The voice, amplified by some kind of amplification magic, spread across the entire circular arena.
A tsunami of cheers echoed above the colosseum, and the host’s high-pitched voice followed:
“The eleventh match tonight is about to begin!”
Xing Yue stood in the shadow of the entrance tunnel, listening to the roaring sea of voices outside, and thought:
‘This is even more exaggerated than she had imagined.’
“First, let us thank the previous challenger for the spectacular performance he brought us!”
The host’s voice continued.
“His fighting spirit and soul will forever burn within the Steel Eagle Arena! That brave warrior may have fallen, but his fiery fighting spirit—”
“YEAH—!”
A burst of cheers erupted from the stands.
“Then—”
“As for now, there’s no time to mourn the previous contestant!”
The host’s tone suddenly rose.
He drew out his words: “The next challenger rushing to the battlefield is—Phy—llis—!”
The iron gate at the end of the tunnel slowly rose.
“Can Miss Phyllis, a Third Order mage, defeat three fang wolves that have been starving for three days and three nights? Next—let’s wait and see!”
Blinding firelight poured in from outside.
Xing Yue took a deep breath and stepped into the arena.
In that instant, the gaze of the entire crowd converged on her.
Then—
“OHH—!”
The stands erupted.
Silver-white long hair shimmered in the firelight, and her black-red long dress swayed gently with each step.
That face, exquisite beyond mortal beauty, was breathtakingly stunning against the rough backdrop of the colosseum.
Not because of her strength.
But because of her appearance.
“This is the challenger?!”
“You’re kidding, right?!”
“A girl this beautiful at the colosseum?”
“Is she here to perform or to fight?”
A flurry of murmurs rose and fell, but more than that were eager and appreciative gazes.
Xing Yue’s expression didn’t change as she walked to the center of the arena and stood still.
Then—
She heard the cheers of the audience.
“Phyllis!Phyllis!Phyllis!”
That name was shouted by a thousand mouths at once, echoing through the night sky.
Xing Yue’s lips curved upward uncontrollably.
Thank goodness she’d had the foresight to use her mom’s name.
If she’d heard the entire crowd shouting “Xing Yue!Xia Yue!”, she would have been so embarrassed she’d want to dig her toes into the ground and dig out a whole new colosseum.
Now, though—
She just wanted to laugh.
Hahahaha—
Mom, look, you’re so popular in the human nations!
She tried hard to hold back her laughter, keeping a deep and unfathomable expression on her face.
What she didn’t know, however, was—
In a certain corner of the stands.
A little loli with silver twin-tails, looking no older than seven or eight, was standing on her seat, ignoring the gazes of those around her, frantically waving a rainbow lollipop in her hand, and shouting in the loudest voice in the entire arena:
“OHHH! Phyllis! Go for it~! Phyllis! You’re the best~!”
Her blood-red eyes were astonishingly bright, as if she’d seen some tremendous entertainment, and her lips were curved in an intriguing arc.
That smile was identical to a certain Lord Demon King’s.
“The match is about to begin!The monsters are released!”
In the darkness, three pairs of dark green eyes suddenly lit up.
On the other side of the colosseum, the iron gate slowly rose.
Then—
The host’s voice rang out again.
“THREE—!”
Three wolf howls sounded simultaneously, tearing apart the clamor of the night sky.
Three fang wolves rushed out from the darkness, landing in the center of the arena.
Their bodies were a full size larger than ordinary wolves, covered in gray-black bristly fur, with a row of sharp bone spikes standing along their spines.
In their gaping jaws, sharp fangs glinted coldly in the firelight.
Having starved for three days, their eyes now held only bloodthirsty ferocity.
In the stands, many people instinctively shrank back.
“Hiss… worthy of a Third Order monster!Full of ferocity!”
“That little girl is going to suffer!”
“Yeah, three fang wolves—even a Third Order warrior might not be able to handle them!”
“Go! Phyllis~! Show them what you’ve got! Don’t let them look down on you~!”
The murmurs rose again, but more than anything it was the excited shouts of people enjoying the show.
After all, this was a rare beauty-and-the-beast matchup at the colosseum—plenty of spectacle!
Xing Yue stood in place, watching the three monsters closing in on her, mana already gathering in her palm.
She was prepared to open with a Third Order spell and strike first.
But what neither she nor anyone else expected was—
The three fang wolves stopped in their tracks.
They froze.
Completely and utterly froze.
Their dark green eyes stared at Xing Yue, at that silver-haired, red-eyed face.
“Awoo?”
The lead fang wolf let out a confused low howl, then sniffed with its pointed nose.
Xing Yue blinked.
“What’s going on?”
Xing Yue didn’t know that in the eyes of those three fang wolves, her silver long hair, those familiar red eyes, and that familiar presence that made them tremble from the depths of their souls—
The bloodline suppression of a Higher Species.
“Whine…”
The lead fang wolf’s tail suddenly shot up.
Then—
It wagged frantically.
“Awooo—!”
It let out a howl of surprise and joy, its four legs going weak as it flopped straight onto the ground, tongue lolling, crawling toward Xing Yue on its belly.
The other two fang wolves caught on as well, equally wagging their tails, crawling forward on their bellies.
That appearance—
Where was the slightest trace of ferocious monsters?
They were clearly three stray mutts who’d been dognapped, wandered through hardship, and finally made it home to see their owner.
Wagging tails, licking shoes, a thoroughly ingratiating display.
The entire arena fell silent.
The audience stared wide-eyed at the three fang wolves that had just been so vicious, now lying at the feet of that silver-haired girl.
Someone who had already noticed that Xing Yue’s attire was different from the other challengers suddenly had a flash of insight.
