Chapter 84: The One Who Dared to Ignore Ethan

The One Who Dared to Ignore Ethan

"What if Leon carries your granddaughter straight to the top of the scoreboard? Let’s see if you can still talk like that then!"

"You’d be secretly celebrating under your blankets."

"Wait—where did Levis go?"

"Forget it. One step at a time!"

[Bellemont Province Examinee — Leon. Admission Number: 9ISI8922J. You have been teleported to Redcloud City Venue.]

With a flash of light—Leon was once again standing on an arena.

It wasn’t much different from the one in Aurelia City.

The stands were just as packed with spectators.

Many were using the built-in screens on their seats to search for specific matches.

Now that examinees from across the province had been shuffled into different cities, many had switched to live-stream search functions to follow the competition.

Meanwhile, massive streams of data were transmitting the first three rounds of each city’s placement matches to major families and universities across the province.

"Leon?"

In Bellemont Province—at the Bellemont Martial University, one of the top universities in the province and ranked 12th nationally—

A group of people in a quiet office had gathered around a video.

On screen: Leon, Selena, and Evelyn dominating the arena.

"That’s way too strong, isn’t it?"

Bellemont Martial University had always valued talent recruitment.

"Why isn’t this Leon in our records?!"

"If he hadn’t performed so well today, we would have lost this talent to another school!"

A mature woman in uniform slammed the table in frustration.

Her name was Maria.

"We need to lock down Bellemont Province’s talent! Wasn’t last year’s lesson with Maria enough? If we’d found her first, would she have been stolen by East University?!"

"Send out specialists. Set up a recruitment point in Aurelia City. We must secure all three of these students!"

---

On the arena.

Leon stood with his arms crossed.

Eyes closed.

Resting.

Evelyn stood beside him.

Her green hair swaying in the breeze.

"Leon, are you nervous? This is a new city. New opponents."

Leon opened one eye.

"Nervous? Why would I be nervous?"

Selena laughed softly.

"He’s never nervous, Evelyn. I’ve learned that about him."

Evelyn shook her head.

"I don’t know how you do it. All these people watching. All these expectations."

Leon straightened.

"Simple. I don’t care about their expectations. I only care about winning."

Selena smiled.

"That’s my darling."

A countdown echoed through the venue.

10, 9, 8, 7...

Leon’s eyes opened fully.

A fierce glint in them.

"Ready, my girls?"

Evelyn nodded.

Selena cracked her knuckles.

"Always, darling."

3, 2, 1...

The spectator stands were alive with glowing screens.

Dozens of viewers were scrolling through matches, looking for the best fights.

The huge arena was filled with noise. Every few seconds, another name appeared on a screen, followed by cheers, laughter, or disappointed groans.

People had already begun to understand that the placement matches were no longer simple school competitions.

The strongest students from different cities were finally being thrown together.

And whenever two famous examinees entered the same arena, the spectators naturally gathered around them.

"Arena 102 is about to get interesting." A ponytailed girl chewed her gum lazily, nudging her friend beside her.

Her friend immediately leaned closer to the screen.

"No way. Both of Redcloud City’s top students are in this arena?"

"Ethan from No. 1 High — his beast-girl is an S-rank Divine Bird Pheasant. They say that beast-soul is a descendant of the Phoenix. Super powerful."

The ponytailed girl raised her eyebrows.

"Seriously? A Phoenix descendant?"

"That’s what everyone says."

"And Ryan from No. 2 High — he contracted an S-rank Nine Stele Dragon Elephant. I heard one punch from her can unleash the power of nine dragons and nine elephants. No idea if it’s true or just hype!"

Her friend laughed.

"You’ll find out soon enough."

"This is going to be an epic battle."

Around them, several other spectators had already joined the conversation.

"But honestly... both Ethan and Ryan are really handsome."

The ponytailed girl immediately turned toward her.

"Stop being so thirsty. Guys like them would never look at you."

"Hey! You don’t have to say it like that!"

The girls around them burst into laughter.

Even some male spectators couldn’t help shaking their heads.

The excitement spread quickly.

The two famous students had been talked about long before today’s placement matches.

Now that they were finally standing in the same arena, everyone wanted to see which one would prove stronger.

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

On the arena, students were scanning each other warily, sizing up their competition.

Some quietly checked the beast-girls standing beside their opponents.

Others kept their distance.

Nobody wanted to become the first person eliminated.

Everyone was mentally preparing for the chaos about to erupt.

Leon stood with his eyes closed, resting.

His posture was relaxed.

His shoulder-length black hair hung loosely around his face, and his oversized black coat moved gently in the arena breeze.

Compared with the nervous students around him, he looked almost completely disconnected from the tension.

A voice came from nearby.

"Hey, brother. Mind doing me a favor? When this starts, step aside a bit."

Leon opened his eyes.

It was a young man with a somewhat feminine face.

Behind him stood a beast-girl built like an iron tower — broad-shouldered, thick-armed, the kind of beast-girl Leon rarely saw.

Her muscles were clearly visible even beneath her battle clothes.

She looked like someone who could smash through a wall without slowing down.

Leon glanced at her, then back at the speaker.

"Sure."

The young man seemed surprised that Leon had agreed so easily.

Leon closed his eyes again.

Another voice came from his other side.

"Hey, you. You’d better listen to him. Otherwise, you’re the one who’s gonna get hurt."

A young man with an arrogant sneer was looking down at Leon with barely concealed contempt.

His blonde hair was neatly styled, and his blue eyes carried the confidence of someone who had rarely experienced failure.

"Why?" Leon’s face was blank.

"Because the one who’s going to defeat him is me. So all you irrelevant people — get out of the way. Don’t get in between me and my fight."

The surrounding students immediately turned their attention toward him.

"Damn, that guy’s intense!"

"Who is he?"