As the light flowed and shifted, her attire changed in an instant!
The originally plain and loose priest robe was swallowed and reconstructed by surging black streams of light.
A capable uniform with a calm black base, large patches of pure white on the front and back, and embellished with blue ribbons and metal accessories appeared on her out of thin air.
A distinctive black beret was perched on her head.
A pair of rimless glasses appeared on her high nose bridge, instantly adding a touch of elegance and intellect to her originally heroic and imposing face.
This was none other than the attire of Pela, the Silvermane Guards Intelligence Officer from "Honkai: Star Rail"!
This outfit looked completely out of place with the blood-pumping atmosphere of a life-and-death struggle on the arena!
Not to mention she was still tightly clutching that pink staff overflowing with girlish charm in her right hand!
A cool sense of power, carrying an air of extreme analysis, flooded into her perception.
["Overtones" triggered! BGM: "Embers" (Honkai: Star Rail - Belobog).]
[Transformation Character: Pela.]
[Obtained extra buff effect: Insight into Weakness (Duration: 30 seconds). During this period, you can keenly discover the weak points in the enemy's defense, and your attacks will ignore 30% of the target's DEF.]
The system prompts flashed by quickly, and Celeste froze entirely.
Her heart was instantly submerged by an overwhelming sense of shame:
"No—!"
"Stop! Now! Immediately! Stop this for me!!"
"I'd rather lose this match fair and square than win through this kind of public execution!!!"
She roared silently in her heart, even feeling the urge to immediately interrupt this damn skill, even if the price was losing the match.
Dressing up as Pela in front of all the teachers and students in the school?
This was ten thousand times more embarrassing than just admitting defeat!
Was the price of victory really social death and one's dignity?!
But that power of "Insight into Weakness" within her body was exceptionally clear.
In her vision, the world had changed.
Xu Bingbing's magic was surging wildly, and those fragments of [Ice Armor] she had shattered were rapidly reorganizing, attempting to reconstruct the defense!
And on that reconstructing Ice Armor, several shimmering energy nodes appeared with absolute clarity.
Those were the most fragile flaws in the armor's magic circulation!
Just as Celeste was so ashamed she almost fainted, her body moved uncontrollably—
Her right index and middle fingers pressed together, making an elegant gesture of pushing up the glasses on her nose.
A calm and intellectual voice clearly came from her mouth:
"Enemy data collection complete. Net-closing mark activated. Next is the pleasant time for a counterattack."
Celeste: "!!!"
Wait! Who told you to speak?! And to say something so chuunibyou?!
She screamed frantically in her heart, wishing she could perform a vanishing act on the spot.
Below the stage, after a second of dead silence, the crowd instantly erupted!
"She... she changed her clothes? What skill is this? Instant transformation?!"
"This look... a civil official wearing glasses? What's the point of suddenly putting on a uniform during a match? This is too bizarre!"
"The music is so hype! But the contrast in style is way too big! And that pink staff with this outfit is practically mental pollution!"
"Sis—! W-what's going on with you?!"
Selene jumped up from her seat in shock, hurriedly rubbing her eyes, thinking she had seen wrong.
In the next second, almost out of instinct, she quickly whipped out her phone, her fingers rapidly tapping the camera interface—
It would be a disservice to their sisterly bond not to record such a once-in-a-lifetime embarrassing moment!
"Wait, wait, wait!" she said while clumsily focusing the camera, unable to stop herself from laughing. "This uniform, these glasses, this beret... Sis, are you cosplaying? On the arena?! My god, I have to film this for my collection!"
In the lens, Celeste was dressed as a clerical worker who was completely out of place on the arena. Her heroic face was currently written with despair and numbness.
Selene suppressed the urge to burst out laughing, her finger steadily holding the record button while her mind was frantically spamming: "I hit the jackpot! This is definitely an embarrassing history I can laugh at for a year! After the exams, I'll have to make her treat me to ice cream for a whole month!"
The opponent, Xu Bingbing, was also stunned by this sudden change.
