Inside the massive dome arena, the roar of the crowd was deafening, surging back and forth like a stormy tide.
Brilliant spotlights shone down from the vaulted ceiling, illuminating the dusty, bloodstained sand of the central fighting ring, eagerly waiting for the next two gladiators to step into the light.
Up in the announcer's booth, Sayaka Katahara was delivering a highly passionate commentary, masterfully hyping up the crowd to a fever pitch.
The audience was practically vibrating with anticipation. This was the fourth match of the first round, and undeniably the most highly anticipated fight of the entire opening day: The new Fang of Metsudo, Lu Li, versus the Kouou Academy's mysterious rookie, the "Queen of Assassins."
From every conceivable angle, this match was a spectacular draw.
First and foremost, the entire audience was burning with curiosity as to why Chairman Metsudo had suddenly replaced his invincible Fang right before the tournament. Just how monstrously strong was this new Fang?
Secondly, the Kouou Women's Academy's rookie fighter was an absolute historical anomaly. She was the very first female proxy fighter to ever step into the Kengan Annihilation Tournament!
It wasn't that the audience was inherently sexist, but in the realm of raw, unadulterated, no-holds-barred martial combat, weight classes existed for a reason. Biologically speaking, women generally lacked the towering bone structure, sheer muscle mass, and explosive testosterone-fueled kinetic output of the male fighters. In the underground arena, that was a catastrophic disadvantage.
Furthermore, everyone had seen the official fighter portraits. This "Queen of Assassins" wasn't some hulking, steroid-pumped Amazonian freak. She looked like an incredibly slender, beautiful, ordinary young woman. How on earth was she supposed to survive, let alone win, in this slaughterhouse?
"Next to enter the arena is the absolute storm of the new era! The very first female gladiator in Kengan history! The thorny demon flower from the mysterious East! The hidden trump card of Kouou Women's Academy! With a Kengan match record of 2 wins and 0 losses, having secured 17.5 billion yen in corporate assets... The Queen of Assassins, Liu Wuxiang!"
Sayaka Katahara's voice blasted through the stadium speakers. "Will she secure a miraculous victory for Kouou Academy?! Will she rewrite Kengan history today?!"
As her introduction echoed, a figure stepped out from the challenger's tunnel. It was a woman wearing a stunning, high-slit traditional cheongsam.
Her long black hair was tied back into a high ponytail. She was tall and slender, and the exposed skin of her arms and thighs was pale, smooth, and flawless. She didn't look like a martial artist who had spent her life undergoing brutal, bone-breaking conditioning; she looked like a pampered heiress from a wealthy family.
Her expression was entirely aloof and icy. Her bright, pitch-black eyes casually swept over the roaring crowd, completely ignoring their jeers. Without a single wave or attempt to interact with the audience, she walked to the center of the ring and stood perfectly still.
"You think a tiny little thing like you can challenge the Fang of Metsudo?! Go challenge him in bed!"
"Hahahaha! Is Kouou Academy seriously out of fighters? Just because you're a women's academy doesn't mean you have to send a woman to die!"
"Hey, she's gorgeous! Come hook up with me after you get disqualified, sweetheart!"
...
The stands erupted with mocking laughter and vulgar, misogynistic catcalls. The sheer disrespect was palpable, causing even Sayaka in the announcer's booth to frown in disgust.
Up in the VIP corporate suites, Shion Soryuin, the Chairwoman of Kouou Women's Academy, glared down at the crowd, her forehead bulging with veins. "These braindead monkeys who only think with their lower halves... How dare they underestimate Wuxiang?!"
Her assistant standing beside her was equally furious, screaming down at the arena. "Wuxiang! Show them your true power! Beat the crap out of that Fang guy and show these sexist pigs who the real strongest is!"
Shion didn't scream. She simply lit a cigarette and stared intently at Liu Wuxiang. She knew exactly how terrifying this girl was.
After Setsuna Kiryu had been mysteriously assassinated, Liu Wuxiang had volunteered herself to step in as their proxy fighter. Although she had only fought in two official Kengan matches so far, her completely anomalous, logic-defying physical strength and exquisite technique had utterly shocked the Kouou executives.
Shion couldn't accurately judge if Liu Wuxiang was stronger or weaker than the late Setsuna Kiryu, but she firmly believed Liu Wuxiang was absolutely a top-tier Kengan fighter. After all, in her previous asset-acquisition match, she had successfully defeated the legendary pro-wrestler, Jun Sekibayashi.
In Shion's eyes, Liu Wuxiang was a breath of fresh air in this hyper-masculine slaughterhouse. Who said women couldn't fight? She didn't actually expect Liu Wuxiang to defeat the new Fang of Metsudo, but she was absolutely confident the girl would put up a spectacular fight and leave a permanent, bloody impression on the crowd.
"Come on. Show them your strength!" Shion muttered, her eyes locking onto the opposite entrance tunnel, eagerly awaiting the legendary new Fang.
