Augusta Silver stood there, waiting for her opponent. The cheers of her name didn't affect her; her expression was cold and aloof, as if she didn't care at all about the affection shown by the crowd.
In the stands, Daniel noticed Aion's dazed expression and teased him, "Boss… do you fall for her? What is it called… ummm…"
"Yes! Love at first sight!" he said, grinning mischievously at Aion.
Daniel's eyes went little wide comically, and he leaned forward like he'd just uncovered a huge secret.
Seeing this, Aion shot him a side glance and said, "Your mind really goes to strange places, huh?"
He continued, "I saw… she's different from all this fame, not at all like someone who gets carried away by this loud cheering." As he said this, he looked at Daniel in a way that clearly said 'I'm talking about you.'
Hearing this, Daniel's confident grin faltered. He coughed awkwardly, rubbed the back of his neck and quickly looking away, trying to save some face.
After a moment, he said to Aion, "How can my little fanbase compare to her? She's the number one beauty on campus. On top of that, she's the strongest beast tamer among the students. In my opinion, there shouldn't even be competition for this stage, but the academy has to go through the formality of this match to keep up appearances.
He leaned closer to Aion, lowering his voice and continuing "Everyone admires her, but they all keep their distance from her . She doesn't care about anyone… and, oh yeah, you know she's the principal's daughter. So, Boss, if you're thinking about her, forget it. Otherwise… you'll have to face her father. And you know he's a king-level beast tamer — exceptional even among them."
Aion simply gave him a sidelong glance, didn't say a word, and turned his attention back to the stage, ignoring Daniel's teasing completely.
The second participant stepped onto the stage. He had a solid, muscular build with wide forearms and strong shoulders, giving him a presence beyond that of a typical nineteen-year-old student. His name was Harris, a third-year who had made it to the finals.
As both participants entered the arena, a dome-like structure rose to cover the stands. The fight between elite beasts was noticeably different from a Rank 2 match, and the audience watched with keen anticipation.
As the referee began to dictate the rules, a voice interrupted him. "Harris, bring out all your beasts. Let's finish the battle in one go."
There was no arrogance in the voice, only calm confidence. It was Augusta. The fans in the stands cheered even louder after hearing this.
Hearing this, Harris was stunned for a moment and came out quickly from it. He had expected in the first three rounds , he would give his best and then his loss would look gracefully. Winning had never crossed his mind. Being in the finals was already an achievement, but against the monster in front of him, he knew his chances were slim. She was at the peak of Rank 3 at just nineteen, and though her talent wasn't disclosed, he knew it was extremely rare and powerful.
If she unleashed all her beasts at once, he wouldn't even be able to showcase his own beasts strength properly. Still, curiosity gnawed at him — he wanted to see Augusta's remaining pets. No one knew what other beasts she had; everyone had only seen her Frostveil Fairy, which she had used until the finals.
After a brief pause, he made his decision. On the referee's command, he summoned all three of his beasts: Solaris Panther (Level 35), Lava hound (Level 34), and Ashscale Falcon (Level 32). Harris himself was Level 35, and his talent, Fireheart Resonance (Rank B), enhanced fire-type power while reducing energy usage, also giving him a slight edge against Augusta's ice-type beast.
After that, everyone waited for Augusta to summon her beasts. As the summoning ring flickered, a tiny fairy appeared, its wings sparkling like pure white snow, delicate and shimmering, no bigger than a human hand. It was Augusta's pet — FrostveilFairy whichisat peak of Rank 3( Level 39). Its beauty and cuteness made the audience momentarily silent in awe, before a wave of loud cheering erupted.
Among the crowd, murmurs and exclamations spread quickly: "So cute!" "I wish I had a beast like that!" "Augusta, go for it!" "Silver! Silver!" Some whispered in curiosity: "I wonder what her other beasts are…" "She hasn't summoned the others yet. Are they hiding something?"
Different types of cheers rang out, mixing admiration, excitement, and speculation. Everyone eagerly awaited Augusta's remaining two beasts, but as time passed, no new summons appeared.
A voice came out, clear and calm: "Let's start the battle. I am ready…"
It was Augusta. Hearing this, everyone understood her intention — she was going to fight 1 vs 3. How could Harris not understand? This was extreme. Many thought it might cost her the match, or perhaps she didn't even see her opponent as a threat.
Harris didn't feel good about it; in his mind, Augusta was bullying him. He didn't say anything, but simply nodded at the referee, agreeing to proceed. After all, it wasn't his loss.
