153: Chapter 153 All of you, come at me together!

"That is—"

On the commentary stage, Chief Commentator Lu Ming's microphone slipped from his hand and hit the console with a "clang."

The breathing of over a hundred thousand people in the arena stopped in the same instant.

Standing behind Qin Ye was a humanoid figure.

It was over two and a half meters tall, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. Its entire body was covered in dark gold biological armor, with slowly rotating gears embedded in its joints. It had no facial features, no expression. There were only a pair of eyes burning with dark gold flames, looking down upon the entire world from above.

At this moment, in front of eight hundred million online viewers worldwide—

Photographer Old Zhou's pupils contracted violently.

He had been filming the National Competition for seventeen years; there was no scene he hadn't seen. He had filmed the earth-shattering clashes of 9th-tier Supremes. He had filmed the synchronized cheers of eighty thousand people. He had even filmed contestants breaking through and advancing right there on the arena stage.

But he had never seen this.

His camera was a military-grade model, with thirty-two layers of detection arrays attached to the lens—including a layer of "Ghost-Pattern Mirror Coating" specifically designed to capture Mental Power. It was an experimental filter his apprentice had obtained from the materials institute last week, originally intended for capturing the energy waveforms of Wei Xiaoyu's Titan Furnace.

Yet at this moment, inside the viewfinder, that invisible humanoid creature behind Qin Ye was fully and clearly captured by the Ghost-Pattern coating, with a super high-speed shutter of 1/2400th of a second—frozen before screens all over the world.

Domineering!

Cool!

And... a pose that was nearly art!

"..."

Old Zhou couldn't speak.

With trembling fingers, he pushed this signal source to the main output channel.

The twelve holographic projection towers around the arena switched their images simultaneously.

A translucent dark gold humanoid figure stood behind Qin Ye. Its arms were crossed over its chest. The gears were turning. The eyes were burning.

The live chat feed completely lost its mind at this frame.

"What is that—?!"

"A humanoid?! There's a humanoid behind Qin Ye?!"

"It's not an afterimage, it's not an effect, that's real, materialized Mental Power!!"

"Holy crap, so cool!!"

"Wait, isn't this the pose that was being mocked by the whole internet just now?!"

"Damn, it's fucking cool..."

"Try badmouthing the pose again!! Just try it again!!"

VIP box.

Shen Ye's fingers paused in mid-air.

The rhythm he had been tapping—that three-beat tap used for running data—had broken on the second beat. His mouth was slightly open, his gaze pinned on the dark gold humanoid figure on the holographic projection. His brain was calculating frantically—Mental Power density, materialized volume, shape stability, mana fluctuation peak—every single piece of data pointed to one conclusion.

Titan Furnace couldn't do this!

Titan Furnace used Master Qi Yuan's stellar-level collapse framework, compressing mana to a near-solid state before releasing it; the energy density was already the ceiling at the 5th-tier level.

But that dark gold humanoid—that wasn't energy compression. That was Mental Power being forcibly dragged in from outside the physical dimension, reconstructing an independent form in real space!

"...Independent form."

Shen Ye lowered his hand. His lips moved, emitting a sound he hadn't even realized he made.

"Master Qi Yuan—that theory of yours..."

Only one-tenth was used!

The framework that Su Bai had casually thrown onto the Sanctuary forum had only had one-tenth of it excavated, and the remaining ninety percent had all been crammed into this 2nd-tier card!

"Fuck!"

Shen Ye cursed, using a word he had never spoken in public during his seven years at the Sanctuary.

War Emperor Wei Potian's reaction was more direct.

He didn't speak.

He squeezed five finger indentations into the alloy railing of the balcony.

A 9th-tier War Emperor, ranked number one on the global warrior leaderboard, a man who could tear open spatial barriers with his bare hands—was currently staring at the Stand in the holographic projection with the look of someone observing an alien creature.

"Big Brother." Wei Tianlong swallowed hard. "That pose... do you remember? Xiaoyu said—"

"I remember."

War Emperor Wei Potian certainly remembered. When Wei Xiaoyu had rejected the Stand Card, she had listed three major grievances—damage feedback synchronization, the heart exploding, and having to strike a pose in public that could make someone die of embarrassment on the spot. He had thought the third point was the most ridiculous at the time.

Now he looked at Qin Ye's pose.

Hand pressed to face. Waist and hips twisted. Shoulder blades and pelvis at maximum tension. Combined with the humanoid figure burning with dark gold flames behind her—

War Emperor Wei Potian took a deep breath.

"...It's actually quite cool."

"Right?!" Wei Tianlong slapped his thigh hard. "I told you!! This pose is clearly very imposing!! That girl Xiaoyu doesn't understand aesthetics at all!!"

"Shut up."

"Oh."

The Empress's beaded curtain moved slightly.

It wasn't blown by the wind. There was no wind in the grand hall.

She had reached out and pushed it aside herself.

Dark gold eyes passed through the gap in the beaded curtain, through the protective barrier of the VIP box, through the heat waves still billowing at the edge of the arena, and landed on Qin Ye. Or more accurately—landed on the Stand behind her.

"Official Su." The Empress's voice came from behind the beaded curtain. "You call this a 2nd-tier card?"

Su Bai rested his chin on his hand. Kyubey was curled up on his lap, its tail sweeping slowly back and forth twice.

"Replying to Your Majesty." He paused. "It is 2nd-tier."

The Empress was silent for about two seconds. Then she pushed the beaded curtain aside a little more and turned her head. A faint smile appeared on her cold, beautiful face—the exact same smile as when she had approved Purgatory Mode just a moment ago.

