Divine Beast Ascension

Chapter 398: The Exhibition Begins!

“I...” Brak nearly growled but quickly controlled himself in front of his powerful father. “I received my punishment.”

“Your punishment for what, Brak?” Treeda questioned further.

Warak understood the situation to perfection. But his reaction and expression never changed. “Go on, Brat. What were you punished for?”

Brak’s lip flinched. “I... was punished for attempting to kill my wife, and attempting to eat my child.”

“There, was that so hard?” chuckled Warak, making sure to slap his son precisely on one of the unhealed fractures. “Treeda, allow me to apologize again. Had Brak not broken away from the clan and used the prefecture border as his shield, I would’ve punished him personally some time ago. Now, leave us, Brat!”

“I appreciate the thought, Warak. At the very least, I’m happy that a proper punishment has finally been delivered.”

‘Since we’re already talking, I have a question for you,’ Warak telepathically asked the moment his pesky son had left. ‘Are there any surprise contenders I should keep an eye on?’

.....

Smiling and laughing, Treeda glanced about the contestant seating area. ‘I won’t say anything about my candidates unless you’re willing to exchange information equally. However... One of Isaac’s candidates might cause you some trouble.’

Startled but keeping his plain expression, Warak followed Treeda’s gaze and found Nova Prefecture’s contestants. ‘And who would that be?’

‘Do you promise to give Brak a hard time-‘

‘I will be regardless of you asking,’ Warak replied immediately and firmly. ‘I refuse to have a direct heir of the clan ruin the reputation we’ve built for generations.’

Treeda smiled and raised an eyebrow. ‘Then take a good look at that fox.’

Doing just that, Warak tilted his head in disappointment.

‘Not the large grey one. The black one with two tails,’ added Treeda.

Warak blinked and readjusted his gaze. ‘Hmm... I’ve never seen such a fox. What’s special about the girl?’

‘What are you willing to tell me about your fellow elite lords?’

‘... That depends. If your information is truly meaningful, I’ll explain either Thunder’s or Draco’s strongest contender,’ retorted Warak.

‘Deal. But I’ll save that for later, in case I’m paired with one of them. Here’s hoping we won’t be pitted against each other and wipe each other out,’ Treeda joked, getting a chuckle out of the old dragon. ‘The girl’s fox clan isn’t anything special. Their strongest ancestor is a low-perennial. However, that girl was perfect dark affinity.’

‘Perfect?! Isaac found a perfect contender?’

Treeda nodded and continued, ‘But that’s not all. What’s terrifying are the battle arts her perfect affinity has allowed her to learn. Given her physical build and essence type, what do you think she specializes in?’

‘... Stealth?’

‘Yes, and no,’ answered Treeda. ‘Isaac only discovered her days ago. But, since she is from this tiny, backwoods territory, whose leader has ties to Zelsh, she and her private instructor appeared in Bore City to face Zelsh’s candidates.’

Now smiling behind his stoic stare, Warak asked, ‘And how did that turn out?’

‘At the time, the fox girl was an early-elder. And she defeated Zelsh’s early-elder son, low-elder swordsman, and mid-elder Tundra Tiger, back to back.’

‘... As an early-elder?? How? What sort of arts can this tiny territory have at its disposal? Aren’t the leaders gorillas with earth affinity, not dark affinity?’ Warak questioned.

Turning her head toward a particular part of the general crowd, Treeda remarked, ‘Do you see that leopard sitting with the gorillas? That’s her instructor.’

‘A Blood-spotted leopard? I thought they were wiped out?’

‘So did I, until that particular leopard created a name for himself in my prefecture a decade ago,’ replied Treeda. ‘Back then, he was only a low-perennial, but he nearly assassinated two-early kings, and escaped unscathed on both occasions. He went into hiding soon after that, but he had already earned the nickname ‘Haze of Death’.’

‘A perennial who can assassinate kings?!’ Blinking, Warak squinted and committed Vloz’s visage to memory. ‘What is he now?’

‘He’s either a peak-perennial or days away from becoming one.’

Inhaling, Warak shook his head. ‘For a territory, this place is quite terrifying. In a few years, they could challenge the region. And they’ve already produced a perfect candidate, as well?’

‘A perfect candidate that has inherited her master’s stealth and assassination skills perfectly.’

Taken aback, Warak finally showed a sliver of shock on his face. ‘She... has assassination skills? And she’s mastered stealth?’

‘That’s all I have to say for now,’ stated Treeda. ‘After I ask for information on one of them, then perhaps we can chat some more.’

‘I see... Thank you, Treeda. I appreciate the warning. I’ll remember this.’

Everyone was sizing each other up. Each prefecture’s contestants were either scouring over their possible competition or peacefully meditating and ignoring the stares of everyone else.

“Hey, be careful out there. We don’t want you getting hurt.” A large grey fox leaned over, smiling slyly at Netra. “Promise me you won’t push yourself too far.”

Not sparing the fox a glance, Netra promptly replied, “Shut up, please. Your yapping is ruining my concentration.”

But while the mid-elder fox tried to hit on Netra, most eyes were on the larger, more draconic contenders. Seeing a few humans mixed into the contestants was cool but it couldn’t compare to seeing two Razor-hide Dragons sitting next to each other in the stands. Many stairs also fell on a massive, royal blue bird. And seeing a behemoth, frost-blue wyrm in Toxic-shadow’s section was eye-catching as well.

The assortment of beasts had such a huge variety. The common spectators were already enthralled by the sight alone.

But, not much later, the few clouds overhead were suddenly dashed away.

GONG!!

A profound ringing filled the entire town as a figure began to descend from the sky above. It seemed to be a human, and they were casually waving to everyone below while speeding through the air. As they arrived at the throne among the prefecture lords, the man happily cackled, “So, must we wait, or shall we get started already?!”

The crowd roared and cheered. It was the ideal ambiance for an exhibition. And though God Toseko felt nothing special in front of a crowd of that size, he did get excited after scanning the contestants below.

“I, the Noxious God, Kartzal Toseko, hereby declare that the exhibition shall begin!”