Her magic channeling for regrouping the armor slowed down by half a beat as she looked at the drastically changed Celeste with suspicion and uncertainty.
This outfit was completely beyond her knowledge, making her subconsciously hesitate for a moment.
Celeste was so ashamed right now her toes were about to curl through her boots.
However, just as she was so mortified she almost gave up resisting, a stronger thought struck her mind like lightning:
"Wait..."
"I've already reached this level of social death—the clothes are changed, the glasses are on, the BGM is playing, the lines are spoken, and even that dead girl Xiyue is taking photos below the stage!"
"If after all this... I still lose..."
"Then won't I become the biggest joke in the entire venue?! Social death plus failure, a double humiliation, buy one get one free?!"
A surge of inexplicable grief, indignation, and the ruthlessness of having nothing left to lose instantly crushed her sense of shame.
"No! Absolutely not!"
"I can't suffer social death for nothing!"
"Since all my dignity is already gone, this victory must be mine! If I can't win even with this armor-piercing ability exchanged for social death, I might as well find a block of tofu and bash my head against it!"
The moment her thoughts cleared, Celeste's gaze suddenly became fierce.
That look seemed to want to turn all her shame and anger into a physical fire to pour onto her opponent.
She gripped the staff tightly, forcing herself to ignore the BGM in her ears and the annoying glasses on her nose—regardless, this sudden "Insight into Weakness" and "Ignore 30% DEF" were exactly the keys to her one-hit victory!
"This social death... can't be for nothing!"
She gritted her teeth and, taking advantage of Xu Bingbing's momentary daze, suddenly exerted force with her feet!
The ground sank slightly, and her figure had already shot out!
The residual power and slowing effect of [Blizzard] were still there, but her charge forcefully tore open an invisible path!
The pink staff turned into an afterimage in her hand, the tip of the staff aimed directly at the brightest energy node on the reconstructing Ice Armor!
This strike condensed all her strength, the essence of the Thousand Rock Spearmanship, and the domineering effect of "Ignore 30% DEF"!
Extremely fast!
Extremely accurate!
"Crack—!"
The crisp sound of shattering was even more piercing than the last time!
That Ice Armor, which had only just regrouped halfway, exploded along with the subsequent magic Xu Bingbing injected the moment the staff tip touched it!
This time, it wasn't just crumbling, but complete annihilation!
"What?!"
Xu Bingbing's pupils trembled violently, her face written with horror.
She could feel that the link between herself and her magic had been forcibly cut off by a tyrannical force!
The explosion of the armor shook her mind, and the continuous channeling of [Blizzard] also instantly collapsed.
Celeste's staff didn't lose its momentum; the body of the staff swept across, accurately hitting Xu Bingbing's wide-open flank!
Bang!
Xu Bingbing was swept flying, falling outside the arena, struggling for a few moments but unable to get up.
The entire venue was in dead silence.
Everyone was dumbfounded by this extremely dramatic reversal.
The referee froze for several seconds before reacting, announcing loudly:
"The winner, Celeste!"
Celeste froze on the spot. The glasses on her face were annoying and awkward, and the fabric of the uniform on her body felt strange and eye-catching.
Countless curious, shocked, and suppressed-laughing gazes were focused on her, making her wish she could immediately dig a hole and crawl in.
"It's over," she wailed in her heart. "Tomorrow's headline will definitely be 'Martial Exam Spectacle! Priest Transforms into Civil Official, Pink Staff Breaks Ice Armor'!"
Just then, the system prompt sounded gloatingly:
[Ding! Created a joy event (dramatic transformation during battle), obtained joy value +188! Please keep up the good work, Host!]
Celeste looked at the four big words "keep up the good work" in her mind, then glanced at the audience below the stage who were rolling with laughter, leaving only a giant sense of despair in her heart:
"Keep up what good work?! Who wants to win matches by transforming! Can this crappy skill please not trigger at a time like this!"
"If I keep this up, I can just debut directly. I've even thought of the group name—'Social Death Damselette Group'!"