"How can Suyo be so weak?!" Huomu exclaimed instinctively upon witnessing this scene.
Isn't this guy always making headlines lately?
They've already started to be referred to as "the City of Kindling's Number One Genius" alongside Qiji!
In fact, many people say, "Southern Suyo, Northern Qiji," placing Suyo before Qiji.
That's it?
You can't lose!
If we lose, and lose so humiliatingly, it will lower Qiji's image as well!
"It's not that Suyo is weak, it's that the Isolde Family's Charles is too strong... Three perfectly matched Legend Fragment, even with Suyo's inlaid mythology, don't give him an advantage..."
Although Myth Fragment can adapt to any lineage, the bonuses will ultimately be reduced if the lineage is not compatible.
In the end, it's not much different from the three legends that are perfectly matched.
Moreover, it's important to understand that the true value of Myth Fragment lies not in its numerical value, but in its Origin Mark and the infinite possibilities it possesses!
She understood all this in Setsuna, so she couldn't help but speak up for Suyo and say a fair word.
After all, we can't apply Qiji's high standards to others.
This is unfair to them.
Because Qiji is unique, anyone else pales in comparison.
Setsuna the words fell, Bai Lili spoke softly from the side:
"Well, I did the math too, and it seems like I really don't have enough wins..."
Just as Liuli said, they have been eliminated.
"Once this match ends, the two teams from Kalentia that have already advanced will immediately be teleported to the third stage."
"And if Suyo's team is also eliminated by Charles, then regardless of whether we win or lose this match, we won't have enough wins to reach three, and we've already lost..."
"How could this happen?" Huomu was stunned.
Even though he didn't fully understand at first, he gradually came to understand as everyone explained.
However, there was one thing he just couldn't understand:
"How could so many teams be eliminated all at once?"
Even if they fought to the point of spiritual disintegration and elimination in every match, with two teams paired up, at least one team would win in every match, right...?
"It's an item card," Liuli told everyone. "Dorothy used [Match a Hundred] and [Brawl]."
[Match a Hundred]: Can challenge an unlimited number of teams simultaneously.
[Brawl]: Forces the battle mode to an ultimate free-for-all.
Her mind worked Setsuna, and upon hearing this, she immediately realized the oddity of the situation:
No, that's not right!
Like us, Dorothy chose the East Island landing as her first mission.
Of the top five students in East Island, Liuli and Suyo each took a spot.
That means they only have three item cards!
But now, they're using more than three props! That doesn't make any sense at all!
"I think it's probably because Sibel distributed the prop cards to them."
Liuli sighed softly.
She hadn't expected that Kalentia's group could devise such a plan in such a short time, based on the items they had acquired, making perfect use of every single card.
The City of Kindling team was completely unprepared for this, and therefore, they were unable to even mount a counterattack.
"You can give your own item cards to other teams? Isn't that illegal team formation?!" Huomu clenched his fists in frustration after hearing this.
He would accept defeat if he lost because he was simply not good enough.
But now, Qiji is about to awaken her Echo and return as the king. They will soon be able to take back everything that the City of Kindling has lost!
But you told him—
Is it over?
Regardless of whether they win or lose later on, or how the game goes, the final is no longer relevant to them.
Unacceptable!
How can he possibly accept this?!
Just as the four children were feeling downcast after this setback, they suddenly saw something on the arena—
Time of Nonexistence Sibel ceased to exist, a blinding light shone forth.
That sudden burst of light not only attracted the attention of the four little ones, but also drew everyone's gaze!
Outside the stadium, the crowd gasped in surprise—
"Look, the arena!"
"What is that?!"
"Could it be... that there's still a possibility of something changing?"
In the live stream chat, comments were popping up in rapid succession.
"Wait! There's a noise on the stage!"
"It's Prisoner Ji!"
"It's coming out! It's coming out!"
Everyone saw the light that emanated from [the Time of Nonexistence].
