The moment the board was set up, Cerydra vanished from where she stood.
Seeing this, Yu Tianheng's pupils contracted sharply.
"Where is she?"
He looked around, but couldn't see a thing.
Shi Mo stared at the board, his eyes wide.
"Captain, something's moving on the board."
Yu Tianheng turned to look.
Numerous blue pieces were darting across the board. Some moved horizontally, others leaped diagonally, their paths completely unpredictable.
Dugu Yan immediately waved her hand, sending three streams of Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison toward the pieces.
But the poison passed through their ghostly images, hitting nothing.
She gritted her teeth.
"I can't hit them! They're intangible!"
Yu Feng swooped down from the air, trying to break through the area covered by the board from above.
But halfway there, a blue rook rose out of thin air, directly blocking his path.
Yu Feng slammed on the brakes, nearly crashing into it.
Just as he tried to go around, another piece appeared beside him.
He was trapped in midair, unable to advance or retreat.
Seeing this, everyone's expressions grew serious. They dropped their earlier contempt, and the Shi Brothers exchanged a glance before raising their shields and charging toward the center of the board.
But the blue pieces kept shifting positions in front of them, now left, now right.
Even the board began to move up and down, flickering between solid and intangible.
Shi Mo's foot missed its mark, and he nearly lost his balance. He staggered twice before steadying himself.
Shi Mo fared a little better, but he was still forced to slow down.
"It's deliberately tripping us up."
Osler darted along the flank, trying to find Cerydra's true body.
But after circling three times, he still hadn't found anything.
"I can't find her. It's like she really has vanished."
"Impossible. She has to be here. These are just tricks to throw us off."
Dugu Yan immediately rejected the idea.
Ye Lingling stood at the very back, the light of the Nine-Heart Begonia already shining.
She was about to bolster her teammates at the front with healing.
Suddenly, a blue piece shot out and interrupted her.
Ye Lingling was forced to step back.
Watching everyone get toyed with as if they were putty in Cerydra's hands, Dugu Yan's brow furrowed tighter and tighter.
"Everyone, she's splitting us up! We can't reform our formation!"
Yu Tianheng raised his hand and blasted a row of pieces in front of him with a lightning claw.
Lightning burst, and several pieces shattered into specks of light.
But those specks only paused for a moment before re-forming on the spot.
"Wc, they still can't be smashed?"
Yu Tianheng felt a flicker of frustration.
If so, how could they win?
Shi Mo swept his shield across, smashing two pieces, but the specks of light immediately gathered elsewhere.
"Same here. How are we supposed to fight this?"
Everyone was completely at a loss as to how to break the deadlock, and Cerydra toyed with them as if they were putty in her hands.
In the shadows, Cerydra watched them, a mocking smile on her face.
"Desperate struggles of cornered beasts."
Yu Tianheng abruptly looked up.
He'd heard her!
He'd heard Cerydra's voice.
Yet when he struck toward the sound with a lightning dragon, he hit nothing but empty air.
So he decided to regroup everyone.
But once they had gathered, they keenly realized that one of their seven was missing—a crucial member.
"Where's Ye Lingling?"
Realizing Ye Lingling might already have been eliminated, everyone's faces changed.
Without Ye Lingling, they had no hope of turning things around!
Just as Yu Tianheng was thinking about how to break the deadlock,
all the pieces on the board suddenly lit up at once.
Then blue light surged toward the center like a rising tide.
Seeing this, Yu Tianheng had no time to think. He shouted at the others beside him:
"Defend! Defend!"
The Shi Brothers immediately raised their shields, while everyone else hurried behind them.
The light quickly gathered. In no time, the board suddenly exploded, and a wave of blue energy burst outward with a roar.
Cerydra's voice sounded again:
"Thou hast lost the game, every last piece!"
As her words fell, everyone was sent flying at once. They tumbled off the platform together and passed out.
Only Yu Tianheng remained, kneeling on the ground beneath the platform, his head raised as he looked up at it.
The board vanished, and Cerydra's figure reappeared.
She was still seated, not a single fold of her clothes out of place.
The result left him in despair. At last, he could hold on no longer and passed out.
The entire venue fell silent at Cerydra's performance.
Some people had already seen her in action.
But this time was different. This time, she had fought seven people.
One against seven, and she'd won—and she was a support, at that? Who'd believe it?
"Caesar is awesome! Amphoreus is awesome!"
Someone with a gift for working a crowd suddenly shouted. A wave of voices answered, and the entire venue cheered for Cerydra.
The referee came to his senses and raised a hand to announce:
"The match is over! The winner is Caesar of Amphoreus Academy!"
"Caesar! Caesar! Caesar!"
Faced with the spectators' thunderous cheers, Cerydra merely gave a small, expressionless wave before rising and leaving.
In the rest area, Qin Ming watched as everyone was carried back. His lips moved, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, all that came out was a sigh.
He knew they hadn't lost unfairly. Their opponent had been outrageously strong.
Still, he couldn't help feeling humiliated.
"Forget it. Let's go find the dean first."
In the VIP section, Phainon leaned back in his chair and slowly let out a breath.
Wang Sheng had nearly shouted his voice hoarse by now.
"Caesar is awesome!"
Bai Chenxiang covered her mouth, laughing so hard her shoulders shook.
"Dummy, stop shouting. Keep it up and everyone will know you started it."
At her words, Wang Sheng quickly shut his mouth and scratched his head sheepishly.
Anaxa closed his notebook and looked toward Cerydra, who had already returned. A glint appeared in his eyes.
"One person controlled seven opponents and never gave them a single opening from start to finish. That level of control over the situation is truly terrifying. If I calculated everything correctly, perhaps I could do it too..."
Ye Qiong leaned back in his seat in the VIP section, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
There was no need to say more about Caesar's ability to control the battlefield. Otherwise, how could she have become Amphoreus's empress?
But now that they'd won, the system's reward should be here, right?
Sure enough, when he opened the system, the mission was already complete.
[Mission complete. 3000 Stellar Jades have been issued. The academy has advanced to district-level qualification, earning an additional 20% reward, for a total of 3600 Stellar Jades.]
Ye Qiong closed the panel, deciding to check it again after they returned. Then he stood and said to everyone:
"Come on, let's head back."
At Shrek's rest area,
Flender sat on a chair, both hands braced on his knees, his whole body bent forward.
Everyone sat in silence.
They had watched the match between Imperial Fighting and Amphoreus.
This Amphoreus was truly terrifying.
One person had utterly trounced the Imperial Fighting Team.
So what did that make them, having lost to Imperial Fighting?
The losers' losers?
Clearly, the result had left them all feeling humiliated.
Just then, a knock came from outside the door.
Flender hurried to open it. Seeing who was there, he froze for a moment.
"Qin Ming?"