151: Chapter 151 I'm going to fight them all!

Chief Commentator Lu Ming paused for a beat before he snapped back to reality.

"Congratulations—! Congratulations to the thirty-five contestants on stage for passing the final screening! We are entering the second stage—the 1v1 Elimination Showdown!"

A long-awaited cheer finally erupted from the audience. The wave of sound slammed against the protective barrier, causing visible ripples to spread across the surface of the light wall. Over a hundred thousand people had been holding their breath for most of the day, and they could finally exhale.

"The upcoming matches are the real main event!" Chief Commentator Lu Ming's pitch rose by a full octave. "Individual combat! No teammates! No support! Every opponent is a peerless genius of the same rank! The winner advances, the loser goes home—this is the purest and most brutal essence of the National Competition!"

He switched the microphone to his left hand and waved his right hand forcefully through the air.

"Of course—as per tradition, before the official drawing of lots, I, as the host, must ask one routine question—"

His tone suddenly relaxed, and his eyes crinkled with the teasing arc characteristic of a professional commentator.

"Does anyone want to initiate Purgatory Mode? Haha, surely not, right? After all, such an ancient rule should have been put in a museum long ago. So, next, we will—"

"Purgatory Mode?"

A hoarse voice interrupted him.

Chief Commentator Lu Ming's microphone froze in mid-air.

"What?"

Qin Ye took a step forward from beside the lava pit. Her dark gothic-style skirt was covered in sand and ash, and the dark golden gear pattern on the back of her hand was still rotating slowly. She lifted her eyelids to look at the host's platform, her expression identical to when she was doing push-ups on the ground earlier.

"Purgatory Mode. What does it mean?"

Chief Commentator Lu Ming blinked. He had been a gold-standard host for over a decade, but this was the first time he had been questioned by a contestant at the finals.

"Uh, Purgatory Mode." He switched the microphone back to his right hand and cleared his throat. "That's a long story. Simply put, it's an ancient additional rule. Back when ancient card-making was still in the stage of sect inheritance, there would occasionally appear monsters with ridiculously high talent—the kind of people who would sprint ten steps ahead, only to turn around and find that the entire era hadn't caught up yet."

He paused.

"For such people, fighting 1v1 in the tournament is a pure waste of time, which is why Purgatory Mode exists. One person challenges all the remaining contestants on the field; if they win, they are the champion immediately, and if they lose, they pack up and go home."

The audience erupted in laughter. Some whistled, and others flooded the chat feed with comments like "Who would dare open Purgatory these days," "Opening it is just asking for death," and "Fighting thirty-four people, they'll probably be carried out."

Chief Commentator Lu Ming chuckled along.

"Of course, that was in the ancient times. Modern schools of thought and theories have long been fully developed. There are gaps between everyone, but to say one person can crush everyone—it's not realistic. The previous champion also had to narrowly win in the 1v1 finals to take home the gold trophy. Purgatory Mode also has an additional rule: the multi-person side can enable Multi-Card Combination, meaning thirty-four people can simultaneously activate cards to coordinate, multiplying their power several times over. So, although this rule is still nominally written in the tournament format, in reality, no one has—"

"I'll open it."

Chief Commentator Lu Ming's voice got stuck in his throat for the third time.

The entire venue went silent for about half a second.

Then, over a hundred thousand people collectively gasped in cold air. The synchronized sound of the intake was so loud that even the sand at the edge of the arena jumped.

"What did she say?!"

"Purgatory Mode?! One person fighting thirty-four?!"

"Those are thirty-four top-tier Magic Card Masters from Rank 4 to Rank 5!! Each one is a monster capable of ranking in the top five of their own academy!!"

"Has Qin Ye been baked into having hallucinations by the sun!!"

"Even if a Stand can dodge—fighting people is a completely different matter from dodging skills!! The other side can even use Multi-Card Combination!!"

Sweat instantly broke out on Chief Commentator Lu Ming's forehead. He wiped it with the back of his hand and forced his voice back to the frequency expected of a professional host.

"Contestant Qin Ye. Allow me to remind you—Purgatory Mode is not just challenging everyone; the multi-person side will also enable the Multi-Card Combination rule. The other side can simultaneously activate multiple cards to cast spells in combination; the power is not additive, it's multiplicative. This isn't a gauntlet against thirty-four people; it's one person taking on the combined assault of thirty-four people head-on."

He took a deep breath.

"The last time Purgatory Mode was initiated in the history of the Dragon Kingdom was four hundred years ago. The one who initiated it was Chen Xuanyi, the creator of the Myriad Element User Magic Card—who was also the grandmaster of Contestant Master Mage Chen Taixu. Are you certain you want to—"

"I am."

Just one word. It was the exact same tone as when she said "fists and kicks are enough" just a moment ago. It was the same indifference as when she said "yes" in the Underground Coliseum.

Qin Ye lifted a corner of her dark gothic-style skirt to shake off the sand, letting the ash-covered lace fall back to her knees. The rotation speed of the dark golden gear pattern on the back of her hand began to slowly accelerate.

"No need to draw lots."

She lifted her eyes.

Those dark golden pupils swept across Wei Xiaoyu, Master Mage Chen Taixu, and the remaining thirty-two surviving contestants, whose faces were all written with the expression "Is this person crazy?"

"Come at me together. It saves time."

The entire venue fell into deathly silence!

Then, the audience erupted as if someone had lit a fire from the bottom.

"She's serious!! Qin Ye is going to fight everyone by herself!!"

"One against thirty-four!! Purgatory Mode!! The first time in four hundred years!!"

"Holy f*ck, holy f*ck, holy f*ck, holy f*ck!!!"

The chat feed completely lost its sanity in that instant; the comment section was filled with random arrangements of exclamation marks and question marks, and the livestream server immediately flashed a red overload warning. Chief Commentator Lu Ming gripped the microphone and turned toward the VIP area; on that face, which was precise enough to be written into textbooks, any trace of a professional expression was now gone.

"Your Majesty, the Empress. A contestant has applied to initiate Purgatory Mode."

Behind the beaded curtain, the Empress's fingers pushed aside the curtain, revealing half of her cold, elegant face.

"I heard."

She tilted her head to look toward the VIP box. Su Bai was still resting his chin on his hand, and Kyubey was curled up on his lap, yawning. His expression was as indifferent as if he were watching TV in his own living room.

"Minister Su. Is this your intent, or is it hers?"

Su Bai looked down at Kyubey. Kyubey looked up at him. Its tail swayed slowly twice.

"My intent is—to save time."

The Empress was silent for a beat.

Then she smiled. That smile sent a chill down the spine of the Purple-Robed Chief beside her. It wasn't anger; it was far more dangerous than anger—it was more like a child unwrapping the packaging of a new toy.

"Granted."

She lowered the beaded curtain again, and a flash of extremely bright light shone in her dark golden pupils behind the curtain.

"I, too, want to see. Just where the limits of this Stand System truly lie."