Eldritch Horror Theatre

When he saw his first opponent, Fu Qian momentarily thought the black knight had just gotten a new paint job.

To his surprise, it was yet another guy clad head-to-toe in Armor!

While less ostentatious than the black knight, he was still armed to the teeth.

Completely ignoring the referee's nonsense, Fu Qian looked up at the stands with great interest.

The stands currently looked like a craft exhibition for the Ring Archipelago, displaying a dazzling array of bizarre modifications.

Three arms and four legs, scaly skin and long tails—the sheer variety of structures that defied human imagination was breathtaking.

Accompanied by the occasional howl, it felt as though he had stepped into a Colosseum.

Except all the beasts were sitting in the stands.

Fu Qian wasn't an intolerant man; in fact, he was quite supportive of various bodily modifications.

The problem was that these limb-grafting spectators in the stands entirely lacked aesthetic taste.

Even clay dolls molded by blindfolded kindergarteners would look more pleasing to the eye.

As the old saying went, looks equaled combat power; ugly things were never strong.

Whatever the White Tower Company's level of technology might be, their taste was simply atrocious.

In comparison, the succubus on the beach had actually looked fairly decent.

"3, 2, 1, the match begins."

The referee finally announced the start of the match. Almost immediately, his opponent charged forward.

With a howling gust of wind, a gleaming Greatsword cleaved down at him.

Protected by his heavy Armor, the man abandoned all defense to attempt an instant kill with his Greatsword. Even if Fu Qian counterattacked, the worst outcome for his opponent would be trading blows.

It had to be said, this was a highly rational tactic—provided the two of them were actually on equal footing.

Facing the descending flash of cold steel, Fu Qian didn't dodge or evade. He simply stomped his foot onto the ground.

With a thunderous boom, dust billowed and shattered stone went flying.

That single stomp caved the seemingly indestructible arena floor into a deep crater.

The violent shockwave blasted his opponent away. The man slammed onto the ground, sword and all, completely unable to get back up.

The entire exchange had taken less than five seconds.

...

The referee—who had two tentacles growing from his arms, each topped with an eye—stared at the crater with all four of his eyes. He remained dead silent for a long time before finally snapping back to his senses.

Seeing that Fu Qian had no interest in stepping forward to finish his opponent off, the referee reluctantly called the match.

When Fu Qian returned to the waiting room, the other three fighters were entirely absent. All four Priestesses looked over at him in unison, their expressions somewhat complicated.

Looking out into the arena, Fu Qian soon spotted the energetic young man.

He was currently standing on one of the rings. His opponent was a woman who clearly adhered to the philosophy that wearing less meant higher defense; her movements flashed plenty of skin.

Because her combat style relied heavily on close-quarters grappling locks, the ensuing fight was quite a scandalous spectacle.

The audience in the stands, however, absolutely ate it up. Amidst a chorus of wild howling, they frantically hurled all sorts of random garbage toward the ring.

The energetic young man obviously wasn't a transcendent, though it was clear he had undergone extensive physical training.

He traded agile blows, his eyes barely managing to remain clear-headed against his opponent's fleshy offensive, and ultimately ground out a difficult victory.

When his opponent collapsed from exhaustion, he showed similar sportsmanship and refrained from dealing a finishing blow, which drew a chorus of boos from the stands.

Upon returning to the waiting room, the young man couldn't hide his excitement.

Faced with the Priestesses gazing at him like a returning hero, he awkwardly accepted a towel, though he still made sure to shoot Fu Qian a wary glance.

'That really isn't necessary!'

Fu Qian shook his head inwardly.

'I have no idea how you were conned into coming here, but you really don't need to treat me as a potential threat.'

Soon, the other two fighters also returned. Miraculously, all four of them had survived to see the next round.

There were no breaks between rounds, and the energetic young man was quickly called back out.

Unfortunately, his luck wasn't nearly as good this time.

His new opponent was a burly, bald man bulging with knotted muscle. His face was covered in a crisscrossing network of scars, giving him an incredibly ferocious aura.

Of course, none of that was the main point. The main point was that this man was clearly a transcendent.

The moment he stepped into the ring, a fiery, searing heat radiated from his fists.

Seeing this, the energetic young man knew he was outmatched, but he clearly didn't want to throw in the towel just yet.

Mustering every ounce of his focus, he tracked his opponent's every movement, vainly hoping to draw the fight out into a grappling match.

His opponent, however, gave him no such chance.

With a flash of fire, the young man was sent flying, tumbling all the way to the edge of the ring before sliding to a halt.

His entire upper arm was completely mangled and charred black, and the man himself had been knocked out cold.

And that was only because he had reacted swiftly enough to raise his arms in defense at the very last second.

According to the rules, losing consciousness like this didn't count as surrendering. Therefore, he was still eligible for the promised reward: a Permanent Pass.

He might have been banking on that exact loophole.

Fortunately, his opponent was equally disdainful of finishing off a downed foe. After landing the punch, he simply stood his ground and looked at the referee, waiting for the match to be called.

The referee, however, made no move to do so. Instead, he stared fixatedly at the unconscious young man.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1—

Five seconds later, the young man's body spasmed. A burst of yellow-white flame erupted from his charred arm and instantly engulfed his entire body, reducing him to a charred husk in a matter of seconds.

Only then did the referee slowly and methodically declare the bald man the victor. The stands erupted into an even more feverish roar of applause, thoroughly satisfied by the spectacle.

'Just as I thought!'

Fu Qian shook his head.

Just as the saying went: what you can't seize through violence, you can't secure through rules, either.

Some loopholes were left open specifically to bait you into exploiting them.

The guy had been too naive.

Fu Qian glanced to the side. The young man's Priestess was utterly expressionless as she expertly packed his belongings, clearly preparing to mail them back along with his ashes.

Just then, Fu Qian heard his own name called. It was time for his second match.

Unsurprisingly, when Fu Qian stepped into the ring, he saw the scorch marks left behind by the young man in the corner.

The cleaners had clearly done their best, but they hadn't been able to scrape the floor completely clean.

His second opponent had already taken the stage and was glaring at him with a highly provocative expression.

"3, 2—"

Before the referee even finished the countdown, a dark shadow rushed forward, bringing with it a flash of cold steel. The figure moved erratically, drifting like a ghost.

Fu Qian glanced up at the referee, who remained entirely indifferent.

So that was how it worked. Fu Qian suddenly remembered the golden rule of the Ring Archipelago: anything not explicitly forbidden was permitted.

The referee did conduct a countdown, but the rules read aloud earlier had never actually stated that fighters had to wait for the countdown to finish before attacking.

Facing the aggressively charging opponent, Fu Qian twisted his body, raised his foot, and gathered his strength.

Boom!

With an earth-shattering boom, half of the arena instantly collapsed. A crater nearly ten times larger than the previous one was blown open right before everyone's eyes.

Inside the crater lay two mangled corpses.

If he remembered correctly, the rules hadn't said anything about not killing the referee, either.

After two seconds of dead silence, the stands erupted into an orgasmic frenzy of cheering.

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