point back.
***
After all this drama, it was time for the last group: the fights between the rare or epic pets and their beast tamers. The audience was even rowdier. These were the fights they had been waiting for all afternoon. The system was slightly different this time: the six beast tamers would fight once against the other five. That was why each fighter would receive half a point in the event of a tie. Another difference was the pets and beast tamers were given a ten-minute rest before their following match.
This made Yaron go at it again. He refused to see that there was no comparison to make since the organization was different. To shut him up, the Beast Tamers Association representatives decided to kick him out of the venue.
Before beginning the matches, the school took the time to present the six beast tamers and their pets to the audience. The students went on the first ring with their pet in alphabetical order: Sarah Hut and her rare Deep Blue-Scaled Seahorse, Amir Jamra and his rare Black Sand Fennec, Marcus Mazza and his rare Magma Tortoise, Jax Miller and his rare Thunder Ship Rat, Larissa Pagoni and her epic Fern Heavenly Peacock, and Crystal Petit and her rare Gray Stone Wallaroo. They waved to the crowd, then immediately went to their designated ring to fight.
Artem and Galen watched the matches with focused interest, eager to know more about these beast tamers’ talent and their pets’ skills. These fights took two hours. The outcome didn't surprise the twins.
Artem was disgusted as he saw how Crystal had wasted her time with her Gray Stone Wallaroo. This pet’s evolution path implied teaching it martial arts – its rare innate skill [hammer punch] was a good indication of it – but this girl didn’t know any. Moreover, her talent [Telekinesis] was weak, and she had no idea how to use it to support her pet. She showed off her talent in the classroom, moving around small objects from her handbag or to her desk, but it was all useless. In the end, she was crushed by all her opponents.
Jax didn’t fare much better as he only managed to win against Crystal but lost all his other fights. But this underlined even more how much Crystal was useless as her Gray Stone Wallaroo had an obvious advantage against the rat’s rare innate skill [thunderbolt]: rock was naturally resistant to electricity. But Jax only had to use his talent [Dash] to get next to her quickly and then overwhelm her. Jax did come from a wealthy household, so he had some resources to help nourish his pet, but he didn’t have the training the other four could get with their background.
At the end of all the fights, Larissa didn’t come out first despite having an epic pet. But the twins perfectly understood this outcome. The Pagoni Family was known for its information-gathering skills. Their beast tamers were especially good at surveillance and investigation, so the Family produced excellent investigators for the Beast Tamers Association or the Agency, and scouts for the Army. As such, they didn’t have to deal with many fights, and offensive skills weren’t their focus.
Larissa was a good illustration of this fact. She knew how to fight with ranged weapons, but Larissa couldn’t hold on in front of Amir or Marcus, whose specialty was fighting, and their pets, whose characteristics countered her peacock’s. Moreover, her peacock wasn’t an offensive pet either. The pet’s epic innate skills were [seed bullets] and [mesmerize]. That psychic skill proved powerful, but the best Larissa could do was come to a draw against Sarah.
Nevertheless, the twins sincerely respected Larissa, and Galen was especially interested in her talent, which seemed to come from her eyes. Lyra could only hear the name [Magic Eyes]. However, the twins were sure Larissa was secretive about her talent because of her Family's background.
Sarah also fought brilliantly with her scimitar despite her limitations. Her Deep Blue-Scaled Seahorse needed water, so a pool covering 25% of the ring had been installed; like for the match with the common Small-Headed Salmon. This wasn’t done for the Water Elemental because it could live outside water. This restriction was the main reason why young beast tamers tried to avoid contracting a water pet.
Against Jax and Crystal, Sarah could win while only using this small area of the ring, thanks to her pet’s rare innate skill [water bullets] and the rare defensive skill she taught it: [aqua dome]. But Sarah also had ways to deal with gifted beast tamers like Amir, Marcus, and Larissa since she came from the Hut Family, who specialized in water pets. This limited space didn’t bother her much because she inherited her Family talent, [Water Domain].
As with Larissa, the twins were sure that this talent had a more precise name, but without it, it was impossible to know what her domain effects were accurately. The obvious drawback of this talent was its heavy cost, so Sarah had to use it sparingly despite all the resources her Family gave her and her pet to fill her chi faster. In the end, Sarah could only fight to a tie with all three of them.
Marcus proved his merit during his fights. He was cooperating neatly with his tortoise and its impressive rare innate skill [eruption], showing a true duel match. The audience discovered the other reason Marcus stayed near his tortoise when he used his armament talent to transform his pet into a magical shield to fight back against Amir’s overwhelming offenses. His strategies were smart, and his matches showed the obvious results from all his training. Sadly, a military household didn’t have the resources of a high Family, and both Marcus and his pet had less energy than the others, forcing the future soldier to yield or come to a draw in some fights. Marcus ended up with three wins, one draw, and one loss.
