The spotlight was becoming my second home. Every time my name was called, a hush would fall over the auditorium, followed by a wave of excited and anxious murmurs. All other matches became a sideshow; the main event was whatever I was about to do.
I'd just watched Snow effortlessly freeze another opponent solid when the announcer's voice boomed again.
"**For the quarter-finals! Class 1's Ron Sanchez versus… also from Class 1, Leo Mordrick!**"
A collective gasp rippled through the crowd, followed by an explosion of cheers. This was different. This wasn't just curiosity; this was hype.
"Whoa! Leo Mordrick! From the Mordrick Beast Farms!"
"I heard he's a special admission! He never comes to class!"
"He's got a B-Rank power! [Beastiality]! He can transform!"
"Sanchez might finally meet his match!"
I was shocked. *Another* Class 1 student? I'd never even seen this guy. He must have been another "special admission" like me, skipping regular classes for private training. A beast transformation profession? That sounded seriously strong.
As we walked to the arena, the energy was electric. For the first time, a large portion of the crowd was cheering *against* me. Leo was the underdog they knew, the beast tamer from a famous family, facing the mysterious, overpowered newcomer.
He was already changing as he stepped into the ring. His body grew, muscles rippling and expanding under his uniform. Jet-black fur sprouted on his arms and face, his eyes glowed a feral yellow, and his teeth elongated into sharp fangs. He wasn't a full leopard, but a powerful, terrifying hybrid—a were-leopard. His speed and strength had easily tripled.
The bell rang.
He didn't wait. He moved in a blur of black fur, faster than anything I'd faced so far. A clawed hand swiped at my throat with enough force to decapitate a horse.
*SCRITCH.*
The sound wasn't of tearing flesh, but of razor-sharp claws meeting an impossibly tough, invisible wire. My [Monofilament Slash] had intercepted his strike a hair's breadth from my skin.
Leo recoiled, shaking his hand. A thin line of blood welled on his knuckles where my wire had bitten deep. His feral eyes narrowed, the animal cunning in them assessing me anew.
"Interesting," he growled, his voice a deep rumble. "You're not a telekinetic."
I just gave him my now-trademark unhinged spider smile.
He began to circle me, a predator looking for an opening. I decided to stop playing defense.
I held up my hand, index finger and thumb extended in a gun shape. I pointed it at him.
He flinched, his beastial instincts screaming *DANGER* even though he saw nothing. I fired a single [Sting Shot].
*Puff.*
He dodged with preternatural speed, the invisible projectile zipping past his ear. Confusion warred with instinct on his face.
I fired again. *Puff.* He dodged.
Again. *Puff.* He ducked.
I started rapid-firing, one shot after another. *Puff-puff-puff!*
To the audience, it must have looked utterly bizarre. I was just standing there, pointing my finger and making soft puffing sounds while Leo danced and weaved around nothing like a man avoiding a swarm of invisible bees. They were utterly confused.
"What is he doing?"
"Why is Leo dodging?"
"Is this a joke?"
But Leo wasn't laughing. Sweat beaded on his furred brow. His instincts were the only thing keeping him from being riddled with holes. He was moving on pure adrenaline and fear.
I decided to end the charade. I stopped the single shots.
And opened up with the full auto.
I didn't just increase the fire rate; I unleashed it. Dozens of [Sting Shots] per second, an invisible hailstorm of needle-like strings. It was a machine gun barrage fired from a single finger.
He couldn't dodge them all. *Thwip! Thwip-thwip!* Small blooms of red appeared on his arm, his leg, his shoulder. He cried out in pain and shock, stumbling backward. The shots weren't fatal, but they stung like hell and broke his concentration. His transformation flickered.
I lowered my hand. The barrage stopped.
Leo stood there, panting, bleeding from a dozen tiny wounds, his transformation receding back to his human form. The look on his face was a mixture of pain, humiliation, and utter bewilderment.
The announcer, sounding utterly lost, called it. "**Ron… Sanchez… wins?**"
The silence was profound. Then it broke into a chaos of confused shouting.
"What happened?!"
"Why did he give up?"
"I didn't see anything! He just started bleeding!"
In the VIP booth, the Headmaster and Borin were leaning so far forward they were almost falling out of their seats.
"A gun…" the Headmaster whispered, his eyes wide. "He can manifest his strings as projectiles. High rate of fire, completely invisible… He wouldn't even need to be a Hunter. He could be the perfect assassin."
Borin was grinning like a madman. "The control… to fire that many, that fast… it's insane!"
Professor Vance was frantically taking notes on a holographic pad. "The stamina expenditure for that should have collapsed him! The energy output is mathematically unsustainable for a C-Rank! And yet… he's not even sweating!" She looked down at me, her scientific mind utterly short-circuited by the impossibility of it all.
I walked out of the arena. Leo just stared at me, not with anger, but with a kind of dazed respect. He had no idea what just beat him. *Bro, I'm just OP.*
I didn't wait for the next match. I immediately headed for the exit, a path clearing before me as students scrambled to get out of my way. The murmurs followed me like a wave.
"What the hell is his power?"
"How is it so strong?"
"Did you see? Leo Mordrick just lost to… to finger guns!"
I reached my dorm, closed the door, and finally let out the breath I'd been holding. I sat down on my bed, a slow grin spreading across my face.
Outside, the entire academy was talking about me. And they still had no clue what I could really do. This was getting better and better.