Sayaka Katahara's voice boomed through the stadium once more. "And entering from the opposite side! Also hailing from the mysterious East! The man who has inherited the absolute pinnacle essence of ancient martial arts! The man who completely usurped the throne from the previous Emperor, Agito Kanoh! The representative fighter of Dainippon Bank! The newborn Emperor of Kengan! Making his absolute debut today with a Kengan record of 0 wins and 0 losses... The Fang of Metsudo, Lu Li!"
Following the grand introduction, Lu Li strolled out of the tunnel, looking incredibly relaxed and utterly bored.
Honestly, he viewed this entire tournament as a trivial warmup. The absolute only person he was genuinely looking forward to fighting was the Devil Lance, Kuroki Gensai.
As Lu Li casually walked to his side of the ring, the woman standing opposite him suddenly froze. Her entire body went completely rigid.
The "Queen of Assassins", Liu Wuxiang, stared dead at Lu Li. Her icy, aloof expression shattered, rapidly cycling through absolute shock, disbelief, and sheer terror, as if she were witnessing the most impossible, absurd glitch in the universe.
She was a highly trained operative belonging to a major Terminus Space faction known as the 'Botanical Garden'. She possessed a high-tier reconnaissance item. As long as the target's Spirit attribute didn't exceed 30 points, her item could scan and reveal a portion of their core skills and combat proficiencies.
[Armament Haki], [Hado], [Kaido], [Bakudo], [Master-Tier Blade Proficiency], [Master-Tier Sword Proficiency], [Master-Tier Unarmed Combat], [Master-Tier Parry/Deflection], [Master-Tier Movement/Footwork], [Master-Tier...]
Her brain completely blue-screened under the endless cascade of [Master-Tier] notifications. She literally raised a hand and rubbed her eyes, genuinely convinced her premium system item had suffered a catastrophic bug.
Liu Wuxiang's pretty head was completely overflowing with question marks.
What the actual fuck?!
Aside from his base attributes being somewhat normal for this world... absolutely everything else about this man is completely anomalous!
What the hell is up with all these Master-Tier proficiencies?! And why does he have so many of them?!
Also... you brought Armament Haki and supernatural Soul Reaper magic from 'Bleach' into a grounded, hand-to-hand Kengan fighting tournament?! Isn't that literal, unapologetic bullying?!
Liu Wuxiang had been scouted by the prestigious Botanical Garden faction specifically because she was a rare genius. At merely Level 7, she had already ground her Unarmed Combat proficiency up to the [Expert] tier. Among Tier 1 Explorers, she was considered an absolute prodigy.
But even in her wildest nightmares, she couldn't fathom an Explorer managing to grind multiple combat proficiencies to the [Master] tier while still being locked in Tier 1!
This is utter bullshit.
Her final Main Mission objective was to secure a proxy fighter slot, enter the tournament, and survive against the Fang of Metsudo for exactly 30 seconds without being defeated.
Terrified of accidentally running into an invincible wall like Kuroki Gensai or a psychotic mutant like Raian Kure during the brackets, she had purposely acted like a haughty, arrogant powerhouse. She actively pressured Chairwoman Shion—who had drawn a terrible lottery number—to just bite the bullet and place her directly against the Fang of Metsudo in the very first round.
She had thought this was a brilliant shortcut to speedrun her mission.
Based on her own strength and her accurate assessment of the canon Kengan fighters, she knew she couldn't actually defeat Agito Kanoh. But she was highly confident she could casually kite him and survive for 30 seconds.
That was why she had initially been confused when the system flagged the mission difficulty as "Normal ~ Certain Death."
Now, she completely understood.
If it had been the Agito Kanoh version of the Fang, she could have absolutely stalled for 30 seconds and cleared the mission. But against this "Lu Li" version of the Fang? If she tried to fight him head-on, and he actually wanted to kill her, it wouldn't even take him ten seconds!
She had indeed chosen a shortcut. A shortcut straight to the afterlife.
Liu Wuxiang's brain processed a million calculations a second. Finally, a legendary scripture revered among all low-tier Explorers in the Terminus Space flashed through her mind: The Holy Bible of Cowardice and Survival.
According to Rule #17 of the Bible, she instantly formulated her counter-strategy.
"Will the unprecedented female fighter Liu Wuxiang create history?! Or will the new Fang of Metsudo display the absolute, terrifying majesty of the Emperor?! Who will claim victory today?! Let's find out!"
With Sayaka Katahara's explosive commentary and the referee's downward chop, the match officially began.
And in the exact microsecond the match started, an event occurred that utterly shattered the minds of everyone in the stadium. Up in the VIP suite, Shion Soryuin's cigarette literally fell out of her mouth as she stared in speechless horror.
Because the "Queen of Assassins" instantly transformed into the "Queen of Surrender."
She executed a physically flawless, impossibly fast Dogeza (a profound, kneeling bow of absolute submission), slamming her forehead directly into the sand right in front of Lu Li's feet.
"BOSS! PLEASE DON'T HIT ME!"
Her voice wasn't incredibly loud, but it carried clearly across the silent ring, directly into Lu Li's ears.
Lu Li, who had just shifted his weight and was fully prepared to instantly blitz and violently knock her out, completely froze in his tracks.
...What the hell kind of play is this?
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