Duchess takes to the skies and stares down at the [Griffin]. She hisses at the beast, showing the pride and arrogance she tries to hide from me. The [Griffin] replies with a sound that's a mixture of an eagle's cry and a lion's roar. Duchess doesn't respond, but it still feels like she doubled down in this confrontation with her aura alone.

"Hey, I think our tamed beasts like each other." The other tamer says with a snark in his voice. I give him a thumbs down before getting a message from Duchess.

[Thisss impudent chimera refuses to bend its limbs. It claims to be the king of the skies and calls thisss one an abomination of mixed blood. Master?]

"Go all out if you want." Show them why you have the [Divine Right] trait. I use [Empower] on her before the judge officiates the match.

The match officially starts, and the [Griffin] tries to take to the skies and meet Duchess in an aerial confrontation. Duchess' [Telekinesis] isn't powerful enough to move this mass of muscles and feathers but is strong enough to put pressure on the hollow bones of the [Griffin]'s wings.

*SNAP*

The beast squawks in pain as one of its wings hang limp. Duchess' eyes start glowing with a sadistic light as actual light fires from them, hitting the [Griffin] multiple times in its injured wing. Duchess' actions cause the beast to grow angry, roaring out in pain and causing a whirlwind to kick up. Duchess watches on, flicking her tail as she keeps herself aloft.

Blades of wind shoot off, and one of them manages to clip Duchess, causing blood to drip from her scales. [Radiation] has been stacking for a few seconds now, and feathers are falling off the [Griffin[, littering the ground with bloody plumage. The [Griffin] stretches its broken wing and starts flapping it. It cries in pain but ignores its body's refusal and takes to the sky.

The birdcat uses an ability and screams out visible soundwaves that shake the ground and momentarily stuns Duchess. She didn't fall from the sky but couldn't dodge the [Griffin]'s claws. The eagle claws pierce Duchess' scales and flesh, feathers fly, and blood rains. The [Griffin] tries to rip out Duchess' eyes with its beak.

Duchess' [Breath Weapon] shoots out an invisible force that dazzles the [Griffin]'s brain, stopping its fighting momentum. She then spams multiple mind spells to bring the beast into a trance. She uses her body to wrap around the [Griffin], cutting the blood flow to the brain and the rest of the body. She isn't physically mightier than the creature and would lose a wrestling match if the [Griffin] wasn't incapacitated.

Before its last moments, the [Griffin] breaks from its trance, but it's too late. The hybrid goes limp in her grasp. Duchess subconsciously tries to eat the [Griffin]'s body, but it gets sent away to be healed.

Duchess' blood drips to the ground as the tamer silently sends out his snake to face mine. Duchess only stares from her elevated position. The snake goes belly up and plays dead.

"..."

"..."

Both the tamer and the judge are speechless.

"Get up, Slimy! It's weakened! Finish the job!"

The snake doesn't respond, nor does it move. Eventually, the judge calls the match with me as the victor. The healers approach Duchess, but she won't let them touch her. She flies to me, and I heal her wounds. I stroke her feathers and rub her head as we stand on the platform for a little longer before going back down.

My Duchess just soloed a rank-A creature with 50% more levels than her with minimum help from me. King of the skies has nothing on my beast.

~

The tamer of the [Griffin] wanted to talk to me in private, but I initially disregarded his invitation. My gut feeling tells me I can't get anything good from that person, and I don't want to learn what family he's from that lets him tame a [Griffin] at his age. His snake is something too. It submitted instantly, but it was also a rank A creature. I decided it wouldn't hurt to talk to him since my curiosity would get to me eventually.

I can't see his eyes behind his aviators. He looks me up and down before nodding. Something tells me he's looking at me like a piece of meat rather than appreciating my aesthetics.

"Hey man, my name's Jaime Storm, and I'm interested in you and your beasts."

"I'm good, thanks."

"...shouldn't you listen to what I say first? Never mind, all I need to know is if you are interested in an opportunity that will change your life for the better."

"Are you trying to sell me something?"

"In a way. Have you heard of the Taming Association? Of course you have! But I haven't seen you around that circle, so I'm going to make an assumption and say that you are a low-ranking member or a casual participant.

"..."

I wonder where he will take this.

"So you should join my Storm clan and bring your beasts. I can go on and on about all the benefits you can get, but those specifics can be touched upon later."

"..."

"I know this proposition is a lot for you since we are the Storm clan, after all. Take your time and accept when you're ready."

"I have no idea who you are and what your family does."

"...you're kidding me. Are you saying that you have no idea who my family is? Have you been living under a rock? One of the top 10 rankers in the world is from my clan!"

"Good for them."

"Fuck, man. You know what... That doesn't change anything. The invitation still stands."

"Can you even invite me into your clan? I'm not marrying you if that's the proposition."

"No, what? You'd be joining the Storm group in the Taming Association. Our family is big there and provides many griffins to various organizations through the Taming Association."

"Hard pass."

"Alright, I understand. You didn't know about my clan, so you didn't understand the weight of my handout. If you are deadset on not joining, I have a different deal for you. How much for your tame beast, the snake with wings? I'm talking about tens of millions here."

