The lanky Olrock man staggered from the turbulent energy that slammed his body. Even after the fact that they were the farthest from such a monster and that they were not the receiving end of the command, his body almost followed suit with the folks from the Free Cities.Aside from Alamin of the Olrock Tribe, Senya of the Roxas Tribe and the blonde man from the Hiperia Tribe beside Senya, all the other warriors of the three tribes were either moaning or fighting off their nausea.Senya wiped the sweat from her chin. “That young lad is the real deal.” She shifted her attention to the smiling blonde man beside her. “Right, Xerxes?”“Wait for that little lady to make a move. According to my sources, she is the strongest one among us. Next to her is that young boy.” Xerxes shook his head. “Really. The powers of the guardian beasts are incomparable to us mere mortals.”“Guardian beasts?” Alamin piped in. Though he did not care about information and intel sources, the raw strength he felt f
As soon as the airship left, women in their skimpy clothes—practically displaying their cleavage and ass—pushed together a gigantic digital television. On its screen were the words ‘Trials of Eights’. Upon the arrival of the women with headbands of cats and bunnies, the men from the free cities whistled and cheered.The host clan’s patriarch, Ren Regalia, spoke. “Before I begin the preliminary draw, let me request the help of my grandson in operating this colossal tech machine.”Alfred Satova chuckled. “We know, Ren. Besides, the God’s Eyes of Young Master Cielo can verify anything, eliminating any possibility of doubts among us.”Miranda Roxas, clad in her blue armor, nodded. “What a dashing name for a beast’s skill.” Though her tone was friendly, her eyes were mocking Ren Regalia.As the chieftain of the tribe that honored the goddess of the sea who hunted sacred beasts, like the beasts of the hidden families, Miranda Roxas detested people who were tied to any beast much more than t
Unlike the opening ceremony, Cielo was sporting the traditional garbs of the Regalia Clan—a samurai hakama of pure black. Though he was not sporting any samurai right now, the dagger under his hakama was enough, and of course, Rito. The moment he stepped down from the car, what the people, who were waiting to see the warriors for the Trials of Eights, saw first was the pair of geta sandals—a complete contrast to the sparkling black shoes he had worn yesterday.With every step he made to the entrance of the arena, the sound of the wooden sandals resonated amid the clicking of cameras and rainfall of questions.Cielo was midway to the entrance when a Lamborghini arrived right after the Volvo drove away. Turning back to see Velicia in a pastel dress, he did not have some second thoughts and went straight to her.Smiling down at her as a way of greeting, he asked for permission. “May I?”Like always, Velicia nodded.-“You entered the entrance twice together? Are the two clans merging?”-“
“—ready? And fight!”The crowd of warriors seated on the surrounding bleachers erupted when Shuha took the lead in the offensive. Without moving from his spot, Cielo remained standing—as if he was openly welcoming Shuha’s attack.For Shuha, who had seen many types of beasts in the wild, he could not help but frown at his opponent’s response. Shuha openly jumped in front of Cielo. He jumped high enough to make Cielo squint his eyes as Shuha’s silhouette covered the blazing sun hovering over them, only to appear behind Cielo in a blink of an eye.Eyes yet to gleam blue, Cielo nodded his head as he glanced behind him. Meeting the eyes of Shuha, he smiled. “For a man who is only a year older than me, you are quite good. If you met me a few months back, I would definitely lose.”Before Shuha’s deadly fish destroy his head to bits, Cielo had already dodged to his right and jumped a few meters from the frowning Shuha.“Fight me.” Shuha stretched his arms and neck.Cielo finally moved his han
“Stop staring.” For the nth time, Velicia said these words. This time, it was laced with shyness from Cielo’s blatant staring. “You know that I can’t eat straight if someone is staring at me as if I have grown a tail.” “Well, will you grow a tail?” Like an eager child who was served a toy for the first time, Cielo’s black eyes gleamed with excitement. Not minding the fact that they were in the deserted restaurant located in the lobby of the arena, Cielo’s voice raised a pitch higher than usual. Raising her brows, Velicia asked back. “Did you also grow a tail when you finally merged with the Black Serpent?” Cielo’s shoulders slumped after getting the answer to his question. Upon seeing Cielo’s puppy-dog expression, Velicia could not help but continue. “Well, if you keep on watching my following matches, or when you are lucky enough to meet me in the finals, maybe I will show you my 70% merging body with my guardian beast.” “Merging body? Is it the same with merged cores? Rito did
Sweat splashed in sync as he slashed the air with his wooden sword. With his black-and-white hakama, Cielo spent his night practicing kendo to calm his chaotic emotions and turbulent mind. “Are you calm now? There are blisters on your palms from your nonstop swaying of that damn wooden stick.” Rito, who was in his young boy form, remained slumped at the corner of the dojo while eating seafood pizza. “Raella still managed to enter the family register like the original timeline.” Rito burped. “So what? Jun Regalia is not the successor anymore, you are.” “It also means that Cael will be joining the clan anytime soon. That sly son of a bitch will start his devious schemes right after entering the household.” Cielo stopped midway from hitting the air with a clean strike as if he remembered something vital. “No. Maybe, the plan had long started way before he entered the household and even Raella is only a pawn—his eyes and ears—in his game.” “Then that man is indeed dangerous.” Cielo
“You are being too much! You are taking things too personally! Just because he pointed a spear at you last time, you cannot humiliate him like this!” Senya Roxas, who was coincidentally a few meters away from Velicia and Cielo, took a few steps before stopping midway after seeing the glowing pair of bright blue eyes that belonged to the man who also took a single step forward toward her.Velicia cocked her head as if she was wondering what nonsense Senya was spouting. “I don’t plan to humiliate him.” She glanced at her opponent and smiled at him. “I plan to kill him.”“!!!”Everyone, even the announcer, was taken aback by how a petite young girl could be so brutal. But upon remembering who she was and where she came from, their shell-shocked expressions dwindled. They also remembered how she brutally killed a member of a Roxas Tribe in a blink of an eye.“Y-You are a despicable human being!” Senya’s voice cracked, earning the sympathy of those around her even from the people of the fr
“Softest moon,So big and bright.Softest dawn,So warm and might.Light my way,Here I pray.”Cielo felt the harrowing sadness from the familiar singing voice. Entranced, he followed the direction where the source of the voice was coming from. He did not know where he was nor did he care. What he wanted was to see the owner of the voice at the end of the dark tunnel.Upon reaching the end of the hallway, Cielo’s heart dropped with dread.‘Velicia!’ Cielo screamed, at least he tried to, but he only ended up screaming at the back of his mind. His fingertips touched his lips and tried to open his mouth to say something.But no words could come out from his lips no matter how hard he tried. Seeing that he really could not speak, Cielo shifted his attention to his legs and willed his feet to move and rescue Velicia.‘I can’t move! Rito, where are you? Rito!’ He called for Rito at the back of his mind and tried to conjure the God’s Eyes……but still, nothing.Eyes shaking, Cielo looked up a