Arthur stood at the center of the arena, that single stubborn cowlick holding firm against the currents of the sword domain, like an indestructible divine blade.
"What kind of domain is this?!" Yu Henglong's expression shifted drastically. He could clearly feel that the spreading sword pressure had not only driven back his lightning, but sent a sharp stab of pain through his mind.
There was a will within this domain, and it was targeting his Spiritual Power directly.
And Spiritual Power happened to be his weakest point.
The momentum of the Shrek students also ground to a halt. The tall, lean boy had barely finished condensing his wind blades when the domain's invisible sword energy tore them apart. He let out a muffled grunt, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.
Ningxin's Seven Treasure Glazed Pagoda dimmed by several degrees. As a support-type spirit master, she had positioned herself at the very back, yet the domain blanketed the entire arena and she had nowhere to hide.
Ye Xinglan stood frozen in place, the Star God Sword in her trembling hand humming with a resonant cry.
"He uses a sword too?"
"Wait, you can even use a sword like this?"
Yu Henglong and the others were all busy adjusting their spirit power, caught completely off guard by the domain.
Only Ye Xinglan sensed something was wrong. The true killing intent was coming from above.
She tilted her head back and stared, wide-eyed, at the sky full of sword energy.
It filled the heavens like ink-black meteors, weaving into a dense net high above the arena.
Every strand carried a bone-chilling sharpness, trembling faintly with Arthur's every breath, humming with a sound like the opening notes of a death song.
Wu Changkong, watching from the sidelines, was equally stunned. This sword domain felt different from the first time he had crossed blades with Arthur.
This time, he could sense sword intent within it.
Unlike his own Skyfrost Sword intent, Arthur's was something else entirely, something perfectly pure, stripped of everything else, with nothing mixed in.
Just sword intent, and nothing more.
"Ah, I see." Wu Changkong exhaled in quiet realization. He finally understood why someone with Arthur's talent had once complained that grasping sword intent felt like taking one step forward and two steps back, why Arthur had always said sword intent felt too abstract to pin down.
Because Arthur was walking a path that no one else had walked before.
Strip away every attribute, every extraneous thought, and leave only the bare essence of the sword itself.
That kind of purity was far more aggressive than his own Skyfrost Sword intent. It was like the sharpest blade imaginable, carrying no unnecessary embellishment, capable of cutting through any obstacle the world could place in its way.
"Such pure sword intent." Wu Changkong murmured, his fingertips unconsciously sliding along the Skyfrost Sword that had appeared in his hand without him noticing.
A flicker of admiration and anticipation passed through his eyes.
"A sword-type domain..."
Ye Xinglan gripped the Star God Sword tightly, her knuckles white from the pressure.
She had devoted herself to the way of the sword since childhood and believed her understanding of it surpassed anyone her age. But what she had just witnessed shattered that belief entirely.
The sword could be used like this? No techniques, no precise aiming, just the domain unfurling outward, flooding heaven and earth with the will of the sword itself. It was as though even the air had been turned into the sharpest of blades.
The Star God Sword trembled violently in her grip, its light fading by more than half, because she was afraid.
"Holy—!"
A startled curse, and the next second the sword domain vanished as Arthur hastily reeled it back in. Even he hadn't expected the domain to hit this hard after comprehending sword intent.
He had only meant to scatter the lightning and free the Eastsea Academy students from their bindings.
He nearly wiped out the entire Shrek team instead.
Pull it back, pull it back.
The Holy Spirit Cult doesn't exactly allow people this overpowered to walk around openly.
He glanced sideways at his Eastsea Academy teammates, who were now staring at him with wide, horrified eyes.
"What are you all looking at me for? Get moving!"
"R-right! Yes!" The Eastsea Academy captain was the first to snap out of it. No wonder the organizers had insisted on having Arthur participate. He was a walking cheat code!
Some substitute player, he thought. This was the organizers just handing them a god-tier carry.
The captain turned to look at the Shrek team across the arena, all of them visibly rattled, and slapped his thigh. "Move! Charge!"
The chance to shatter the Shrek myth was right in front of them. He had to ask himself: would an opportunity like this ever come again in his lifetime?
