NOVGO.NET Chapter 757: Preparations
Chapter 757: Chapter 757: Preparations
Dark Moon College Strategy Room –Celestial Hotel Conference Room Floor 2
The mood in the Dark Moon strategy room was heavier than usual.
The fluorescent lights buzzed softly above, casting a pale gleam over the long table surrounded by tired, tense faces. Everyone was present—Kain, Serena, Jade, Theo, Reed. Even Dwayne, Kairos, Soren, Oliver, Kyra, and other teammates not in the overall top 5 had shown up for the briefing despite not being in the Top 5.
Maybe it was morbid curiosity.
Maybe it was guilt that they weren’t the ones about to walk into the fire. About to determine the fate of the entire college’s resource allocation from the government for the next year…
More likely, it was because watching the debrief on First Celestial was the social equivalent of seeing a tactical horror movie where you were also cast in the sequel. After all, after Jade, Theo and Reed graduate, next years’ top 5 members would likely be made up from those watching…
The large projection screen flicked on at the front of the room. The Dark Moon strategist, Professor Mires, didn’t waste time on small talk.
“You all know what the purpose of today’s meeting is, so I’ll skip the small talk and get right to it.”
The first slide showed a clean bracket of names.
At the top: First Celestial College.
They were the only team besides Dark Moon to win all six of their prior Top 8 in Phase Two matches cleanly. And, like Jade, the two strongest individuals on First Celestials’ team, hadn’t even needed to fight.
Professor Mires cleared his throat. “Let’s begin with the three faces unfamiliar to Kain and Serena. These three fourth-years didn’t appear in Phase Two last year. But they’ve been part of the core team for Phase One of the National Tournament since their first year. Their synergy with each other is near-perfect—which, thankfully, won’t matter too much for Phase Two’s 1v1s where only individual strength matters. All of them are six-star beast tamers, all have six contracts, and each has at least three—possibly up to five—blue-grade spiritual creatures.”
Mires pressed a button. A photo of a lean, long-limbed young man with dark reddish-brown hair and unusually pale eyes filled the screen.
“Albrecht Velin. Fourth-year. Officially ranked third in their year.”
Kain frowned. “Didn’t one of you already fight him in Phase One?”
A pause.
Theo and Jade glanced at each other. A few people tilted their heads, trying to remember.
Then—
“…Did anyone fight him?”
Reed sighed.
Quietly, he raised his hand.
No one noticed.
Mires, oblivious, continued. “He specializes in corrosion-type damage. All six of his spiritual creatures are quite toxic—unusual for a metal affinity user. But instead of relying on brute strength, or even defence as is typical of metal-attributed contractors, he uses degradation. The metals his contracts manipulate or emit are highly toxic. Every attack, even a blocked one, infects your body and weakens your contracts.”
Kain squinted at the screen. “What contracts?”
Mires brought them up. “Scaldhide Ore Demon. Virulent Iron Elk. Corrosteel Tiger were the three most commonly used. He rotates the others depending on the matchup. In Phase One, he also used a Hooked Chain Wyrm that injects slow-burning neurotoxin along its chains. The longer the match drags, the less control your contracts retain. His remaining two contracts have not been revealed yet.”
Reed cleared his throat. “Indeed, those chains are probably the most difficult thing to deal with
Everyone looked vaguely confused.
Kain blinked. “…Wait, you fought him?”
Reed sighed again.
“Yes.”
“Oh.” Kain blinked, genuinely surprised. “…Sorry.”
Reed muttered, “Used to it.”
The room went quiet as everyone’s consciences were stung by continuously forgetting him.
“Next,” Mires said.
The next slide popped up.
A pale-skinned girl with pale pink hair braided with blue ribbon. Her expression was unreadable.
“Sevra Len’Torien. Illusionist, mental attribute. Her specialty is field control, not brute force. She uses illusion terrain to isolate one contract at a time. Jade?”
Jade groaned audibly.
Mires raised a brow. “Problem?”
“I couldn’t find or even sense my own contracts,” Jade said flatly.
Serena blinked. “huh?” After all, how is one just unable to sense their own contracts soulbound to them.
“She made the battlefield look like a cracked-glass mirror that messed with my perception badly. I thought my Windstrike Cheetah was ten meters ahead of me. It was behind me. When I tried to reposition, I walked my other two off a cliff.”
Theo looked alarmed, not remembering a freaking cliff being in their 3v3 match. “There was a cliff?”
