The Troll Dog continued to next turn without rest, seeming designed specifically for this kind of sustained combat. Built to resist damage, wear down multiple opponents through attrition that favored the tank.

Team Five's fifth member, lasted only two minutes against an opponent that could tank attacks while closing distance through patient pursuit.

Score: 3-5

Trevor entered sixth position as Ren had planned in his ordering. His earth beast could theoretically create traps that even the Troll Dog would have difficulty managing, underground hazards that size worked against rather than for.

The strategy worked initially with Trevor creating sinkholes and unstable ground that made the Troll Dog's footing unreliable.

But Roran had trained his beast against earth tactics extensively, anticipating this exact kind of counter. The Troll Dog simply excavated with its enormous body strength, destroying the traps rapidly before they could function properly. It forced Trevor's beast into open confrontation through brute power that made his technique irrelevant.

Ten minutes, only ten minutes Trevor's beast lasted, an impressive endurance against a very superior opponent. But eventually the Troll Dog's overwhelming physical advantage won through small accumulated damages that earth traps and defenses couldn't fully mitigate.

Victory for Roran in his fourth consecutive win.

Score: 3-6

Roran had used his fourth-turn deployment to eliminate four opponents consecutively, exactly the momentum-breaking strategy Ren had anticipated but couldn't completely counter without revealing his own capabilities more fully.

Although even the Giant Troll Dog had limits that couldn't be surpassed through training alone.

He'd created numerical advantages that would be extremely difficult to overcome through normal means or without Ren's big participation.

Roran himself was finally defeated in his next confrontation after four consecutive battles had depleted his beast's seemingly endless stamina. Team Five's seventh member managed to wear it down from a distance after it had already spent so much energy.

The mighty beast fell suffocated by the accumulated damage it couldn't heal fast enough while exhausted.

Score: 4-6

But the damage was done to Team Five's chances to avoid using Ren. Roran had eliminated four fighters while Team Twelve still had six fresh members remaining.

The next turn was victory for Team Twelve as their fresh Silver 2 beast overwhelmed Team Five's tired Silver 1.

Score: 4-7

Then Team Five managed a win through a lucky favorable matchup.

Score: 5-7

In the following turn, another Team Five member lost against a superior opponent.

Score: 5-8

Team Five's ace entered… their Silver 2 beast that had been held in reserve, but it wasn't sufficient against Team Twelve's numbers.

Score: 7-9

Despite their maximum efforts from team members who'd given everything they had, Ren would still have to enter at the end.

Team Twelve's leader had chosen one of his Silver 2 beasts for this position.

Still fresh, well-rested, one of their best remaining options that seemed to put the best they had in the early placements.

Ren walked toward the arena while everyone held their breath in anticipation. Nobody dared giving him advice or suggestions, understanding that he operated on a different level than they could comprehend.

Team Twelve still had three fighters with beasts capable of combat, each one representing an obstacle between Ren and victory.

To win, Ren needed to defeat all three consecutively without rest, without opportunity for recovery between battles. Continuous combat that would make some nobles happy before and test the stamina limits even for beasts with deep reserves.

It was a situation that would have been impossible for most students facing opponents of equal or higher rank. The stamina drain alone from sustained combat would cripple even powerful beasts before the third consecutive fight.

But Ren walked toward the arena with the same tranquil expression he'd maintained all day, showing no concern about the disadvantageous numbers.

And for the first time in the competition, he manifested his mantis at his side, but for just a moment, visible only briefly before full camouflage engaged.

The Bronze 2 beast that few truly knew because of how difficult it was to observe if you didn't have mana-enhanced vision. Slender and lethal with blade-arms that gleamed faintly under sunlight, deceptively delicate appearance hiding capabilities most people couldn't comprehend.

The practice field went completely silent as realization spread through observers.

Because everyone knew what was coming even if they'd never witnessed it personally.

All had heard the stories.

About Ren Patinder's shenanigans.

Very few had actually witnessed the invisible mantis of Ren Patinder in serious combat.

