Ye Xinglan was like a long, sharp blade. Among the members of Shrek Academy's team, she had not left a deep impression in the minds of the Star Luo Empire's common people, because she had not participated in the final stage of the individual category. She, Gu Yue, Xu Lizhi and Xu Xiaoyan received less attention compared to everybody else.
A tall youth with a large physique walked out from Sky Academy's side.
"Shrek Academy is sending out the contestant Ye Xinglan. She reached the final sixty-four in the individual category earlier, but she backed out from the final rounds for some undisclosed reason. Sky Academy is sending out their captain Xu Xuhang. The contestant Xu Xuhang gave an outstanding performance in this year's competition. With his impressive abilities, he managed to reach the final sixteen in the individual category. We're anticipating an exciting match."
Xu Xuhang had been observing Shrek Academy's team the whole time, even before the group category matches began. However, the opponent he faced now was not the target of his attention.
He had actually paid more attention to Yuanen Yehui and Yue Zhengyu. There was no doubt that they were the stronger fighters in the individual category. Even though Yue Zhengyu had not reached the finals, he had been defeated by Long Yue himself. His Holy Angel martial soul left quite a profound impression on the others. Yuanen Yehui, in turn, had even advanced to the final eight but was later eliminated after she withdrew from her fight against Tang Wulin.
In everyone's eyes, Yuanen Yehui was the strongest contestant from Shrek Academy's representative team, besides Tang Wulin.
Thus, Xu Xuhang first heaved a sigh of relief when he realized that his opponent was not Yuanen Yehui, then he felt a little astonished.
Could it be that Shrek Academy's side did not fully understand the group category? Were they unaware that the first round was very important? If they could achieve victory in the first match then it would do a lot to motivate their companions, which was a great advantage in the later rounds.
He did not care anymore. He would need to win this match whatever the case. He did not expect that the troop he led from Sky Academy would triumph over Shrek Academy's team, but it would be highly beneficial for his future development if he could achieve even just one victory. At least he could brag about how he defeated Shrek Academy's side.
The group category's rules were not that different from that of the individual competition. The judge did not speak much before he announced the start of the match.
Ye Xinglan took small steps as she swiftly dashed toward Xu Xuhang. Xu Xuhang too released his martial soul immediately, along with his battle armor as well.
Naturally, his power had to be impressive for him to have advanced to the final sixteen of the individual category. He was a rank-52 Soul King and a one-word battle armor master. He was the greatest genius Sky Academy had produced in centuries. Within the academy, he was peerless.
Pieces of silvery-white battle armor flew out and quickly attached to his body. Xu Xuhang was very smart. After he found out that they were fighting against Shrek Academy's team today, he had his companions watch almost all the match recordings related to Shrek Academy. Thus, they had a well researched and detailed study on their opponents.
He discovered that Shrek Academy's team members were very skilled in seizing opportunities. Despite not having a single one-word battle armor master on their team, they somehow managed to defeat numerous one-word battle armor masters that they had come up against. Hence, he took the initiative to release his one-word battle armor at the beginning of the match without even the slightest hesitation. His various abilities would be greatly enhanced by the one-word battle armor's augmentation.
The silvery-white battle armor could not be described as pleasing to the eye, but Xu Xuhang's aura was elevated vastly after it encased his entire body. A silvery-white war hammer appeared in his right hand. This was his martial soul, the Soul Devouring Hammer.
The Soul Devouring Hammer was a tool soul. He was an assault-type battle Soul King.
The most distinguishing feature of his martial soul was that it was capable of devouring soul power. It was capable of sustaining powerful attacks while simultaneously draining the opponent's strength.
This meant he was actually the most skilled in his group. The amplification and dampening effect of the Soul Devouring Hammer was usually very effective in a combat team.
Most of the opponents were not used to this method, and he could take advantage of that.
While he was releasing his battle armor and martial soul, two yellow and three purple soul rings arose. He did not attack initially but instead, chose to wait for his opponent to exhaust herself. He had rich tactical experience as well as he waited for Ye Xinglan to enter his range, upon which he would instantly launch his Soul Devouring Hammer's soul skill. The Soul Devouring Hammer was even more powerful with the battle armor's amplification. He believed that he could easily defeat the opponent with just the Soul Devouring Hammer's ability to devour soul power.
