Chapter 88: The King of the Arena

The King of the Arena

Leon stood at the center of the arena and gave Selena a small gesture.

That was all.

She understood immediately.

There was no need for an explanation. No need for a shouted command. After everything they had been through together, a single movement was enough.

Selena’s golden eyes narrowed.

A sharp glint flashed through them.

Then her silver-white hair began to rise behind her.

An overwhelming aura burst from her body.

The atmosphere changed in an instant.

The air around her seemed to grow heavier. Even the spectators sitting far from the arena could feel the pressure rolling outward.

Then—

ROAR!

A phantom tiger appeared behind Selena.

Its enormous head rose into the air, its jaws opening wide as a thunderous roar shook the entire venue.

The sound rolled through the arena.

People felt it in their chests.

Selena slowly clenched her empty hand.

It was such a simple movement.

Almost casual.

She didn’t even look like she was putting much effort into it.

But the moment her fingers closed—

Boom!

An invisible force exploded outward.

The arena floor trembled.

Dust and debris were swept away in an instant.

The towering beast-girl barely had time to react.

She had been known for possessing terrifying physical strength. The phrase "nine dragons and nine elephants" wasn’t an exaggeration when people described her power.

Yet that strength meant almost nothing here.

Her eyes widened.

She tried to brace herself.

Too late.

The invisible force struck her head-on.

Her massive body was lifted from the ground and hurled backward like a stone fired from a cannon.

Boom!

She slammed into the protective barrier.

The entire arena went quiet.

Not gradually.

Instantly.

For one strange second, there wasn’t even a whisper.

Everyone simply stared.

Selena stood where she had been.

Her silver-white hair slowly settled around her shoulders.

The phantom tiger behind her faded into nothingness.

She hadn’t moved an inch.

Then someone in the stands finally broke the silence.

"Holy shit."

That single sentence seemed to wake everyone up.

"Damn! Not even our city’s top scorer could last more than one hit?"

"One hit? She didn’t even get a chance to fight!"

"That’s not even the worst part!"

"Ethan too! Ethan got one-shotted!"

"Wait, seriously?"

"I saw it myself!"

"Which city is this guy from?"

"Does his dad even know how insane his son is?"

"Fuck, is this guy seriously a martial high school student?!"

The viewing stands erupted.

Voices crashed into one another.

People stood up from their seats.

Some leaned over the railings, desperately trying to get a better look at Leon.

Others grabbed their friends by the shoulders.

Several spectators had already pulled out their personal screens.

They began searching.

They wanted to know who this young man was.

They wanted to know where he came from.

More importantly, they wanted to know how someone his age could possess that kind of strength.

Leon didn’t seem to care about any of it.

He stood quietly on the arena floor.

His arms remained crossed over his chest.

His shoulder-length black hair swayed gently in the wind left behind by the attack.

His purple eyes were calm.

There was no excitement in them.

No smug smile.

No mocking expression.

Even his black oversized coat merely fluttered behind him as the remaining force gradually disappeared.

He looked almost bored.

That was what made him frightening.

If he had been laughing or boasting, perhaps the crowd could have dismissed it as arrogance.

But he wasn’t.

He hadn’t even bothered to say anything.

He had simply watched.

Then Selena had moved.

And the battle was over.

The contrast made the spectators even more uncomfortable.

It was as if the result had been obvious from the beginning.

Leon already knew it.

Selena already knew it.

Only the people watching had been slow to understand.

In the Redcloud City venue, most of the spectators were locals.

They had come here with a completely different expectation.

They wanted to watch the strongest students from their own city perform.

They wanted to cheer for familiar names.

They wanted to see their city’s top talents prove themselves against outsiders.

Instead, they had watched one after another fall.

And the person responsible wasn’t even from Redcloud City.

A girl sitting near the front was chewing bubblegum when the second opponent was thrown away.

She stopped.

Her jaw froze.

Slowly, she turned toward the friend sitting beside her.

Her eyes were still fixed on the arena.

"That’s... it?"

Her friend didn’t answer immediately.

She was staring at Leon too.

After a few seconds, she finally swallowed.

"Yeah."

"How long has it been?"

The girl glanced at the time displayed on her screen.

"Three minutes?"

"Three minutes?"

"Maybe a little more."

The first girl blinked.

She looked back toward the arena.

Then she lowered her voice.

"Does that mean..."

Her friend already knew what she was going to say.

She sighed.

"They probably only got two or three points."

The girl winced.

"Ethan and Ryan got completely screwed."

"Yeah."

"If they’d faced anyone else, they wouldn’t have lost this badly."

Her friend gave a helpless shrug.

"That’s the problem."

She looked at Leon again.

"He was the one they got matched against."

The first girl stared at Leon.

She couldn’t explain why her heartbeat had suddenly become faster.

Perhaps it was the pressure coming from the arena.

Perhaps it was the way Leon stood there without saying a word.

Or perhaps it was simply because everyone else had been defeated so quickly that he seemed completely different from the people around him.

The girl unconsciously stopped chewing.

Right now—he was the king of the arena.

Leon. That name would be remembered.

-----------------------

All university observers had access to participant information.

In that moment, Leon’s profile was being clicked on by countless people.

His previous matches were being replayed over and over.

The same scenes appeared across dozens of observation rooms.

Selena’s overwhelming power.

Leon’s calm expression.

The repeated Complete Victories.

The strange combination of a D-rank master and powerful beast-girls.

"What’s the deal with this kid? He’s got huge potential!"

The observer from Spark university—ranked third nationally—had also noticed something unusual.

His expression became increasingly serious as he studied Leon’s data.

"His aptitude is only D-rank, but he can control such a powerful beast-girl. That alone is a miracle. We’re analyzing that his aptitude reading might be wrong!"

"Maybe it’s a rare misclassification!"

Aptitude assessments rarely made mistakes—but they weren’t infallible.

A rare error could occur.

And if Leon’s D-rank aptitude had been misclassified...

Then his true potential could be completely different.

The Spark university observer was reporting to his superiors.

Based on his evaluation, Leon might have incredible untapped potential.

That possibility alone was enough to make the major universities pay attention.

When top universities offered early admission, they usually signed a contract.

Once signed, the student couldn’t transfer to another school—or they’d face massive penalties.

In return, the university would pour significant resources into that student.

Training resources.

Cultivation resources.

Beast-girl evolution resources.

Everything necessary to turn a promising student into a powerful cultivator.

So early admission slots were extremely valuable.

And nobody wanted to waste one.