This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange - Chapter 787: Jade Vs Cassian (2)
Chapter 787: Chapter 787: Jade Vs Cassian (2)
The crowd fell silent as the battle began, tension heavy in the air.
Cassian moved first.
With a gesture, he activated a spiritual skill he had never used before. A golden ring of light radiated from his position, expanding outward like a ripple of authority.
“Faith of the Crown,” one of the announcers gasped. “That’s a spiritual skill exclusive to the royal family, believed to allow the user to draw upon the collective faith and patriotism of the Empire’s citizens. The specifics are shrouded in mystery, but it’s said to turn loyalty into strength.”
The second announcer leaned in. “The conditions for using it are extremely strict. It only activates for those publicly recognized as a legitimate potential ruler—someone the Empire’s people truly believe in. As Crown Prince, Cassian can just barely wield the first layer of the skill. Most members of the royal family couldn’t access it even if they tried. Only the current Emperor is said to be able to use the full extent of the royal legacy.”
Meanwhile, Kain—still being tended to by medics—glanced toward the audience, his gaze landing on the Dark Moon College seating. There, Soren Lysander sat still, his expression unreadable.
Kain frowned.
The royal family’s paranoia and disregard toward peripheral relatives had always confused him. Most obviously would be during last year’s opening ceremony where Soren and Cassian’s aunt, Princess Elena who had given the opening speech last year, had lavished attention on Cassian while practically ignoring her other nephew Soren.
Rumours even claimed Cassian had younger siblings who were never acknowledged publicly.
Note that these were supposedly not illegitimate siblings who were hidden due to the scandal of their origins. They were true, full-blooded and legitimate members of the royal family that were strangely never acknowledged by the royal family publicly…
But now it made sense. If the strength of the royal inheritance depended on concentrating the faith of the people, then spreading that attention—even to other family members—might actually weaken the whole system.
Perhaps that was the reason behind the royal family’s silence on Cassian’s siblings or cousins. Perhaps it wasn’t about scandal or lack of merit—but rather about preserving the mythos, the singularity of the chosen heir.
Behind the commentator booth, one camera zoomed in on Soren Lysander.
He noticeably wasn’t clapping nor cheering for his cousin. One could argue that, of course he wouldn’t, they are on separate teams. But there seemed to be a more complex emotion in his eyes as he gazed at the field.
A student (Kairos) beside him gave a nervous glance.
Soren’s fingers curled slightly into fists.
“No wonder I’ve never been enough,” he whispered.
But, in constrast to Soren’s depressing realization that he could likely never do anything to gain approval from the main royal family, the crowd was reacting with enthusiasm at the news that they were getting to see the usage of the rare and unique skill.
But Jade, as his opponent, was obviously not in the mood to admire the rare usage of this skill. Her eyes narrowed. Her instincts screamed caution.
Cassian’s dragons visibly responded to the skill. Their forms stabilized, wounds that had been unhealed due to the removal of the Verdara inheritance, now stitched together quickly, and their energies surged as if bolstered by a tide of national pride.
Then came another chant from Cassian:
“Imperial Vigor.”
A shimmering haze enveloped the Dream and Coronaflow Dragons. The Solar Dragon, though restored physically from the last skill but still spiritually depleted, stirred as the light crept into its form.
The Solar Dragon roared.
The announcers nearly stood up in shock.
“He’s using Imperial Vigor! That’s another faith-based royal spiritual skill! It forcibly jump-starts contracts, healing their bodies and restoring their lost spiritual power.”
“But using more than one faith-based skill in a single battle is virtually unheard of for a Crown Prince who has yet to take the throne officially,” the second announcer said. “Though maybe it’s possible due to Cassian’s immense fame and reputation. And considering how his name has been able to spread more efficiently in the modern era due to technology, he may have more access to the collection of faith than the previous Crown Princes. Still, the cost to himself must be immense.”
Across the field, Jade calmly observed the sudden influx of enemy power.
She gave no signal, but her contracts moved like flowing water.
The Earthshatter Lion stepped in front of the Frostmane Lynx as the Coronaflow Dragon released a barrage of glowing vine-like beams of light, each pulsing with condensed water-light energy in their direction.
The Lynx responded by releasing a cold burst, frost creeping into the battlefield once more and temporarily slowing down the advance of the glowing tendrils in time for an earthen wall raised by the Earthshatter Lion to completely block the rest of the attack.
Meanwhile, the Windstrike Cheetah zipped around to flank the powerful Wooden Dragon, forcing it to divide its attention.
The Thunderfang Tiger leapt with a snarl at the recovered Solar Dragon, claws crackling with electricity.
