# God Seed
## Chapter 8 – The Price of Fairness
The arena fell into a tense silence.
I stood in the center, my eyes sweeping slowly across the entire space — the Headmaster, the referee, the Top students sitting in their arrogant comfort, and Master Lian watching quietly from the VIP seats.
Then I crouched down and looked at Junia.
"Junia," I said calmly, "if I fix your beast and heal you properly — can you take a Top 5 spot?"
Junia wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand. Her jaw tightened. Despite her red, swollen eyes, a fierce determination flickered inside them.
"Yes, Uncle," she whispered. "I can. I know I can."
That was enough for me.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out two more 3-Star Beast Cores. Without a word, I held them out to the small Ice Type Beast trembling beside Junia. The creature hesitated for only a moment — then swallowed them whole.
The reaction was immediate.
A shockwave of cold energy exploded outward from the beast's body. The temperature in the arena dropped sharply. Frost crept across the arena floor in thin, crackling lines. Several spectators in the front rows gasped and stumbled back.
The Ice Type Beast roared — a sound that had never come from it before. Its body grew slightly larger, its fur sharpening into crystal-like edges, its eyes turning a deep, glowing blue.
**Two-Star.**
And because the bond between a beast and its master mirrors the beast's growth — Junia's body responded instantly. The bruises on her arms faded. The cut on her cheek sealed itself shut. The trembling in her limbs disappeared. She straightened up, her back perfectly steady, her breathing calm and controlled.
She looked down at her hands in disbelief, then up at me.
I stood and turned toward the referee.
"Restart the match," I said flatly.
The referee blinked at me. He was a heavyset man with a thick neck and small, calculating eyes. His gaze flicked to the corner where the Top students' families were sitting — looking for reassurance, like a dog checking on its owner.
"You have no authority here," the referee finally said, his voice thick with false confidence. "The match result stands. The girl lost. That's final."
I didn't raise my voice.
I simply turned toward the entire arena and spoke clearly, loud enough for every spectator to hear.
"This girl was cursed before her match began. A *gale* curse was placed on her beast — deliberately, by people in this very arena. I watched them arrange it. If you don't believe me, have any certified examiner check her beast's history right now."
A ripple of noise spread through the crowd.
"A curse?"
"Is that even allowed?"
"That's cheating — the *organizers* cheated?"
The families of the Top students shifted uncomfortably in their seats. The Headmaster's face had gone pale. He tugged at his collar, looked around nervously.
The wave of public pressure became impossible to ignore.
The referee ground his teeth — then raised his hand reluctantly.
"...Match restart. Approved."
---
What followed was not a match.
It was a statement.
The moment the restart was announced, Junia stepped forward with a completely different energy. Her Ice Beast moved at her side like a second shadow — fluid, sharp, terrifyingly fast for its level.
Her opponent from before — the boy who had laughed at her, who had called her a poor girl from a broken house — came at her with full confidence. His beast lunged forward with a fire-type roar.
Junia raised one hand.
An Ice Wall erupted from the ground between them — solid, perfectly formed, at least three meters tall. The fire beast crashed into it and staggered back, stunned.
Before her opponent could recover, Junia called out a sharp command.
Her Ice Beast shot forward like an arrow. Three rapid Ice Spears formed mid-air and struck the opponent's beast in precise succession — chest, left flank, right shoulder. The beast collapsed with a strangled cry.
The boy stared at his fallen beast in disbelief.
The match was over in under forty seconds.
**Winner — Junia.**
The crowd erupted. Even people who hadn't paid much attention before were now standing, watching this small girl from the Outer City dismantle opponent after opponent with cold, precise efficiency.
Top 10. Top 8. Top 6.
And then — **Top 5.**
The announcer's voice boomed across the arena.
*"Junia advances to the Top 5!"*
In the spectator seats, I could hear a mix of genuine cheers and uncomfortable murmuring from the powerful families. Junia looked toward me from the arena floor, her face glowing. She raised one hand in a small wave.
I gave her a single nod.
---
Then the referee raised his voice again.
"Hold."
The arena quieted.
The referee's expression had shifted. The nervousness was gone — replaced by something cold and deliberate. He had received his instructions.
"Junia of Class 3 is hereby disqualified," he announced loudly. "Evidence of unauthorized beast enhancement has been identified. This constitutes *cheating* under examination rules. She is removed from all rankings, effective immediately."
Junia froze.
The crowd reacted instantly — confusion, anger, disbelief. Several people shouted protests.
But the referee had already gestured for two arena officials to approach Junia and escort her out.
I stepped off the spectator railing and dropped down into the arena.
My landing was silent.
I walked at a steady pace across the arena floor toward the referee, the Headmaster — who had now appeared at the edge of the arena — and the Top students' families who had risen from their seats, forming a loose, confident cluster. They had numbers. They had names. They had connections.
And apparently, they had forgotten that none of that mattered to me.
The Headmaster stepped forward first, his robes straightened importantly, his voice carrying the full weight of his authority.
