Chapter 322 Octo

The sudden bloodshed that ensued as soon as the match started greatly shocked the entire audience body. They simultaneously gasped as they saw Satoshi's body being cut cleanly in half. It didn't even happen in a hundredth of a second. Everything happened all at once, as if the man had pre-planned the attack before the signal was even given.

Silence then filled the entire American Dome as Satoshi's body, from the stomach up, slid towards the ground, and he fell. Some of his guts spilled the moment his upper body slipped and plopped to the ground like a useless pile of meat.

"What happened?" Satoshi perplexedly questioned as his eyes looked up towards the open ceiling of the American Dome. Beyond the ceiling were the stars. A cloudless sky greeted Satoshi, with the new moon barely showing off its shine around its edges.

For once, Satoshi felt peaceful and light-headed at the same time. He was losing a lot of blood. And yet, somehow, he felt a certain tranquil deep within. It's as if his heart found a disturbing state of peace and quiet that blocked everything in his brain.

"Wait... what's going on... why can't I—" Blood flowed from the edges of Satoshi's lips as he tilted his head towards the side. From afar, he could see his parents trying to suppress themselves from going to the stage and stopping the fight at all costs. His dad, Tatsuki, covered Aira's eyes while Shiroi and Emma clenched their fists until they bled. Their eyes were tearful, and they constantly prayed for Satoshi to get up and do the impossible. As for Satoshi's grandparents, Grado and Lina were already rushing down the stairs toward the nearest edge of the audience seats. If Satoshi's life reached a critical level of endangerment, they were ready to swoop in and save him at a moment's notice.

"It's weird... I can't contact my familiars. My mental link is gone." Satoshi muttered to himself as his consciousness dwindled.

Meanwhile, Hero Disciple just stood there, clapping his hand. Satoshi could've sword that he caught a glimpse of a mantis-like tamed beast right behind the Hero Disciple, appearing and disappearing as if it was on camouflage.

"I guess a simple psychic-type attack that blocks mind links and a speedy attack is all it takes to defeat one of the strongest beast tamers out there." Hero Disciple said, approaching Satoshi like a predator waiting for his prey to bleed out and die slowly.

"Cough~, so that's what it was. No wonder..." Satoshi coughed out blood, but he still hung on to his consciousness. While he had no idea how he'd get out of such a sticky situation, he knew there was a chance he could escape.

"You might as well forfeit this match. I'm sorry to say, but you're no match for me." Hero Disciple said.

Satoshi coughed out blood a second time before he gritted his teeth. Before Hero Disciple could continue with his convincing, Satoshi forced himself to wear a smile on his face. He chuckled. "And why do I need to forfeit this match when I'm going to win anyways."

His declaration reverberated throughout the entire American Dome, sending chills up and down everyone's spine as he let out a significant amount of bloodthirst from within. Satoshi exuded the false bravado of winning the match; somehow, everyone misunderstood it.

"Let's see how long you can last."

Before Satoshi could even move an inch from where he was lying down, Hero Disciple revealed the tamed beast he was integrated with. Satoshi was right; it was actually a praying mantis in camouflage.

Aside from the Sinister Zither that Hero Disciple summoned. It was the one responsible for blocking Satoshi's link with his tamed beasts.

The invisible praying mantis lifted one of its jackknife claws, bringing it down like a sword about to take one's life in a snap of a finger. Satoshi already saw himself getting pierced through the heart in his imagination, and that's why the only thing he did was close his eyes and activate his power.

It was his last desperate attempt to counter the move of the praying mantis.

Ting!

.....

For a moment, Dex was distracted by the appearance of the Representative called the Sinister-Zither that he forgot to take immediate action when the referee signaled the commencement of the match. Before he could react, Dex found himself in a dark place somewhere. He concluded that he was teleported out of the American Dome.

There was no time to figure out what was going on, and Dex immediately realized that he was transported into another dimension. His second realization was what alarmed him the most since he also realized that Satoshi was in danger. Despite the fact that he lost his mind link with Satoshi and that he had no idea what was happening to Satoshi at the present, he could feel deep inside that Satoshi was in grave danger.

[I have to get back. I have to get back as soon as possible.] Dex repeated to himself.

One of the innate abilities of a System-Type Representative was their power to connect with other tamed beasts. Right now, even though he couldn't connect to Satoshi's mind, he knew that he'd be able to connect with the others. He figured that they should at least know where Satoshi was, or at least one of them is still linked to Satoshi.

The moment he reconnected with everyone, however, he realized that they, too, were transported to different dimensions. Thankfully, Ghast managed to bring everyone together in less than thirty seconds, thanks to his portal creation ability.

'We have to get back. Our master's in danger.' White Lion spoke in his mind. Since Dex was connected to everyone, all of them could communicate their thoughts.

'But how do we go back?' This time, it was the Ice Empress who voiced out her worries. She was actually transported to a dimension where eternal flames were burning. Her life was almost extinguished, but fortunately, Dex and Ghast were quick enough to rescue her from there.

[It's easy. With Ghast's help, we should be able to pinpoint Satoshi's current location right now. I'm going to give you administrative access to my mind, Ghast. It's all up to you. Based on our location and based on the dimensions where we were previously transported, you should be able to find our way back to Earth.] Dex continued.

'Now that I think about it... where's Statue of Captivity?' Droplet thought.

'Droplet didn't lose his link to Satoshi, or so that's what I want to believe right now. At the moment, I can't mind link with him. Let's just hope for the best.'

With Dex's knowledge and Ghast's expertise in crafting portals, they were able to find a roundabout way of teleporting to Satoshi's side. First, they must hop from one dimension to another, retracing their way from when they were transported in a thousandth of a second. Once they get to the Beast Dimension or the Dimension where Emma came from, they'd be able to teleport beside Satoshi at once.

'I got it. Let's go. I'm not going to give everyone a break. If you want to puke, just puke.' Ghast reminded everyone as he created the first portal.

...

Once they passed through the second to the last portal, Ryu Ryoko vomited first, then Sera. The third one to vomit was the Alpha Red Salamander, followed by Gabriel and the Ice Empress. it seems like no one was immune to the dimension-sickness that happens when one frequents teleporting.

'We're almost there.'

Fwoop~

The silence that filled the dimension suddenly turned opposite when everyone was greeted with the noise. The Cloak Of Invisibility, instructed by Dex, covered everyone so the audience won't be surprised when more than a dozen tamed beasts showed up out of nowhere.

When they got back to the scene, however, they saw that one of Hero Disciple's tamed beasts was already in the process of stabbing Satoshi through the heart. But before anything could happen, a small tamed beast came out of nowhere, blocking the praying mantis's attack and getting stabbed herself.

The tamed beast in question was a small octopus, royal purple in color. It had a cute disposition. That's why it seemed like an act of abuse or bullying when it was stabbed straight through.

​ Satoshi was nearing death, and on his last couple of breaths, he decided to use his power to claim the cute octopus as his own. It was given to him by his grandfather before they got here, but he hasn't linked with it, nor has he tamed it because he was too focused on his debut.

Who would've thought that such an underdog of a tamed beast would actually save him in a pinch? "I leave it to you, Octo." Satoshi continued, giving his new familiar a nickname.

Octo glowed brightly, and then Satoshi didn't waste any time integrating with his new familiar. In a split second, his lower body immediately connected with his upper body, and his energy was replenished instantly. As it turned out, Octo had high regeneration, and it was even boosted thanks to Satoshi's superpower.

"Sweet~" Satoshi muttered under his breath, still tasting the residue of the blood he coughed up a few moments ago.