Elder Ma's eyes gleamed as he stared intently at Firefly in the arena. A thought instantly flashed through his mind: if Firefly could cooperate with their Mingde Hall's research, then the technology of humanoid soul tools might experience rapid, groundbreaking development.
However, just as he was immersed in this wonderful fantasy, Elder Ma suddenly felt an icy, piercing gaze directed at him.
He instinctively followed the direction of the gaze and saw, in a corner of the spectator stands, a beautiful woman with a black eye patch and silvery, snow-like hair quietly watching him.
Although the woman's gaze was obscured by the eye patch, Elder Ma felt as if two tangible, cold stares were upon him. A terrifying pressure washed over him, making the hairs on his body stand on end and a chilling sensation shoot from his feet to the top of his head.
"Snow Moon Douluo!"
Elder Ma's body trembled violently, his face showing horror. He quickly averted his gaze, no longer daring to entertain any extraneous thoughts.
He suddenly remembered that the young girl currently competing was from St. Freya Academy, and St. Freya Academy was backed by a super powerhouse like Snow Moon Douluo. He had indeed been too presumptuous just now.
Meanwhile, in Shrek Academy's lounge, Ma Xiaotao felt as if she had been struck by an electric current. Her body trembled uncontrollably, and she stared blankly at Firefly in the arena.
Feeling the Phoenix True Flame within her growing restless and seemingly submitting to the flames on Firefly's body, she subconsciously murmured, "Ultimate Fire!"
"Yuhao, it's Ultimate Fire!" Almost simultaneously, Ice Empress and Skydream Iceworm's surprised voices rang out in Huo Yuhao's mind.
"What did you say?" Wang Yan, as if he had heard something unbelievable, snapped his head back. Dai Yaohuan, Ling Luochen, and others also looked at Ma Xiaotao with expressions of shock.
Although they also felt the immense power of the flames released by Firefly in the arena—after all, An Lengye's ice was instantly vaporized without a trace before those flames—they never considered the possibility of Ultimate Fire. Ultimate attribute soul masters were simply too rare. Over tens of thousands of years, Shrek Academy had only produced a handful.
And among this generation of students, only Huo Yuhao possessed an ultimate attribute. Ma Xiaotao even needed to cultivate to the Titled Douluo level before it was possible for her to condense her flames into Ultimate Fire.
"That's right, it's the Ultimate Fire martial soul!" Ma Xiaotao's face was exceptionally grave as she slowly nodded.
She knew in her heart that a Soul King-level Ultimate Fire soul master had too strong a counter to her.
Even though she was now a Soul Sage, once she faced Firefly, under the absolute suppression of the Ultimate Fire, she would only be able to endure a beating.
Just as Huo Yuhao, with his Ultimate Ice, had absolute suppression over Ling Luochen, her flames would be completely ineffective before Firefly's Ultimate Fire, and Firefly's flames would be enough to burn her to ashes!
"How could this happen!" Wang Yan subconsciously wiped the sweat from his forehead, his expression grim.
His heart was filled with worry. How were they supposed to fight this match now?
Their ace, Ma Xiaotao, was completely countered by the opponent, and the other members of St. Freya Academy were also exceptionally strong and not to be trifled with.
What was even more despairing was that all seven competing members of St. Freya Academy were under fifteen years old, meaning they could still participate in the next Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament.
If they were already so formidable this year, wouldn't their strength reach an even higher level next year? By then, who could contend with them, and what would they use to fight them?!
"Bang!" A thunderous crash, like a sudden clap of thunder, broke the silence in the competition arena.
Inside the arena, Firefly was wreathed in flames. She exerted a slight force with her feet, and the powerful recoil instantly created a deep pit in the ground.
Leveraging this momentum, Firefly, carrying an aura of destruction, charged like a burning meteor towards the ice-encased shield wall of Thousand Spirits Academy.
The silver-white mecha, carrying surging heatwaves, cut a dazzling trajectory across the sky, heading straight for what appeared to be an indestructible defense.
At this moment, the entire scene was enveloped in an atmosphere of tension and shock.
The audience held their breath, their hearts seemingly clutched by an invisible hand. Their gazes were locked onto that small arena, afraid to look away for even a moment.
