In the depths of a swamp, a meeting was taking place between three individuals. Each one was at least three meters tall, and they all radiated a heart-thrumming aura. It felt like the movement of their bodies alone carried enough strength to make space tremble.

One had a raging golden mane that connected his hair and his facial hair. His canines were sharp, and his shoulders were practically boulders.

The second looked no different from a normal human... if one discounted the fact that she was truly a goddess amongst women. Her hair flowed a gorgeous white, the very same as her hair and the fluffy tail to her back, and most importantly... the same as the pair of angelic wings that graced her slender hips.

The third, however, was one the two seemed to be stepping on eggshells around. He radiated a dark and ominous aura. Sometimes it seemed to crackle like black lightning, at other times it gained a hint of a dark violet that looked like chaos incarnate, and at other times, these energies would become like wisps of black smoke, tendrils of darkness rising out from an eerie abyss.

The man had sharp, yellow slit eyes that shimmered like gems, claw-like hands, and his body was a dense smattering of black scales that only dispersed slightly to allow one a good look at his face... a face that was cold, detached, and carrying a creature of the dark kind of handsomeness that could capture the heart of women.

These three could be considered the strongest of the Beastman Dimensional Verse's younger generation, at least it seemed that way on purpose. Two of them knew quite well that even if that title was extended to the older generation, at least one of them would still be on that list.

"... There will be billions of participants. One of the advantages we should have with a seed is a territorial one. This surrounding region is covered by our people, and anyone not of us can easily be weeded out. Likewise, all the resources can be controlled by us."

The angel-winged woman, known as Alpha Angelica by her people, spoke quickly. However, the response she received was both worth a sigh and expected by her.

"No."

The voice was impossibly deep and made one feel as though their very bones were vibrating.

The one who spoke was none other than the strongest of them, but this scaled young man had a name that one would never expect him to carry...

Alpha Clown.

Neither of the two present knew why he had this name, nor did they dare to ask or even use it. Despite him having introduced himself as Alpha Clown, they simply called him Alpha.

What a joke. Which of them would dare to do so? Anyone who had dared to refer to him as such had died a horrible death. Including those of the older generation.

"This is not a territorial war; this is a fight for survival. The existence of a seed is nothing more than a distraction. To them, the seeds are already among the few that they have chosen. Even if I do nothing, so long as I defend my life, my rewards will be just the same.

"You two have spent so many years toiling in the Beastman Dimensional Verse; can you not see a cage when it's placed right before you?"

Alpha Clown swept a gaze between the two, causing them to shudder.

He was right. The collars had already been placed on their necks, but they were trying to obediently play the game.

Seeded Participants were spawned with billions of protectors, out of the way another of their power level, and given free rein over a "territory" to make do with as they please.

Even if they didn't get kills, they would be ranked at the top, and all they really had to do was protect their own lives, something that would be impossibly easy given how many of their own kind had been placed around them.

But why? If they always planned on opening a backdoor for them, why not just assure them in?

It was a show of power.

Who outside of the Beastmen could understand such a thing better? They didn't have clans; they didn't really have bloodlines; they started as humans and they carved out their own paths for themselves.

No two beastmen looked exactly alike because from the very beginning, they had forged everything with their own two hands.

Any beastman that stood here today had thousands of lives bloodying their palms and an understanding of what it meant to climb out from the very bottom.

One shouldn't mistake the chains that bound Betas as providing security. As much as it was power, it was a reminder that should they fall behind, they would one day be the ones bound in chains instead.

And now, these gods had descended, making them realize that all along, they had been the Betas of a much larger game.

"Then what do you want to do, Alpha?" Alpha Gold spoke for the first time.

Silence fell before a bloody grin spread across Alpha Clown's face. The smile was so wide and jagged that it twisted his handsome face, making him look like much more of a nightmare creature than a man.

"The same thing we've always done. When an animal is cornered, they lash out. When a beast is subdued, chained and controlled, it bides its time, it lowers its head, and then when its enemy is within striking distance...

"It bites."

...

Leonel stood around a pile of corpses. The deeper he moved into this territory, the more he felt just how truly ferocious these beastmen were.

He didn't think that it was a matter of bloodline, and it obviously wasn't about race either as he was fairly certain that these people were just humans that had experimented on themselves with beast blood.

'This will be... troublesome.'

Leonel looked up from the corpses, a hint of fatigue on his brows.

His eyes landed on an inconspicuous cave, but the symbol of a glaive hovered above it. It seemed that he couldn't enter with the Glaive Domain Ring.

Or could he?