152: Chapter 152 The World Appears Here!

"Purgatory Mode!"

Chief Commentator Lu Ming's voice came through the microphone, carrying a tremor he himself couldn't fully suppress.

"With the Empress's royal approval—Contestant Qin Ye, Purgatory Mode is authorized!"

The noise from over a hundred thousand people in the arena hit the protective barrier like a physical wall.

War Emperor Wei Potian stood before the railing of the VIP section.

His figure, just over two meters tall, was motionless, his dark golden eyes locked onto the girl in the dark gothic dress on the arena stage.

There was no anger or disdain on his face, only a gravity that made even Wei Tianlong, standing beside him, feel a chill down his spine.

"Big Brother?"

"..."

War Emperor Wei Potian did not respond.

He was calculating.

He wasn't calculating how many Qin Ye could defeat—he was calculating how much of Su Bai's reputation would be tarnished if Qin Ye lost.

The Stand Card had just been released, the Magical Girl System was being rolled out, and the National Competition was being broadcast globally.

By calling out Purgatory Mode in front of everyone, Qin Ye was essentially gambling Su Bai's reputation on herself alone.

If she lost.

That was a hole money couldn't fix.

"That girl's Stand Card..." War Emperor Wei Potian finally spoke, his voice very low, "Is it really Tier 2?"

"Tier 2." Wei Tianlong nodded. "I've seen the blueprints."

War Emperor Wei Potian paused in silence.

A Tier 2 card. Fighting thirty-four people. Including monsters like his daughter and Master Mage Chen Taixu.

"What on earth did that kid Su Bai stuff into that card?"

Shen Ye stood at the edge of the staging area, arms crossed.

His fingers tapped unhurriedly against his arm, the rhythm identical to when he ran data in the Sanctuary laboratory.

He had personally calibrated the Titan Furnace's drive, and he could derive the coupling parameters of the stellar-level collapse framework with his eyes closed.

He had also seen the theoretical framework of the Stand Card—Qi Yuan had dismantled that system thoroughly, and the conclusion was simple.

A guardian spirit manifested from Mental Power.

Damage feedback synchronization.

The pressure on the heart is directly proportional to the mana conduction rate.

A card made of Tier 2 materials.

You only need to calculate it to know where the ceiling is.

"That's impossible."

When Shen Ye uttered these words, his fingers stopped.

His gaze pierced through the protective light barrier at the edge of the arena and landed on Qin Ye.

The girl was holding up her skirt with one hand to shake off sand, her expression exactly the same as when she had said, "Fists and kicks are enough."

He couldn't see any trace of bluster.

But data doesn't lie.

The mana pool limit of a Tier 2 card is right there; even if Su Bai adjusted the coupling coefficient to the theoretical limit, the output power would at most be enough for her to handle two or three opponents of the same tier simultaneously.

Fighting thirty-four?

That's something even a peak Tier 5 couldn't do.

Shen Ye started tapping his fingers again.

"...Unless there are variables in the framework itself that I haven't calculated."

On the other side of the staging area.

"What does she mean?!"

A youth wearing deep cyan armor slammed his fist against the wall.

Peak Tier 4, Chief of the Sword Arts Department at the Northern Military Academy, Fang Jingzhe.

His sword was still sheathed, but the inscriptions on the scabbard were already humming and vibrating—a sign of his internal mana overflowing uncontrollably.

"Purgatory Mode? Fighting all of us by herself? Who does she think she is?!"

"Calm down." Someone next to him pulled him back.

"Calm down?! Thirty-four people! Any one of us could be picked out as a monster ranked in the top five of our respective academies! She, alone—just one person!—says she wants us to come at her together to save time?!"

Fang Jingzhe's voice was too loud, loud enough that everyone in the staging area heard him.

Some gripped the cards in their hands tightly.

Some took a deep breath and placed their hands on their weapons.

Some just stared silently at Qin Ye's back, their eyes looking as if they were looking at a dead person.

Thirty-four different degrees of anger fermented in the staging area.