Seeing both participants ready, the referee signaled for the match to begin. As the countdown reached zero, the battle erupted.
Harris immediately activated his talent, Fireheart Resonance, from the start and ordered his beasts.
"Solaris Panther, use Sunflare Ray!"
"Lavahound, use Hellflare Ray!"
"And Ashscale Falcon, to use Emberlace Rain!"
The three attacks, amplified by his talent, rained down toward Augusta Silver's solo beast, Frostveil Fairy. Harris's heart pounded as he anticipated the outcome of his barrage of attacks.
But from the other side,Augusta commanded calmly, "Go forward! Use Frost Wing Surge!"
As soon as her command finished, the fairy flicked its wings and surged forward. The skill's wave of ice energy met all three attacks head-on, freezing them instantly.
Seeing this the arena grew silent, the earlier cheers fading away. Harris stood frozen, stunned by the sheer spectacle of Augusta's power and before he could react, another command followed: "Use Ice Reversal!"
Then the frozen attacks shattered into sharp ice shards, slicing through all three beasts of Harris .And the Falcon, caught midair behind the others, was thrown down hard.
Finally, Augusta's voice rang out once more, giving Harris no room for response: "Finish it with Ice Nova!"
The Frostveil Fairy gathered a massive amount of ice energy from the surroundings, concentrating it into a single point like an energy bomb. The attack launched at incredible speed, leaving Harris no time to regroup his pets. The wave of ice energy hit, spreading outward and freezing all three beasts in front of Harris, stopping exactly where he stood — as if every move had been perfectly calculated.
Everything happened in mere seconds. The battle was over before it had even truly begun. The audience was stunned, witnessing how Augusta completely overpowered her opponent.
After the battle, the referee quickly summoned one of his own commander-level beasts to free Harris's pets and announced "Harris, you are unable to continue the match."
With that, the judges confirmed the result, and the referee declared Augusta Silver the winner. Augusta summoned her pet back into her beast space and left the arena the way she had entered, without looking back amidst of crowd loud cheering.
Harris also put his pets in beast space as well. He hadn't expected the battle to be so one-sided, even though Augusta had been at a handicap, fighting 1 vs 3. With a dejected look, he walked away from the arena.
In the stands, Daniel's mouth hung open. He knew Augusta Silver was strong, but he couldn't believe she was this strong.
Aion leaned toward him from the side and whispered, "Close your mouth! Don't embarrass us along with you."
Hearing this, Daniel quickly composed himself and teased, "Boss! Let's just forget about her, otherwise she'll freeze you to death…"
Aion glanced at him but didn't reply to his nonsense.
From the side, Robert's voice came: "Daniel, go get ready for the award ceremony."
Daniel straightened up and asked Aion, "Why don't you come with me near the stage when I receive the award and cheers? You could savor some of the glory… and have a chance to meet Augusta Silver."
Aion asked, "Is it alright for me to go near the stage?"
Daniel grinned. "You can come as my family member. See, my parents are too busy to attend this glorious moment of their son — you can take their place. How about it? Interested… hmm, I guess you also want to meet her."
Aion was indeed curious about her ,more specifically about her talent. Being near the stage would let him observe Augusta's talent with his Insight Eye, so he agreed to go along with Daniel. For the misunderstanding about his interest in Augusta, he didn't correct him.
After that nodding politely to Robert's family, Aion went along with Daniel toward the stage.
Meanwhile at the judges' panel, Dani , the mercenary leader commented, "George, your daughter… she's too strong. Even without using her talent, she won a 1 vs 3 fight. I wonder how strong she would be if she had used her talent…"
At this, the third judge also spoke, his tone carrying a hint of disdain for the other participants: "Only she is worth attention in this competition."
George was not naive — how could he not understand the underlying meaning of Dani's words and the other judge's remark? Both were inquiring, indirectly, about Augusta's talent, since it had not been disclosed. As per Federation rules, talents above A level were not made public.
George smiled at both and said simply, with a calm smile, "She is just strong among her peers. She still has a lot to learn. If you could teach her one or two things, that would be really wonderful."
At this Dani replied, "If I have sufficient time, we can talk about this then."As, realising she would not get the information about her talent, she decided to end the topic.
To avoid any further awkwardness among them, George also said to both judges, "Then , we will talk about this at some later time , For now let's head to the award ceremony. It's time to award those three for winning the finals."
Then the three judges walked toward the stage, while the referee thanked the audience and welcomed them to present the awards to the winners.