Firefly slowly raised her right arm, her right hand clenched into a fist. The flames on her fist continuously compressed and condensed, their temperature rapidly rising. Even the surrounding space rippled slightly, as if unable to withstand the scorching heat.
The silver-white mecha, at this moment, was like a miniature sun emitting endless light and heat. Wherever it passed, the air was warped out of shape by the high temperature, leaving clear, twisted trails.
"Rumble!"
The moment Firefly's fist collided with the shield wall, a deafening roar, like surging waves, instantly swept across the entire arena.
Rings of powerful shockwaves, centered on the point of collision, furiously spread outwards. Wherever they went, dust from the ground was lifted high, forming layers of thick smoke that enveloped the entire arena.
Thousand Spirits Academy's ice shield melted instantly under the terrifying high temperature, like accumulated snow under the warm spring sun.
And the dark yellow shield wall hidden inside the ice shield was not spared either. Under the impact of the flames, it violently trembled and swayed precariously, like a sea wall battered by a Level 12 raging hurricane.
Between the shield wall and the flames, countless dazzling sparks erupted. These sparks flew wildly in the dark smoke, illuminating the entire competition arena as if it were daytime.
Immediately after, the fire light exploded, and a pillar of flame shot up into the sky, piercing through the clouds.
The power of this punch was like a small nuclear bomb exploding, raising a mushroom cloud.
Thousand Spirits Academy's seemingly sturdy shield wall was instantly obliterated by this punch. The yellowish-brown fragments were instantly melted by the high temperature, disappearing without a trace.
The shockwave generated by the explosion was even more astonishingly powerful, directly sending Thousand Spirits Academy's four Spirit Rhino Shield soul masters flying.
Scorching hot air currents spread outwards like surging tides.
The four Spirit Rhino Shield soul masters had no choice but to immediately erect their soul power shields to resist the deadly high temperature.
However, this also caused their soul power to drain wildly, like a dam breaking.
In the eyes of the audience, they could only see a deafening flash of explosion, followed by a massive, scorching fireball erupting and shooting into the sky.
In an instant, the sky was dyed a dazzling crimson, as if someone had ignited a new sun in the distant firmament.
Just at this critical juncture, Dan Heng's figure appeared in an instant.
A green whirlwind condensed in his palm, then quickly enveloped the four Spirit Rhino Shield soul masters from Thousand Spirits Academy. With a gentle flick, he sent them out of the competition stage.
If these four soul masters were allowed to remain exposed to this high-temperature shockwave any longer, their soul power would quickly be exhausted, and they would ultimately be burned to ashes in their helpless state of lacking soul power.
The fiercely burning flames gradually subsided, and the tall, silver-white mecha slowly emerged from the flames with steady steps.
Behind her was a bottomless, dozens-of-meters-in-diameter crater.
The arena, originally made of memory metal, had now melted from the high temperature, transforming into a pool of scorching lava, slowly flowing.
This scene left everyone present stunned and filled with shock.
With just one punch, Firefly had displayed such terrifying power!
What was even harder to imagine was that before her transformation, Firefly was just a soft, adorable beautiful girl. Who would have thought that in battle, she would be so ferocious, possessing such destructive power?
On the other side of the arena, Gu Yue and March 7th looked at the Thousand Spirits Academy group, a hint of sympathy unconsciously appearing in their eyes.
Perhaps it would have been better if the others had made a move, but Lu Jingming specifically had Firefly launch the first attack.
They had witnessed such shocking scenes many times before.
Among St. Freya Academy's seven-member team, whenever Firefly made a move, the scene was always the most spectacular, grand in momentum, and full of destructive power.
"Clang!"
A dazzling scarlet electric light suddenly flashed. Lu Jingming, holding a long spear, darted in front of Shen Ce like a red lightning bolt.
He thrust his spear fiercely, its tip colliding intensely with the long spear in Shen Ce's hand, sending sparks flying.
"Snap out of it, the battle isn't over yet!" Lu Jingming's expression was calm, his tone indifferent, yet the long spear in his hand gave Shen Ce no chance to catch his breath.
He twisted his wrist, and the long spear instantly transformed into countless afterimages, piercing towards Shen Ce like dense raindrops, forcing Shen Ce to clumsily and frantically defend himself.
Even with Fei Yu Yan's amplification, Shen Ce was completely at a disadvantage in both speed and strength.
