78: Chapter 78 Radiant Golden Fire Sea, Burning Heaven and Destroying Earth

"Flashy but meaningless."

These few words, picked up by the holographic ring's microphone, crashed into the surroundings without missing a single syllable. Above the Arena of a hundred thousand people, only this sentence continued to echo.

Zhao Kuang knelt on the scalding alloy floor, his chest heaving violently as large drops of sweat dripped from his chin.

He stared fixedly at Su Chen, who was five meters away.

The other party's clothes weren't even wrinkled, and his breathing pattern hadn't changed at all. Those hands tucked in his pockets seemed to mock Zhao Kuang's two minutes of desperate struggle as nothing more than a clumsy circus act.

After a brief, dead silence, someone in the stands finally couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Pfft..."

A highly discordant snicker came from the front row. Immediately afterward, whispers began to spread like a plague.

"Is this the so-called S-class Genius?"

"Tens of millions in resources poured into him, and he can't even hit someone without psionic energy?"

"He set off fireworks for two minutes, only for the other guy to take a stroll inside with his eyes closed the whole time... This is too much of a clown show."

"Refund! I bet a hundred thousand Star Coins on Zhao Kuang! What kind of match-fixing is this?!"

These discussions weren't loud, but to Zhao Kuang's ears at this moment, they felt like poisoned daggers, stabbing precisely into his eardrums and shredding his heart.

He had been pampered in the clouds since childhood. In his Family, he was the heir adored by everyone; at school, he was the high-and-mighty Genius student. He was used to everyone's awed and flattering gazes.

But today, in front of this F-class trash recognized by the entire school, he had exhausted his psionic energy only to become a massive joke!

"Shut up..."

Zhao Kuang gritted his teeth, a beast-like growl escaping his throat. "All of you, shut up!"

He snapped his head up, his eyes instantly bloodshot, his red-veined eyeballs looking as if they were about to pop out of their sockets. His defense of sanity completely collapsed amidst the surrounding snickers.

"What the hell are you!" Zhao Kuang stared fixedly at Su Chen, pointing a finger at him as he roared, "A piece of trash from the bottom tier dares to mock me?"

Su Chen looked at him quietly, offering no reply.

No sarcasm, no rebuttal. There was only the absolute disregard, as if looking at a stray dog by the roadside.

This disregard was like the straw that broke the camel's back, driving Zhao Kuang completely into madness.

"Dodging? Let's see you dodge now!"

Zhao Kuang swayed as he stood up again. His face was contorted, his features squeezed together from extreme shame and anger. "I want to see how you dodge this sea of fire next!"

In his mind, his father Patriarch Zhao Batian's cold, ultimate command before he went up to the stage suddenly echoed—

"At all costs, activate Overload Mode directly and burn him to ashes for me!"

Yes! Burn him to ashes! As long as he was dead, no one would laugh at him!

Zhao Kuang gritted his teeth and bit the tip of his tongue hard.

"Pfft!"

A large mouthful of dark red essence blood was sprayed directly onto the main Formation core of the Brilliant Gold Battle Armor on his chest.

The moment the blood touched the core Formation, it made a "hissing" sound and boiled, evaporating instantly.

Zhao Kuang slammed his hands together, his fingers interlocking tightly as he roared toward the sky, "Armor System, force unlock the safety lock! Overload Mode, activate!"

"Beep—Warning! Warning!"

A harsh electronic female voice came from inside the armor: "Forcibly activating Overload Mode will cause irreversible damage to the unit and the Psionic Circuits! The user is in mortal danger!"

"Activate!" Zhao Kuang roared, slamming his chest.

"Crack! Crunch!"

Accompanied by the screech of metal, countless tiny cracks splintered across the surface of that S-class Psionic Battle Armor worth fifty million. The energy-gathering Formation inside the armor completely broke through its threshold and began to overload.

Zhao Kuang's already depleted Dantian was forcibly injected with a violent, destructive energy.

"Boom!!!"

An incredibly terrifying dark gold pillar of fire erupted from Zhao Kuang's body, crashing directly into the energy shield at the top of the ring!