That was about to change.

The Silver 2 beast facing it was a fire element, large and aggressive, clearly chosen to counter what they assumed would be Ren's strategy.

But they didn't understand what they were actually facing.

Didn't comprehend that rank comparisons became meaningless when fundamental rules of combat were rewritten through fusion mechanics nobody else possessed.

The mantis waited, utterly still for her tamer's command.

And Ren gave it with a single word that made his opponent's confident expression falter.

"Begin."

The first opponent Team Twelve had sent against Ren was a Fire Bear at Silver 2 rank that radiated heat even standing still.

It wasn't the evolved version it would reach at Gold rank… the Pyroplastic Shell Bear with natural armor hard as stone that made it nearly invulnerable. But it was already a robust beast, massive in size, with fur that constantly smoked and eyes that glowed with internal heat suggesting not a mana but a volcanic core.

The bear's tamer smiled with confidence while his beast stepped onto the arena floor. The ground beneath its paws heated instantly, leaving scorched marks in stone that should have been resistant to casual burning.

"I don't need to see it to burn your tiny beast," he declared toward Ren with a mocking tone focused on the size difference that suggested low cultivation rank... Almost all beasts grew in size with rank advancement, especially those oriented toward battle. "Fire will fill the entire marked space. There's nowhere to hide for your insect."

It was a valid strategy that acknowledged the mantis's invisibility rather than ignoring it. The bear could create area-of-effect fire explosions covering the entire arena. And with its tank like body nature, it could absorb counterattacks while maintaining constant pressure that would eventually overwhelm any defense.

Against an invisible opponent you couldn't track visually, eliminating the spaces where it could hide was an intelligent tactic that forced confrontation.

"Begin."

The bear roared with a sound that shook the air itself. Fire exploded from its body in an expansive wave that filled half the arena with bright orange flames that distorted vision through the heat shimmer.

The mantis remained disappeared in invisibility that made tracking impossible for normal observers.

But the heat was an inescapable reality. The air itself burned with a temperature that would scorch lungs. Any creature trapped in that zone would be charred in seconds, invisibility providing no protection against such an environmental hazard.

The bear's tamer waited expectantly to hear a shriek of pain, the crackling sound of chitin burning under sustained heat that nothing Bronze-rank could resist.

Instead...

The fire extinguished itself.

Not gradually... Instantaneously like a switch being flipped.

As if someone had dumped the ocean onto the flames.

Water materialized in the air from nothing, droplets condensing despite the intense heat in defiance of normal non magic physics. Then they grew at an accelerated rate, forming a current like a whirlpool that crashed against the bear's flames and extinguished them completely before they could spread further.

The bear blinked in confusion, an instinctive response to the unexpected development. It tried generating more fire with more effort.

But more water appeared with perfect timing...

Neutralizing each flare before it could expand beyond initial ignition, a counter that made the offensive capability worthless.

"What...?" the bear's tamer murmured while observing how his most reliable attack was being completely nullified without apparent effort.

'Elemental counter,' the audience recognized collectively. 'The mantis can use the water element.'

It was a revelation but not a complete surprise to those who'd been paying attention. Everyone knew Ren's beasts had multi-elemental capabilities that defied normal restrictions. But seeing the control displayed with such efficiency in a beast so underdeveloped and physically "small"...

That was different from hearing about it secondhand.

Because the mantis wasn't simply throwing water randomly hoping to hit flames. It was manifesting exactly the quantity necessary to neutralize the bear's fire without wasting mana on excess.

The bear's tamer changed strategy quickly, adapting to a reality that his primary weapon had been rendered useless.

"It's fine," he murmured to his beast with forced confidence. "Use your physical advantage. Wait for a close-quarters attack. When she approaches to strike, counterattack immediately."

It was a plan that sounded reasonable in his head given the circumstances. The bear was a massive tank with an overwhelming size advantage. Even if the mantis was fast and invisible, eventually she had to attack directly to secure victory. And when she did, when she made physical contact with the bear…

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