The connection between a Beastmaster and their Interstellar Beast was unique- something very few truly understood.
Kitsuul didn't know why her master suddenly erupted with waves of fury, but she felt it.
And for her, understanding wasn't necessary.
His eyes, which were locked with unrelenting rage onto the figure of the Enforcer standing atop his Enforcer Drone, became her eyes of rage as well.
Her master was angry.
So she was angry.
"kitsuul~!"
She asked no questions. She only felt the bloodlust, the demand to destroy everything and responded with one unspoken answer- yes.
The Enforcer. The Big Stepper. Lucian!
"Ha! Do you like my surprise, Little Wild Beast?" HAO taunted in its cruel voice.
"I had to call in a favor to get the Big Stepper here. Do you know why they call him that?!"
HAO roared in amusement as chaos erupted through the Rustblood Circuit Arena. The audience was on fire with laughter, jeers, and pity—directed squarely at Damian.
Because they knew one hard truth.
No one defeats an Enforcer in the Rustblood Circuit.
Because an Enforcer hailed from the Skyglass Heights.
Who would be stupid enough to kill one—and invite that kind of problems? It was better to forfeit in fear right away, but they knew HAO would not even allow that!
That belief was so deeply rooted that even now, bets were being placed with absolute certainty. With the Enforcer standing tall on his drone—a bloodthirsty avian machine glinting like a weaponized predator—there seemed only one outcome.
Total annihilation.
Even a group of teenagers, broke and half-drunk on desperation, were getting involved again—despite having already lost their savings and a dead grandfather's inheritance on previous bad bets.
One of them looked to the other and whispered urgently.
"I know you lost your inheritance... but come on. No one touches an Enforcer. We've seen it over and over. I'll apply for an instant PayCredit loan too, you do the same—we'll double our money. This is an Enforcer!"
…!
They hesitated, just for a moment. But eventually, they all pulled out their phones and rushed into the worst possible loans with the highest interest rates.
More bad choices, all tied together by one collective belief.
No one kills an Enforcer.
The Wild Beast, Therion, was going to die!
HAO asked him why they called the Enforcer the Big Stepper.
But Damian, boiling with calculated rage, didn't even acknowledge the rank or title of the man before him. He answered coldly.
"Big Stepper? All I see is a wannabe king who left the comfort of Skyglass Heights to bully peasants down in the Hollow Stacks. What kind of 'Big Stepper' is that?"
…!
His words cut like daggers.
The arena went silent.
Even the sharp-tongued arena operator didn't dare speak back.
And then, the arena erupted.
From the stands, the broken and cybernetic, the poor and the hardened—those who toiled in the rust and soot of the Hollow Stacks—stood and roared.
They hollered as if Damian had spoken the very truth they were never allowed to say aloud. The rage they buried, the humiliation they carried—he voiced it.
People from Skyglass Heights came down here, strutted like titans, and treated everyone like dirt.
But no one had ever dared speak to an Enforcer like that.
Until the Wild Beast.
Damian's eyes were bright.
He didn't just want to insult the Enforcer—he wanted the drunken fool atop that drone to lose control. To snap. To fall into his own rage.
Because Damian's own rage? It was sharp now. Controlled. A tool, and not a blindfold.
But the rage of a drunken man?
That was something Damian could use.
And when the arena shook with the cheers of the crowd, Lucian—standing tall on his Enforcer Drone—froze mid-sip from his bottle. His eyes snapped down toward Damian like a predator staring at something unworthy, something disgusting that dared to speak.
He didn't say a word.
Instead, he pressed a glowing panel attached to the device on his wrist—
BZZT!
The drone's Integrated Aether Cannons began to buzz.
A second later—
TRRRR!
Bullets—no, cannon shots—ripped through the air, purple-blue blasts screaming toward Damian, tearing up the metallic flooring with terrifying precision.
BOOM!
But Damian was already moving. He'd seen the flash of the cannons before they fired, and in a blink, he dashed sideways—evading the blast that shredded where he once stood.
And then he ran.
He charged toward the Enforcer Drone, which remained hovering, Lucian still above, not even touching the ground.
The Enforcer snarled, pulling an Aether Shotgun from his back—a weapon made to kill anything.
He joined his drone in unleashing a barrage of death.
Damian couldn't get close. The drone's firepower, combined with the Enforcer's, kept him pinned!
But still—he dodged. Moved. Evaded. Again and again.
The fact that he could survive this long was terrifying in itself.
Far above, in the audience stands, Anastasia gripped the rail with white-knuckled hands.
Her arms were pale, her lips bit down, and her eyes glowed with burning fury.
She wanted to leap into that arena.
To crush the drone with her own hands.
To kill the Enforcer who threatened the only person left who still held the memory of her sister.
The situation was dire.
But even as Damian's body pulsed with flickering, invisible light from Kitsuul, his deep voice echoed into her mind.
A command.
And Kitsuul roared in silent excitment.
And in the very next moment, beneath the breathless eyes of the crowd—
Damian vanished.
…!
He disappeared.
Completely.
The Enforcer's eyes widened. Optical implants deployed, scanning every direction.
The drone's eyes lit up with a crimson gleam as it scanned the arena—
Nothing.
[Warning! Warning! Target Lost! Danger!]
Even the drone itself sounded the alarm.
The Enforcer didn't hesitate. He issued a command to ascend—
But it was too late.
BOOM!
A figure burst into view—Damian—slamming into the underside of the fortified drone with such force that it sparked with electric brilliance.
The drone spun, shuddered, and began to fall—spiraling toward the arena floor like a dying weapon of war!