Finally, Amir came out first with four wins and one draw. The fennec’s rare innate skill [gliding] allowed it to move quickly over sand, but as the ring didn’t have any, this skill was useless in the matches. This kind of problem had been endlessly discussed in debates over the years to know if accommodations should be made depending on the pets’ spiritual element for competitions. Usually, the main argument against it was that real life wasn’t accommodating.
But Amir was well prepared. Since a rare pet could learn and remember up to four skills, Artem taught his pet three skills for the exam: the common skill [sand throw] which his fennec used to blind its opponents, the notable skill [sand wall] for defenses, and quite extraordinarily the epic skill [sand storm] for attack. The fennec produced the sand needed for these skills with spiritual energy as Lucia and Ayden produced their own light and fire.
Teaching three skills – including an epic one – in only a month was an incredible feat. This could be explained by a Family’s secret or a special feature from Amir’s inner world. What was even more remarkable was that these skills didn’t look like ones Amir intended to keep long for its pet, since some seemed to clash with the usual evolution path of the Black Sand Fennec. Lyra was especially suspicious of it all because this fennec was incredibly dull and had poor results for its mind development.
However, these skills allowed Amir to fight without constraints during the exam. Moreover, the young beast tamer was a good warrior with his khopesh. He boasted that his talent was [God Fighting Prowess], even though it was an obvious lie. Galen and Artem couldn’t clearly see Amir using it during his fights. They only saw things happening strangely during his matches, leading to Amir’s victories.
These fights thrilled most of the public because of their stronger and flashier skills. As usual, Amir was ostentatiously playing up to the crowd. Artem even suspected that part of Amir’s reasons for teaching those skills to his fennec was to show off. But the boy restrained his comments about it, as he wasn’t sure he was objective. Artem couldn’t help feeling bitter about Amir’s first place.
***
The school wanted to finish the event with a ceremony. The organizers used the ranking of this last group matches to do it. Mr Carter first called on the ring Jax, Crystal, and Larissa. As they stood in front of the crowd, the teacher lectured them on their shortcomings. It was humiliating. Crystal’s and Jax’s faces were dark with shame and anger, though these two deserved it in the twins’ opinion. Galen and Artem wouldn’t pity them since Crystal and Jax had been acting like pests towards them.
But Larissa kept her usual calm indifference as she stood there with an elegant demeanor. It brought a small smile to Galen’s lips.
Lyra noticed it and decided to tease him to distract herself since looking at the scene was very unpleasant to her. “Why are you smiling? Do you have a crush on this girl?”
Galen shook his head, pursing his lips as he wondered how he should answer. But Artem beat him to it. “You have lingering feelings for your ex-fiancee candidate?”
“What? What? What?” Lyra wasn’t usually so nosy, but it was a good distraction. “You explain right now!”
“Don’t talk nonsense. Larissa has only ever been a candidate – one unlikely to be chosen at that – and I’m sure her Family instructed her to keep away from us now.”
“You didn’t explain! I want an explanation!”
“Too long to explain here,” the boy answered dismissively to Lyra’s disappointment.
“Look,” Galen added aloud, “the others have been called over.”
It was Sarah’s turn to go on the ring. She had a cold and haughty look on her face. The “princess” of the Hut Family ranked third. Knowing someone from a military household ranked higher than her didn’t sit well with her. But Sarah had her pride and didn’t make a scene. She was also well aware of the fact that water powers were mighty but slow to build, so she knew she had to bide her time.
Marcus went on after her. He was as quietly indifferent to all these speeches as Larissa and kept a straight face throughout.
As Amir went on the ring last to receive the teacher’s and one of the Beast Tamers Association representatives’ congratulations, Artem clenched his fists.
“Don’t focus on the rank. It doesn’t mean everything,” Lyra said as she noticed Artem’s state of mind since she wasn’t willing to look at the ring anymore.
She was also bitter to have to say it. This ceremony brought back to her mind unpleasant memories. Flashes of venues full of spectators, hard-eyed stern judges, and stressed-out competitors invaded her mind, accompanied by a loud buzz of noises and distorted pieces of music. And worst of all, in the middle of the mass of images was her mother’s cold face standing out there like a haunting ghost.
“I know. I know,” Artem answered in a rueful voice. “It’s just … I suppose I’ve gotten too used to being up there in his place.”
“Oh, you know it?” Lyra forced herself to keep a grip on her bubbly persona when she only wanted to drop the subject and hurry out of there. She had been fine during the competition, but the reward ceremony seemed to have triggered her. “Well, then, prove it! Move on!”
Galen patted his brother on the shoulder before getting up to leave. There wasn’t much more to do here, so Lyra was right: they should leave.
“Let’s find Zane and go to the cafeteria. It’s time to eat.”
Galen was relieved the exam was over, and his mind was already on the messages their parents had left them. Though, knowing Artem, the boy would insist on debriefing all their fights before doing anything else. Eating with Zane would be the best opportunity to do that.