“There wasn’t,” Jade muttered. “Which was worse. It was all in my head. Without me even realizing it, she’d completely taken over my mind”
“Any idea what her Gift is?” Kain asked.
Mires shook his head. “No confirmation. But some theorize it’s related to breaching mental defences. She has been able to exert at least some mental influence over every spiritual creature she’s faced.”
The next face appeared. A somewhat burly guy with a shaggy beard who looked more like the father of a college student, rather than a college student himself.
“Third—Damon Hest. Earth-wind dual affinity. He specializes in mobile terrain manipulation. Think ’battleground puppeteer.’ He creates small-scale arenas within the field and isolates your contracts inside them. The terrain shifts underfoot, repositioning you without your consent. Theo, I believe he was ultimately responsible for your elimination in the 3v3. Any words?”
Theo leaned forward, grim. “I tried to flank him with Kitsu and got boxed in by his terrain-shift. It was like being stuck on treadmill in a moving arena.”
Kain raised a brow. “Which contract got you?”
Theo hesitated. “Not sure. I think it was his Geo-Goliath, the big one. But… there was a wind-type golem too. Might’ve been that.”
Mirae nodded. “Anymore words of advice to offer?”
Theo’s jaw tightened at the memory “Not really…” After all, he’d lost. So clearly he didn’t really know how to deal with the guy.
He didn’t even know where to begin elaborating on the guy. And so the presentation just continued on.
“Now,” Mires said. “The first of the cornerstone duo of the First Celestial Team.”
The next slide clicked into place as a photo of Isolde Blackheart appeared. Pale as marble. Eyes a blue so pale they looked more grey. Lips pressed in a polite line. Hair silver-grey and neatly pinned.
“Vice-captain,” Mires said simply. “Second year in the role.”
He clicked to the next slide. Infernal bloodline affinity highlighted in bold as well as her contract list: Burning Abyssal Phoenix. Demonwing Harpy. Infernal Gargoyle. Dreadclaw Demon. Soulreaver Incubus. Manticore.
“All six are blue-grade. All are infernal bloodline—corrosive, destructive, and high combat intelligence.”
Serena narrowed her eyes. “And her Gift?”
“A fusion-type. She can temporarily merge creatures that share close-enough bloodlines. The result varies depending on the pair—but she used it against Ravi last year. Her hybrid form almost reversed the battle.”
Kain muttered, “She almost beat Ravi last year despite being only a third year…she’d only be even stronger now…”
Serena nodded. “It’s dangerous, but requires proximity between the fusing contracts. With enough disruption, we might be able to stop her from forming them.”
“She has good control,” Jade warned. “Too good. She didn’t even need to fight in the match against us, but from what I saw of her in other matches, she usually waits until all of the opponents’ contracts are preoccupied and unable to interfere before using her gift.”
The screen flickered again.
Cassian Lysander.
No one spoke.
A golden-haired youth stared back from the slide, lips turned in a faint smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. His cream coloured skin was unblemished, his posture perfect. The royal seal shimmered from a polished pin fastened to his collar.
“The Crown Prince,” Mires said. “And the captain.”
The tone in his voice had shifted. There was no pretense here. No false optimism. He truly did not have much hope in any of Dark Moon’s students taking Cassian down in a fair 1v1 fight where both sides were in perfect condition—thankfully this didn’t need to be a fair fight.
“He’s ranked the #1 beast tamer among all the colleges. The youngest individual to ever take over the role of captain for First Celestial ever, and is widely considered the most dangerous active tamer under 25.”
He paused.
“Cassian has never lost an officially ranked match. Not in his first year. Not in Phase One. Not in last year’s Finals. He personally defeated Jade in the 1v1 for Phase One this year, without her being able to remove more than one of his contracts.”
Jade’s jaw clenched as she grumbled under her breath. “You don’t need to bring that part up…”
Kain finally spoke. “What do we know?”
Mires flipped to a new slide. This one had redacted blocks.
“We have confirmed four contracts. The same four that appeared in the finals last year: the Dream dragon (mental/light dual attribute), Nightmare dragon (mental/dark dual attribute), Solar dragon (fire/light/star triple attribute), and Ethereal dragon (unknown attributes—spatial suspected to be amongst them). Unfortunately, little is known about him due to his limited combat time in previous matches.”
Kain and Serena exchanged a brief meaningful look. They probably knew more about Cassian’s strength than the others—after all they’d been in an inheritance relic with him not too long ago and knew that he’d likely received the Verdara inheritance.
And how that inheritance may have increased his strength was impossible to predict…