"Official Li Qingyue."

"I am here."

"Does your disciple usually talk like this?"

Li Qingyue sat on a soft chair on the other side of the box. She held a teacup in her hand. The rim of the cup rested at her lips, but she didn't drink. Her expression was exactly the same as it had been ten minutes ago—calm, composed, with the look of "I knew it all along."

"Your Majesty." She put down the teacup.

"I already said. The combat power of the Stand System—is extremely strong."

She didn't look at anyone when she said this. But everyone in the box turned to look at Su Bai simultaneously.

Shen Ye. War Emperor Wei Potian. Wei Tianlong. The Empress's Purple-Robed Chief. And several other big shots whose names Su Bai couldn't name, but whose uniforms made it clear they were high-ranking.

Fifteen gazes were like fifteen spotlights.

Su Bai moved Kyubey from his lap to his shoulder.

"...Why are you looking at me? Watch the match."

On the arena stage, Fang Jingzhe's sword stopped in mid-air.

It wasn't that he wanted to stop. It was that when his sword tip was still three meters away from Qin Ye, his body was held down by some power he couldn't understand at all. It was as if the air itself had turned solid, locking every inch of his joints from all directions.

Then he saw the thing behind Qin Ye. Dark gold. Gears. The pair of burning eyes on the featureless face were looking down at him.

Fang Jingzhe opened his mouth.

"What the—"

He didn't finish his sentence.

The world before his eyes shattered. It was a fracture in the perception of time. In the previous frame, he was still swinging his sword; in the next frame, his back had already slammed against the light wall of the protective barrier. The transition in between had been eaten by something. It was as if someone had taken scissors and directly cut dozens of frames from his timeline, then crudely glued the remaining two ends together.

When Fang Jingzhe slid down from the light wall, only one thought remained in his mind.

—Did I just... not even see what happened!?

The referee's whistle sounded a full second late.

"Fang Jingzhe—defeated!!"

The audience seats exploded again! But this time the explosion was different; everyone was doing the same thing—rubbing their eyes. Or pinching their own thighs. Or turning to ask the person next to them, "Did you see it?" "No." "I didn't see it either." "Then how did he fly out?"

Over a hundred thousand people. None of them saw it clearly. The only thing that saw it clearly was the high-speed camera playback. Old Zhou used his still-trembling fingers to drag out those frames one by one—Fang Jingzhe swung his sword, the Stand behind Qin Ye moved, the Stand's fist grazed the spine of Fang Jingzhe's sword, the sword broke, and Fang Jingzhe flew out.

The whole process. 0.03 seconds!

"...It was recorded!" Old Zhou said into the microphone, his voice sounding as if someone were choking him. "0.03 seconds, just over one frame. I'm pushing this playback to the main screen now—viewers, please take a look for yourselves!"

The main screen lit up. Sixteen-times slow motion. The dark gold humanoid's fist reached out from behind Qin Ye, a punch arriving with a boom, fast to the point of being outrageous!

In just an instant! Fang Jingzhe's sword shattered, he flew away! Time elapsed: 0.03 seconds!

The whole arena was silent again. Then, the live chat went crazy!

"One frame?!!"

"0.03 seconds to shatter a 3rd-tier Armament Card sword and blast someone twenty meters away?!!"

"This isn't just speed, this is a time-type ability, right?!"

"No, look, Qin Ye didn't move at all!! The only thing moving the whole time was the humanoid behind her!!"

"What on earth is this thing, ahhhhh!!"

"Su Bai!! Su Bai, what kind of monster did you shove into the card again!!"

"Where are the people who were badmouthing the pose just now, come out!! Come out!! That pose is clearly cool as hell, okay!!"

"I solemnly declare that from today on, the JOJO pose is the combat stance second only to the creation of the world in my heart."

The thirty-three people still standing in the preparation area. They were all watching the playback.

Fang Jingzhe's sword strike was the fastest among them—at least in the top ten. His [Jingzhe · Spring Thunder Slash] was a genuine 3rd-tier Armament Card; the sword speed after activation had slashed two opponents of the same tier, along with their weapons, right off the arena stage in the previous round.

Now that card was shattered into a dozen pieces of metal slag. Scattered on the sandy ground. Reflecting the light cast down by the holographic projection towers.

"..."

No one spoke.

Wei Xiaoyu pulled her battle axe out of the sandy ground and gripped it in her hands again. She wasn't watching the playback; she was looking at the Stand behind Qin Ye. The dark gold gears were still turning, the speed a bit faster than before—like some kind of engine warming up.

"Is Wei Xiaoyu going up too?!"

"No."

She slammed the axe handle back into the sandy ground with a "bang."

"Wait until she finishes this wave before saying anything."

Master Mage Chen Taixu opened his eyes. His fingers pressed onto the spine of his wooden sword, stroking it slowly. The reflection of the Stand's silhouette was mirrored in those pupils that reflected the starry sky.

"Interesting."

He flipped the wooden sword over.

"Ancestral Master above. Your record of fighting fourteen people at once—might be broken today."

On the arena stage. Qin Ye was still standing in the same spot. The pose with her right foot pulled back half a step hadn't changed. Her right hand was still pressed against her face, her left hand still hanging by her skirt. The Stand behind her had its arms crossed over its chest, the dark gold gears rotating at a constant speed, its burning eyes sweeping over the thirty-three people still standing in the preparation area.

Qin Ye revealed that one eye from between her fingers. Her voice wasn't loud. But the sound-collecting array on the arena sent every word clearly into the ears of the over one hundred thousand people in the audience.

"You all, come together."