"Go, go, go!"
The rest of the team snapped awake at once. Every bit of frustration from being restrained by the lightning earlier came boiling to the surface, and they pushed their spirit power to its absolute limit.
A four-ring power-attack spirit master threw a punch that sent a howling gust of wind rocketing straight toward Yu Henglong.
The support spirit master's amplifying light flared up right on cue, landing on each of her teammates and sharpening their momentum further.
The Shrek students hadn't yet recovered from the crushing weight of that sword intent. The domain had only lasted a few breaths, but a sword domain reinforced with sword intent was something even Wu Changkong would treat with serious caution, let alone them.
Yu Henglong's face had gone pale, the blow to his Spiritual Power still hadn't faded, and his thoughts felt sluggish and hazy.
The tall, lean boy pressed a hand to his chest, still aching from the invisible sword energy that had slammed into his innards, and found himself suddenly unable to hold back the Eastsea Academy counterattack.
"Hold them off!" Yu Henglong roared, forcing himself to focus, trying to gather his lightning into a defensive wall.
The weakness of fighting without a spirit beast became apparent right then. If a spirit beast had been present, it could have triggered a spirit skill even through a clouded mind.
Instead, the lightning that Yu Henglong forced together with sheer willpower was shattered by a single punch from an Eastsea Academy student.
Ningxin's Seven Treasure Glazed Pagoda had barely managed to flicker back to life when an agility-attack spirit master from Eastsea Academy was already on top of her, leaving her scrambling to dodge.
The battle tilted immediately and completely.
Ye Xinglan sat slumped on the ground, her eyes vacant and hollow. The domain had taken her will to fight with it when it left.
Xu Li rushed over in a panic, shaking her by the shoulder, voice tight with anxiety. "Xinglan? Xinglan!"
But Ye Xinglan remained glassy-eyed, as though her soul had been yanked right out of her.
The image kept looping in her mind: that sky full of sword energy, that sword intent so pure it stole the breath from her lungs. It had crashed into her like a hammer and smashed apart years of pride and certainty about what it meant to walk the path of the sword.
The Star God Sword slipped from her fingers and struck the ground with a dull, resonant hum, as though mourning its master's helplessness.
"Well, well, well. Look who it is."
"Isn't it Her Highness Glory herself?"
Arthur walked over, a practiced expert at getting under people's skin. He pitched his voice in an exaggerated, singsong lilt. "The great and undefeatable Shrek~"
That finally drew a reaction from Ye Xinglan. She raised her head and looked at Arthur's hands.
They were empty.
"Your spirit soul is also a sword, isn't it?" Her voice came out rough and dry.
Years of immersion in the sword had given her senses that went beyond the ordinary. She could feel it: Arthur was holding a sword in his hand right now. An invisible sword.
"Can I see your sword?"
Her response caught Arthur completely off guard.
No, no, no. This is all wrong.
She should be furious by now. She should be so worked up she can barely stand still. She should be yelling at the top of her lungs!
That's not what a defeated final boss is supposed to look like!
What is this resigned, soulless expression? Where's the drama? Where are the tears?
You could at least cry a little. Just a few drops would do.
This is NOT what I was here to see.
"What is that look on your face?" Arthur decided the best approach was to provoke her out of it. "What kind of eyes are those?"
"And what is with that expression of yours!"
"Cry about it! Throw a fit! If you won't accept it, come hit me!" Arthur furrowed his brow and cranked up his volume deliberately, even the stubborn cowlick perking up in offended indignation.
"Why are you sitting there looking half-dead? Is that any way to act? Can you beat me or not?!"
Arthur went in harder. "Whatever happened to that fire you had earlier when you were arguing with me? You've dragged Shrek's entire reputation through the mud!"
Then something made him stop.
He turned around, and saw the entire Eastsea Academy team flat on the ground.
Every last Shrek student who had still been standing was still standing, and they were all looking straight at him.
Arthur couldn't hold it together.
Eastsea Academy. You are absolutely hopeless. Six against five, and you still couldn't close it out, against opponents running on fumes no less.
Do you even know how to play this game?
A girl like Ye Xinglan exists to be thoroughly, devastatingly put in her place.