28: impossible

Just as the two were reeling in shock, almost unable to believe what they were seeing, a voice as cold as a northern gale rang out without warning from the core of the shadows where they were hiding:

“Watched for so long, and this is all you’ve got?”

Blood Eye and Umbra froze, turning around in horror! Beneath that conspicuous white hair, Severe Winter stood behind them like a ghost, his expression indifferent as if looking at two ants.

“You... when?!” Blood Eye was both shocked and enraged, the dark energy around him instinctively boiling and surging as he attempted to counterattack.

However, faster than his energy eruption was a bone-chilling cold.

Severe Winter didn't even move an inch, simply lifting a fingertip casually. A highly condensed ice-blue ray, seemingly capable of freezing the Soul, struck first, hitting the energy core Blood Eye had just gathered with pinpoint accuracy.

“Sizzle—!”

Like a red-hot iron plunged into eternal ice, the boiling dark energy around Blood Eye's body dissolved and dissipated at a visible speed! He let out a muffled groan, his face turning pale instantly as he stumbled back several steps, disbelief and horror appearing in his eyes for the first time.

“Whatever trump cards you have left, bring them all out at once.” Wang Pang crossed his arms, which were comparable to battering rams, his voice booming like a bell and his contempt unconcealed. “We're in a hurry.”

This completely ignited the fury and humiliation of the two bishops. Umbra's figure flickered violently, transforming into dozens of Shadow Clones that were hard to distinguish from reality, pouncing from all directions toward Lu Guangming, who seemed the most relaxed! Every clone was entwined with toxic shadows that could erode the mind and corrupt the body.

“Hey, hey, don't look for me to draw aggro!” Lu Guangming spread his hands helplessly, appearing quite innocent.

“Seeking death!” Severe Winter's angry shout exploded like thunder.

Almost at the same moment Umbra moved, the entire Combat Class One began to operate like a precision machine! Chen Long's eyes glowed with purple intent as he fully activated Aura Control, his invisible force field instantly locking onto the energy trajectories of all Shadow Clones; Zhai Yingying's Telekinesis erupted, forming an invisible barrier that isolated the entire battlefield from the outside world.

“Scum, die!” Shi Lie roared and charged forward, his blazing white molten iron fist striking out fiercely, the violent heat wave instantly vaporizing three clones!

“Leave the left side to me.” Lin Yuqing's figure was so fast it was merely a blur; everywhere she passed, the Shadow Clones dissipated like snow under sunlight.

The other students displayed their own strengths, with blade light, fist shadows, and Superpower storms weaving into a net. The clone tactics Umbra had painstakingly created were as fragile as a child's game before this absolute strength and coordination, torn to pieces with ease.

“Boring.” Lu Guangming, positioned at the center of the storm, didn't even bother to participate, merely snapping his fingers nonchalantly.

“Buzz—!”

A blindingly bright light suddenly erupted in the center of the battlefield, like a miniature sun descending! Umbra's true body let out a shrill scream as he was forced out of the shadow dimension, his body emitting green smoke from being purified, looking utterly wretched.

“You... you've gone too far!” Witnessing his companion's tragic state, the last sliver of reason in Blood Eye's eyes was replaced by madness. He struggled to lift his hands as a pitch-black energy sphere, constantly spinning and devouring all surrounding light, rapidly condensed in his palms. The destructive fluctuations within it caused the rapidly approaching Instructor Lin's expression to change drastically!

“Return to nothingness! Return to the Void Annihilation!” Blood Eye acted as if crazed, hurling this terrifying sphere—capable of wiping half the practical combat zone off the map—viciously toward the area where the students were most densely packed!

Facing this world-destroying blow, Chen Long simply raised his right hand calmly, fingers slightly spread.

Aura Control: Void Freeze!

The wildly roaring dark sphere, less than a foot from Chen Long's palm, seemed to hit an invisible wall of absolute rules. Its speed plummeted until it was completely frozen, like a mosquito in amber. The destructive energy within, capable of tearing everything apart, was held firmly by an invisible giant hand, unable to leak even the slightest bit.

