"All-out battle, no rules, until one side is entirely incapacitated or concedes," Ya Li announced.
The second-year students were all holding their breath, ready to unleash everything they had.
Standing at the very front, Yuanen Yehui wore a grave expression, her eyes locked unblinkingly on Arthur.
On the third-year side, Mo Yu and Li Qiankun watched helplessly as Qian Wu, having already prepared himself, threw on his Battle Armor the instant the match was announced.
"Is that really necessary? There's so many of us, and you're putting on armor?"
"No, you don't understand." Qian Wu's expression was grim. "I'd advise you two to get ready to suit up immediately as well."
On the first-year side, Na'er was warming up with enthusiastic little grunts, her target already crystal clear in her mind.
Mu Xi shivered involuntarily. A terrible premonition washed over her, as if something horrifying had just set its sights on her.
"You lot just focus on fighting the second-years. I'll handle the third-years myself." Arthur stretched lazily. "Have fun."
"Begin!"
The moment Ya Li's voice fell.
The second-year camp surged forward like a flood that had been building for ages!
Dozens of streaks of soul power light intertwined, soul skills bursting open in midair. Fireballs, ice blades, and wind blades rained down toward the first-year camp in an overwhelming torrent.
Yuanen Yehui led the charge, her soul power condensing into a massive fist, unstoppable, each step making the arena floor tremble faintly.
In that instant, a figure crossed past her, streaking straight toward the rear of the second-year camp.
Yuanen Yehui startled, spinning around at once to try to stop her, but couldn't keep up at all.
That figure was so fast it left only afterimages: it was Na'er, fully warmed up!
Her silver hair snapped and crackled in the wind she generated, and the corners of her mouth curved into an excited grin.
"Target locked on."
Her clear voice cut through the din of battle, aimed straight at the golden-haired girl cowering at the very back of the second-year formation.
At the same moment, Mu Xi, who had been slacking off at the edges of the fight, felt that ominous premonition suddenly spike!
She whipped her head around and saw Na'er barreling straight toward her. Every second-year student caught between them was sent flying without exception.
Fortune favors the bold, apparently not this time.
"Mu Xi!" Na'er's voice was sickeningly sweet, even as her feet drove forward without a shred of mercy.
"Don't be scared, it'll be over in an instant!"
Mu Xi was scared half out of her wits. "Help! I concede!"
Up on the platform, Ya Li gave a light wave of her hand.
In an instant, Mu Xi and the other incapacitated students who'd been sent flying were teleported off the stage.
Na'er's strike met empty air, her silver-blue figure spinning in place.
"Tch, no fun."
She watched Mu Xi vanish from the stage.
That the hit hadn't landed cleanly left a flicker of regret on Na'er's face.
A moment later, she stomped her foot down, and a golden dragon shot up from the ground!
"Roar!"
The dragon's head reared up with a deafening bellow, the shockwave sending the surrounding second-years tumbling through the air, while the dragon's overwhelming presence pinned down the entire arena!
"Perfect opening!"
Nearly every first-year student had experienced this dragon roar before, and knew exactly how rough things were about to get for the second-years right now.
"Charge!" The first-years seized this once-in-a-lifetime opening, their soul power erupting in full force!
They surged forward as one!
Some summoned pieces of Battle Armor, charging in at the front lines.
Others hurled soul skills from the rear, fireballs and lightning arcs weaving into a net that sealed off any avenue of escape.
And others, relying on nimble footwork, circled around to the enemy's rear, specifically hunting down students with weaker soul power, harvesting the battlefield.
The first and second years were locked in a fierce clash.
The third-years, however, hadn't joined in.
Because a golden silhouette stood blocking their path.
"Everyone, no passage beyond this point," Arthur said, gripping Excalibur, holding the line alone against them all.
The Instant-Light Meteor, a technique originally pioneered by Agravaine, had been honed by Arthur to its absolute peak.
