This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

Chapter 752: Chapter 752: Phase Two Begins

They returned the same way they’d left.

A temporary gate carved open the fabric of space with a shimmer of silver light, and Kain, still feeling vaguely sick from the last one, sighed before stepping through. Lord Storm, of course, didn’t hesitate—he walked forward with the calm finality of a man who’d never known teleportation nausea.

On the other side, a familiar breeze greeted them. They were back in the same quiet, secluded stone courtyard they’d left Serena in—a private pocket near the central plaza’s edge, cordoned off with an inconspicuous array of disposable devices that looked like small balls with sigils carved into them—likely warding off any civilians that happen to wander this way. When Kain and Serena’s father returned, the glowing balls all faded and then disintegrated—clearly having a mechanism set up to detect when a second teleportation to the location occurs.

And seated amongst where the glowing balls had been was a figure that seemed to glow under the midday sun.

Kain hadn’t expected her to still be there.

But she was.

Serena stood near the far archway, arms loosely crossed, a small paper bag resting against the stone bench beside her. She didn’t look annoyed or impatient. Just mildly curious.

“You took your time,” she said simply.

Kain blinked. “We were gone less than two hours.”

She gestured toward the bag. “Shopping doesn’t take that long.”

Lord Storm cleared his throat before either could get caught in a pointless back-and-forth. “I’ll take my leave here.”

Kain and Serena both turned.

“I’ll speak to Halreth directly,” he said, tone flat. “He’ll decide how he wants to proceed.”

Kain nodded. “Thank you.”

Lord Storm didn’t respond right away. His sharp gaze lingered on Kain a moment too long—calculating, assessing. Then, with a slight grunt, he looked at his daughter.

“Serena.”

“Father.”

Although it seemed like a rather blunt and cold farewell between father and daughter, the warmth in his eyes and voice very clearly conveyed that it was quite the affectionate farewell—at least by Lord Storm’s standards.

Then he stepped past them and disappeared into the winding corridor beyond, his footsteps as quiet as they were final.

Kain exhaled slowly. “Well. That could’ve gone worse.”

Serena tilted her head. “Did it go badly?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

He sat down on the bench next to her and reached for the paper bag. “What’d you get?”

“Some spiritual thread samples. A fabric merchant was in town from Silverpine Province. Rare stuff. I’m thinking about using them to make bows for Prismarin. You?”

Kain gave her the condensed version.

The moment he mentioned Dorian’s real goal—access to his Source energy—Serena’s posture changed slightly. A flicker of tension appeared behind her eyes.

“You agreed?” she asked.

“On the condition that he pays,” Kain said. “Or that Halreth does.”

She frowned. “Source energy isn’t easy to replace. Even with Pangea. You’re letting him tap into a limited reservoir.”

“I know.” He leaned back slightly, watching a flock of aerial transport birds arc over the distant rooftops. “But I also want something out of this. If Halreth agrees, it becomes a three-way deal. Dorian gets power. Halreth gets research inspiration. And I get… something. Equipment, connections, maybe access to some of Halreth’s privately forged items.”

Serena was quiet for a beat. Then she nodded once. “Just don’t let them pressure you into overcommitting. If it comes to it, I’ll back you up.”

Kain glanced at her sidelong. “Thanks.”

They stood not long after, walking in step through the winding streets of Celestial City. The market square was in full swing now, and Kain took the opportunity to pick up a few small gifts—mostly simple things. A carved feather pendant for Cherry. A constellation-inlaid charm for Charlie. A stress cube made of low-grade enchanted metal for Milo, who was still in the fidget-to-focus stage of his studies since he would be applying to Colleges next year…

’My how time has passed…’ Serena also helped him pick out some souvenirs for his other siblings that she thought they’d like.

They didn’t say much as they returned to the hotel, but the silence wasn’t uncomfortable.

Serena stopped in front of her room. “The day after tomorrow’s the first match of Phase Two.”

“I know.”

“Are you ready?”

Kain tilted his head. “Better question: are they?”

She smirked. “Good answer.”

He watched her disappear into her suite, then headed to his own room.

—————————–

Two days passed.

Fast.

And then it was time.

Phase Two.

Unlike the first phase, this part of the tournament restarted from the bottom. All participating Colleges—regardless of their current ranking—were thrown back into the mix. The national bracket system would sort them out through performance and strength of victory.

For elite schools, it meant a few rounds of breezing through lower ranked schools out of formality. For weaker ones, it meant a chance to climb—if they could survive.

Dark Moon’s first few matchups were exactly what Kain expected: lower-tier Colleges that had slipped into the National Tournament by the skin of their teeth and may not even qualify the next year. One team hadn’t even qualified to attend the National Tournament in over 10 years.

Normally, although it is supposed to be the top 5 of each year, it would usually just be a rematch of the fourth-years—since they’d typically make up the majority of the team. But this year… things were different.

Kain and Serena were sent out to compete against the fourth years of these lower-ranked schools as mere second-years.

It was a drastic change from Phase One, and the pair’s fans were ecstatic at suddenly getting to see more of them. Especially since in Phase Two it allowed for all the contracts that a beast-tamer had to be summoned simultaneously.

During Phase One, they were rarely seen—like final bosses of the second-year Dark Moon team that only appeared in a select few matches against the strongest opponents.

But now?

Now they were on the front lines cleaning up all five opponents alone to prevent Jade, Theo, or the mysterious Reed from revealing too many of their own cards before they even got to meet the other top 5 teams.

THUD!!

All 4 of his final opponents’ contracts dropped to the ground simultaneously as Bea took full control of them within a minute. Kain had only summoned her for this match against Happy Trails Collegiate from the Southern Province—a low ranking college that hadn’t been to the Nationals in years.

Using Bea only, Kain had managed to completely run through all 5 opponents with little difficulty. After all, the strongest opponent on the opposing team was only 4-stars and most of his contracts hadn’t even managed to reach green-grade yet, still at yellow-grade.

The gap was too big between Kain and his opponents despite them being 2 years older than him.

He almost felt sorry for the humiliatingly short matches…almost.