“Commendable courage,” Chen Long commented expressionlessly, then lightly closed his fingers.

“Pop.”

A soft sound, like a bubble bursting. The frozen dark sphere shattered accordingly, turning into the purest original energy particles and dissipating silently into the air as if it had never existed.

“He... bare-handed... crushed my annihilation bomb?!” Blood Eye's eyeballs almost popped out of his sockets, his worldview completely collapsing.

At this moment, the two bishops finally realized clearly that they were not facing some academy geniuses, but a group of... monsters in human skin!

“Finished having your fun?” Shi Lie cracked his neck, a battle intent burning in his molten-like pupils. “Now, it’s our turn.”

The scene that followed was less of a battle and more of a one-sided, brutal display and crushing of martial force.

Zhao Qiang's explosive punch force was like a heavy hammer, repeatedly striking the shadow shield Umbra hastily condensed; Wu Yan's rock fists and Feng Xiao's bone blades cut across from bizarre angles; Lin Yuqing became a phantom of death, every flash adding a bone-deep wound to Umbra; Chu Feng's wind blades, Han Bing's ice spikes, Liu Ying's lethal backstab... the Agility-type students treated him like a perfect moving target.

On the other side, Blood Eye was even more miserable. Shi Lie's high-temperature erosion made it impossible for him to effectively condense dark energy; Zhai Yingying's Telekinesis repeatedly lifted and slammed him like a broken doll; White Frost's Frost Nova made his every step difficult; Shen Mo's Ink Fog deprived him of sight; Jin Xin's Flash Spell stung his Soul; Zhou Lei's sonic waves vibrated his brain.

The Sensing-type students elevated support to the level of art. Ro Xing's Starlight Mark left him with nowhere to hide; Lu Fan's Weakness Strike guided every attack to land on energy nodes; Kong Xiang's Energy Analysis provided real-time reports on his defensive weaknesses; Wang Anyu's Vague Premonition blocked all his possible escape routes in advance.

Physique-type powerhouses like Wang Pang and Li Zhe stood like Bedrock, completely sealing off all escape routes, even finding time to critique the battle.

This was no longer a fight, but a complete, textbook-level hunt and crushing.

In less than thirty seconds.

Umbra and Blood Eye collapsed on the ground like two piles of mud, their bodies charred and broken, covered in wounds of various attributes, with an unknown number of broken bones and their Auras as weak as flickering candles. The dark energy in their bodies was completely dispersed and purified, making even a final self-detonation a luxury beyond reach.

The students of Combat Class One stopped their hands, still wanting more, as complaints rose from all sides:

“Too fragile, I haven't even warmed up yet.”

“I didn't even finish my third combo...”

“These are the Return to the Void Bishops? They don't live up to the name, what a waste of time.”

Lu Guangming slowly walked over to the two dying bishops, crouched down, and asked with a harmless expression and a concerned tone:

“Hey, you two, you can't sleep here.”

“Pfft—!” Hearing this, Blood Eye's anger attacked his heart, and he violently spat out a mouthful of black blood mixed with organ fragments, his head lolling as he completely blacked out. Umbra also rolled his eyes, losing his final consciousness.

The clown's grand entrance ended in a hasty, wretched manner most fitting for their identity.

Instructor Lin looked at the mess before him and the group of students with steady Auras—some even looking dissatisfied. He remained silent for a long time before finally saying with a wry smile to Dean Li, whose face was also twitching beside him:

“Old Li... I'm starting to seriously doubt who exactly are the ones who fought their way out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood...”

Lu Guangming stood up, casually patting non-existent dust from his pant legs, his gaze lazily drifting toward the depths of the night:

“It seems there's no hope for a peaceful sleep tonight.”

He quietly summoned the system panel, looking at the source energy value which had risen to 20 points, suppressing the urge to add points immediately. 'The rats probably aren't just this one wave, and the people from headquarters should be arriving soon. Upgrading now would be too conspicuous...' His mind raced as he turned his attention toward developing other potential functions of the system.