Suddenly, the battlefield’s shadows trembled.
Jade’s expression sharpened.
“The Nightmare Dragon,” she whispered. It looks like it hadn’t been recalled by Cassian after getting attacked by the Wooden Dragon.
The Shadowstrike Jaguar growled—low and dangerous.
Without warning, it vanished into the darkness.
Cassian’s eyes flicked toward the northern edge of the stage. He had hoped the Nightmare Dragon could strike from within the shadows without being detected. It was using its remaining strength to lie in wait—but the Jaguar had found it.
The Nightmare Dragon emerged in a burst of shadow, attempting to strike at the Viperfang Lioness. But the Jaguar intercepted, claws clashing in the half-light.
“Remarkable,” murmured the announcer. “It found it. A full-on predator duel between two shadow-walkers.”
“Shadowstrike Jaguar,” she murmured after seeing the Nightmare Dragon dissapear into the shadows again.
The jaguar vanished into the shadows to pursue the Nightmare Dragon.
Hidden, the Nightmare Dragon glared with suppressed fury. That insufferable feline again!
Under normal circumstances, it would’ve annihilated such an insolent creature. But whatever foul substance had invaded its body to remove the Verdara inheritance—Abyssal in nature, though it lacked the knowledge to identify it—had caused some sequelae to its body.
Unlike the Solar Dragon or the Ethereal Dragon, its exposure had lasted longer, and longstanding side-effects clung to its body, interfering with the healing effects of Cassian’s spiritual skills.
Cassian glanced toward the shadows with a flicker of irritation.
He raised a hand slightly, intending to use another spiritual skill to help. But…
Pain lanced through his chest.
The curse flared.
He gritted his teeth and dropped his hand.
Tch. Not again.
It seemed his body had reached its limit. The backlash from using so many spiritual skills had triggered the curse again. His back throbbed, unseen black veins pulsing beneath his uniform.
The Nightmare Dragon sighed internally upon seeing that Cassian wouldn’t be able to heal it. Fine. Let the cat play chase. It would slink further into the shadows, serve as bait, and if opportunity struck—rip that jaguar to ribbons.
Jade exhaled softly.
’So far, so good.’
Cassian’s next move came quickly. The Dream Dragon surged forward, unleashing a psychic wave that slammed into the Viperfang Lioness. Her legs trembled—but then the Frostmane Lynx howled.
A glimmering frost aura wrapped around the lioness, soothing the interference.
“Frostmane Recovery Pulse,” the announcer noted. “It won’t completely block mental attacks—but it weakens them considerably. Honestly, out of all of Ms. Jade’s contracts, the Frostmane Lynx probably has the highest potential, unfortunately it didn’t have enough time to advance to blue-grade otherwise it’d be able to put up a real fight against Prince Cassian’s dragons. But as of now…it’s not enough.”
As if in response to his words, the Frostmane Lynx’s legs began to tremble and the minor obstruction it presented to the Dream Dragon collapsed. Soon the eyes of it and the Viperfang Lioness glazed over as they were pulled into a dream by force.
Meanwhile, the Coronaflow Dragon unleashed another barrage of compressed water-light beams—thin, glowing tendrils that sliced through the air. The Earthshatter Lion, now no longer having the support of the Frostmane Lynx to slow down the beams, was unable to raise any rock walls in time, taking the brunt of the blast with a growl, its mane singed but its stance steady.
But soon after, Jade’s Gift activated to completely restore all of its physical injuries.
The battlefield was chaos.
Jade’s team pressed in from every side.
Cassian’s wooden dragon pivoted and unleashed a cone of pure destruction toward the Thunderfang Tiger—but the Windstrike Cheetah surged forward and shoulder-checked it just enough to alter its aim.
In the chaos, the Ethereal Dragon took the opportunity to attack them all. Its breath attack shimmered with rainbow-colored energy—targeting multiple of Jade’s contracts.
It struck.
The Earthshatter Lion was forced back.
The Viperfang Lioness howled in pain strong enough to wake it from its dream, before its eyes glazed over again as its mind sank back down to dreamland.
But Jade’s expression didn’t change. Physical injuries meant nothing to her contracts with her gift.
And she had a feeling, that if she held out long enough that she would win. Despite his seemingly vunphased appearance, as a same-aged opponent who’d fought Cassian during Phase One of the National Tournament for four years, she knew him well enough to sense that something was wrong with him…
’You’re burning yourself out.’ He was not nearly as calm as he usually was when facing her and was trying to finish this match quickly. She didn’t know why, but she knew that she couldn’t let him have his way!
