Chapter 446: Psychic Civil War
"Psycho Ball!"
The world-class idol, everyone's darling, the energetic high school girl Athena Asamiya, who champions love and justice, crossed her hands over her chest with full vigor and launched a light pinkish-red spherical wave at Cheng.
This could be said to be one of the purest applications of psychic energy, and from the shape of her wave, its flight speed, and energy fluctuations, it was clear that she possessed far greater experience and ability in using psychic energy than her current age suggested.
The Psycho Ball could be described as a control ability with the lightest burden, decent damage, and almost no casting delay.
However, compared to when she used it for sparring or training, Athena's Psycho Ball clearly carried an extra edge, signaling her "seriousness."
Facing this Psycho Ball, Cheng Tian, who was clearly using The World as his Stand, dramatically pulled his left hand out of his pocket and made a strong, powerful gun-finger gesture towards the Psycho Ball's trajectory—
Muda!
The orange-gold humanoid instantly flashed forth, its fists, imbued with flames the same color as its skin, smashed fiercely into the Psycho Ball.
Fist and ball collided, ending with the Psycho Ball being shattered and exploding.
Athena couldn't help but be slightly stunned, feeling that this humanoid seemed to have changed from what she had seen on TV before.
Relying on her TOP Domain psychic powers, Athena had long ago determined the existence form of The World: a high-concentration psychic energy materialized product, which in a sense was no different from her own Psycho Ball.
But she could see that it also contained a more tightly knit connection than pure psychic energy, something as profound as the soul.
In other words, if one could damage this humanoid wave ball, then one could also damage the main body. And since it was a humanoid wave ball, then when the opponent used The World to nullify the Psycho Ball, he would inevitably suffer some loss himself.
However, the situation before her eyes differed somewhat from what she had imagined.
This thing, which was already a humanoid wave ball, actually used additional psychic flames to precisely neutralize her Psycho Ball!
A series of thoughts flashed through her mind, but The World's body, which at first glance seemed strange but became increasingly beautiful the more she looked at it, was already rapidly closing in on her.
The idol high school student clearly had no desire to engage in close-quarters combat with something that obviously possessed super strong physical attack capabilities.
She executed an elegant 360-degree spin, and amidst the nearly panicked gasps of countless fans and spectators, she met The World's merciless punch with her own body, without any protection.
When the fist passed through Athena's body, a significant portion of her rabid fans even fainted and rioted on the spot.
But almost in the next second, the "Athena" that The World had punched through dissipated, and another identical figure had already appeared behind Cheng Tian—
Psychic Teleportation!
Powerful psychic users can tear space, construct temporary spatial passages, fold two points with a certain distance between them, and then pass through to achieve instantaneous distance traversal. Athena was one of the best at this.
Moreover, Athena's teleportation ability was more deceptive than similar abilities used by Dhalsim or Vega. Not only was it swift, but it could also leave behind a briefly existing illusion in her original spot.
Having simultaneously evaded The World and closed in on Cheng Tian, Athena's small hand was already almost touching Cheng Tian's back.
In an instant, a sharp psychic wave enveloped Cheng Tian's entire body.
[You have been subjected to a "Super Psychic Penetration" throw judgment from Athena Asamiya.]
[Judgment is based on Mental attribute. Base success probability is 75%. Each 1 point difference in Mental attribute affects the probability by 1%.]
[The difference in Mental attribute between you and Athena Asamiya is 0, so the probability remains unchanged.
Your Legend value is 2 points, Athena Asamiya's Legend value is 1 point. Resistance probability +10%.]
[Resistance failed.]
The moment the judgment was completed, Cheng Tian was wrapped in psychic energy and sent directly into the sky without any resistance!
And at the same time, The World, which was in front, also showed a visible pause in its movements due to its main body being attacked.
In fighting games, there is a concept of "throw techniques," which are usually activated by overpowering an opponent's strength with even greater strength. Goro Daimon and Clark are typical examples of this.
But among conventional strength-versus-strength judgments, Athena's psychic throw technique was the most unique; she used a mental-versus-mental judgment method.
Not only that, she even converted the influence brought by her status as a world-class idol into 1 point of Legend value, so Cheng Tian's flight was not unwarranted.
Having thrown Cheng Tian into mid-air, Athena's psychic energy had already condensed into a sword. With a quick run-up and charge, she performed a small jump towards Cheng Tian in the air, followed by an upward slash—
Psycho Sword!
A standard psychic throw combined with an anti-air Psycho Sword combo. Under normal circumstances, Cheng, whose body was experiencing paralysis, would undoubtedly take this hit. But just as the sharp Psycho Sword was about to cut through Cheng Tian's body, a dazzling light, almost like sunlight, suddenly erupted from Cheng Tian—
Solar! Flare!
The intense light instantly enveloped not only Athena, who was looking directly at Cheng Tian, but also countless live audience members, TV viewers, and even the staff and contestants, all of whom saw their vision turn stark white at that moment.
The two vampires in the arena reacted the most strongly.
The dignified Remilia clutched her head, hunkered down, curled into a ball, and shivered.
Under Demitri's black robe, a somewhat noticeable black smoke began to rise.
For other normal, visually-abled units, the Solar Flare only had a blinding effect at most, just temporarily blinding them. But for vampires, this was akin to having a basin of sulfuric acid poured directly on them!
Being able to resist regular daytime sunlight thanks to MUGEN's adaptive rules did not mean they could resist a Solar Flare enhanced by 15% of the Sun God's Gem fragments!
The screams, strange cries, and angry shouts from an unknown number of audience members immediately filled the entire arena and the living rooms of every household. Cheng Tian's popularity as a top sixteen contestant also began to plummet due to this egregious act of flashing everyone in public.
As the one who took the full brunt of the Solar Flare without warning, Athena's vision also turned stark white, but the inertia of her body's attack had not ended. She could clearly feel her Psycho Sword cutting through something... a shield also composed of psychic energy.
Oh no!
With her eyes tightly shut and tears flowing almost instinctively, Athena cried out in alarm in her heart, her mind throbbing—this was the instinct of danger perception granted by high psychic ability.
Unsurprisingly, The World, whose body had been paused far away, had vanished from thin air and reappeared beside Cheng Tian, sending a fist towards Athena without any concept of chivalry or gentleness.
However, an incredibly powerful psychic wave suddenly erupted from Athena, who was temporarily blind, causing her to hover in mid-air. Her smooth black hair even stood upright, blown by the airflow, like a Super Saiyan.
At the same time, two blue, highly concentrated psychic wave balls appeared out of thin air, beginning to rotate rapidly in a crisscrossing, cyclical trajectory around Athena's body—
Special Move: Shining Crystal Wave!