145: Chapter 145 It's time to show our true abilities!

Golden light poured out from within the sphere like a tidal wave, instantly transforming into materialized high-temperature plasma the moment it touched the air.

The air above the arena was instantly heated to a degree beyond the range of normal perception, and then a sea of fire erupted from the light, spanning across the entire arena.

BOOM——!!!!

The bluestone slabs on the ground were vaporized by the high temperature, and a bottomless trench exploded open in the very center of the arena, the soil on both sides of the trench burned into dark red lava.

One second it was an arena, the next it had turned into a desert.

Golden sand grains covered the entire arena, each grain radiating scorching heat waves.

Not even a few seconds passed.

A sea of fire rose from the trench, like a giant dragon of flame that had been imprisoned for a thousand years, finally finding a crack in its cage.

The flames spread crazily along the edges of the arena, and everywhere they passed, the ground beneath all the competitors simultaneously turned into quicksand.

Some tried to run, but their feet sank into the sand.

Others activated defense cards, but the defensive barriers melted instantly in the face of the high temperature, like plastic wrap exposed to heat.

Someone whose clothes were grazed by the flames was instantly teleported out of the arena—that was the forced teleportation array set up by the Empress in advance, which automatically triggered the instant before a competitor was about to be truly burned.

White lights exploded one after another across the arena.

Each explosion represented one person being eliminated.

A dozen seconds later.

Over a hundred people were gone.

Chief Commentator Lu Ming's voice cracked as he gripped the microphone: "One—one hundred and thirty-seven people! Her Majesty the Empress has eliminated one hundred and thirty-seven people in just over ten seconds!! This isn't the second round—this is a disaster-level judgment driven purely by the Laws!!"

There was no one cheering in the audience anymore.

Everyone was staring at the still-burning trench in the center of that desert.

It could no longer be called an arena—it was hell.

Someone posted "How are we supposed to fight this?" in the live stream comments, followed by tens of thousands of identical replies.

Behind the VIP area, several old grandmasters with gray hair clicked their tongues in wonder.

The Purple-Robed Chief stroked his beard and sighed: "Sun and Moon in Palm, Sun and Moon in Palm indeed. Thirty years ago, this old man saw it once at the border. That time, it didn't burn an arena; it burned the entire sky. To be able to see it a second time in this lifetime, it's worth it."

A gray-robed old man beside him nodded vigorously: "Her Majesty is serious this time. If those children can't handle this round, there will likely be casualties in the later National Competition—Her Majesty is weeding out those who aren't qualified in advance."

"Weeding people out is one thing." The Purple-Robed Chief's beard twitched twice, and a subtle arc appeared at the corner of his mouth, "Look at what she is about to do next."

Above the arena.

The Empress's dark golden pupils slowly swept over the surviving competitors in the desert.

Her gaze grazed over one panicked face after another, finally stopping on one person.

Qin Ye!

She seemed to be resisting the high temperature; the moment the golden light enveloped the arena, she stood up, brushed the sand off her hands, and then tightened the dark golden gear markings on the back of her hand.

She stood in place, her eyes devoid of any fear, holding only an extremely quiet, almost devout focus.

The Empress locked eyes with her for a second, and the arc at the corner of her mouth deepened slightly.

"You didn't even use your cards in the last round. I am curious." The Empress raised her right hand and lightly pointed her index finger in Qin Ye's direction, "Let Us see your trump card."

The moment her voice fell.

The golden sun hovering in the center of the arena moved.

It was not drifting, not gliding, not any form of movement with transitional properties.

It was pure, unadorned linear acceleration, like a steel ball shot from a slingshot.

In less than a fraction of a second, the sun accelerated from a standstill to a degree completely impossible for the naked eye to capture, dragging a blindingly white afterimage through the air.

The target—Qin Ye.

In the VIP area, Qi Yuan stood up abruptly, knocking his chair over, which rolled twice on the ground.

Armored Mage Emperor Lu Chen's water cup slipped from his hand, flying out and tracing a parabola in mid-air before crashing into the railing and shattering into three pieces.

Phantom Sovereign's fingers gripped the armrest tightly, her knuckles turning white.

"That speed—!"

Qi Yuan's voice completely cracked.

That was not a speed that should exist in a tournament.

That was the speed of a 9th-tier Supreme going all-out to kill an enemy commander on the battlefield.

For a Rank 4 Magic Card Master, there was not even time to react to an attack at that speed.

All the competitors on the arena reacted in the same way simultaneously.

Some jumped back, some dove to the side, some lay flat on the ground with their hands over their heads.

Even those Rank 5 peak geniuses who had crushed their way through the preliminaries were instinctively retreating at this moment.

Only three people did not move.

Qin Ye stood in the center of the desert.

She looked up at the golden beam of light rapidly approaching her, the dark golden gear markings on the back of her hand rotating once, her breathing rhythm unchanged.

Master Mage Chen Taixu sat cross-legged on the other side of the desert.

His wooden sword lay horizontally across his knees, the hem of his Daoist robe flapping violently in the heat waves.

His eyes, which reflected the starry sky, opened a slit, glanced at Qin Ye, and closed again.

Wei Xiaoyu planted her battle axe into the sand and crossed her arms over her chest.

The furnace engine inside her emitted a low hum, but she did not activate any defensive skills.

She merely watched the sun colliding towards Qin Ye and frowned.

In the VIP box.

Zhao Dahai was hanging off the railing, all the color draining from his chubby face in an instant.

"Su-Su-Su-Su Bai—that sun—" His voice cracked like a duck being strangled by its neck.

Lin Xiao had already activated her ice bow, her fingers hooked onto the bowstring, but even she knew that this bow wouldn't even count as scratching an itch in the face of a million-degree heat.

Su Bai did not answer.

He leaned back in his chair with his hands in his pockets, his expression as indifferent as if he were watching a weather forecast completely unrelated to him.

Kyubey jumped down from the railing and landed back on his lap, its tail sweeping slowly twice.

[Su Bai. Qin Ye's Mental Power wavelength just jumped—it's combat excitement.]

Su Bai nodded. It's time to show your true abilities, go, Pika-Ye!

"…It's coming."

On the arena, Qin Ye stepped out with her left foot.

Her knees slightly bent, center of gravity lowered, and her right hand clenched into a fist, pulled back to her waist.

The dark golden gear markings on the back of her hand were finally no longer just slowly rotating; they began to accelerate, circle after circle after circle, the rotation speed so fast that the outline of the gears dragged a blurred afterimage in the air.

She lifted her eyes.

Her dark golden pupils reflected the sun that was rapidly approaching.

The corner of her mouth curved up.