Chapter 52 - The Event(2/?)

Hitting the monster's leg, Ryan managed to make it fall on the floor. Without hesitation, he said

"Don't make me lose face, let's be friends from now on, okay?"

Looking at the monster in the eye, Ryan asked this while the monster tried effortlessly to raise.

'As expected from a Variant, it isn't that easy'

With this, the monster tried to hit him. Easily dodging the hit, he made a blow of his own, launching the monster away.

'I guess this one has to be subdued this way...'

Observing this scene, the crowd was slightly disappointed by the monster. After some seconds of fight, it was easily subdued by Ryan.

Smiling proudly, he looked at his surroundings where all the people were looking at him in disbelief. Some seconds later, someone started to clap his hands. Following the first that started, everyone else finally returned to reality.

With this, Ganesha finally decided to say

"That was an amazing show, now, the next tamer please enter the arena!"

Hearing his words, another man entered the arena. Upon seeing him, most of them, knew what he was wearing.

'Salamander's Robe? So the next monster will use fire...but that can be dangerous for..'

Before people could continue to think about this, a group of mages appeared.

"I know what some of you think, but I am GANEEESHA! I would never hurt someone from the public. Because of this, these mages will erect a barrier to defend all of you without problems!"

With their thoughts cleared, the man looked at everyone in his surroundings while saying

"My name is Hamza Todd. I hope to entertain all of you today"

With a large smile, Ganesha saw as the new cage entered the arena. Hearing barking, everyone knew the new monster to tame.

With this, Hamza looked into the cage. Surprised by the variant, he said

"You can open the cage"

Doing as he said, a staff member opened the cage. After the monster locked eyes with Hamza, they immediately returned with the cage outside the arena.

'Okay, I think I can start'

Although he was relatively new of the familia, Hamza was really skilled in taming. Without hesitation, he protected himself against the wave of flames produced by the monster.

"Ooh! He's quite skilled to be someone that joined the familia recently"

With this statement, Finn opened a discussion while everyone, Ethan included, were focused on the battle.

"You are right.. He must be at least a skilled level 2"

Nodding, Tione replied to Riveria

Looking at Ethan with the corner of her eye, nearly everyone understood what she was implying

"Are you saying he shouldn't have tried to join the event?"

With this question, Tiona looked at her twin

"I don't know anything of his powers. I just know that he's already level 2 after a week and half. Isn't it asking too much from a rookie?"

Nodding, Finn looked at Ethan while he didn't utter a word. Without looking away from the battle, Ethan answered

"I can do what I think is right, if you don't believe I'm able to prove myself then I'll just prove it to you too"

Surprised by his answer, not only Tione, but everyone else now was staring at Ethan. Feeling so many gazes on him, he looked at his surrounding.

'Why everyone..is staring at me?'

The first to express herself was Ais that, with a nod, returned to look at the battle without saying anything more. After that, Tiona and Lefiya looked at each other. Although they weren't talking, they somewhat understood.

'I can't wait to see Ethan fight against so many people..!!'

After that, it was Riveria's answer that brought everyone to reality. With a sigh, she said

"Don't underestimate anyone. Every single one of them may have something to counter you, so be prepared in case your main weapon won't work"

Nodding, Ethan returned his attention to the show while Finn had a small smile on his face.

'I guess..he'll become a problem sooner than I thought'

While everyone was focused on Ethan and the Show, Bete was really pissed off.

'Ethan's this, Ethan's that.. I'm so tired! Why this weakling manage to attract everyone's attention like nothing?.. Am I the powerless one...?'

Thinking about this, he made a 'tch'.

'What the hell I'm thinking? He's still at level 2 while I'm at level 5.. There's no way..'

"I will return to the Manor"

Hearing this, Tiona made an 'aaaah?' while everyone else looked at him. Getting up, Gareth headed towards Bete.

Deciding to ignore him like always, the show was nearly at the finish. Looking at this, most of the adventurers had the same thought in their minds

'The monster is tired, it will probably take another thrust to make it subdued'

Thinking this as well, Hamza had a proud smile. But, before he could finish, the monster made something unexpected.

'Hooh, you want to use your flames to trap me? Do you think I'm that stupid?'

Dodging the flames, he was ready to inflict a last blow to the monster. Approaching him from behind, he was sure to inflict the correct blow but, another unexpected thing happened.

Evading his blow, the monster turned his head. Seeing it still had flames to launch at him in his mouth, Hamza felt speechless.

