Chapter 347 Chop To The Neck

Quite frankly, Satoshi found Black Fog's naming sense to be ridiculous. It was a powerful attack, that's for certain, but giving it the name 'black tornado of death' didn't really sit right with him. Then again, naming it 'black beam' or 'dark tornado' was a bit simplistic for such a formidable attack.

"Black Fog is unable to battle, Midoriyama Satoshi wins!" The referee let out an ear-piercing whistle before raising his hand. The match was over.

As the smoke rose up, clearing the Grand Stage where the fight ensued, everyone saw Black Fog's body sprawled face-first on the ground as if he was dead. Apparently, he had expended all his energy, and the toll of Trinity Beast Integration on his body rendered him unconscious and immobile. Satoshi could only wonder how many days he won't be able to move.

He could do something about it by using Sera, sure, but he didn't bother healing him up. After all, Satoshi also has to prepare for the next rounds. He couldn't just waste energy like that when the fights were bound to get harder and harder.

Seconds passed, and the first-aid team finally arrived on the Grand Stage, pulling a stretcher behind them. At one point, the Official Beast Tournament started using humanoids when it comes to pulling an unconscious participant from the stage. But after receiving negative reviews about it, they reverted back to using their first-aid team. In hindsight, it looked more humane for people to pull someone out instead of robots. Even though robots were pretty useful in their instant diagnosis, they couldn't replace humans just like that.

Satoshi didn't really have any plans after the match so he waited for the medics to take Black Fog out of the stage before he exited himself. He received another round of applause while Luke Skyrunner and the other commentator started talking about the match. When he returned to his waiting room, Yun Zhe waved at him while he stuffed himself with potato chips.

"Ever had potato chips before? They taste pretty good." He called out.

"You sure you'd be able to fight with all that potato chips stuck in your stomach?" Satoshi greeted back as he sat on the other end of the couch. He was somewhat tired, surprised that Black Fog almost managed to drive him to a corner despite being severely under-leveled.

"I can manage. Good job out there, by the way. It was a pretty good match."

"Your student... he ran out of energy before I could do anything." Satoshi pointed out, grabbing a handful of chips when Yun Zhe offered him some.

"He tends to overextend sometimes. I can't blame though. That was an unwinnable match, the least he could do was put on a show just like you did."

"Figures," Satoshi said back before he lay down on the couch. "Break a leg on your match."

"You don't have to tell me." Yun Zhe snickered.

.....

The next round, as it turned out was Ash against White Mist himself. One could just say that no one actually paid attention to the match since the two of them only used Beast Integration. It seemed like the audience's standard when it comes to Beast Integration rose up by a notch during this year's Official Beast Tournament, that's why those who couldn't do it were already removed from the audience's list. There was even one point where the audience didn't vote for anyone since the fitting candidates couldn't Dual Beast Integrate.

Back to the match between Ash and White Mist, it was pretty obvious who won. Ash didn't have a Representative after all, and White Mist has one. Ash was lost by a landslide, which was understandable. It would've been ridiculous if Ash clutched it, and people would probably say that the fight was rigged. Fortunately, the fight ended as expected with White Mist victorious. Death Metronome did easy work with Ash's Sarugaso. It was a pretty one-sided fight.

What followed after that was a montage of beast tamers fighting with their Beast Integration. There were some who managed to achieve Dual Beast Integration like Shoyo, for example (Shoyo is the orange-haired kid belonging to the White Mist Faction. He has an orange chick-like tamed beast as his partner). Then there's the rumored powerhouse and fan favorite named Kim Jin Seok. Apparently, he's a Korean beast tamer who is pretty famous in America due to his good looks. He's also the one and only guide who assisted everyone, including Satoshi, when they first entered the Beast Dimension.

He didn't expect any of the people there to join the Official Beast Tournament. That's why he was surprised to see that Satoshi was there, and he even managed to reach the third round like him, no less.

"Midoriyama Satoshi, huh, is he a Disciple as well? I've never heard of him before. That's quite surprising, considering that I know most of the Disciples." Kim Jin Seok muttered to himself as his gaze landed on Luke Skyrunner who was overlooking the Grand Stage from the commentator's box. A smile spread across his face as he nodded toward him, Luke Skyrunner also nodded in response.

.....

"We had a couple of interesting matches today, won't you say?" The commentator was still in high spirits despite talking for hours now. It was already late in the night, and yet there was no sign of tiredness in the commentator's voice.

"That's right, but it's bound to get even more interesting in the third round. That's all I can say for now." Luke Skyrunner hinted as he winked at the drone which hovered in front of them. "Just like the second round, we have a surprise for the audience... it's also something that the Official Beast Tournament has never done in the past. I hope you like it."

"Without further ado, let's proceed to the last match. Since there are only two participants left, they can just come up so we can get this over with." Luke Skyrunner announced, to which the audience cheered loudly.

Even those watching behind the screens in the comfort of their own homes cheered as the last match for the second round was announced. After the third round would be the quarterfinals, there would be a break of one day before the semi-finals and finals happen. It wouldn't take long before the year's beast master would be crowned once the event was over.

What was surprising was that some of the candidates for that prestigious title were already eliminated. No one knows what would happen next and they were all at the edge of their seat.

"And for the final round, we have Yun Zhe. Apparently, he can perform a Dual Beast Integration as well. This would be an interesting match. What do you think about his performance, Luke?" The commentator asked before he introduced the other candidate for the finals.

"He certainly shows promise. In my opinion, I do think that Yun Zhe is still hiding his true abilities. Time will tell for sure... but I'm fairly certain that he's on par with Midoriyama Satoshi and those who could Dual Beast Integrate with ease as well." Luke responded, clasping his hands together. While everyone was brushing off the last match of the second round, he was looking forward to it.

After all, he knows that Yun Zhe is a Disciple as well, one of the strongest out there.

"And as for our last name in the roster, his name is Claire. To be fair, I thought this Claire is a girl, his name is a tad bit confusing." The commentator scratched his head as he looked at the name for the second time. He was hoping that he didn't misread the name, otherwise there would be hate directed at him on some social media platforms.

"You read that right. Apparently, his parents gave him his grandparents' names, Claire Kent... you can't deny that it's a pretty good naming process." Luke Skyrunner waved his hand off, assuring the commentator that he read the name correctly.

A couple of seconds later, Yun Zhe appeared on the Grand Stage, waving his hand. The crowd went wild upon seeing him... well, most of them were members of the Black Fog Faction so it wasn't that surprising. When Claire Kent entered the scene, the crowd was still going wild, and he mistook it as them cheering for him.

In fact, the only reason why he managed to reach the second round was that his opponent was on the weakest side of the spectrum. He was just lucky that he was paired with someone so weak. Before waving back to the crowd, he adjusted his glasses like a certain protagonist of a classic animated series.

The referee positioned himself soon after, announcing their names before raising his hand.

Just as he raised his hand, Yun Zhe also raised his. It was a weird gesture but it did the trick of silencing everyone, including the commentators. "One second." He announced, just when the referee brought down his hand to start the fight.

"BEGIN!"

Fwoosh!

One moment, Yun Zhe was standing on the opposite side of the Grand Stage. The next moment, he was behind Claire Kent, delivering a chop to his neck. Claire fell unconscious shortly after, marking the end of the final match of the second round.