Kim Jin Seok smiled at Satoshi after he asked the question. This was advantageous for him since he only had three tamed beasts in his possession. Based on Satoshi's previous fights, he was well aware that Satoshi had more than three tamed beasts. In fact, out of everyone in the Official Beast Tournament, Satoshi has the most tamed beasts in his possession.
In response, Satoshi nodded his head as his lips curved upward with full confidence. His countenance exuded the uncertainty that he would win, which bothered Kim Jin Seok a little bit.
Even the audience watching the initial preparations for the match could tell that Satoshi's choices were not that good in terms of his pool of formidable, tamed beasts. They watched his previous fights, and they knew that Satoshi had stronger options. Then again, they could digress since Satoshi had the Kraken Queen in his possession. They have no idea how strong she is in a fight, but her army has never been defeated in the past, so she should be strong.
Well, the Queen of the Kraken Army could be considered legendary as well, but officially, in the list of tamed beasts, Krakens are considered rare tamed beasts. So even if their leader were stronger than all of them, she'd still be labeled as a rare tamed beast at most.
pαпdα-ňᴏνê|·сóМ "And how about you? Are you sure about your choices?" Satoshi asked after Kim Jin Seok released his only three tamed beasts in his possession. One of them was a Representative, and two of them were legendaries.
Kim Jin Seok's Representative is an oversized bird with blue electricity. Its wings had a wingspan of three stories, just like his other tamed beasts. As for the other two legendaries, they are oversized birds as well. One had blue flames, while the other had ice floating all over its body.
In other words, Kim Jin Seok had three monumental birds as his tamed beasts. One of them is an electric type, the other is a fire type, and the last one is an ice type. It's such a cliche and well-rounded team. And just from looking at his tamed beasts alone, Satoshi could more or less guess that Kim Jin Seok is actually pretty powerful. He was probably on par, if not better than Yun Zhe— or at least that's what Satoshi thought to himself.
Murmuring, the audience stared back and forth at Satoshi's team and Kim Jin Seok's team. Just one glance was enough for their inexperienced eyes since Kim Jin Seok's team looked infinitely stronger than Satoshi's. Of course, deep within, they doubted that Satoshi was going to lose, but at this rate, there was no way he won't have any difficulties in the upcoming fight.
Some of the audience started screaming towards the grand stage, warning Hajime of his choices. They pleaded that he change the tamed beasts he picked. They started calling out for Sera, or Ghast, and more of Satoshi's tamed beasts, but Satoshi didn't listen to them at all.
He had already made up his mind, and there was no one who could change his decisions. He firmly held onto the choices he opted for, not even batting an eye towards the audience who didn't respect his decisions.
Of course, not everyone was against Satoshi's choice. Some of the audience who had seen Satoshi pull through in each and every match started defending him, telling the other audience that they were just being selfish due to their requests. One side started yelling about their disapproval, while the other side started yelling about respecting Satoshi's decisions.
And yes, chaos had already ensued between the spectators. Instead of a heated match on the grand stage, there was a heated match in between the audience.
Luke Skyrunner and the commentator remained silent in their box while trying to gauge the situation's overall effect. After much contemplation, they decided to stay their hands off of the event for a bit. They knew that they could easily hype one side or the other, but that would look really bad in the live stream. Right now, what they could do was let the audience argue amongst themselves since it would rein in more viewers online. It was good PR, and Luke Skyrunner wasn't against it.
Then there was the referee, who had been waiting impatiently in the middle of the grand stage. Because of the audience's argument, he didn't know whether he should start the match or not. After all, doing so would put the audience's attention on him. And at that moment, he didn't want any of their attention whatsoever. That's the last thing he wanted to garner— after all, he had his hand was full dealing with all the risks in the grand stage. He didn't want additional problems in his already unstable state of mind.
"Looks like you're pretty popular, Satoshi." Kim Jin Seok jerked his thumb towards the audience as a smile spread across his face. While he was a tad bit jealous that the audience's focus was all on Satoshi, he didn't really show his envy in his expression. He had already made up his mind that he'd release every bit of feeling he had in the match. Right now, the audience's reactions were nothing to him.
"I'm not throwing the match, or anything. I just have full trust over my tamed beasts. I'm sure that they'll give me the victory and propel me straight to the finals." Satoshi continued.
"Are you sure about this? Last time I heard, you have at least two Representatives. If you had chosen them, then you'd have stood a chance against me. But no, you just had to choose common tamed beasts— as if they could stand up against a Representative." Kim Jin Seok shrugged. "In all my history of tamed beast battles, I've never heard of a tamed beast winning against a Representative. The difference in strength is just that wide. Even a legendary would have a hard time going head to head with Representative."
Satoshi chuckled. He knew that Kim Jin Seok's words weren't empty at all. After all, he's a guide in the beast dimension, and he's probably had that profession for many years. Long story short, he had the experience and witnessed countless tamed beast battles to know that what he was saying was the cold hard truth.
"I'm giving you another chance, Satoshi. You can pull out one of your tamed beasts and replace it with a Representative. I'm giving you this chance so we can have a fair match. If you don't want to change your roster, you're basically telling me you're throwing the match. What would it be? Satoshi?"
His points were valid, that much was true, but Satoshi stood firm on his decisions. He looked back and saw the Alpha Red Salamander, the Kraken Queen, and the Ice Empress nodding toward him. They more or less got the gist of what Kim Jin Seok was saying, and because of that, they nodded their heads— implying that they would always agree to Satoshi's decisions, whatever they may be.
Satoshi felt their feelings in his mind since they were connected telepathically. Their feelings conveyed that they were glad to be first picks and that it was a great honor to serve him— that they were glad that Satoshi trusted them a lot even though they weren't legendaries or representatives.
And that was enough for Satoshi. Those genuine feelings that he felt from his tamed beasts told him that he would stand by his choice no matter what. A smile appeared on his face. This time, it wasn't a smile of full confidence but a smile of genuine respect that proved his affinity with his tamed beasts.
Kim Jin Seok could tell that Satoshi had decided. Crossing his arms on his chest, he waited for Satoshi to pull out one of his tamed beasts and replace it with a Representative. Even the audience, who had been arguing back and forth, had heard what Kim Jin Seok said, and they, too, looked at Satoshi in anticipation.
With the eagerness building up in the entire American Dome, no, in the entire world, while they waited for Satoshi, a momentary state of quietness and tranquility filled the air. Satoshi turned around and nodded his head.
Gasp!
Everyone gasped as Satoshi bowed at a ninety-degree angle toward his tamed beasts. "No, it is an honor for me to be fighting alongside you three. I'm not going to replace any of you. The moment I chose the three of you to fight with me, I've already decided that we'd win it together. If you're with me, then step forward. We're going to go straight to the finals, all right?"
The Alpha Red Salamander, the Kraken Queen, as well as the Ice Empress, all stepped forward and bowed their heads as well.
"Now, can we start? I think the audience had waited long enough for this second match. Let's get this over with, already.' Satoshi turned around and faced Kim Jin Seok before he continued his monologue. "And about what you said... that regular tamed beasts can't defeat a Representative? Well, there's always a first time for everything."