The tail snapped back with a metallic hiss, scales grinding against each other as the creature it belonged to turned.
It was massive. A hulking dinosaur-like beast with a low, armored spine and thick legs that dug into the earth like pillars. Its hide shimmered faintly, each scale dark and iron-hard, as if forged rather than grown. The Metal Tailedsaurus roared, a deep, grinding sound that vibrated through bone and soil alike.
Opposite it stood a beast no less terrifying.
A Radiant King.
A colossal white lion with a mane like flowing silk, each strand catching the light as if polished by the sun itself. Its eyes burned with cold intelligence, pupils sharp and focused, and its muscles rolled beneath its fur with terrifying control. Where the dinosaur was brute mass and crushing force, the lion was power refined, every movement precise and lethal.
They clashed again.
The lion lunged first, jaws snapping shut on the side of the Tailedsaurus' neck. Teeth screeched against metal-shard scales, sparks flying as the dinosaur bellowed and slammed its body sideways, smashing the lion into a rocky outcrop. Stone shattered. Dust filled the air.
The Metal Tailedsaurus followed up instantly, its tail coming around in a brutal arc, the sheer weight of it cracking the ground as it missed the lion by a hair.
The Radiant King rolled, sprang back to its feet, and raked its claws across the dinosaur's flank, carving deep grooves into the armored hide. The sound was like blades dragged across steel.
Roars echoed. The earth trembled.
And right between them, half-buried in broken stone, Bahamut stirred.
His clothes were intact, though rumpled and dust-stained, the thick leather and layered hide doing their job. But his body had not been spared. Blood ran down the side of his face from a gash at his temple, soaking into the blindfold. His breathing came out wet and uneven.
He coughed.
Blood splattered onto the stone beneath him.
His left arm hung at a wrong angle, twisted unnaturally, fingers trembling as pain finally caught up to him. The impact had driven the air out of his lungs, rattled his skull, and for a few long seconds, the world had gone dim and distant.
Another roar thundered overhead.
Bahamut sucked in a sharp breath and forced his mind to focus. The chaos around him faded into background noise as awareness returned to his body piece by piece. He planted his feet, shaky but steady enough, and reached up with his good hand.
Crack.
He grabbed his left arm and wrenched it back into place without hesitation. The sound was ugly. Pain exploded up his shoulder, white-hot and blinding, but he didn't scream. His jaw clenched hard enough to creak.
He exhaled slowly.
The heat bloomed beneath his skin next, familiar and relentless. Muscles tightened, fibers knitting themselves back together. The sharp agony dulled into a deep, pulsing ache as his regeneration kicked in, flesh repairing itself with stubborn efficiency. Blood still dripped from his face, but the dizziness receded.
Bahamut straightened.
Another cough shook him, lighter this time, less blood.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and tilted his head slightly, listening. Heavy footsteps. A guttural roar to his left. A sharp, predatory snarl to his right. Two monsters locked in a death match, both strong, both dangerous, both completely unaware that a third presence had just stood up between them.
A slow grin tugged at his lips.
"…You've got to be kidding me," he muttered hoarsely.
The ground shook again as the Radiant King lunged, the Metal Tailedsaurus answering with a furious tail swing.
Bahamut rolled his shoulders once, testing his arm. It moved. Good enough.
He took a step forward, blood-streaked, battered, and very much alive.
Regeneration humming. Heart pounding.
Dropped straight into the middle of a battlefield.
And smiling.
"This will be interesting..."
...
The viewing area erupted the moment the image shifted. The shimmering screen that had been calmly displaying scattered survival scenes flickered once, twice, then snapped into a new vision. Dust and cracked stone filled the screen; two enormous silhouettes colliding with earth-shaking force.
And then a third figure flew through like a broken doll.
Silence hit first. Then the entire hall exploded.
"That was him."
"No way!"
"Did you see that tail?"
"He just got swatted into a cliff!"
The image stabilized, crystal clear now. The Metal Tailedsaurus reared back, its iron-scaled tail still vibrating from the impact. The Radiant King prowled in a slow circle, white mane rippling as it searched for an opening.
And there, in the middle of it all, half-buried in rubble, was Bahamut.
Blood streaked down his face. His body barely moved.
Someone laughed nervously. "So that's what preferential treatment gets you? Dropped into a death match?"
Then Bahamut moved.
The audience watched as he coughed blood onto the stone, dragged himself upright, and, without hesitation, grabbed his twisted arm.
Crack.
The sound echoed through the hall like a hammer striking bone.
A collective hiss swept the spectators.
"That's insane."
"He just… reset it."
"Is he even human?"
The camera zoomed in as his posture straightened, as the heat beneath his skin became visible even through the projection, a subtle distortion around his body. Blood still dripped, but his stance stabilized. Balanced. Ready.
Someone in the back shouted, unable to contain themselves. "THAT'S HOW HE ENTERS A STAGE?"
Another voice followed immediately. "This is the survival trial, right? Or is this a punishment?"
A failed contestant clenched his fists. "We're fighting wolves and mud beasts, and he gets dropped between two Circle of Spirit monsters?"
"That's not luck," someone muttered darkly. "That's fate having a grudge."
Near the front, a group of spectators leaned forward, eyes glued to the screen.
"Look at him," one said quietly. "He's smiling."
"That's not a smile," another corrected. "That's a problem."
Laughter rippled through part of the crowd, sharp and excited.
"This is what we wanted!"
"Finally, some entertainment!"
"Throw him deeper! Let's see how long the Caveman lasts!"
Others weren't laughing.
A few stared in silence, throats dry, watching the blindfolded figure take a step forward as the two beasts began to reorient, their attention slowly shifting toward him.
"He's injured," a woman whispered. "Badly."
"And still walking toward them," her companion replied.
In the elevated seats reserved for higher-ranking observers, murmurs spread like wildfire.
"So this is the one they pulled out of the trial."
"Pulled out, then thrown back in like this?"
"Do you think this was intentional?"
No one answered.
On the screen, the Radiant King snarled, its gaze finally locking onto Bahamut. The Metal Tailedsaurus lowered its head, heavy body turning with grinding weight.
Two apex predators.
One bloodied boy, standing between them.
The hall fell quiet again, not because there was nothing to say, but because no one wanted to miss what came next.
Somewhere in the crowd, someone whispered with a mix of awe and dread.
"…This is why they exempted him."
And as Bahamut rolled his shoulders and took another step forward, the screen trembling with the pressure of the beasts around him, a single thought spread through the viewing area, unspoken but shared.
If this was his entrance.
What would his exit look like?