This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

The eyes of those in the arena once again moved from stage 2 to stage 1, as the battle between the next two contestants of the top 8 made their way onto the stage.

Included among those watching was a pair of ice-blue eyes watching the stage critically, or more specifically one figure on the stage.

Noticing the attentive gaze, Soren's green eyes looked as though they wanted to skewer Kain alive.

Without any exchange of words, the moment the fight was scheduled to start, Kain released a dense mist to cover the stage. He had no plans to let his future opponents easily obtain any information on his spiritual contract.

He had already summoned Bea before the battle began, but of course nobody else realized the fact. Instead, it looked as though Kain was planning to fight Hailey's two contracts, known for their formidable defence, alone with a spear.

Barely visible threads of mental energy emanated from Bea, weaving through the mist like silken strands. Unfortunately, although not as obvious as the Mindweaver Spider's mental threads, Bea's threads were not completely invisible. Therefore, some of her stealth abilities were exchanged for increased mobility.

The thick mist helped to conceal the threads making their way towards the large figures of the Ironhorn Juggernaut and Mercury Sentinel Beetle.

However, likely sensing the impending threat, The Juggernaut, a colossal rhino with a gleaming metallic hide, stomped its feet, creating tremors in the ground to halt whatever threat its animal instinct could sense was approaching, however it was useless.

Hailey and the Mercury Sentinel did not sense anything like their ally, but the figures of both contracts began to glow with a metallic sheen as Hailey's gift was applied to them. But it was just another useless action.

The threads, nearly invisible in the dense fog, connected with the Juggernaut's mind, bypassing its formidable defenses. For a brief moment, the beast's movements became sluggish, confusion evident in its eyes. However, the confused haze quickly faded after only struggling for a few seconds. And the mental threads retracted back into the fog without Hailey being able to see anything.

An added benefit of a split being transmitted using the threads as a vehicle was that Bea did not have to maintain contact with the target like the Mindweaver spider did, and once the thread was retracted and the split integrated into the mind, it'd be almost impossible to detect anything.

Kain could get Bea to control both contracts, but he wanted to experiment a little more with Bea's new abilities. Plus, he could conceal his ability to control more than one target at once for a little longer. After all, even if majority of the audience couldn't see anything, there's no guarantee that Hailey won't say anything.

Not to mention there were items and spiritual skills that may be allowing some watching to see his every move.

Hailey, sensing something was amiss, commanded her Juggernaut, who had the best senses and could more accurately find a target in the fog, to charge at Kain's last known position. She expected its massive horn to barrel directly at Kain However, its charge faltered as Bea's split tightened its control over its mind, a subtle puppeteering that left Hailey momentarily unsure about what was going on.

"Come on!" Hailey shouted, hoping to overcome whatever was disrupting its concentration.

It appeared to work as the Juggernaut's eyes seemed to clear and it began to charge again, but to her dismay it charged straight for her Mercurial Sentinel Beetle. Bea's split had taken full control, and it now had no ability to resist. The Juggernaut, the beetle in its perception was called Kain—the target that its master told it to attack.

"Snap out of it!" She screamed, hoping to stop her contract as it barreled towards the beetle.

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With no other choice, Hailey quickly summoned the full might of her gift. She removed the defense from the charging Juggernaut, and instead applied as much as she could to the beetle.

Kain could have easily stopped the battle by seizing control of the beetle as well, but he was suddenly overcome by curiosity. Who would win this contest between two of the metal-attribute spiritual creatures with some of the hardest defense at this level?

As the Juggernaut closed the distance, the Mercury Sentinel's body shimmered with enhanced metallic energy. Kain watched with an almost morbid curiosity. Will the Juggernaut become like a flattened car driving into a brick wall after the beetle's defense increased? Or will the innate defense of the Juggernaut be enough to overpower the reinforced Mercury Sentinel.

The ground shook as the Juggernaut lowered its horn and charged forward, while the Mercury Sentinel lowered its body to brace for impact.

BOOM!

The collision of the two sounded more like an explosion, and the force was strong enough to momentarily clear the mist enough for the audience to see what was occurring. The arena erupted in gasps as spectators witnessed the shocking scene of infighting occurring. That was until Kain increased the density of the mist once again.

'Sorry. No peaking.'

The Juggernaut collided with the Mercury Sentinel, sending shards of metal and splinters flying in every direction.

To Kain's surprise, the Juggernaut managed to push the beetle backward far enough that it left the arena, but not without consequence. The rhinocerous horn at the front of the juggernaut had been damaged so badly it had been broken almost completely off.

The fight was over. While the formidable defense of Hailey's gift was proven with the Mercury Sentinel only receiving superficial injuries, it had been pushed off the stage and could not rejoin the fight. Meanwhile, her only remaining contract on the stage was no longer under her control.

Clenching her hands in unwillingness, she declared that she gave up the battle. Kain dispersed the mist as the overseeing professor announced his victory.

Kain could see the curious eyes of those in the audience as they tried to figure out exactly what happened.

Having seen the end of the battle, an intense blue glow faded from Serena's eyes as she stopped the use of a spiritual skill and got up to leave.

"The ability of his contract is different…maybe it wasn't him at the auction…" She mumbled under her breath.