"I will break your leg in your own ass."

"Whoa there, friend! No need for your panties to be all bunched up. Your beast would be better with me anyways. My family has some of the best-"

I [Donkey Punch] him in the sternum, breaking his bones against my metal fist. The wheeze of air as his breath vacates his lungs is beautiful. His glasses fall off his face and crack against the floor.

-660

I heal him before he passes out, ridding him of the wound and any physical evidence. I bend over and fix his glasses as I pick them off the ground.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!"

"Maybe, I'm on the fence about it."

I put the glasses on his face as he stares at me with a mixture of shock, anger, and fear. I pat his cheek and turn around to walk back to my beasts.

*Crack*

"AH, What the fuck are you made out of?!"

The glasses guy punched me in the back of the head, breaking one of his fingers in the process. One punch for one punch, fair deal. I ignore him and his screaming and leave.

~

The next fight was anti-climactic. I sent Rob for the first time because I wanted him to try and dodge attacks. I'm not sure how 'legal' his reassembly is for the competition since he technically dies and would be eliminated, regardless of how well he bounces back. He is a little overreliant on his immortality, but I would be the same. I gifted him a significant portion of my Vigor so he'd have enough health to take more than one hit.

My next opponent was a tamer with five subterranean beasts. He had a pangolin, a mole, a groundhog, a burrowing owl, and a twenty-foot worm. The mole, groundhog, and worm were easy pickings for Rob since he smacked them with his shovel whenever they attacked him. Every time they get surprised that Rob knows where they are. Maybe not the worm, but it was dealt with the same way.

The owl was a weird fight... It kept bird-diving Rob and sinking into the ground like it wasn't there. Then it would burst out and fly high into the sky. Rob didn't have his gloves since items weren't allowed, so he'd had to use his actual mana to cast [Bone Shot] and deal with the bird. He's permitted his shovel since he makes them with his skill.

Rob kept getting buried 'alive' by the pangolin's earth magic. He kept digging himself out just to be sent back underground. Rob kept getting limbs blown off by flying rocks, but he couldn't be eliminated unless he got disassembled in one shot. He keeps fixing himself and attacking the pangolin but gets sent underground again. The bone shots don't penetrate the pangolin's scales, so he has to get within range. This cycle repeated until the creature ran out of mana and got beaten to death slowly.

I asked him how he got this far without losing a fight. I tried to be respectful since I am curious and not trying to be a sore winner. He answered that he used hit-and-run tactics with ambush strategies. Something that Rob counters naturally. I only have three fights left.

I look around for the monkey guy I met at the barbeque. He's in the loser's bracket since he lost his last fight. He just beat Jerry out of the competition, which is unfortunate. The subsequent person I'm fighting happens to be the person who knocked him out, and I got to say that he looks like an edge lord.

His clothing is either black or blood red. He wears a lot of silver jewelry and hides his eyes with his dark hair. A whip created from a spine rests on his hip as he sits on a zombie horse. He is the only other person here with tamed undead. He only has three beasts that will fight since his mount is a non-combat tame.

His beasts are weird too. Duchess has magic that counters undead, so I send her in against this guy's first beast. It's a zombie lion with a mane made out of blue fire. Its claws are coated in this substance.

[Spirit Fire Lion B lv100]

The fight starts with the lion shooting a pillar of flame out of its maw. I [Empower] her as she barely dodges the blaze and fires back with her abilities. Rays of light rip through the lion, fire shooting from its wounds like it's just a flesh puppet being piloted by sentient flame. Battles like these are quick. Either kill or be killed.

"My captain likes you."

I look at the tamer on his horse as he doesn't elaborate. Duchess uses her spell [Flash] multiple times to turn the lion into ash, ironically. Some of her feathers are singed as she was damaged when I wasn't looking.

"Will your cat be alright? The healers can't help the undead."

"They will be back after the appropriate rituals."

Neat. I'm not going to talk to that guy anymore. His next beast looks like a cadaver with a wolf head replacement, and a few extra limbs are sewn on. It has three legs and five arms, all human, which makes it scuttle around lopsided. I can't help to think if this creature was locally sourced. It screams in joy and pain as it jumps around, trying to scratch Duchess to death.

[??? ? lv100]

"What the fuck."

"It's a [Wolf Spider]. I made him."

"I did not ask."

It manages to jump high and fast enough to catch Duchess midair. She blasts him with a concentration of light from her [Breath Weapon]. It screams in terror as it falls back to the ground, hitting the floor with a wet thud. This creature is light enough for Duchess to use her [Telekinesis] on it, so she whips it around until it stops screaming. Limbs fly, and dead blood splatters before this creature stop moving. It was surprisingly agile, but that means nothing here.

I'm glad I have a counter for these undead, or else the fights would be different. I'm confident my other beasts can win against them, but not this easily.

"Hey, Bluefield guy. I don't want to use my other tamed beast yet. I'll fight you again after I win the loser's bracket. Plus, it lets me kick out that mute from Singlebridge. I fucking hate that guy. Love you, bye!"