Water-Ice Tornado 2.0, Aurora Descends

"Whirlpool!"

At Lin Mo's command, Feebas violently swished its tail fin, and a vortex of water appeared around it, instantly surging into a boil!

Unlike the first round, this water vortex carried overwhelming force, erupting from the center of the stage and spiraling madly upward.

In mere moments, a massive waterspout that nearly filled the entire stage rose from the ground, reaching from earth to sky. The roar of colliding water was like muffled thunder, making the entire audience instinctively lean back.

At the center of the waterspout was a deep blue vortex. Feebas had long been swallowed by the heavy currents, completely vanishing from everyone's sight.

"Th-this scale is insane!" Kotaro held up the microphone, his voice trembling slightly. "It's at least three times bigger than the waterspout from the first round!"

The audience stared in shock at the enormous waterspout. Standing at the edge of the stage, Lin Mo remained as calm as ever as he gave his next command.

"Icy Wind!"

The instant the command was given, a layer of white frost suddenly spread within the waterspout!

At first, it was only a wisp of cold air at the center, but it soon spread outward at a visible speed. The blue currents froze and turned white beneath the chill.

The spiraling wall of water gradually transformed into a crystalline wall of ice. Even its rotating path was frozen in place, forming a massive, motionless ice tornado that gleamed with cold light!

The surface of the ice tornado was smooth as a mirror, reflecting the stage lights with an icy sheen.

Lin Mo did not give Feebas another command. The audience assumed his performance had ended—this majestic ice-water tornado seemed to be the entirety of his routine.

The sight was certainly stunning, but compared to the shock of his first-round entrance, it still fell somewhat short.

"Is that it? Is it over already?"

"It looks great, but compared to the first-round entrance, doesn't it feel like something's missing?"

"He's still inexperienced. He used his big move too early. Under normal circumstances, this combination move would already be outstanding, but with the first-round performance setting the bar so high, this doesn't seem impressive enough..."

"For a newcomer to achieve this much is already amazing. He's just lacking experience. He should learn from this next time, right?"

A trace of doubt also began to surface in the livestream chat. Although his fans were still defending him fiercely, skeptical voices had quietly emerged.

Just as every spectator became convinced that Lin Mo's performance was over, an urgent voice suddenly rang out from the front rows.

"No! Look at the middle of the ice tornado!"

Everyone followed the voice and saw a faint, multicolored glow appearing at the center of the ice tornado!

The light flickered like a candle flame. It was dim at first, then gradually grew brighter and larger, each flash pulsing like a heartbeat.

"Thump, thump!"

It seemed to pass through the ice wall and reach everyone's ears.

"What is that?"

The entire venue's attention was captured once again. Even their breathing seemed to fall in rhythm with that light.

Suddenly!

"Crack—"

A crisp breaking sound rang out, and a strange sight appeared—the ice at the center of the tornado began to peel away, revealing the spinning water vortex within!

Blue currents began turning once more inside the space enclosed by the ice wall, accelerating faster and faster to form a strange cylinder with living water inside and an ice wall outside.

The outer layer was a motionless spiral of ice, while the inner layer was a flowing vortex of water. Ice and water coexisted in perfect form, like a storm frozen in ice.

And at the heart of that living water vortex, a purple figure spun rapidly with the current—it was Feebas!

The water vortex within the ice tornado spun faster and faster, carrying Feebas along as it swam at high speed.

A brilliant, strange aura lit up around it, and its purple body was almost impossible to make out amid the multicolored glow.

Feebas swam faster and faster as the colorful light around it flared to its peak. It ricocheted back and forth within the ice wall, moving so quickly that only a streak of light remained.

With every impact and rebound, the ice wall instantly refracted a dazzling rainbow glow, like nimble threads of light racing upward along the inner wall of the ice tornado.

"Wh-what is that...?"

Everyone present stared intently at the space above the ice tornado at center stage.

More and more multicolored light climbed along the ice wall, layering and converging toward the top of the frozen waterspout. It intertwined in the air above the stage, forming a flowing band of light.

Before anyone could react, the top of the ice tornado suddenly erupted with dazzling radiance that filled the sky, bathing the entire venue in an illusion-like glow!

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet... different colors interwove—the aurora had descended, slowly blossoming above the arena.

