Elimination

Huaxia time, July 17th, 2066, marked the beginning of the arena battles.

The preliminary rounds, conducted across 100 world regions, were not broadcast, leaving countless cosmic citizens across the Ganwu Universe Nation's thirteen thousand star systems anxious, as they could only see the rankings. However, the upcoming arena battles would be open for live viewing, causing tickets to sell at an insane pace!

***

The arena free-for-all was divided into one thousand groups, with 200 groups competing each day.

Day one featured Groups 1 through 200.

Of the three qualifiers from the Black Dragon Mountain Empire—Nabini, Hong, and Luo Feng—Nabini was in Group 32, Hong in Group 161, and Luo Feng in Group 382. This meant Nabini and Hong would participate in the arena free-for-all on the first day, while Luo Feng's group was scheduled for the second day.

***

Within a specially designated plane space in the Virtual Universe, a boundless river surged, dotted with islands, each hosting a Martial Arena. These Martial Arenas were the venues for the current battles.

On Island No. 01932, the Martial Arena was packed with an endless sea of spectators. Among them were Luo Feng, Hong, Lei Shen, and their respective families.

“There are so many people! Dad, how big is this Martial Arena?” Pingping, with his parted hair, exclaimed.

“The Martial Arena is tens of kilometers long and wide,” Luo Feng chuckled. “It can accommodate up to a billion spectators.”

“A billion?!”

Pingping and Xiaohai, both children, gasped in astonishment.

In truth, a single football stadium on Earth could once hold a hundred thousand people. For these massive Martial Arenas, constructed on islands within a plane space in the Virtual Universe, accommodating a billion spectators was effortless. They simply needed to be a hundred or even several hundred times larger in length and width compared to an Earth football stadium.

“Brother-in-law,” Xu Gang said with a laugh from behind them, “I tried to snatch tickets as soon as the arena battles were announced, but I still couldn't get any. Luckily, you had tickets, otherwise, we'd be stuck watching the broadcast!”

“They're incredibly sought after. No one else in our studio managed to get tickets,” Luo Hua nodded in agreement.

“The entire Ganwu Universe Nation has over a hundred million galaxies. If just ten people from each galaxy bought tickets, they'd be sold out,” Luo Feng explained. “Of course, tickets would be tight! Because Big Brother and I both qualified, we had priority booking rights, which is how we managed to get dozens of tickets.”

Tickets were almost impossible to acquire!

The atmosphere in the entire Martial Arena was incredibly fervent. A billion people from hundreds of millions of galaxies gathered together—what a sight! Fortunately, this was the Virtual Universe; in the real world, simply organizing such a crowd would be a nightmare.

“Greetings, esteemed spectators!”

A sweet, clear voice echoed into the ears of all billion spectators in the Martial Arena.

The group from Earth in the stands turned to look. In the center of the Martial Arena stood a brown-haired girl with a fiery figure, clad in a tight-fitting battle suit. Due to the immense distance, spectators couldn't see her clearly, so a giant virtual projection appeared in the air above the arena, allowing everyone in the stands a clear view.

“What's about to unfold is Group 32 of the arena free-for-all. Allow me to introduce the one hundred genius experts of this group.”

“First up, Longsuo, from the Boya Empire. Previously, he ranked 12th in World Region 82.” The beautiful brown-haired girl's clear, melodious voice resonated in the ears of a billion spectators. Beside her, a screen displayed an image of the genius named Longsuo along with some basic information.

“Longsuo!”

“Longsuo!”

The entire Martial Arena suddenly erupted in thunderous cheers. In one particular section of the arena, a large crowd was wildly cheering, shouting Longsuo's name, their roars like thunder.

***

“Next, the second contestant…”

“And the third…”

One by one, the participating geniuses were introduced. Finally, the beautiful brown-haired girl smiled and announced, “At number 86, Nabini, from the Black Dragon Mountain Empire. He previously ranked 860th in World Region 21.” A screen beside her displayed Nabini's image and some brief introductory information.

“Boom!”

Luo Feng felt an explosion of sound around him, like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami of cheers erupting from a large section of the audience.

“Nabini!”

“Nabini!”

The cheers rolled like thunder. Immersed in this environment, many couldn't help but shout along. Pingping and Xiaohai beside him were waving their fists, their faces flushed as they loudly chanted, “Nabini, Nabini!”

“This is insane,” Luo Feng, Hong, and Lei Shen all chuckled.

The seating arrangement for the spectators placed those from the same star system in a single area. Luo Feng and his group were surrounded by spectators from the Black Dragon Mountain star system! Furthermore, star systems with participating geniuses received preferential treatment when purchasing tickets. Logically, with a billion tickets and over thirteen thousand star systems, each system would get fewer than a hundred thousand tickets.

However—

A star system with a participant could receive one million tickets. Because Nabini was competing, the Black Dragon Mountain star system was allocated one million tickets, meaning a million citizens from the Black Dragon Mountain Empire were in these stands. After hearing cheers from other star systems, it was now the Black Dragon Mountain star system's turn, and these million people shouted with excitement.

