Undead Beast Master: Living Solely for My Desires

"Finally," Zaroth muttered under his breath.

The requirement for Nightshade to evolve had been fulfilled.

He had begun to worry that he wouldn't be able to achieve his goal as tomorrow was the 15th round—the semi-finals—but it seemed that his worries were unfounded.

He was feeling very happy, but that didn't mean he didn't notice the energy the Gorehorn Minotaur was giving off.

Zaroth could not help but raise an eyebrow at the sight.

Nightshade had killed the minotaur, so it was weird that he was seeing the kind of energy that showed the beast could be resurrected.

And somehow, it was stronger than normal, almost as if the beast had a much bigger attachment to life compared to the other beasts Zaroth had.

Maybe if the beast wanted to live that much, it wouldn't matter if Zaroth or his beasts killed the creature—he would still be able to resurrect it.

But even if he could resurrect and tame the Gorehorn Minotaur, it wasn't an option—he was bound by a strict limit on the number of beasts under his rule. Unlike his other constraints, this one felt absolute, and he had no doubt that pushing past it would end disastrously.

Shaking his head off the thought, he headed down.

He took a good long glance at Nightshade. Once he desummoned her, she was going to enter his soul, and they weren't going to see each other for some time.

Moving his hand, he put it over the panther's head, which in turn began to make purring sounds.

"I will miss you," Zaroth whispered, and even though Luna wasn't summoned at the moment, he could tell that she too was going to miss the panther as she regularly played with it.

"I wonder how you would look when you evolve. Silverfang didn't change that much after his evolution, but what about you?"

Nightshade tilted her head with curiosity as she looked at her master.

Zaroth sighed, "Maybe you will be able to understand me better when that happens."

After he was done saying his goodbyes, he desummoned her.

Not a moment later, he heard the voice of the system.

[Nightshade evolution in progress]

Zaroth released another sigh as he quickly got out of the beast arena.

Now, while he had become weaker as Nightshade was inaccessible, in truth, he was going to benefit greatly.

At least a part of him would be able to rest easy now, as even if he stopped in one place, his beast would still be evolving, meaning he was always making progress.

Zaroth threw a quick glance at the sky.

It was already night.

He pondered if he should contact his friends and go to a bar.

But he quickly threw the thought away. Tomorrow he was going to have to fight, so it was important to be in the best shape possible, and drinking large amounts of alcohol didn't seem like a good way to prepare.

"...Maybe if I invite Midnight to my apartment?" he muttered.

He knew that it was still a bad idea, as a night with Midnight was... going to exhaust him even more.

But still, one could still wonder…

"I guess I can do that after the 15th fight."

Having made up his mind, he activated his bracelet. It wasn't because he needed to look at the map, as he had already memorized it long ago.

No, his eyes focused on something different.

He had made Nightshade participate in a lot of fights, and naturally, he always bet everything he had that she was going to win.

So now he had 120 000 credits.

It was a lot of money, but after so many fights, one might expect it to be more. However, after winning so many battles, the amount Zaroth earned started to decrease, especially as more people bet on Nightshade winning.

"I am rich!" But still, it was a lot of money in Zaroth's eyes.

Though his happiness was short-lived as the thought of Elysia's mansion crossed his mind.

It had been so grand that Zaroth doubted if he had even ten times as much money that he would be able to afford something that expensive.

So if he wanted to impress Elysia, he would have to achieve something more impressive.

'That is what you get when you go for the best,' Luna teased, echoing in his head.

Zaroth smiled a little.

Tomorrow were the semi-finals.

*****

At the beginning, Zaroth had doubts that they would be able to make the semi-finals interesting.

After all, there were only four participants, meaning that there would be only two matches.

Sure, the fighters would be the cream of the crop—the very best of the best—and the battles could last much longer than usual.

But there were only going to be two matches!

Who would even want to pay for the overpriced tickets to watch just two fights?!

Well, now that Zaroth was heading to the arena, he got his answer.

It was a lot.

Not just a lot.

A LOT.

He barely managed to enter, that was how many people were present.

It seemed that either the emperor got greedy and sold more tickets than the grand arena could hold, or he just wanted as many people as possible to watch the fights live.

Nevertheless, Zaroth could more or less guess that there were almost twice as many watchers as normal.

No one was sitting in their seats, the place was so overcrowded that everyone was on their feet.

There were people that were even climbing on places where they shouldn't be just to get a better view of the arena, and even these places were overcrowded!

He took a few moments to appreciate the view.

Tens of thousands of people, maybe even hundreds of thousands, had gathered to watch him fight.

Of course, Zaroth knew that this wasn't going to be the last fight, as it was just the semi-finals.

If he wanted to win the tournament, he had to win today's battle and then fight against the person that was going to win the other fight.

And this was a fight that he really didn't want to miss out on.

It was Grace versus David.

Two undefeatable titans were going to fight against one another, and the winner was going to go against Zaroth in the finals.

His fight was going to be the second one, so after carefully checking all his equipment—his armor, daggers, spear, and odachi—he headed out.

Unlike last time, there wasn't a designated spot where he could join the audience to watch the fights. Instead, he planned to watch from the area the fighters passed through to reach the center of the arena.

He just was careful not to poke out his head to avoid causing a distraction.

It seemed that he was early, as none of the fighters had arrived yet, so he rested his back against the wall.

Considering that no one had arrived yet, it meant he was likely going to meet either David or Grace before the fight started.

After all, to reach the center, they would need to pass through the area where Zaroth was waiting.

A few minutes passed.

In the meantime, it seemed that the emperor had organized for a woman to go in the center of the arena and sing. And by the looks of the audience… especially the men, they enjoyed the singing of the woman.

The singer wore clothes decorated with gold and jewelry that sparkled in the brightly lit arena.

Zaroth enjoyed her singing too, but not as much as Luna's. They weren't even close enough to be compared.

The woman at the center of the arena was good.

Meanwhile, Luna was like a deity, not just in her looks but in her singing skills as well.

It was as if his dragon could perform anything perfectly.

The fact that the emperor had ordered the woman to sing before the fight started told Zaroth that the man most likely enjoyed being sung to.

At that moment, a twisted plan began to form in his head.

If his instincts were correct, he could strike a major blow to the emperor's mind. By angering him, Zaroth could provoke mistakes that Elysia could easily capitalize on.

But his concentration was broken as he heard a male voice behind him.

"Oh? We haven't spoken to each other in a while…"

Zaroth shifted his gaze to the voice, and then his eyes darkened for a second.

It was David.