Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 853 - Taming the Fifth Year - True Ending - 2

The mass composing the stakes was no longer simply water but true elemental ice, manifestation of element transcending ordinary manipulation.

It destroyed the rock domeʼs remains with ease demonstrating its fundamental elemental superiority, earth fragments dispersing harmlessly while ice continued advancing without notable momentum reduction.

And they imprisoned the Bashe completely, a crystalline cage forming around the now more deflated serpent faster than Liora could order another evasive movement.

It wasnʼt simply an external barrier but a structure penetrating through the Basheʼs body, ice needles growing from multiple points simultaneously until the serpent was completely immobilized within a perfect geometric matrix.

The Bashe couldnʼt move, couldnʼt breathe properly nor could it generate enough miasma to melt the ice made out of holy water.

Trapped… Completely trapped.

It was beautiful in a strange way, a prismatic way.

Ice that formed patterns reflecting light at multiple angles, geometry that wasnʼt accidental but specifically optimized for the next technique Ren planned to execute.

A ”weak” one.

Finally he ordered the wolverine to use its most powerful flash, concentrated light release that would normally be blinding but damage-limited.

But in this context, surrounded by ice reflecting and refracting light, the effect amplified exponentially.

The flash reflected in the beautiful geometric ice to generate thousands of secondary flashes, each directed toward a different point in the Basheʼs body.

It was an omnidirectional bombardment of purifying light penetrating miasma and burning the serpentʼs spiritual essence with an efficiency a single attack would never achieve.

The light didnʼt just illuminate, it purified, it annihilated the spiritual miasma.

The Bashe was struck down in the end by an assault eclipsing anything Ren had previously used.

The serpentʼs permanent smile finally faded. The spiritual glow in its eyes dimmed to nothing. The miasma dissipated like smoke in the wind.

The bond with Liora severed abruptly.

Liora collapsed onto one knee, hand pressing against her chest where the void of the broken bond resonated with pain.

It wasnʼt physical pain, though her body interpreted it that way. She gasped, vision swimming, tasted iron and realized sheʼd bitten through her lip without noticing.

The insane battle ended with the wolverine in its final moments, body covered in bleeding wounds communicating exactly how much this victory had cost.

Renʼs beast had 0 external mana just a moment ago. It had to spin its core to extract a bit from its last charge that was no longer complete, the final 15% remaining. It just extracted some of the remaining mana to heal itself and avoid bleeding to death, sufficient energy to not lose the bond but insufficient to continue fighting effectively if another battle began immediately.

Ren breathed deeply, exhaustion hitting him as battle adrenaline began dissipating.

His hands were shaking. Subtle tremor he couldnʼt quite suppress. The mental strain of that compound shadow jump sequence, hundreds of calculations in microseconds, had pushed his perception abilities to absolute limits.

Headache building behind his eyes. Price of using abilities beyond safe operational parameters.

Heʼd won but at a cost exceeding any other victory during this exam.

Heʼd revealed his ice elemental control and pushed the wolverine to survivalʼs edge.

And all because Liora had refused to surrender even when defeat seemed inevitable, pushing him beyond his comfort zone.

Worth it, though… Somehow, despite everything, worth it.

The crowd erupted.

Not applause... Just noise. Incoherent sound from thousands of throats simultaneously trying to process what theyʼd witnessed.

Professor Zhao landed and raised his hand, voice amplified across the utterly destroyed arena: ”Victory…”

He paused and cleared his troat.

”Victory: Ren Patinder!”

Now the acclaim came. Thunderous and deafening, the stands shaking with it.

Applause… Screams... Excited conversations about what theyʼd just witnessed.

It was a response communicating the audience recognized having seen something exceptional, a battle that would be remembered and discussed for years not only in the academy.

”Did we really just see…”

”The ice! It made ice at Silver 3!”

”And those towers! The size!”

”That serpent ate itself. It actually ate itself!”

”Iʼve never seen anything like…”

The volume was overwhelming, thousands of voices.

Renʼs parents finally allowed themselves to breathe appropriately, tension releasing in collective sighs of relief mixed with overwhelming pride.

His mother was crying. Not sobbing but tears streaming freely down her face, ignored. His fatherʼs arm around her shoulders.

Their son... Their impossible, brilliant, terrifying son. Still standing. Still winning...

Taro watched Ren help Liora stand, an exchange of words he couldnʼt hear from the distance but that evidently communicated mutual respect for a well-fought battle.

Even through his own pain, healers had numbed it but hadnʼt fixed the underlying damage, Taro felt pride and regret.

Larissa was openly cheering, hands failing at covering her mouth like a ”controlled” noble. Mayo was screaming herself hoarse, jumping up and down.

And Luna, seated in the reserved section for finalists, watched with expression impossible to read completely.

Anticipation mixed with something more complex. Excitement? Anxiety? Determination? All of those and more, emotions layering until her face became a mask hiding depths beneath.

Ren had proven once again why he was considered invincible among his generation.

Though ”invincible” felt like a less appropriate term after a battle that had pushed him so close to his absolute limit.

Invincible was a myth. What Ren had just demonstrated was something else, indomitable will backed by impossible skill, but still mortal, still vulnerable, still beatable if you could just find the right angle.

Luna smiled slightly.

Sheʼd find that angle. She had to.

♢♢♢♢

Just after professor Zhao announced Renʼs victory with a voice barely cutting through the audienceʼs roar, the teacher received a message of his own.

It was delivered by a bird similar to the one that had brought Selphiraʼs second communication… urgency evident in its flight speed and size. Military bird… Bad news bird.

The audience was applauding with fervor making the stands physically vibrate, thunderous jubilation providing constant background noise.

In the destroyed arena below, where collapsed towers and massive craters communicated exactly how intense the confrontation between Ren and Liora had been, battle remains stood as silent testimony to the power both had deployed.

Someone would need to repair all this before the finals. Hours of work. Zhao read the message heʼd just received with expression darkening progressively as he scanned the content.

It was something urgent. Obvious from the change in posture and the way his wings tensed involuntarily, feathers rustling with agitation he couldnʼt quite suppress.

And then without prior warning he gave powerful wing beat with the wings he already had manifested and extended, large feathers deploying completely to generate impulse lifting him from the ground.

Heʼd needed to maintain those wings active during the entire battle to react appropriately. Without them he wouldnʼt have survived the massive confrontation running between falling towers and a giant serpent wrapped in miasma.

Zhao landed directly beside Selphira.

Sheʼd finished reading her own letter by that moment, and her expression reflected a mix of irritation and resignation suggesting both messages contained related information.

”They had to come up with this now,” Selphira complained with a tone carrying genuine frustration beyond simple inconvenience. ”They wonʼt let me enjoy the finals in peace.”