The girl knew that the two guards stationed by the entrance of the American Dome could very well rival even the weakest of Disciples. She was genuinely surprised that her first opponent was actually stronger than her students. If it took him less than five minutes to defeat her men, then surely he's got a Representative on his side.

"Who are you?" The woman asked with a skeptical gaze while she examined Link up and down.

"Shouldn't you introduce yourself first before anything else?" Link pointed out as he reverted back to his human form. The red ninja costume adorned over his body suddenly disappeared, showing his actual weird outfit for the costume.

To put it in simpler terms, Link looked like he was from the early 1800s. And that was more than a millennium ago. Chuckles could be heard emanating from the audience, but Link paid it no mind.

"I'm sorry, I'm Jana, Jana Alexis. And what might your name be, fellow Disciple?" Jana wore a mesmerizing smile on her face as she extended her hand toward Link.

Swish~

In a span of a split second, Link disappeared from where he stood, reappearing in front of Jana and shaking her hand in return. Of course, Jana managed to follow his movements with her sight. She wasn't the least bit surprised when Link appeared in front of her.

"Nice to meet you. It's nice to see a fellow Disciple here. Will this also be your debut fight?" Link asked out of curiosity.

After gently letting go of Link's hand, Jana nodded her head. Unbeknownst to her, all the other Disciples also had the same mindset. They've been hiding their innate ability as beast tamers for years. That's why this Official Beast Tournament would solidify their standing as a Disciple right before the Selection Process. Then again, they had no idea that other Disciples would also join this Official Beast Tournament.

"I see. I see. I guess it's the same for everyone, huh? No wonder you tried to disqualify me before the match even started." Link shook his head in minuscule disappointment. He could somewhat understand the sentiment, so he was only slightly disappointed.

"I didn't want to bother with weaklings... but seeing that you managed to beat two of my students, I guess I should at least acknowledge your abilities as a beast tamer," Jana responded, trying to defend her underhandedness.

"Now, let the eighth round of this first bracket commence! Link versus Jana, START!" The referee announced, bringing his hand down in a chopping motion while the audience cheers got louder. The commentators also started talking casually to each other as Link and Jana stood on both ends of the Grand Stage.

"Before anything else... Can I ask you a question?"  Link raised his hand, stopping Jana before she could even take a step forward. "By any chance, were you the one who defeated the Kraken Army?"

Jana raised an eyebrow. "What? What are you talking about?"

Everyone, even those with no background in beast taming, knows what the Kraken Army was. It was one of the most formidable groups of tamed beasts that no one could take down. Both the Black Fog Faction and the White Mist Faction had already tried to subjugate the Kraken Army before, but they stood no chance against it.

"Never mind, if it wasn't you, then that's one less thing to worry about." Link shrugged.

"Wait, are you serious? Was the Kraken Army really defeated?" Jana worriedly asked. Based on Link's expression, she could tell that he wasn't kidding. Nevertheless, she found it hard to believe that the Kraken Army was defeated right under their noses.

"Yup, before your students fought me, I went to the Beast Dimension to attempt to capture that beast...  but it was already gone.  I think someone had already defeated it and tamed it."

"And are you sure about this?" Jana doubtfully confirmed.

"Who knows?" Link casually spoke as he grabbed a couple of Grens in his pocket. "Why don't we start, aye?"

Without further ado, Jana nodded, summoning an Alpha Red Salamander and an Alpha Blue Salamander out of nowhere. "Sure, let's get this over with."

"Alpha Salamanders, huh? I guess you're really looking down on me. Are you sure you don't have to use your Representative?" Link licked his lips. He had already planned to use his Representative, the Crimson Dagger.

However, seeing that Jana didn't even bother to use her Representative, Link felt a little guilty about his decisions. "But what should I use? It's not like I have other tamed beasts aside from my Grass-Type Army."

Because of his obsession over defeating the Kraken Army and taking their boss as his tamed beast, he concentrated too much on building up his Grass-Types. Currently, all his tamed beasts are all Grass-Types, and only his Representative could actually counter the Alpha Red Salamander that Jana fused with.

Jana had all the right to look down on Link since she had already gotten some intel about him. She knew that he only had Grass-Types with him, and that's why she was taunting him to use his Representative.

The Dual Beast Integration was successful, and Jana transformed into a powerful beast tamer wielding both fire and ice. She floated as a blizzard of both snow and fire enveloped the entire Grand Stage.

.....

The Official Beast Tournament wasn't really that big of a deal when it came to the Managers. But seeing that most Disciples were already gathered there, trying to prove themselves to the Managers, they had no choice but to watch over them.

In a building somewhere in another Dimension, a room was well adorned with gold and silver. In the center of it was a round table with a pristine thick white cloth draped. Gathered around were the Managers who were quite proud of their Disciples, and they watched the Official Beast Tournament with great anticipation.

"I'm guessing this is the first time our Disciples will be meeting each other, right?" A man with white long hair clasped his hand. He was the first one to speak on behalf of their gathering.