The light sometimes became dancing ribbons, sometimes condensed into brilliant arcs. Tiny specks of light even flickered within the bands, like stars in the night sky.

"An... aurora?!" Kotaro cried out in disbelief.

For a moment, the entire venue fell completely silent before erupting into deafening screams!

"Oh my god! It's an aurora! Feebas made an aurora!"

"How did it do that? That's incredible!"

"Who just said they were out of tricks? Get out here and apologize!"

The livestream chat was instantly flooded with "Holy crap," "Amazing," and "Unbeatable." The number of viewers had already maxed out, and even the servers lagged briefly.

At the judges' table, Wallace abruptly rose to his feet. His emerald eyes were filled with shock as he murmured,

"Light can refract through ice to create rainbows, but Lin Mo took it a step further!

He had Feebas's multicolored light refract layer by layer along the ice wall, continuously merge together, and finally gather at the top of the ice tornado to form a brilliant aurora! This is a genius-level concept!"

Contesta's eyes were wide, his voice trembling with incredulous excitement.

"The shape of the outer ice tornado is stable to a terrifying degree, while the speed of the living water vortex within can still be controlled at will, without the slightest error.

This requires controlling the energy of two attributes at once—ice and water—while maintaining extreme stability. Then there is the creative idea behind the aurora itself. What an extraordinary young talent, truly extraordinary!"

Sukizo had already clapped his palms red. Tears streamed down his chubby cheeks as he smiled.

"I love this! I absolutely love it! This is true beauty! The contrast between ice and water, the interplay of light and shadow, and that damned heartbeat-like rhythm... this is the best performance I've seen today!"

Nurse Joy pressed both hands to her chest, her eyes sparkling like stars. "It's so beautiful. I never imagined I would see an aurora at a contest. I'm so happy!"

Onstage, the aurora continued changing shape. Feebas moved faster and faster within the living water vortex, almost turning into a purple streak of light.

Suddenly, it leaped upward, breaking through the living water vortex and crashing toward the top of the ice tornado!

"Crash—"

The ice tornado shattered in response, but the fragments did not scatter. Drawn by the vortex, they turned into countless tiny ice crystals and merged into the aurora high above.

The aurora suddenly grew even brighter, exploding in the air like fireworks before slowly drifting down as specks of starlight that fell upon the stage and vanished.

Feebas landed at the center of the stage. A faint multicolored glow still lingered on its purple body as it wagged its tail at Lin Mo, as though asking for praise.

Applause and cheers erupted through the venue like a tsunami, lasting without end. Even the walls of the stadium trembled slightly.

Lin Mo walked onto the stage and bent down to pick up Feebas. The little one affectionately rubbed against his cheek.

He gave a deep bow to the audience, then turned toward the judges' table with a calm, warm smile.

Kotaro held the microphone, his voice breaking from excitement.

"I... I don't even know what to say... Contestant Number 86, Lin Mo, and Feebas have delivered a performance beyond anything I imagined... Let's see the judges' scores!"

At the judges' table, all four judges raised their scoreboards almost simultaneously.

Wallace: Perfect score!

Contesta: Perfect score!

Sukizo: Perfect score!

Nurse Joy: Perfect score!

"Another perfect score! Contestant Number 86, Lin Mo, and Feebas have once again won the favor of every judge in the second round of judging, earning full marks across the board!"

Kotaro's voice finally regained its strength and rang throughout the venue. The cheers burst through the roof once more, and this time, no one had any doubts left.

Everyone understood that they had witnessed a truly spectacular performance.

Lin Mo carried Feebas off the stage. As he passed Armani, the man's face was pale and his expression complicated, but he ultimately lowered his head.

Grace watched Lin Mo's retreating back, a trace of unwillingness flashing through her eyes. Yet she had no choice but to admit that the performance had been flawless.

Lin Mo looked down at Feebas in his arms. The little one was gazing up at him with round eyes, its purple tail cocked proudly.

"You did well," Lin Mo said softly, gently tapping its head with a fingertip.

The second round of judging ended, and the list of advancing contestants was soon announced. Twenty contestants advanced—Lin Mo, Grace, and Armani unsurprisingly claimed the top three spots.

Next came the final Contest Battle.