Dominion of The Beast Masters

Chapter 217: The Price of Ambition



The tournament's consequences were devastating for Genova Academy. Accusations of cheating and the exposure of the illegal Karinite 4 left the institution in ruins.

The tournament's annulation was only the beginning; Genova became a global joke, its name synonymous with disgrace.

Students, especially those from wealthy families, quit in droves to escape the stigma.

"My children won't carry Genova's mark," one parent declared, reflecting the widespread sentiment.

Even those who stayed knew their futures were tainted, with little chance of seeing an agency scouting anyone linked to the academy.

Professors followed suit. The younger teachers resigned first, but even veteran staff

abandoned the ship, citing irreparable damage to their careers. Entire wings of the campus emptied, leaving the academy hollow and lifeless.

The remaining students and faculty, few and demoralized, stayed only out of necessity.

Genova was no longer a prestigious academy, but a shadow of its former self, forever marked by its fall.

In the aftermath of Genova Academy's fall, while most retreated into silence or fled the sinking ship, one figure stood resolute. Rowan stepped forward to face the storm.

At a hastily arranged press conference, he addressed the world, his voice steady but firm.

"I won't waste your time trying to defend the indefensible. What happened at the tournament, and the scandal that followed, was a failure, a catastrophic failure. I'm not here to deny that or shift blame. I'm here to face it."

He paused, glancing down before looking back at the cameras.

"But I plead with you, please, do not take this failure out on the students. They are not to blame for the decisions made by those of us who were supposed to guide them. If anyone is responsible for this disaster, it is the teachers and administrators, myself included."

Rowan admitted the academy's policies had failed its students, but he highlighted their resilience.

"Despite the chaos, these students improved when given the chance. They are not failures; they are promising talents who deserve the opportunity to prove themselves. I won't give up on these students. Don't punish them for our mistakes. Give them a chance to show the world what they can do."

The speech spread quickly, dividing opinions. Some dismissed it as too little, too late, while others acknowledged Rowan's sincerity.

"It's a start," one observer remarked. Whether it would be enough to redeem Genova remained uncertain, but Rowan's words lit a small spark of hope in the academy's broken future.

Another outcome of the tournament was darker and far more troubling. In a hospital room, Kenny lay on the bed, his face battered and swollen, his jaw immobilized in a thick brace.

His eyes flickered with an intensity that belied his inability to speak, though his ears caught every word being spoken around him.

His parents stood stiffly across from the doctor, their faces pale with disbelief.

"This... this can't be," Kenny's mother whispered, her voice trembling. "There must be some mistake. He just... he just needs time to heal, right?"

The doctor sighed, his face heavy with regret.

"I'm sorry, but it's not that simple. What happened during the outburst with the Karinite 4 caused internal damage... Hmm... not exactly internal, it's complicated. It's not something you can see or touch, but damage nonetheless."

Kenny's father frowned, his voice sharp.

"What kind of damage? He looks bad, sure, but what you're saying..."

The doctor nodded and hesitated, searching for the simplest terms.

"A beast tamer's spirit flows through their body, acting as a channel that connects them to their beasts. In Kenny's case, that flow, the canal, if you will, has been severely disrupted. It's as if the connection is... fractured."

His mother shook her head, tears welling in her eyes.

"Fractured? No, that doesn't make sense. That doesn't mean anything!"

The doctor lowered his voice, his tone apologetic.

"It means Kenny can no longer control his aura. We've tried to make him summon his beasts. We worked for an hour, and nothing happened. And the beasts who escaped when he lost control, we could locate some of them and they are behaving normally, as if their connection to Kenny no longer exists."

The weight of those words hung in the air like a suffocating fog. Kenny's mother staggered, reaching out for the edge of the chair for support.

"Gone? You mean... you mean he can't..."

The doctor nodded grimly.

"He can't tame or summon a beast anymore. He's lost the ability entirely. I wish I could tell you if this is permanent, but... this case is unique. I've never seen anything like it."

Kenny's father clenched his fists, his face red with rage.