The cheers of a million people were like a tsunami.

“This Nabini is quite handsome,” Lei Shen murmured with a grin.

Nabini had a single braid, and his entire demeanor gave off the impression of a leopard.

“I've checked his record; it's quite impressive,” Hong said, raising his wrist. A record appeared on his wrist screen.

“Oh?” Luo Feng looked at the record.

Nabini was originally a native inhabitant of a planet, living a primitive life, battling monsters since childhood. This planet was actually a territorial possession of the Paris Family, used specifically for raising unique wild beasts and training warriors. The Paris Family, who had been secretly monitoring this planet, discovered a child with astonishing combat prowess and recognized him as a treasure! They immediately dispatched personnel to retrieve the young native, Nabini.

From then on, Nabini entered civilized society and quickly became an imperial citizen, eventually serving as an attendant to one of the Paris Family's young masters.

The Paris Family, though inconspicuous in the vast cosmos, was a commercial family that owned over a dozen life-sustaining planets.

However…

The Paris Family offended an enemy and was attacked by a powerful family, one that possessed a Universe-level expert. In a single star system, a Universe-level expert was practically an emperor! The Paris Family began to collapse… Yet, this battle attracted the attention of a certain Realm Lord wandering the cosmos. That Realm Lord noticed 'Nabini' in the battle, recognized his astonishing talent, and immediately intervened to halt the slaughter.

With the Realm Lord's intervention, the opposing family was too terrified to resist, thus preserving the Paris Family.

The Realm Lord took 'Nabini' as a disciple and brought him to the Sacred Land Heilong Mountain. Since then, Nabini had lived in the Sacred Land Heilong Mountain, his strength progressing even more rapidly. He was currently the most outstanding genius in the Sacred Land Heilong Mountain.

“A native?” Luo Feng mused. “In a way, we're natives too.”

“Indeed,” Hong nodded.

“I've found myself quite fond of this Nabini,” Lei Shen chuckled.

***

As Luo Feng and the others conversed, the beautiful girl in the center of the Martial Arena was also hyping up the atmosphere, excitedly shouting, “Esteemed spectators! Esteemed spectators! The arena battle is about to begin! Please count down with me and anticipate this clash of peak geniuses! 10! 9! 8!… 3! 2! 1!”

“Boom!”

The entire Martial Arena rumbled, and figures appeared in its center—the 100 geniuses from various star systems introduced earlier.

“Nabini!”

“Strak!”

“Longsuo!”

All sorts of cheers instantly ignited the entire Martial Arena, as if the shockwaves of the roaring shouts would tear it apart. Luo Feng immediately spotted Nabini among the hundred. Nabini, with his braid, had fierce eyes like a leopard. He carried two long, narrow battle blades on his back, cautiously observing the others.

“Combat, begin!” A deep voice echoed in the minds of everyone, including the billion spectators.

Silence!

The Martial Arena instantly fell silent, and the hundred genius experts in the center of the arena moved simultaneously.

“Pfft!”

“Whoosh!”

Streaks of light flashed, and genius experts rapidly dodged. The spreading domains turned the center of the Martial Arena into a kaleidoscope of colors, with various colored energy waves swirling and rolling. Genius experts either fled for their lives or engaged in combat, everything happening with lightning speed.

The free-for-all was extremely dangerous, as one constantly had to guard against sneak attacks.

“Nabini is quite cunning,” Lei Shen's eyes gleamed from the stands.

“It's no use, they're all incredibly smart,” Luo Feng frowned. The combat space for the genius experts in the center of the Martial Arena was continuously shrinking, forcing those flying on psychic weapons to stay close. Genius experts fell one after another. The death toll steadily climbed.

8, 14, 29, 36…

This caused anxiety among some of the billion spectators from various star systems, and some sighed deeply. However, the intense and rapid battle kept everyone suppressed, preventing loud outbursts.

***

Nabini, wielding dual blades, transformed into a whirlwind, frantically fending off an opponent's psychic weapon. Just as Nabini was locked in battle with this mental-force user, another genius expert flew towards them from a distance, simultaneously controlling a cone-shaped psychic weapon that shot out like a bolt of lightning!

“Hmph!”

A bolt of lightning shot from afar. Nabini dodged, using his left battle blade to block.

“Clang!”

The lightning bolt struck, sending Nabini's left battle blade flying. A look of shock appeared on Nabini's face: “The power… it's too, too strong.” The lightning bolt then directly pierced his head.

Nabini was eliminated!

***

The death toll rapidly accumulated: 73… 78… 82… 89… 90!

“Group 32's arena battle has concluded. The 90 deceased are eliminated. The remaining 10 are qualified to contend for the 900 spots.” The deep voice echoed in the minds of the billion spectators and the 10 surviving geniuses.

Only then did various sounds erupt from the stands: sighs, roars of anger, and excited cheers.

“Nabini was eliminated,” Lei Shen shook his head.

“His strength was among the weakest of these 100. He only died after half the people were gone, mainly because he was cunning,” Hong shook his head. “His elimination is normal. I probably won't fare much better than him.”