Chapter 352: A Beastslayer Without Just Die

The demonstration chamber had been built like a theater. Tiered balconies surrounded a circular floor enclosed by black glass. Masked patrons watched from private boxes while market attendants adjusted alchemical equipment below. No names appeared. Even the candidate’s guild and academy history were hidden.

[Beastslayer Candidate Lv. 56]

[Guild Affiliation: Sealed]

[Just Die Affiliation: None]

The market claimed he had no Just Die affiliation. Rias recorded the label exactly as displayed and attached a note that they had not independently verified it. Even with that caution, the demonstration mattered: Beastslayer sponsorship was being offered without any visible Just Die identity.

A young man stood inside the circle wearing plain combat armor. He looked neither proud nor eager. His attention remained on the silver-furred lynx restrained across from him by four black chains.

[Silvermane Lynx (Bonded Beast) Lv. 51]

The system called it bonded, but nothing in the lynx’s behavior resembled the mutual trust Martin associated with a healthy bond. Its ears were pinned flat, and every time the candidate shifted, the animal leaned as far away as the chains allowed. The alchemical layout around them matched the maximum-bond sequence Cassandra had recovered from Victoria’s records. Three silver reagent channels ran from the live-bond blood through the slate, into the lynx’s restraints, and finally toward the candidate.

"The recognition is being manufactured," Cassandra whispered inside Silent Stage. "Same sequence as the formula. Different equipment."

Rias observed from a service balcony behind the main boxes. Her Crucible Concord token copied the visible notices without touching the demonstration controls.

[Flash Fang: Three funding seals attached to the trial. Separate accounts. All broker protected.]

[Kill Clause: Can you record the lynx’s original aura before activation?]

[Flash Fang: Already done.]

The attendants placed a dark slate beside the candidate. Blue catalyst filled its carved channels. A sealed ampoule of preserved blood rested at the center.

Cassandra recognized the structure from the Mountain Risen facility. The ratios were hidden, but the sequence matched what Victoria’s records had described. A voice came through the sponsor screen above the arena.

"Begin maximum-bond recognition."

No face appeared behind the glass as the candidate pressed one hand to the slate. The lynx pulled against its chains. When the slate lit, its stare fixed on the candidate while its body twisted toward the farthest edge of the circle. Blue light entered the candidate’s arm.

[Maximum-Bond Recognition: 21%]

Martin’s hand closed around the edge of the balcony rail.

Katherine covered it with hers. "Wait until we can stop the entire process."

He knew she was right. Breaking the glass now would bring every guard in the market while the formula continued beneath them.

Elisebeth spread Silent Stage through the ventilation grates. The spell remained thin enough to avoid the market wards, catching only the resonance traveling between the sponsor screen and the control slate.

[Maximum-Bond Recognition: 48%]

Cassandra followed the three visible reagent channels. "The third line is carrying most of the recognition into the candidate. If we break it before the threshold holds, the falsified bond should collapse."

Alexandra’s eyes narrowed. "So we’re improvising."

"Within what we already know," Cassandra said.

Alexandra drew one slow breath and looked back at the chained lynx. "Then let’s make it count."

Rias moved first. She slipped down the service stairs under Shadow Step and reached the evidence console behind the attendants. Gloamneedle entered the narrow gap beneath the panel, severing a black contract thread without touching the blue catalyst line. The system hesitated.

[Maximum-Bond Recognition: 63%]

[Contract verification delayed.]

Elisebeth turned Silent Stage. The next activation note left the sponsor screen, entered the ventilation channel, and curved back toward an empty alchemical reservoir. The reservoir accepted the command and began filling itself with blue light. Katherine summoned Kinnami and sent her through the glass.

The spirit’s body became a gold thread as she crossed the ward at the same moment the delayed verification opened it for the sponsor’s signal. She reached the lynx and spread a barrier between its chest and the nearest chain. Alexandra jumped from the balcony and summoned Kumoe as she fell. The three-headed wolf appeared in a burst of pale light and landed beside her.

The curious head caught one chain, the right seized another, and the middle sent restoration through the lynx’s trembling body. Alexandra landed between them and crossed both swords through the two links Kinnami had separated from the beast’s fur. The glass around the arena went black.

[Unauthorized interference detected.]

[Maximum-Bond Recognition: 81%]

The candidate stared at Alexandra. "What are you doing?"