The pillar of fire exploded in mid-air like a bursting dam, pouring wildly across the top of the ring in all directions.

"Brilliant Gold Sea of Fire! Die!"

In an instant, the dark gold flames transformed into a massive sea of fire, sweeping through every corner of the ring with unstoppable force!

This was no longer an attack that could be dodged by footwork and anticipation. This was true, full-coverage physical destruction!

Within just a few seconds, the temperature inside the ring soared straight to three thousand degrees!

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

The holographic projection generators hidden around the ring could not withstand the terrifying heat; their red lights flashed wildly as they shrieked alarms one after another before exploding with a bang.

The air inside the ring was instantly burned into a vacuum. Even the light suffered severe distortion and refraction within the sea of fire.

"Quick! Activate the shield's maximum threshold! Hurry!" The military referee outside the ring took several steps back in fright, roaring at the exam staff at the control console. If this sea of fire leaked out, the audience in the front rows would all be turned into roasted meat!

"Whoosh!"

The moment the dark gold waves of fire filled the sky, they completely engulfed Su Chen's figure.

The place where he stood was frantically interwoven and overlapped by flames, burning into a blinding white sphere of light. It was impossible to see what was happening inside.

Under the continuous roasting of this three-thousand-degree heat, the specially made alloy floor of the entire ring finally couldn't hold out.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss..."

The hard alloy plates began to turn red and soften. Immediately after, large sections of the floor melted directly, turning into glowing, boiling lava that flowed slowly across the ring, emitting pungent, toxic smoke.

The Arena of a hundred thousand people fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone stared fixedly at the big screen.

No one spoke, and not even the sound of breathing could be heard. Only the crackling of the burning flames echoed within the venue.

In the VIP viewing box.

Liu Ruyan's tense body finally relaxed completely at this moment.

She let out a long sigh of relief, leaning back against the soft chair in exhaustion.

"It's over."

Looking at the sea of fire on the screen that could melt even steel, Liu Ruyan spoke in a low voice, "No matter how fast you are or how accurate your anticipation is, under the absolute crush of elemental area-of-effect, it is still completely meaningless."

In her common knowledge, in three-thousand-degree molten lava, let alone a mortal body, even a diamond thrown in would melt instantly.

Someone without a Psionic Shield to block out oxygen and heat wouldn't even last a second inside. They would be vaporized directly, leaving not even ashes behind.

The Dean sitting in the back row also wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and let out a long breath.

"That was close... truly close."

Patting his chest, the Dean turned to the Principal of Third Middle School and said, "Young Master Zhao Kuang is still reliable. Since this kid died on the ring, there's no evidence left. Even if the military wants to investigate, they won't find anything. The military won't offend the Zhao Family for a dead man."

The principal wiped his sweat without speaking, only staring fixedly at the screen.

At the edge of the ring.

His armor emitting black smoke and its surface covered in cracks, Zhao Kuang knelt on one knee in a safe corner untouched by the lava.

He panted heavily, looking at the dark gold sea of fire in front of him that had burned the alloy into lava.

"Hahaha..."

A low chuckle squeezed out of his throat. Then, the laughter grew louder and louder, turning into an unbridled, frenzied roar of laughter.

"Dodge! Why the fuck aren't you dodging anymore!"

Pointing at the center of the sea of fire, Zhao Kuang shrieked at the top of his lungs, "You thought you could beat me with some amateur movement techniques? In my Brilliant Gold Sea of Fire, not even a speck of you will remain!"

"Fighting against me? This is the end for a commoner trash like you!"

The firelight reflected on Zhao Kuang's contorted, crazed face.

The entire Arena was dead silent.

In everyone's understanding, this match had finally come to an end.

No carbon-based organism could survive in such an extreme lava environment.

The referee raised his right hand and picked up his whistle, preparing to blow the signal for the end of the match.

However.

Just at the moment the referee's whistle was about to be put into his mouth.

At the very second when Zhao Kuang's laughter was at its most arrogant.

A sudden change occurred.