"Gravity Blade; Fierce Tiger."
Issho's voice rang out once more, calm and steady in the deathly silent swamp.
"Meteor."
He gently pressed his cane sword downward.
RUMBLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!
The meteor… fell.
Not toward Issho, but toward the area where over two thousand contestants had gathered!
Time seemed to stretch infinitely in that instant.
Every expression froze in place, twisted, despairing, stunned, broken.
And then, BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!
A sound beyond description devoured everything!
A blinding white light swallowed the entire screen!
A terrifying shockwave exploded outward in all directions, uprooting towering trees, launching mud hundreds of meters into the sky, and making the entire swamp ripple like waves!
Even through the screen, the audience at G-5 Plaza felt as if the world itself had shaken!
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"
Screams, cries, chairs overturning, chaos erupted instantly!
Noble ladies panicked and fled.
Gamblers' betting slips scattered through the air like funeral paper offerings.
The white light lasted a full ten seconds before finally fading.
When the image cleared, the center of Swamp Island had completely changed.
A massive crater, over 500 meters wide and dozens of meters deep, had replaced the forest and marsh.
At the bottom lay exposed rock, melted into glass-like surfaces by extreme heat, still smoking.
The crater walls were smooth like mirrors, with signs of melting along the edges.
And those two thousand ferocious contestants… were gone.
No, not gone.
If one looked closely, scattered along the crater walls were charred, smoking human-shaped figures.
Like flattened mosquitoes slapped against a wall, they were embedded in bizarre poses, most unconscious, a few barely groaning.
At the very center of the crater, Issho still stood there, leaning on his cane sword, robes fluttering.
He even had the leisure to bend down and pick something up,
One, two, three…
Ten [Renzo Gold Tokens].
Shaken loose from their hiding places by the impact, they had scattered at his feet.
With their previous holders eliminated, they had become ownerless again, gleaming temptingly.
Issho picked them up one by one and tucked them into his robe.
Then he raised his head, toward the Den Den Mushi camera floating above.
Facing it, he showed a simple, apologetic smile.
"Oh dear… it seems… I may have overdone it a little."
"I hope I haven't caused Admiral Renzo too much trouble."
With that, he began walking slowly out of the crater.
Step by step.
Wherever he passed, the "survivors" embedded in the walls twisted their heads away with their last strength, not daring to meet his gaze.
It was reverence born from the soul.
No, fear.
…
G-5 Live Plaza
Silence.
A full minute of silence.
Then, "WHOOOOOOA!!!"
An explosion of noise erupted.
"He… he won?! That blind guy… alone… took down two thousand people?!"
"That was a meteor, right?! He actually summoned a meteor?!"
"A monster! That's a real monster!!!"
"My ticket! My ticket's gone! I bet 500,000 on the wolf pack!!"
"HAHAHAHA! I WON! ISSHO SOLO WIN! 500 TO 1! I'M RICH!!!"
"Medical team! Send medical teams! Swamp Island needs rescue! A LOT of rescue!!"
Screams, laughter, rage, sobbing, the plaza was on the verge of exploding.
On the commentary stage, Rehn shouted, "L-ladies and gentlemen! A miracle, no! A divine act! Zone Six, Swamp Island's match… has ended early!"
"Contestant Issho! With a single move, summoning a meteor from the heavens, he cleared out 2,017 contestants and claimed all ten Gold Tokens! Directly advancing to the finals!"
"Let's cheer for this… uh… 'Calamity Summoner'!!!"
But this time, the cheers were sparse.
Most people were still frozen in shock.
In the VIP room, the noble ladies were pale.
The girl in the pink dress who had worried for Issho earlier was now being revived with smelling salts.
"T-that… was that even human…?"
…
At the highest seat, the "Throne of God", Renzo slowly set down his cola.
He stared at the purple figure on screen walking out of the crater, silent for three seconds.
Then he turned to Rehn.
"Rehn."
"Y-Yes, sir!" Rehn snapped to attention.
"Make a note."
Renzo pointed at the screen.
"After the tournament, send that blind man… an invoice."
"An invoice?" Rehn blinked.
"Mm." Renzo nodded seriously. "Meteor impact. Caused geological instability to Swamp Island. Estimated repair cost… ten billion Beli."
"Deduct it from his prize money."
"…Sir, his prize might not be enough."
"Then put him on installments."
Renzo lay back down, pulling his eye mask over his face.
"Have him work it off."
"He's strong. Good for manual labor."
"…"
Looking at the harmless, noodle-loving blind man on screen… then at Renzo's satisfied expression, Rehn suddenly felt… Issho's future at G-5 might not be very easy.
…
At the same time, contestants in the other nine zones received a notification via their wrist communicators:
"Zone Six has ended early. All ten Gold Tokens obtained by Issho."
For a moment,
Silence fell across all battlefields.
Then, even more violent chaos erupted.
Because everyone understood, there were fewer slots left now.
If they didn't fight with everything they had, they'd lose their chance entirely.
"CHARGE!!!"
The flames of battle burned even fiercer across the remaining islands.
…
As for the man who caused it all, Issho was now sitting aboard a small transport ship sent to retrieve him.
He held a steaming bowl of ramen, happily slurping.
"Ahh… I feel alive again."
He sighed in satisfaction.
"After some exercise… nothing beats a bowl of noodles."
As for the ten priceless Gold Tokens?
He casually tossed them beside him on the deck like scrap metal.
The G-5 soldiers aboard stared at him, this man who had just summoned a meteor…
Now eating noodles like a friendly neighborhood uncle.
Their expressions were complicated, awed, yet bewildered.
This world truly had all kinds of monsters.
And G-5… seemed especially good at attracting them.
The ship slowly sailed away from the still-smoking swamp island, heading back toward G-5 base.
The setting sun painted the ocean gold.
Issho finished his last bite, even drinking the broth clean.
He set down the bowl, wiped his mouth, and "looked" toward the sunset.
"Admiral Renzo…" he murmured thoughtfully.
"This tournament of yours… truly gathers hidden dragons and crouching tigers."
"Still…"
He touched the ten tokens in his robe.
"For the sake of eating, sleeping, and gambling in peace…"
"Stretching a bit… isn't so bad."
"After all… the ramen here is quite good."
He smiled simply, leaned against the railing, and soon fell asleep, snoring softly.
Leaving the entire ship's crew staring at each other in silence.
'This man… really had nerves of steel.'