Jorra felt so much frustration watching Tibat use her puppets to injure and defeat his beasts.
He didn’t care about the beasts in the slightest.
Of course not.
He was not a Beast Master like many believed, but to hide his identity as a Daemon and to also hide his unique ability to control cursed energy and cursed spirits, the elders of the clan told him to act as a Beast Tamer/Master.
He had some cursed spirits that could possess beasts and even humans, and if he wanted, he could even mutate the beasts to something else entirely.
The three-tailed scorpion, the demonic black boa, and the flame crystal bear were all possessed by cursed spirits.
The beasts themselves were in a half-dead state, and he was actually controlling the cursed spirits to fight for him.
This was one of the reasons why he was so confident that he would never fall to anything Simon threw at him.
Even if he couldn’t use his full abilities, the beasts he had should be more than enough to fight his battles.
And he also believed that Simon would not know about this ability as a ’Beast Master’ since he never exposed it in the trials.
But contrary to what he expected, Tibat seemed ready for him...all because of an unknown book.
’These bastards are definitely under that demon peasant, or they’re being manipulated by him.’
’But what I don’t understand is how they seemed to know what our abilities are and the best counter for our abilities.’
’If I was fighting that snake instead, I would have killed him very easily or gravely injured him at least, and it would serve as a deterrence to the others.’
’But this bitch...this bitch who’s a fucking peasant dark elf hiding her identity did not fight my beasts on her own.’
’What the fuck is going on? How do they have so much information about us?’
Jorra felt like he was going crazy, and at some point, he began to suspect and assume that there was somebody else manipulating everything.
He believed that even Simon was being manipulated without him knowing or that he had an unknown backer which none of them knew.
And in a strange way, it was true that he had a backer, or to be more precise...he had an ancient well of knowledge living rent free in his heart.
But how could poor Jorra know this?
Lilith was the reason why Simon knew that Jorra would use the path of the Beast Master to hide his own path.
And it was also Lilith that told him the abilities of Merath.
Information was power.
And for Simon, he also bought information on some of the known abilities of Tibat, Belafar, and Agramormos.
It was rather cheap since these abilities were exposed in one battle, spar, training, or the other in the academy. They were not hidden abilities.
All the information he bought only cost him a hundred merits in total, and with the vast information he had, he could move the chess pieces which were the three gang leaders, the First Years, and the two Daemons...on the board like a player.
Everything was going according to his plan, and Jorra felt like he was losing his mind.
ROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!!!
The flaming crystal bear released a roar of pain, bringing Jorra’s attention back to reality.
"Damn it."
Jorra cursed as he saw thick black vines and roots curling itself around the flaming crystal bear.
The black vines and roots restricted its movement, and though the vines and roots were burning, Tibat was continuously replenishing them.
The two big wooden puppets raised their weapons- two spears- then they swung down and the bear’s skull.
However...
Clang!
A red crystal formed around the skull, blocking the strike.
But in the next moment, a figure suddenly arrived at one of the bear’s paws like the wind.
Tibat!
A long dagger was in her hands, and she spun in the hair and swung them.
Slash
Slash
Slash
Slash
Slash
Whoosh
ROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!!!!
The flaming crystal bear screamed in pain as his right arm was bleeding and filled with numerous cuts.
Its fingers were cut into pieces, and blood spilled on the surface of the causeway.
Jorra’s left eye twitched when he saw this, and he quickly stretched out his hand.
"Fucking hell."
The flaming crystal bear turned into particles of light just as the two big puppets were about to swing their wooden spears at the bear’s neck.
The flaming crystal bear vanished, and Tibat landed gently and looked at Jorra with a cold and indifferent gaze.
She shifted her gaze to the scorpion which was still trying to defend itself from the attacks of two big wooden puppets and several small wooden puppets.
She looked at Jorra and pointed at the scorpion with her dagger.
"What about your pet scorpion? Won’t you call it back before I kill it?"
Jorra’s lips twitched, and though he wanted to refuse, he knew that the scorpion would soon die.
He waved his hand, and the three-tailed scorpion turned to motes of light.
Tibat nodded slightly. "Wise decision. Beasts are not easy to rare after all."
Jorra however did not care about this.
"So what now? You’re going to beat me up with your minions?"
Tibat tilted her head slightly. "If that’s what you want."
Jorra remained silent and just stared at her coldly.
Though Tibat could not see his eyes because of his mask, she could feel his aura.
’We might have just made an annoying future enemy.’
She shook her head slightly and decided to shift her thoughts elsewhere.
"Just pay the fee and you can leave."
Jorra frowned. "And how much is this useless fee?"
Tibat placed a finger on her mask, making it seem like she was thinking.
"For you...five thousand merits should be enough."
Jorra’s eyes instantly widened in disbelief and shock.
"Five thousand merits?! You fucking thief!"
"You want me to pay five thousand fucking merits for a useless exit fee?!"
"I’d rather kill you and-!"
"DAWN!!!!"
Merath’s shout shook the air, cutting off Jorra’s roar of anger.
Jorra was startled, then he turned and looked at Merath who was standing with more bruises than before, and in front of her was an exhausted Agramormos.
"Pay the fee." She said coldly.