This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

"I never thought that you would be so sensitive," Jade teased a short while after all of the opponents died and sensing the tension between Kain and Serena, who had stabbed his lookalike in the chest.

Kain ignored Jade.

"Or perhaps you're just a hopeless romantic? You think that your lover shouldn't be able to bear harming anything with your face on it, otherwise she doesn't love you?"

Kain didn't take the bait. Ignore her…

"Hey Serena! Is Kain perhaps one of those clingy people who asks you if you'd still love him if he became an earthworm? He seems like the type. Be honest and tell me. I can keep a secret!"

IGNORE. HER!

Aegis, standing nearby, made a low grinding noise that suspiciously sounded like laughter. Kain shot his contract a betrayed look. "Not you too," he muttered.

Jade leaned closer to Serena and said in a mock stage whisper that everyone could hear, undeterred. "Serena, blink twice if you planned that 'stabbing Kain' bit just to work through some issues. In every relationship, your partner does things that annoy you, right? He does seem like the type to ignore his girlfriend and not listen, so I don't blame you for needing that cathartic release. We support you."

THIS B—!

The first-year boy, who had been quietly recovering on the ground, made a small choking sound that might have been a laugh. Kain shot him a glare that promised retribution later, and he immediately closed his eyes, resting his face on the floor at Kain's glance. One might mistake him for being 'dead' if not for his faintly trembling body.

'What are you, an ostrich? If you can't see me, that doesn't mean that I can't see and will forget about you first-year…' Kain thought pettily.

Thankfully, whatever Jade saw in his increasingly dark expression made her shut up.

Truthfully, he had no idea why the sight of Serena stabbing him affected his emotions so much. If he was willing to guess, it felt too close to the scene in the trial where he lost control.

BUT! It was absolutely not due to the ridiculous reasoning being spewed from Jade's poisonous mouth. And her mouth truly was poisonous—an infective poison.

Based on the strange and pitying expression on Kyria's face, he could tell she believed Jade's nonsense. And even Serena was giving him a subtle look, sensing that his state hadn't been quite right since she'd stabbed 'him.'

But what was he supposed to say to clear up the misunderstanding?

'I am not clingy and in love with Serena. I simply was experiencing a sense of déjà vu from an alternate life I experienced where I killed the entire College and then Serena stabbed me in the heart to stop my rampaging?'

Kain suspected that if he dared to say that, the expressions of pity and confusion on the others' faces would only get stronger. But this time their concern would be over his mental state.

Unfortunately, before Kain could open his mouth to explain himself further, the relic interrupted him.

'Great timing as always…' Kain thought sarcastically, wondering why it couldn't have interrupted during Jade's nonsensical speech.

[Phase Two: Complete.]

[Assessment: Cooperation—Adequate. Adaptability—Good. Overall Performance Metrics—Satisfactory.]

[Transporting Participants Based on Individual Evaluations…]

A pulse of violet light flared around the first-year boy first. He blinked, disoriented, before his form dissolved into shimmering particles.

Jade smirked, brushing imaginary dust off her shoulder. "Guess this is where we all go our separate ways—try not to miss me too much, lovebirds." She waggled her fingers at Kain and Serena just as the light swallowed her.

"Finally," Kain muttered under his breath. "At least she had the decency not to say anything else crazy on her way out."

Kyria followed, her stone-skin returning to normal before she vanished without a word.

Silence settled over the amphitheatre.

Kain waited.

One beat.

Two.

But he and Serena remained.

The air grew thick with an unspoken tension. Kain shifted his weight, suddenly hyperaware of the distance between them. Was it awkward? Or was it just Jade's poison lingering in his head? He stole a glance at Serena. Her expression was as unreadable as ever, but the way her fingers twitched toward her dagger—just once—betrayed something about her inner feelings that were likely not as calm as she seemed on the surface

Aegis, unusually perceptive, took this moment to take several exaggerated steps back, giving them space. The obsidian golem's white eyes gleamed with what Kain could only describe as amusement.

'Is a slight personality change a side effect of his evolution? I want my usual stoic Aegis back!'

Then the relic's voice boomed again:

[Among 1,749 global entrants, 53 advanced to Phase Two.]

[Of the 53 global entrants who passed the first phase and entered Phase Two... only 8 met the threshold for advancement.".]

[You are two of them.]

Two pedestals of light erupted from the ground between them. At the center of each beam hovered a glowing orb, inside which rested an antique badge—its insignia not clearly distinguishable under the wear and tear of time.

'It kind of looks like a bird…or is it a flower?'

[Reward: Badge of &$$% .]

[This badge serves as your sole entry ticket into the 'Trial of the &$$%' and affirms your potential compatibility. Carry it forward.]

Kain stared. "Compatibility? What the hell does that even mean?"

Serena reached out, her fingers brushing the orb. It dissolved at her touch, leaving the badge resting in her palm. She turned it over, studying the image.

Kain grabbed for his own badge and murmured while examining the ordinary looking badge. "This relic is as stingy as always. Since I've entered, it's barely given me any rewards and now there's still no reward, just this…badge? Key? Whatever it is…"

[Prepare for Phase Three.]

The ground beneath them began to glow brighter, the violet light intensifying. Kain felt a familiar tug in the pit of his stomach—the sensation of being transported.

He glanced one last time at Serena before the light swallowed them both.

Their eyes met, the earlier awkwardness gone. Without exchanging any words between them they agreed:

Whatever came next, they'd face it together.