"Young man, you have interfered with an official academy examination twice now. You have illegally entered the arena, you have altered a student's beast mid-examination, and now you are disrupting the official ruling of a certified referee." He pointed at me. "Who exactly do you think you are?"
"Someone who watched your referee take a bribe," I replied simply. "And watched you discuss it with him."
Dead silence.
The Headmaster's face turned a deep, furious red.
"How *dare* you —"
"Family Number 4," I continued, turning my gaze to the arrogant girl's father — a broad-shouldered man in expensive Inner City-imported clothing. "You personally arranged the gale curse on Junia's beast. You paid for it before the semi-final round."
The man's expression cracked.
Then it hardened into something uglier.
"Kill him."
---
It happened fast.
Three beasts were released simultaneously — a Fire Leopard at peak One-Star, a Storm Eagle circling overhead from Two-Star, and a massive Earth Boar charging straight at me from the front, its tusks gleaming.
The Earth Boar reached me first.
I sidestepped without urgency, letting it pass within half a meter of my body, and raised one finger.
A single red laser beam — thin as a wire — cut through the Earth Boar's skull from ear to ear.
It collapsed mid-charge, its momentum carrying its enormous body several meters before it skidded to a stop against the arena wall.
The crowd screamed.
The Storm Eagle dove from above, talons extended, wind blades forming around its wings.
I looked up.
Two beams this time — crossing in an X-shape.
The eagle folded mid-air and plummeted straight down, hitting the arena floor with a sound like a boulder dropped from height.
The Fire Leopard circled, more cautious. Its owner — a young man, one of the Top students — was visibly sweating now, his arrogant expression replaced by something approaching fear.
"Don't hesitate!" the father shouted from behind him. "Attack! It's just one man!"
The Fire Leopard lunged, its body wreathed in orange flames. Heat rolled across the arena in a wave.
I extended my palm and activated the God Seed's devouring ability.
The flames reached me first — and vanished. Swallowed completely, as if they had never existed. Then the Fire Leopard's forward momentum carried it directly into the reach of my hand, and with a quiet pulse of light — the beast disappeared entirely.
Not burned. Not wounded.
*Gone.*
The young man stared at his empty summoning space. He opened his mouth. Nothing came out.
The families had gone completely still.
I turned slowly and looked at all of them.
"Any more beasts?" I asked.
No one moved.
---
Then a slow, measured clap echoed from the VIP seats.
Master Lian descended the steps unhurriedly, his pale robes immaculate, his expression composed. He was older than I had expected — perhaps sixty, with sharp silver eyes that had clearly seen many things and been impressed by very few of them.
He stopped at the arena's edge and looked me over carefully.
"Interesting," he said. "Very interesting. A young man appears from nowhere, dismantles three beasts without summoning one of his own, using abilities that I frankly cannot classify —" he tilted his head slightly, "— and does it all to defend a child's right to a fair exam."
His tone was pleasant. His eyes were not.
"Tell me your name, boy. And tell me what level you are. Because what I just watched should not be possible."
"My name isn't important," I replied.
Master Lian's pleasant expression didn't change. But something behind his silver eyes shifted.
"You know," he said calmly, "I came to this Outer City examination specifically to identify talent worth bringing to the Inner City Beast Institute. In thirty years of doing this, I have seen perhaps four or five individuals who genuinely surprised me." He paused. "You would be the sixth."
He clasped his hands behind his back.
"However — you have destroyed property belonging to several prominent Inner City-connected families. You have disrupted an official examination. And you have made quite a mess of this arena." His eyes swept the collapsed beasts, the cracked arena floor, the frozen spectators. "The families you've offended today have long memories and significant reach. So I am going to give you a single, fair warning:"
"Apologize. Compensate the affected families. Leave quietly. And we will consider this matter closed."
I looked at him for a moment.
Then I looked back at Junia, who was standing at the edge of the arena holding my coat around her small shoulders, watching everything with wide eyes.
I turned back to Master Lian.
"No."
The arena went absolutely silent.
Master Lian studied me for three full seconds.
Then he exhaled slowly through his nose — and raised one hand behind him.
Eight figures dropped from the upper spectator walkway in perfect unison. Each one wore the grey uniform of the Inner City Beast Institute's Enforcement Division. Each one carried their beast already summoned and ready. The lowest ranked among them was at the 5th step of Two-Star.
Master Lian's voice remained completely calm.
"Then I'm afraid this is going to become significantly more unpleasant."
The eight enforcers spread out in a wide arc, surrounding me from all sides. Their beasts — a Shadow Wolf, two Stone Golems, a Thunder Hawk, a Poison Serpent and three others — growled and shifted, waiting for the command.
The arena, which had been filled with the noise of hundreds of spectators moments ago, had become so quiet that I could hear the faint crackle of the Thunder Hawk's electricity from thirty meters away.
I stood in the center of it all.
My expression hadn't changed once.
I glanced at the God Seed counter in my mind, checked the stored souls, noted the time.
Then I rolled up my left sleeve.
"Alright," I said quietly — more to myself than anyone else.
*Let's not waste time.*
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