But no one laughed.

Because those who had made it this far were no fools.

They had seen that punch earlier where Qin Ye broke Luo Xinghan's Tier 7 Mimic Heavy Sword with her bare hands.

They had seen her bizarre movement technique as she dodged repeatedly under the Sun and Moon in Palm.

This woman was indeed strong.

But strong enough to fight thirty-four?

That was an insult.

"Asura Mode confirmed!"

The referee's voice covered the entire arena through the amplification array.

"There are thirty-five contestants remaining on the field—Contestant Qin Ye has chosen to activate Purgatory Mode, challenging the other thirty-four people alone! Multi-card combined rules can be enabled by the multi-person side! No time limit! No venue restrictions! The battle continues until one side is completely incapacitated or voluntarily concedes!"

The audience erupted.

The concurrent traffic in the live chat pool instantly triggered a red overload warning on the streaming platform's servers.

The comment section couldn't find a single complete sentence—it was all random combinations of exclamation marks, question marks, and "WTF."

"Preparing the countdown—ten, nine, eight—"

Wei Xiaoyu slammed the handle of her battle axe into the sand at her feet with a "thud."

She didn't move forward.

Her dark golden eyes swept over the others on the arena stage who were still hesitating about whether to attack first, and the corners of her mouth turned down.

"I'm not going."

The contestant beside her was stunned.

"Wei Xiaoyu—"

"I said. Not. Going." She leaned her weight against the axe handle, arms crossed. "She wants to fight thirty-four? Fine. Let her survive the first wave first. I don't want to form a coalition with someone who gets sent packing in the first round."

Master Mage Chen Taixu sat cross-legged on a sand dune not far away.

A wooden sword laid horizontally across his knees.

His eyes were closed.

"This Taoist will wait as well."

His tone was lazy, like someone who had ordered a pot of tea at a teahouse they didn't really want to drink. "Four hundred years ago, our Ancestor opened Purgatory Mode and fought fourteen people. The fourteen opponents joined forces and were steamrolled by the Ancestor alone. Today there are thirty-four—if she breaks through the first wave, it won't be too late for the rest to go up."

He paused, opening one eye.

"If she gets carried away in the first wave—then there's no need to go up. Saves energy."

Fang Jingzhe's sword finally left its scabbard.

"If you won't go! I will!"

The sword blade sliced through the air, and the Tier 3 Armament Card [Jingzhe · Spring Thunder Cut] activated—the sword body burst with pale blue lightning, and Fang Jingzhe turned into a bolt of electricity, charging straight at Qin Ye.

A dozen figures behind him started almost simultaneously.

"Three—two—one—start!"

The referee's voice fell.

Qin Ye didn't move.

Fang Jingzhe's blade was still twenty meters away from her.

Her hands hung at the sides of her skirt, the lace edges of her dark gothic dress fluttering slightly from the wind pressure whipped up by the sword qi.

The dark golden gear pattern on the back of her hand was still slowly rotating.

Fifteen meters left.

She closed her eyes.

"What is she doing—?!"

Fang Jingzhe's sword tip was only ten meters from Qin Ye's brow.

The lightning had already ionized the air between them into a blinding blue-white.

Qin Ye opened her eyes.

There was no killing intent, battle spirit, or nervousness in her dark golden pupils.

Only a certainty so calm it was almost boring.

She pulled her right foot back half a step.

Her left hand hung naturally at her side, while her right hand slowly rose, fingers splayed and pressed against her face—wrist turned outward, fingertips covering her left eye, her right eye revealed through the gaps between her fingers.

Her waist and hips twisted.

Her shoulder blades and pelvis formed an extreme angle for elastic energy storage.

Her spine arched.

And then—

Golden aura bloomed!

This was not any form of energy known to this world.

It was a thin, cicada-wing-like film of golden light, spreading from Qin Ye's fingertips, flowing like molten gold over her wrists, forearms, shoulders, torso, and legs.

Finally converging behind her.

Condensing.

Taking shape!