Undead Beast Master: Living Solely for My Desires-Chapter 227: It Begins

Zaroth thought that there was no way that the hype he saw during the semi-finals could be matched.

And yet, he had never been more wrong.

There were so many people crowding the streets, stretching kilometers from the grand arena, that moving through them was nearly impossible.

Not to mention, he was supposed to stay hidden. After all, at this moment, this fight was the most talked-about event in the empire—perhaps even the entire world.

If anyone recognized him, there was a high chance he'd be swarmed by all kinds of people, making it nearly impossible to move.

In this moment, he was grateful for Zack, Lily, Roran, and Midnight, whose presence allowed him to move unnoticed.

Soon after, he finally entered the grand arena.

The battle was about to begin, but first, a few formalities had to be addressed.

After all, the emperor had undoubtedly spent an enormous amount of money to make this tournament possible, and now he was going to capitalize on it as much as he could.

Thanks to the fact that the room he was in was soundproof, Zaroth found himself in complete silence.

The only sound that broke the stillness was the soft ticking of an old clock, marking each passing second.

"..."

Zaroth was staring at the floor, lost in thought.

"65,535… that's how many people I've defeated to get here..." he muttered under his breath.

"And if I win today's match as well, it'll be 65,536," he added quietly.

Of all the people in the empire, he was the one about to fight in the finals. So many had failed where he had succeeded.

It was a surreal experience, especially for Zaroth, as just more than half a year ago, he was a nobody, decaying in a forsaken village while taking care of his mother.

And now?

He was almost at the top.

'Before the tournament started, I asked if you were nervous. I asked what you thought would happen,' Luna spoke in his mind.

'Do you remember what you told me back then?' she asked.

Zaroth smirked as he got up.

Everything was ready.

Everything that could be done was done.

Everything that could be said had been said.

Now it was only a matter of acting upon it.

He opened the door and stepped out of the room, moving silently toward the entrance at the center of the arena.

"I will win," he spoke proudly, without a shadow of a doubt.

As he stepped into the ring, his eyes narrowed for a second.

Having so many people watching him at all times was an experience he hadn't yet gotten used to.

He wasn't surprised to see more floating globes drifting around the arena than before.

They were surely waiting to capture better angles.

He also noticed that the protective barrier around the arena had been altered.

Before, he had felt that if he summoned Luna, there was a chance he could break it.

But now, he wasn't so sure, as it was obviously reinforced—and, not to mention, if what his instincts were telling him was true, it wasn't just one, but several, placed very close to one another.

"It seems that they do not underestimate us," Zaroth spoke, his eyes narrowing like a hunter.

Then he gazed forward.

To where his opponent stood before him.

Black hair, purple eyes, accompanied by a giant, horrifying creature with three hollow eyes.

Zaroth's jaw tightened.

It was all for this moment.

All of it hinging on him winning against this man.

"It is quite funny, now that I think about it," he muttered to himself as a grin appeared on his face.

"I have you, Luna, while David has that horrifying thing behind him."

"In a way, both of us might be more similar than we thought."

Before Luna could respond in his mind, the emperor stood up.

"We have been through many bat—"

He began to give his grand speech.

The emperor was certainly not going to miss any opportunity to boost his public image.

Zaroth zoned out, as he didn't really care for what the the emperor was going to say.

Instead, he observed the audience.

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His mood got better as he spotted familiar faces.

Elysia, Midnight, Roran, Lily, Zack—they were all here.

Curiously enough, he didn't miss that Sofia and Vera were here as well, though it was strange that they were sitting so far apart, almost as if they hadn't decided whether they were going to watch together.

Also, a few of his teachers caught his attention.

Roderic was here, and the bald instructor as well.

His expression darkened for a moment as his gaze fell upon a particular spot near the emperor.

"Sure… I guess they can't miss this," he muttered in amusement.

The majority of the great and powerful families were apparently on the front lines most of the time…

But not now.

Now, unbelievably strong people sat relaxed, close to the emperor.

Zaroth finally understood why the emperor relied on them so much.

Sure, the emperor and Elysia were stronger than these great families, but each member of those families was a force in their own right—and there were dozens of them!

Zaroth doubted that if all the great families combined their strength, there would be anything that could defeat them.

It seemed that true strength came in numbers, after all.

Zaroth saw everyone he wanted to see, so he gazed at the emperor—or at least, that's what it looked like to others.

In truth, he was simply staring at Althea.

He was pretty sure that she was the only one who would realize that his gaze was on her rather than on the emperor.

As such, he allowed himself to look at her for far longer than before.

She had surely noticed him by now.

David was staring as well—but not at the emperor. Instead, his gaze was fixed on Amara.

After the long and tedious speech of the emperor, his voice eventually grew louder.

"And let the fight begin," he declared.

As his words left his mouth, the arena fell into deadly silence.

Everyone held their breath.

Zaroth gazed at David.

David gazed at Zaroth.

Nobody moved for several seconds.

There were a few reasons for that.

The first was to intimidate the opponent—or at least try to—while also gauging their strength.

The second was simpler.

They were young and under a lot of pressure, so both of them mutually agreed that a few seconds for preparation wasn't a bad idea.

But these two reasons were negligible compared to the third.

It was because of the emperor.

He had announced the start of the fight.

And yet, the two men didn't start immediately.

It sent a message—one that few would be able to grasp.

"We do not follow orders,"

The wind above the arena died down.

The clouds seemed to freeze in place.

And then, Zaroth's eyes shined as Silverfang and Hellweaver materialized next to him.

His hand was already reaching for the odachi resting on his back as he took slow, steady steps.

David responded by cracking his neck, his purple eyes beginning to shine like torches of the dead.

Taking slow and steady steps, he cracked his knuckles as his purple mana began to surge around him.

Both moved toward each other.

And then—

The arena trembled.