On the other side, An Lengye also recovered from the shock of Firefly's punch.
Seeing her captain Shen Ce being suppressed by Lu Jingming and in a critical situation, she immediately and unhesitatingly commanded the Frost Giant Bear beside her to charge towards Firefly.
At the same time, An Lengye rapidly formed hand seals, her movements flowing smoothly.
As she moved, a snow-white pattern slowly appeared between her eyebrows. Simultaneously, her originally azure long hair instantly turned frosty white, and even her eyes became icy white, as if her entire being had transformed into a spirit of ice and snow.
With a deafening roar from the Frost Giant Bear, an astonishing cold current, centered on it, furiously spread outwards across the entire competition arena.
The moisture in the air instantly condensed into countless tiny ice crystals, shimmering with a cold light under the sunlight.
However, when this cold current approached Firefly, it seemed to encounter an invisible, scorching barrier. It was instantly dispersed by the high temperature, turning into a faint mist and vanishing.
Nevertheless, the Frost Giant Bear was merely An Lengye's diversion; her true trump card was herself.
A cold wind, controlled by her, rapidly condensed in the air, instantly transforming into a massive ice tornado that, carrying endless cold, swept towards Firefly.
"This is? A soul bone skill. I didn't expect her to have a soul bone, and a rare head soul bone at that!" Gu Yue, who had been standing by the side, not making a move and observing the battle, couldn't help but exclaim in surprise when she saw this scene.
Firefly's single strike successfully eliminated four of the opponent's members, and Lu Jingming seemed to be delighted by the hunt, wanting to spar with Shen Ce, who also used a spear-like weapon. In such a situation, they truly had no need to intervene.
"Looking at the power of this soul skill, it's still a ten-thousand-year soul bone!" Jinshi, observing from the side, also saw through it. She extended her right hand, and four golden streams of light instantly flew from her palm.
These four streams of light were incredibly fast, like four golden bolts of lightning, charging towards Fei Yu Yan, who was in the air trying to support her captain, at a terrifying speed.
Fei Yu Yan's face turned pale with fright upon seeing the four golden lights heading straight for her. She hastily controlled her Blazing Flame Tiger to dodge left and right, desperately trying to avoid them.
However, under Jinshi's exquisite control, the four golden streams of light seemed to have eyes, weaving back and forth at a dizzying speed.
Fei Yu Yan was chased and forced to flee everywhere, jumping up and down, with no spare energy to help her teammates.
Facing the incoming ice tornado, whose power rivaled a Soul King's attack, Firefly showed no fear.
The flames on her body burned even more intensely. Then, she slowly extended her hands, and under An Lengye's disbelieving gaze, she fiercely grabbed the ice tornado.
Then, Firefly exerted force with both arms, actually tearing this powerful ice tornado into two halves.
"Whoa!"
Watching this awe-inspiring scene, the audience erupted in an uproar.
Tearing a powerful soul skill apart with bare hands—such a scene was simply too shocking, beyond everyone's imagination.
The torn ice tornado instantly burst apart, transforming into countless ice crystals that scattered like snowflakes across the arena.
"Boom!"
Before An Lengye could recover from her shock, a figure, like a cannonball, slammed directly into her Frost Giant Bear with terrifying impact.
The Frost Giant Bear's massive body instantly disintegrated under this impact, turning into a cloud of cold mist.
With her mimicked martial soul shattered, An Lengye suffered a backlash. Her face instantly turned ashen, and a trickle of blood slowly overflowed from the corner of her mouth.
She instinctively looked back and saw Shen Ce slumped miserably in a freshly created deep crater, clearly having lost his combat capability.
At the same time, a figure rapidly approached. Lu Jingming, holding a black long spear, steadily placed its tip against her snow-white neck.
"Still fighting?" Lu Jingming asked calmly, his expression serene.
An Lengye bit her lip, tasting the metallic tang of rust in her mouth.
She looked up and saw Fei Yu Yan frantically darting about in the air, preoccupied with her own safety, and Shen Ce lying on the ground, powerless to resist. Then, there was the silver-white mecha, still radiating a scorching aura, like a god of war. She knew in her heart that the outcome of this battle was no longer in doubt.
With no other choice, she slowly raised her hands.
"We surrender!"