At the same time, the pure white mask covered in cracks suddenly seemed to be lifted up by an invisible hand, slowly rising and suspending in mid-air.
The next instant, light burst forth from the cracks in the mask—
The left half flows with crimson, while the right half shimmers with golden light.
Two rays of light spread along the same mask, eventually converging at the center of the brow.
At the moment of convergence, a hand reached out from [the Time of Nonexistence].
With long, slender fingers and distinct knuckles, it steadily caught the suspended mask.
The Setsuna the fingertips touched the mask, all the cracks lit up at the same time, and a dazzling light spread along the lines like an electric current, only to recede completely in an instant.
Immediately afterwards, a tall, slender figure stepped out from [the Time of Nonexistence].
He was surrounded by a lingering black and white mist.
He stopped.
The light mist slowly descended, like a curtain falling at the end of a performance, revealing a face without a mask.
At this moment, the face that [the Lie Bearing] had sculpted for nine long years was finally exposed to everyone's gaze without reservation.
It was a face so perfect it seemed unreal.
The outline is sharp and flawless.
At the corners of the eyes and the ends of the eyebrows, fine, silvery-white crystals appeared like a thin layer of frost on the skin.
His left eye had a faint crimson light swirling in its pupil.
His right eye had a golden radiance settling in its core.
Like two red and gold watch faces, embedded deep within the iris.
He tilted his head slightly, his gaze calmly sweeping across the entire arena before finally settling on Sibel.
The black and white dial's blurry image flashed behind him, like a door being pushed open and then closed, leaving only a faint trace in the air.
Qiji, return from the [Time of Nonexistence]!
Outside the stadium, the audience was stunned by this scene.
They thought that Qiji was doomed to defeat, but to their surprise, he survived the strongest Echo from Sibel.
Moreover, he did it in such a stunningly handsome way!
"No, handsome, who are you?!"
"He... is it Qiji?"
"Holy crap! Are you crazy?! If your face under the mask is so handsome, why are you wearing one?!"
"Why are you all only looking at his face! The fact that he emerged unscathed from Sibel's [Time of Nonexistence] is what's more noteworthy!"
"So, what he said earlier about not having Echo was a lie after all! How could he possibly escape Sibel's Echo if he didn't have Echo?"
At this moment, the number of comments in the live stream also reached its highest point of the day:
"Holy crap! They're here!"
"Prisoner Ji's true face makes its debut!!!"
"Handsome!!!"
"God-level modeling!!!"
"Brothers, let's start licking!"
"It startled me! When I saw Prisoner Ji's face, I thought I was looking in a mirror!"
"Waaaaah, I'm unfollowing! Her persona is ruined! What happened to the mask being her true self?!"
"The sense of immersion is even stronger after the mask is removed!!!"
On the field.
Beside the ring.
Bai Lili looked at Qiji, who stepped out from [the Time of Nonexistence].
Seeing that the other person was not wearing a mask and had revealed their true face, my heart skipped a beat.
Accustomed to living as the fiancée of the Thousand Faces Family, she subconsciously wanted to turn her flushed, burning cheeks away...
With a guy as handsome as Qiji, she felt like she was cheating on him every time she looked at him!
However, the next moment, Bai Lili suddenly remembered—
No, I've already been jilted...
My mood darkened for a moment, but then a sense of almost vengeful exhilaration arose!
Now that she's no longer bound by the engagement, she can look at people openly and honestly, right?
So, for the first time, she mustered her courage and stared intently at the figure on the ring.
It's as if they're making up for all the things they didn't dare to watch or weren't able to watch before, all at once.
This was the first time Liuli had seen the face beneath Qiji's mask.
The girl stood there, stunned.
She had heard many people say that Qiji's face under the mask was handsome.
However, Liuli secretly hoped more than once that those were just false rumors.
She had secretly prayed that Qiji's face would be more ordinary.
The kind of face that you wouldn't notice in a crowd is the best.
This way, fewer superficial women will get close to them.
Liuli felt that Qiji's greatest charm had nothing to do with his face.