However, was it going to play out like that?
Ye Xinglan's gaze was burning as she stared at him. Four purple soul rings arose from underneath her feet as the Stargod Sword appeared.
When the two fighters were about fifty meters apart, the first soul ring on her body suddenly began to glow.
A speckle of starlight suddenly glowed. Xu Xuhang could only see as the speckle of starlight suddenly enlarged in his pupils from afar. The distance between both opponents almost instantly vanished.
When seen from the audience's perspective, Ye Xinglan approached Xu Xuhang until she was about fifty meters away when she suddenly transformed into a phantom sword that vanished in a flash immediately and appeared before Xu Xuhang in the next moment.
Xu Xuhang was not in a rush or a panic. He raised the Soul Devouring Hammer in his right hand as his first soul ring glowed. A yellow soul ring was released from the Soul Devouring Hammer.
It was the Soul Devouring Soul Ring! Anything that was enshrouded by this soul ring would have its soul power continuously drained by the Soul Devouring Hammer. The speed of devouring and absorption would be directly related to the disparity between both parties' power.
"Ding!"
With the amplification of the battle armor, Xu Xuhang had the speed he required. The Soul Devouring Hammer blocked the Stargod Sword's frontal attack at just the right time.
However, it was during the split second when he blocked Ye Xinglan's Stargod Sword that he suddenly saw speckles of starlight burst out from Ye Xinglan.
The starlight first appeared on her chest, then it shimmered around her entire body. The glittering sparkles gathered together and formed a giant, star-shaped sword on her back and emitted an aura that was incomparably sharp in that split second.
A layer of golden battle armor covered Ye Xinglan's body instantly. In the blink of an eye, the consciousness of the Stargod Sword in her hand had almost reached its peak.
"Boom!" Xu Xuhang had exhausted the Soul Devouring Hammer's power in his hand, yet it was as if the sword's consciousness had covered his entire body. He was blasted away by the impact immediately.
"Battle armor! A complete set of one-word battle armor!" Fang'er commentated in a high-pitched voice. There was no doubt that the tone of her voice was not raised due to Xu Xuhang's one-word battle armor but Ye Xinglan's!
Yes!
All this while, Ye Xinglan, who had only been missing the core component, had finally completed a full set of battle armor. It was done in the previous week, after Tang Wulin's disappearance, and through a great deal of pressure. At long last, she succeeded under the constant provocation of her incomparable thirst for power.
It was never troublesome to put on one-word battle armor made of spirit alloy. At present, Ye Xinglan's entire body was covered in faint golden battle armor. Most of her armor had a fish scale pattern. It was not especially complicated, but it exuded a sharp sensation. A sword-shaped ornament was positioned in the center of her golden headband. There were no ornate patterns on her body's battle armor, just faint speckles of starlight. The armor's color was quite similar to Tang Wulin's because all of it had been forged using the same Star Silver. The core cuirass on her chest was in the shape of a reversed sword bolted with thirteen pieces of sword-shaped metal. The core circuit was placed right on top of these thirteen metal pieces.
Every part of this battle armor, down to the smallest piece of metal, was filled with an incomparable sharpness. The aura that burst out from it even made the arena's soul barrier tremble.
The Soul Devouring Hammer was extraordinary, but there were limits to its instant devouring ability. He would certainly be incapable of resisting the Stargod Sword's blow even with his one-word battle armor's support.
Both were similarly one-word battle armor masters, yet one-word battle armor forged from spirit alloy was already equipped with some features of two-word battle armor, which evened up the disparity between two parties' soul power, tactical experience, and ability, as well as the strength of their martial souls. How could Xu Xuhang possibly compare to Ye Xinglan?
Strands of cutting energy bloomed like flowers. The magnificent starlight was akin to water droplets on the blossoms that enshrouded Xu Xuhang's body instantly.
Streams of piercing radiance rippled and spread out from Xu Xuhang's body. He was bombarded by the razor-sharp light to such an extent that he had no chance to recover or launch a soul skill.
Those streams of sword energy continuously tore at his battle armor. Despite his battle armor's defense, which caused his soul power to drop immensely, the sharp aura still suffocated him.