"This is because you're a damn idiot!" He slammed his hand against the wall, his voice rising. "What were you thinking?! Were you trying to prove something? Was it worth it?! You've thrown away your future! Your life! You're not a beast master anymore! You're nothing!" "Stop it!" Kenny's mother cried, stepping between them. "He's already suffering!" "Suffering?" His father spat, his voice breaking with anger. "He brought this on himself! Look at him! Look what he's done to us, to himself! We're the shame of the world now!"

Kenny's eyes widened, tears pooling as he tried to shake his head, his muffled groans the only sound he could make. His jaw throbbed with pain, but the agony in his chest was far worse. He tried to form words, tried to say anything, but the brace around his jaw silenced him. He wanted to scream... but he couldn't.

That night, the sky was painted with stars, the full moon casting a silver glow over the roof of the buildings. On top of one of them stood Eratz.

He stood in the middle, his gaze fixed upward, lost in thought. The soft rustle of leaves and the distant chirp of insects were the only sounds accompanying him.

With Golden Cosmos set to leave soon, the weight of recent events lingered heavily in his chest. His return here in his hometown was shorter than expected.

"Moon watching, are we?" a familiar voice broke the quiet.

Eratz sighed. He already knew who it was. Tamara stepped into the light, her long hair glinting faintly under the moon.

"I thought you were supposed to be spending time with Victoria," Eratz said.

Tamara smirked.

"I am. Right about now, I'm supposed to be puking my guts out in the bathroom. Vicky knows

I'm a heavy drinker so she won't bother me."

Eratz raised an eyebrow.

"So... you're toasted?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

She chuckled softly.

"Not tonight. Had to stay sober for this little meeting."

Eratz folded his arms.

"Let me guess, moonlit night, so you're here about Kallistra?"

"Partly," she admitted, walking closer. Her expression softened, her playful smirk fading into something more serious. "But mostly, I'm here because of what happened today."

Eratz's face darkened slightly. He turned back to the moon, a little annoyed.

"I'm not interested in talking about him."

"I can tell," Tamara said quietly, her gaze steady on him. "You're not the kind of man who

holds onto grudges. Not really. But I also see you're not the kind to let things slide when they

cross your line."

Eratz sighed, his voice low.

"I stepped in because I had to. Not for him, for me. Even I have limits. If Kenny's incapacitated, that's on him. One less danger to my family."

Tamara's lips curved into a faint smile.

"A family man. Admirable."

She moved to stand beside him, her eyes scanning the same moonlit horizon he'd been

staring at moments before.

"But there's more to it than that, isn't there? You saw what happened to him. You know what the Karinite 4 did to him. I felt something shift in him. It's like his beasts disappeared altogether. I don't think I've ever seen something like this before."

Eratz stayed silent, listening as she continued.

"The Karinite 4 creates so little on its own. An elemental spirit? That's nothing, meaningless.

But the spirit isn't the problem. It's the generator. This thing is a bomb waiting to go off." Her voice dropped, laced with concern. "Do you think he will recover from that?"

"I couldn't care less about Kenny," Eratz said bluntly, turning his gaze to her. "What happens

to him is none of my concern. My only focus was shutting down someone insulting me and my

family."

Tamara studied him for a moment, then nodded slowly.

"Fair enough. But the price he paid, that's on him. He messed with things he shouldn't have. That's the sin he committed, going against nature to create what shouldn't exist."

Tamara's gaze turned contemplative as she continued.

"Nature exists as it does for a reason. The balance, the harmony, the way everything fits

together... it's not perfect, but it works. When you start tampering with it, forcing it to change, you disrupt that balance. At first, it might seem small, insignificant, but the consequences always catch up. That's what happened to that boy. The scale of his actions was limited to himself, so he took the consequences himself. But what if the scale was bigger?" Eratz turned to her, his eyes narrowing slightly. The moonlight cast a silver glow over both of them, heightening the quiet intensity of the moment. She met his gaze, her expression

unwavering.

"You know what I'm talking about," she said softly.

Eratz's crimson eyes locked with hers, nodding as he understood the hidden meaning.

"The Star Crusher."