Even a single point of strength could be magnified into an entire line of force.
The Red Dragon furnace core within him pulsed steadily.
An endless stream of crimson-gold soul power poured into the holy sword, converted into pure light that flowed back to nourish his own body.
At this moment, Arthur's form had gone hazy, as though he were composed entirely of golden light.
Every faint tremor of the holy radiance along Excalibur's blade sent the air humming.
He stood before the third-year camp, his silhouette blurred like light itself, and yet as immovable as a towering mountain.
The pulse of the Red Dragon furnace core resonated with the holy sword, forming a rhythm that set nerves on edge.
Across from him, Qian Wu had already donned his Battle Armor, yet cold sweat still ran freely down his face as he stared fixedly at Arthur, whose special effects were cranked to the absolute maximum.
This, this couldn't be right.
He could hardly believe that three years had passed since that battle back then.
He remembered how terrifyingly strong Arthur had already been at the time.
And now, this presence radiating off him was more than just a notch stronger than back then, it felt like an entirely different dimension of power!
Qian Wu's throat bobbed violently as he frantically pushed his Battle Armor's output to its limit.
"Hmph, quit putting on airs!" Li Qiankun, unable to hold back any longer, charged forward first.
Qian Wu, noticing that Li Qiankun hadn't even put on his Battle Armor, stared in shock.
"Don't!"
Qian Wu tried to stop him.
He himself didn't dare charge in even with his armor running at full power to the point of smoking, so how could Li Qiankun possibly dare go in with nothing?
"Charging in first, credit for the courage."
Li Qiankun had barely taken three steps forward when the golden silhouette suddenly loomed massive before his eyes. Arthur's movement had exceeded the limits of visual perception.
"Boom!"
Only then, belatedly, did the thunderous crack of displaced air from Arthur's movement finally arrive.
He hadn't even seen Arthur move clearly, only a blinding flash of golden light, forcing his eyes shut on reflex.
After a moment of terrified waiting, the attack he'd braced for never came.
Li Qiankun slowly opened his eyes.
There, Arthur had raised the holy sword one-handed, its tip pointed directly between his brows, almost touching the skin.
"Don't be afraid," Arthur said, his voice carrying an odd sense of reassurance. "Go put your armor on. Fight with everything you've got."
"I won't interrupt you."
Li Qiankun stood frozen in place, the warm holy light radiating from the sword tip at his brow mixing with its bone-chilling edge, sending every hair on his body standing on end.
The next instant, he hastily summoned his Battle Armor.
Pieces of armor flew out from his soul storage device one after another, locking into place against his body.
"Huh, you're actually putting it on?"
Arthur sheathed his sword.
Then he pivoted, stepped, and threw a side kick.
"Crack!"
Arthur's kick, trailing an afterimage of crimson-gold soul power, landed precisely on the chest plate of the Battle Armor Li Qiankun had just finished assembling.
What looked like a casual kick carried within it the speed of Instant-Light and the explosive force of the Red Dragon.
Holy light spread along the armor's seams, instantly shattering through the armor's defensive buffer layer.
Li Qiankun felt a massive force crash into him like a tidal wave, the Battle Armor's energy core shutting down on the spot. He was sent skidding across the arena for several meters, carving a deep gouge into the platform.
He struggled to get back up, but in the end just collapsed where he lay, and was teleported off the stage.
"I knew it!" Qian Wu wore an expression of I-told-you-so. Of course Arthur would never give anyone a chance to suit up first!
Not that he needed personal experience to know this. Just from the combat footage of Arthur that had circulated after the Skysea Alliance tournament, he'd watched it well over a hundred times.
Arthur's fighting style simply never gave opponents an opening.
Mo Yu, who had also intended to charge in but had been half a step slower than Li Qiankun, was scared nearly to tears.
Face pale with terror, he scrambled to equip his Battle Armor, hands frantically flinging out armor pieces one after another.
Hurry, hurry, hurry.