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nThe territories of the Beast Empire were in flames.

nApart from the major battlefields at those strategic locations, minor smaller battlefields filled the territory of this Empire as the warships of the allied enemy force went on a killing spree.

nThey would only stop after their opponents either surrendered or were annihilated, there would be no stop to the massacre outside these 2 outcomes.

nThe Beast King saw it all and he felt only resignation.𝑶𝑽𝑙xt.𝒞𝓞𝓂

nA thousand thoughts went through his mind and none of them looked bright as the precariousness of this situation settled in his head even deeper.

n‘I don’t know how they did it but it all went downhill the day that they knew so much about us’.

n‘Our advantage was always in our stealth and in us being in the dark’.

n‘I never expected them to know so much about us’.

n‘From the number of warships that were mobilized in this war, there is no doubt that they have a total understanding of our military force’.

n‘And from how the Beast Priests are being handled, it is clear that they also have detailed information about them since they are all being countered’.

n‘This is a well-planned war and assault’.

nThis Beast King sighed. ‘I see no chances of turning the tides’.

n‘Was it ElKing?’

n‘But why?’ This Beast was confused.

n‘His plan is clearly to overthrow the rulership of the Minerva Star System underneath the nose of the Azure Pantheon’.

n‘I knew this all along but I felt it was a necessary risk’.

n‘The Beast Coalition is clearly his best bet to achieve his plans steathily’.

n‘When things are going so smoothly, why would he betray us now?’

n‘Or…, did he sell us out to the Nak and Ackermann State to ally with them instead of completely overthrowing them?’

nThe eyes of this Beast King narrowed. ‘That crazy man’.

n‘He’s capable of anything’.

nA thousand other thoughts went through his mind as he tried to analyze why and how this happened to no avail, then he finally settled on one thought.

nHe raised his head and looked at the sky. ‘Ghost…’

n‘Did he betray us?’

n‘…’ For seconds, this Beast just stood still with his head facing the sky.

nRain started falling a few minutes ago as the war raged on.

nAs he looked up, the rain wiped off his tears as he heard the screams of more young innocent beasts being brutally murdered by the attack of the invaders.

nWhile looking up, he was drawn into the memory lane.

n84 years ago…

n>Zhou & Sons Beast Arena<

nA young Gaufrid was ruthlessly thrown into the merciless beast arena.

nGaufrid was the real name of the Beast King.

nHaving just witnessed his whole family murdered before his eyes in cold blood just a few hours ago, this young Demonic Lion was still traumatized.

n“Hey, you!” The Beast tamer called.

n“You’re up next!”

n“You better go up there and put out a good performance before you die, some pretty wealthy kids paid a lot of money to see you entertain them”.

n“Roar…!” Gaufrid lashed out at the insensitive Beast tamer.

nWhip!

nAs a young Demonic Lion that was yet to mutate, Gaufrid was free prey to this Grade D Pugilist as he reacted on time, lashing the whip at the Lion’s face.

nThat was where Gaufrid got the scar that went across his face.

nThat day, he was forced into the arena.

nHis first opponent was a Bull, and he had to kill him.

nGaufrid never wanted to fight but when the Bull threatened his life, he retaliated as he fought with his life on the line, giving his all to survive.

nHe didn’t even know why he tried to survive after his whole family just died, perhaps it was stubbornness or anger, or perhaps it was just his instinct.

nIn the end, he killed the Bull and secured his 1st victory.

n“Wow, that Lion is tough stock right there!”

n“John! I love his fighting style”.

n“I’m willing to pay more, put him on the arena again”. They demanded.

nJohn was the beast tamer, the Pugilist in charge of the beasts in the beast arena and after getting permission from his boss, the Lion entered the arena again as he was forced to fight his 2nd consecutive battle without resting to recover.

n‘I want to die…’

n‘I want to die…’

n‘Don’t resist…, just let him kill you…’ Gaufrid kept on saying to himself in his head but when the Red-feathered Hawk charged at him aggressively, he reacted instinctively again.

nGaufrid didn’t know how or why he did it, his head was filled up and distracted, his thoughts were jumbled up.

nHe was like a mentally disabled human at this moment for comparison.

nBut despite the messed-up mental state of this Demonic Lion, he managed to win his 2nd straight battle in the beast arena.

nMore money was paid and he was forced into more battles.

nHe killed 9 straight beasts on the arena just hours after his family were massacred. By now, Gaufrid already lost all meaning to life.

nHis 10th straight battle in the arena though was against a Green-scaled Crocodile, a beast that already mutated once.

nIn this battle, Gaufrid was completely mauled.

nHorrifying injuries and gashes were torn across his body by the terrifying teeth of the Green-scaled Crocodile, he was dying.

n‘Yes!’ He was happy, he could finally die.

nThis was what he wanted but somehow and for some unknown reason that he did not understand, he kept on resisting.

nSeconds later.

n“No…!” He could not bring himself to die peacefully like he thought.

nHe was scared, he felt frightened at the thought of death all of a sudden.

nAt the gate of life and death, a red energy erupted around him as somehow, he managed to bite the head of the Crocodile off, ending his life.

nHe fell unconscious after this battle due to his terrible injuries.

nAs his mind faded, he smiled.

n‘Hopefully, I can finally die now…’

n…

nBlink!

nAfter what felt like a long time, he woke up again.

n“Roar…!” He roared, ready to attack and kill as soon as he woke up.

n“Hey, calm down, I saved you”. He heard a voice mutter.

nThat voice was somehow soothing.

nIt calmed Gaufrid down.

nGaufrid looked around, this was when he noticed that he was stuck inside a cage alongside 2 other beasts. The one that spoke to him was an old Mandrill and he sat close to him with an illuminating smile on his name.

nHe looked to the side to see the timid and isolated Golden Langur.

nHe didn’t seem to like talking much.

n“Welcome to hell brother, what’s your name?”

nGaufrid looked at this Mandrill, he hesitated before answering. “Gaufrid”.

nSomehow, he felt that he could trust this beast or perhaps, it was just the fact that he was meeting a beast that was not about to kill him after meeting 10 of such aggressive beasts.

nThe Mandrill smiled. “My name does not matter, you can call me anything you like, even Ancestor”. He laughed.

n“That guy over there, his name is Saurgem”.

n“He came here yesterday after losing his whole family to a Nak massacre, he’s not spoken to anyone apart from me since then”.

n“The 2 of you can become friends”. The Mandrill smiled.

nGuafrid looked at the clearly traumatized beast that hid at the corner.

nThat was how he met his 2nd Upper Beast Priest, the Golden Langur.

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