“What… what is this?!”
“Did the colosseum release the wrong monsters?”
“Are these wolves or dogs?”
Some of them stood up and shouted, angrily shaking their fists:
“Fixed! Fake match! Refund!”
The staff were bewildered too.
They had never seen anything like this.
And at that moment, in Xing Yue’s mind, a voice suddenly sounded.
It wasn’t human language.
It was some kind of information stream transmitted directly into her consciousness and perception.
“Whimper whimper—Lord Demon King! You’ve finally come to save us!”
The lead fang wolf lay at her feet, looking at her with those wet eyes, licking her shoes while wagging its tail frantically.
“Those humans are so mean! They never feed us! Three days, nine skipped meals! You have to stand up for us!”
Xing Yue:
“…”
She looked down at the three skin-and-bones fang wolves, and for a moment didn’t know what to say.
So…
These monsters were her own people?
No wonder they reacted like this.
She’d just been thinking about opening with a Third Order spell to give them a beating first…
This…
Isn’t this awkward.
Xing Yue’s lips twitched, and she was just about to say something—
Just then.
From the colosseum tunnel, several staff members rushed out, clearly coming to check what was going on.
The three fang wolves’ ears instantly perked up.
They whipped their heads around, looking at the approaching humans.
Low warning growls rose from their throats.
“Grrr—!”
Every hair on their bodies bristled, and their tails stopped wagging, standing straight up.
Those eyes that had just been wet now held only ferocity and hatred.
They moved in unison, faintly positioning themselves to shield Xing Yue behind them.
The lead fang wolf turned its head, looking at Xing Yue once more.
That consciousness-information flowed into her mind again:
“Lord Demon King, it’s these people!”
“They chained us up, tortured us with electric shocks, forced us to fight!”
“We…”
It didn’t finish.
Its voice suddenly changed tone.
“Whine—!”
A howl of pain.
On its abdomen, a dark purple pattern suddenly lit up.
The pattern spread like a living thing, covering its entire body in the blink of an eye.
Then, countless arcs of electricity burst from within it, leaping and crackling across its fur.
Its eyes instantly turned crimson.
The other two fang wolves were the same.
Their bodies trembled violently, yet they desperately turned their heads away, refusing to look at Xing Yue.
Instead, they stared fixedly at the approaching staff.
“Lord Demon King…”
The lead fang wolf’s voice came again, now broken and fragmented, filled with pain.
“Those despicable humans… they’re trying to control us again… they want us to attack you…”
It suddenly straightened up, electricity coiling around its body, yet it raised its head and howled at the sky.
“But… AWOO—!”
That wolf howl echoed through the night sky.
No one else understood.
But Xing Yue did.
It was shouting—
“The dignity of the fang wolf clan will never forget Lord Demon King’s kindness just because of this level of torture!”
The next moment.
“—BOOM!”
Its body exploded.
Turning into a mist of blood.
Xing Yue’s eyes went wide:
“Eh?! Wait!”
“—!”
The second fang wolf also howled at the sky.
It was shouting—
“Loyal unto death to Lord Demon King—! Long live Lord Demon King!”
“BANG!”
Another mist of blood.
The last fang wolf was the thinnest.
Its entire body was now covered in purple patterns, electricity leaping wildly across it.
It stood swaying.
It turned its head, casting one last look at Xing Yue.
In those eyes, there was no pain, no resentment.
Only—
Loyalty.
It looked up at the bright moon in the night sky.
Howled at the heavens.
“AWOO—!”
“Please, Lord Demon King—avenge us—!”
“BANG!”
The blood mist burst open.
All three fang wolves exploded, turning into a sky full of blood mist.
The colosseum fell into a dead silence.
Xing Yue stood in place, her hand still suspended in midair, her whole body frozen.
The blood splattered at her feet, staining her skirt red.
She stared blankly at the bloodstains dripping on the ground.
Why…
Why would they rather endure this pain, rather end their own lives, than release even a trace of hostility toward her?
No…
Rather, why were they so loyal to the Demon King, to Phyllis?
She didn’t understand, but she was deeply shaken.
“I understand now!”
The host’s voice suddenly rang out, breaking the silence.
“Our contestant Phyllis—she is not just a mage, but also a powerful beast tamer!”
“The moment the three fang wolves appeared, she immediately completed a mental domination on them, making them submit completely to her!”
“And to silence all doubters, before our staff could even step in, Contestant Phyllis used her overwhelming power to instantly slay them!”
“Three fang wolves dealt with without a scratch! What an astonishing feat!”
“Our Contestant Phyllis’s strength is truly terrifying!”
“So I declare, the winner of this match is—Phyllis!”
“Let’s cheer for her! Congratulations to Contestant Phyllis on her victory!”
In the stands, someone finally snapped out of it.
Scattered applause began, then grew, finally merging into a wave of cheers.
But those cheers, Xing Yue could no longer hear.
She just stood there, smelling the blood in the air, gazing up at the cold, clear moon.
In her heart, an indescribable emotion was surging.
Up in the stands.
The little loli with silver twin-tails had already sat back down in her seat.
The lollipop in her hand had been licked clean, leaving only the stick.
She quietly watched the silver-haired girl in the center of the arena, that sardonic smile still on her lips.
“Ara ara~”
“Seems like Yue Yue got to see the cruel world, huh~”
“Imperial people really are mean~”
The little loli sighed, lazily stretching.
A waiter carrying drinks happened to pass in front of her.
By the time his figure moved aside, that seat was already empty.
The seat’s owner had vanished without a trace.
And the spectators around her noticed nothing, still enthusiastically discussing that bizarre match.