This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

There were no more upsets until the time of Kain's match against Dwayne.

Once summoned, Kain entered the arena, his steps steady and his expression composed as always. His opponent, Dwayne, was already waiting for him, his imposing frame standing tall at the center of the field.

The buzz of anticipation in the crowd was palpable. After Ranya overturned, many in the audience were hoping for something similar to happen to Kain—not that Kain had any intention of granting their wishes.

Dwayne was a well-known figure, not just because of his undeniable skill but also due to his rare and coveted S-rated affinity.

His affinity was linked to creatures possessing the "Triton Bloodline," a rather infamous lineage.

This bloodline was said to originate from a spiritual creature that had transcended the 9th rank to essentially become a god on earth.

According to ancient legends, Triton, who controlled the world's oceans with a wave of his hand, was practically unrivalled in power—particularly in oceans. However, his impressive strength is greatly overshadowed by his insatiable lust.

Stories told of how this god would transform his appearance to mate with anything and everything: common birds, fish, humans, dragons, infernal creatures and even, supposedly,…some plants.

Whenever he came across a new living, or maybe even non-living, creature his first thought was not what "it could do", but rather how he "could do it."

Over millennia, his progeny spread across the globe, resulting in more than five thousand distinct species bearing traces of his bloodline. Sirens, mermaids, undines, Pengs, sea monsters, certain insects, many land animals, some sub-dragon races and even some humans—were all counted among his descendants.

The diversity of his descendants huge. Moreover, their potential varied widely, but one thing was consistent—any creature with the God of the Sea bloodline possessed at least gold-quality potential.

This gave tamers with an affinity for his bloodline an unparalleled variety of spiritual creatures to choose from, spanning numerous attributes, since the great Triton didn't limit himself to water-attribute creatures, and forms.

It's even been rumoured that human's that awaken this affinity also likely carry his bloodline. Therefore, although a powerful affinity, they often can't resist some looks of schaudenfreude and teasing from their peers. Although, such teasing is usually masking envy, since most would happily take an S-rank affinity and simply have to claim a lustful ancestor in exchange.

Even now, as Dwayne took the stage there would be whispers in the crowd questioning his lineage and if his character may in some way resemble Triton's. Given the god's infamous habits, it wasn't impossible that Dwayne himself was a distant descendant.

Despite this strong affinity, Dwayne had failed to break into the top 5 rankings thus far. It was a sore point for him, and the fiery determination in his eyes made it clear that today, he intended to change that.

Dwayne practically sprinted to the stage and already stood on it when Kain was still leisurely making his way down the steps of the aisles in the stands. However, the increasingly fierce expression on Dwayne's face suggested that he took Kain's leisurely pace as a personal insult.

"Newman," Dwayne called out, his voice resonating across the arena as the crowd fell silent. "You've been looking down on everyone for a while now. Let's see if you can still afford that arrogance after today."

Kain smiled faintly, his hands in his pockets. "Looking down? I was just busy. But if you're in a hurry to receive your beating I'd be happy to oblige."

The referee, a senior beast-tamer, raised a hand to signal the start of the match. "Begin!"

Dwayne wasted no time, summoning his contracts in a flash of light. Three enormous spiritual creatures materialized before him. Discover exclusive tales on empire

The first was a Tidebreaker Leviathan, a massive, water-attribute serpent with shimmering blue scales that glowed faintly with runic patterns. Its body coiled like a living tidal wave, and its piercing yellow eyes glared at Kain with feral intelligence.

The second was a Stormstrike Siren, a lightning attribute variant of the siren race. It appeared like a half-humanoid creature with dark midnight blue, glistening skin that sparkled like the ocean under moonlight. Her long, flowing hair crackled with arcs of lightning, and her voice echoed with an unearthly melody that could paralyze weaker wills.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The final spiritual creature appeared to be a sentient cloud of poisonous gas, a Noxious Cloudling. Knowing the origins of all of these spiritual creatures, Kain once again had to marvel at the impressive determination of Lord Triton—how do you even attempt to procreate with a cloud?

All Kain could say is that he was truly a powerful, resourceful, and "capable" man—at least Kain didn't think anyone could ever again compare to him in this department.

Kain also summoned all 3 of his current contracts, despite being 4-star beast-tamers both only had 3 contracts on the stage and nobody was able to take the numerical advantage.

Kain, had 3 green-grade spiritual creatures and was not able to find a suitable contract yet.

Two of Dwayne's contracts recently advanced to green-grade not long after he advanced to 4-stars, one was still yellow-grade, and his most recent fourth contract was extremely young and had high potential, but was only at red-grade. Therefore, it couldn't yet add to his strength.

If he dared to summon the red-grade youngling, Kain would not have any qualms about smacking it out of the arena.

The Leviathan surged forward, its serpentine body undulating with incredible speed. It launched a torrent of pressurized water directly at Aegis, the force of the attack carving grooves into the arena floor, showing the penetrative power of the water.

Aegis raised its massive stone arms, forming a shield that absorbed the brunt of the attack. The water splashed harmlessly against its unyielding form.

Meanwhile, the Siren began to sing, her voice a haunting melody that resonated across the battlefield. Tendrils of lightning crackled in the air, darting toward Queen and the rest of the guards.

As for Bea? Almost as soon as the match began, she'd managed to easily infiltrate the mind of the yellow-grade cloudling—its large body that covered much of the stage to obscure Kain's vision and hopefully poison the Vespids, easily allowing Bea to covertly make contact.