'I can't retreat, it will be dangerous if I get hit from this distance... I don't have a choice!'

'I'll need to use a skill but it's better than receive this flames head on'

Using his skill, he increased his speed for some seconds, allowing him to retreat in safety. Although he managed to do so, the flames still reached him. Having the hellhound's flames all over his Salamander's robe, he made them extinct with his hands.

With a 'whew', he saw the monster finally surrender. Seeing this as well, everyone in the crowd was heavily surprised by the ending of the fight.

"Variants are so cool..."

With the first ones pointing this out, people got lost in their speeches while Ganesha brought all the attention back to him

"Variants are cool, but our tamer did the taming, so we should give him a loud support! I, GANEEESHA, will do this as well!"

Starting to clap his hands, everyone immediately followed him.

"Ganesha-sama is right! Hamza Todd is incredible!"

Hearing these words from most of the crowd, He wanted to reply to them. With a bow from him, they understood he wanted to talk.

Resuming his earlier position, he waved his hand while exiting the arena.

"That person is even more incredible than I thought!"

With a comment from Tiona, Loki said

"In the Ganesha Familia they don't just train to tame monsters. Taming is surely important but it's not everything. Ganesha needs someone able to first defeat the monsters to gain them, otherwise he can buy them from others, but it's better to make a request to the guild"

Understanding, She looked at the arena while Ganesha continued to entertain people through the show.

Looking at Ais for some seconds, Ethan held her hand while she was confused.

"Is there..anything that worries you?"

With a nod, he answered

"I'm just preparing for the show. You see, Your hand is so warm that can make me feel extremely calm... I consider myself a person able to face them in a fight, the thing that scares me is more a debate, because I never faced this situation.."

'If I had known that I would have found myself protagonist of a show I would've joined the theatre club in high school..'

Thinking about this, he continued to held Ais hand while she replied with a 'smile'

"You will surely succeed..."

With a nod, he continued to look at the new tamer and monster fighting each other while everyone else in their surrounding was trying to not think about them.

'these two really have no concern about their surroundings...for now I'll let the matter lay, but they will be punished at home'

Taking a mental note to lecture the two, Riveria continued to watch the show without uttering a word.

With this, The various shows continued one after the other without any unexpected events. After it was nearly time for him to finally have his part, Ethan moved away from the stalls and, instead, was brought 'behind the scenes' where a tamer should enter the arena.

Having Shakti and Ais next to him, he said

"Ais, from the time I asked you to join me in the arena, I changed my mind when I understood why I'm here today...do you feel it's right for me having you only as a secondary role?"

With a nod, she answered

"This..will be your show, I will watch closely"

Smiling at her words, he looked at Shakti that, understanding what he wanted to ask, said

"You will start after our last tamer.. I think Ganesha-sama will introduce you to the crowd so be ready to enter"

Without his smile faded, he replied

"Thanks for everything you're doing.. I know I said it to you before, but I wanted to repeat it to you"

Shaking her head, she looked at the entrance of the arena.

"I didn't do anything for you, so don't thank me. You should just try to follow your strange idea, even though it's risky to implement, you will finally be 'free' from what is binding you"

Hearing these words, Ethan thought about them for a moment, knowing she was right, he looked at her while Ais waited for him to say something.

'Shakti...is really kind. I wonder why...in all these years she never found a man'

Although she couldn't read minds, Shakti somehow understood what he was thinking. Glaring at him, she added

"You're thinking about something really rude, aren't you?"

Shocked by her question, he looked away for a moment.

"I was right...you're lucky that you are about to enter the arena so I will let it go"

Leaving with these words, Ethan followed her with his eyes before focusing on Ais.

'She's right, I shouldn't think about this now..I will prove myself in some minutes..I will repeat the strategy in my mind...'

---

(I have a discord server. discord.gg/cpVr5X8 If you enter it, you can choose one of Ethan's future powers from the pool I created, but that's not all! On the server, you can see the reference on some things that will be present in the story! Right now you can freely see some things like the [Twin's Digimon] and [The Devoted Heart].)

(A/N: I needed to break the chapter in two, otherwise I wouldn't have known how to finish it. So you can say interactions between Ais and Ethan immediately after Shakti was gone aren't finished. Remember this :))

(Alternate Titles: "Keikaku..reappeared!!", "You shouldn't underestimate a woman's instincts...Ethan, it will be bad for you otherwise.", "Tiona and Lefiya..understanding each other, but for different reasons")