"Giving your beast a choice."

"The bond isn’t complete yet. That’s what the trial is supposed to fix."

The answer chilled Martin more than a lie would have. He vaulted the rail and summoned Breakwater Aegis before his boots touched the arena floor. Market guards entered through four doors. Their weapons carried no guild or house marks, only contract seals glowing along the grips. The first guard lunged for Alexandra’s back.

Martin caught the strike. Stand Against the Current built through the shield as two more impacts followed from the side. He turned the formation away from the lynx and drew Rainwarden Sword. Measured Answer opened the nearest guard’s seal harness. Rias cut the exposed contract cord with Gloamneedle.

[Maximum-Bond Recognition: 89%]

Cassandra stepped onto the balcony rail and reached full draw. Patient Draw sharpened while she waited for the third reagent channel to appear beneath the slate. The sponsor changed the sequence. The stabilizing line moved from the slate into the candidate’s armor.

"Chest plate," Cassandra called.

Martin switched to Galehook Trident and threw it through the candidate’s shoulder guard without striking flesh. Cast the Line marked the armor. The candidate tried to reach the lynx.

Martin crossed the distance with the pursuit bonus, caught the trident shaft, and twisted. The chest plate opened along its side. The stolen recognition surged before Cassandra could release.

[Maximum-Bond Recognition: 100%]

Cassandra’s arrow passed through the gap and severed the silver channel beneath the armor.

[Maximum-Bond Recognition channel severed.]

[Falsified maximum-bond state no longer sustained.]

The blue channels ruptured. Katherine expanded Kinnami’s barrier around the lynx and the nearest observers. Elisebeth turned Silent Stage upward, redirecting the magical activation pulse into the arena’s upper ward instead of trying to contain the physical blast.

The upper ward overloaded. Black glass burst outward above the balconies while Kinnami’s barrier caught the falling fragments around the lynx. The candidate fell to one knee. A demonstration mirror above the arena displayed the event that had already triggered at the false threshold.

[Beastslayer Event triggered.]

[Sacrifice your bonded beast?]

The man looked at the lynx. For the first time, the animal looked back without a chain forcing its head into place. His hand rose toward the prompt. Martin struck the candidate’s forearm with the flat of Rainwarden Sword and knocked his hand away before he could select the prompt.

"You choose what kind of player you are after it is free," Martin said. "Not while someone else holds it down for you."

The guards closed around them. Martin summoned Riftbell Warhammer and struck the largest arena exit where its contract frame joined the wall. Faultnote cracked the seal housing, and the second committed hit tore the door open.

From one of the private boxes, a masked observer breathed a single word before the alarms swallowed it. "Emperoar?"

Kumoe and Alexandra freed the final two chains. The lynx staggered into Kinnami’s barrier, then turned on the nearest guard rather than fleeing blindly. The candidate remained on his knees.

"They said it was generated for the trial," he whispered.

Rias heard him. "Record that statement after we survive."

The fight compressed around the open exit. Martin held the center while Rias cut contract seals rather than armor. Alexandra and Kumoe guarded the lynx, and Katherine with Kinnami kept the damaged recognition apparatus from burning the beast again.

Elisebeth sent Fire Bolt through Silent Stage and struck the reservoir holding the redirected activation pulse. The magical feedback collapsed the arena wards without throwing the blast through the crowd.

Rias checked the copied Recovery route. Of the three black arches ahead, only the second on the right still carried the contract signature attached to their accepted trial access. "Right side. Second arch."

They withdrew through it together. A guard carrying the sponsor’s ledger tried to close the route. Rias passed beneath his arm, cut the ledger’s retaining chain, and caught one torn strip before the rest vanished behind the door. The market corridor sealed behind them. Rias opened the fragment inside an evidence ward while they ran.

[Patronage Status: Dispossessed.]

[Bloodline Credential: Accepted.]

[Beast Grievance: Active.]

[Candidate Funding: Approved.]

The entry repeated three times beneath separate hidden account numbers. No names appeared before a black notice opened above the party.

[Guest conduct under review.]

[Assigned exit prepared.]

The wall ahead unfolded into a bright doorway. Martin’s Sairren return disk vibrated against his chest. The three tuning forks along its edge leaned away from the offered exit and toward a blank section of stone on their left. Rias saw the movement.

"We are not using the assigned door," she said.

Behind them, the market began locking every other route.