Standing on the platform within the golden pillar of light, Lucian looked down at the surroundings and saw nothing but robots and spaceships.
And endless sky.
Countless magnificent palaces and villages floated in the air. The architecture looked very much like something out of Sakura Country, though it made sense on second thought. Sumo Slammers really did have that whole vibe.
Very soon, the group arrived at the final stage.
Level 13. The Extreme Dojo!
But the moment they landed in the Extreme Dojo, a shadow lunged in from the side and clamped its jaws around Ishiyama's neck. With one savage twist, it snapped his neck on the spot.
Ishiyama was killed again!
"It's the Shape-Shifting Demon!" Lucian slammed the Omnitrix and transformed into Humungousaur.
Across from him crouched a golden lion. It was the Shape-Shifting Demon in disguise.
He had taken advantage of the moment everyone let their guard down and instantly killed Ishiyama, eliminating one of their strongest fighters.
What a dirty move...
Humungousaur muttered to himself. It felt just like perfectly predicting an enemy's respawn timer, then dumping every skill on them the moment they came back to wipe them out instantly.
Ishiyama had died an unfair death.
Fortunately, he had still had two lives left before this.
Several glittering gold coins appeared in the spectator stands and gradually formed Ishiyama's shape.
Of the three gems on his armguard, only one was still glowing.
That meant if he died one more time, he would never revive again.
"Villain, today you die!" Ishiyama roared, his eyes widening as they blazed with dazzling golden light.
"Heh heh, Ishiyama, how did it feel to get killed?" the Shape-Shifting Demon sneered.
"Weirdo, let me teach you a lesson." Ben smacked the Omnitrix and transformed into Four Arms.
Humungousaur, Four Arms, Ishiyama, and Gwen. The four fighters shared a common enemy as they moved to surround the golden lion.
The Shape-Shifting Demon clapped his claws, and countless Blood Bulls burst out of the ground, packed so densely there had to be at least two hundred of them.
"Heh heh, beat them first," the Shape-Shifting Demon said, transforming into a purple robot.
The purple robot was tall and imposing, but its head was that of a little old man with gray-blue hair.
"Come on!" Ishiyama charged first, rushing straight into the herd of Blood Bulls.
Humungousaur enlarged himself and roared. Like a prehistoric beast, he drove his massive body forward and slammed into the Blood Bulls.
Four Arms and Gwen followed right behind him.
But just as both sides were about to collide...
Time suddenly stopped!
Neither side could move at all, as though someone had hit pause.
The word "pause" appeared in the air.
"Oh no, Grandpa must've pressed pause!" Four Arms' expression changed.
"This is bad." Humungousaur suddenly had a very bad feeling.
...
In the real world, inside the Rustbucket.
Grandpa Max was already awake. He walked over to the game console, looked at the chaotic game screen, and let out a small sigh. "These kids must've forgotten to turn off the game again."
Then he pressed the pause button.
And next, he was about to shut it off.
"Grandpa, don't turn it off!!"
"Grandpa, don't shut it down!"
"Grandpa, wait!"
Several familiar voices suddenly came from inside the console.
"Hm?" Grandpa Max froze, then asked tentatively, "Lucian? Ben? Is that you?"
"It's me, Grandpa. Ben!" Four Arms said in a hurry.
Grandpa Max put on his headphones and said, "Please tell me this is a prank."
Through talking with Lucian and the others, Grandpa Max learned that they were trapped inside the game.
"I should be able to help somehow..." Grandpa Max said suddenly, looking at the dense cluster of buttons. "Maybe I press this one. Or that one?"
"No, Grandpa, don't touch anything!" Gwen shouted. If he accidentally shut it down, they would all be finished.
"Grandpa, just unpause it. Leave the rest to us," Humungousaur said in a deep voice.
"Alright then." Grandpa Max canceled the pause, and then his eyes fell on a book nearby.
"A strategy guide?" Grandpa Max raised a brow and started flipping through it.
...
Back in the game world, the fierce battle resumed.
More than a hundred savage Blood Bulls roared as they charged, their overwhelming presence making the entire Extreme Dojo tremble.
But against Humungousaur, Four Arms, and Ishiyama, those Blood Bulls were still nowhere near enough.
Ants were ants. Faced with the absurdly high stats of the three fighters, the Blood Bulls were like mantises trying to stop a chariot, or mayflies trying to shake a tree. They were mercilessly crushed.
A few minutes later, every Blood Bull robot had been destroyed, leaving only a field of red wreckage behind.
"Useless trash!"
When the Shape-Shifting Demon saw all the Blood Bulls had been wiped out, he flew into a rage and immediately transformed into a gray-blue evil dragon.
"Villain, die!"
Gwen threw her boomerang.
Whoosh!
The evil dragon spat out a stream of blue dragon flame and burned the sturdy boomerang to ash on the spot.
"Shape-Shifting Demon, let's settle this!" Ishiyama lunged forward and instantly slammed the evil dragon into one of the rooms.
Humungousaur followed right behind him.
But what happened next stunned everyone.
Inside the shabby room, Ishiyama had only just forced himself back to his feet when a sharp sword suddenly pierced straight through his chest from behind.
Ishiyama turned into a streak of white light and vanished.
He was truly dead this time!
"No!!" Four Arms' eyes went bloodshot as he charged at the Shape-Shifting Demon like a wounded bull gone mad.
Humungousaur turned to Gwen. "Gwen, go find Upgrade's Totem. Ben and I will hold off the Shape-Shifting Demon. Hurry."
"Got it!" Gwen didn't waste a second.
She immediately started searching through the Treasure Chests scattered around the Extreme Dojo. There were a lot of Treasure Chests here, lining the spectator stands in a full circle. Finding Upgrade's Totem among them would not be easy.
On the other side, Four Arms swung his fists wildly, leaving behind streaks of red afterimages, but his attacks were dodged again and again.
The evil dragon was incredibly cunning. It circled behind Four Arms and coiled tightly around him.
"Heh heh, brat, you can go down and keep Ishiyama company!"
Four Arms roared and struggled with all his strength, but against absolute power, he couldn't break free.
"Shape-Shifting Demon, don't celebrate too early."
As he spoke, Humungousaur's body rapidly expanded. Hard bony plates jutted from his back, and his muscles bulged higher and higher.
In just a few seconds, he had grown to twenty meters tall...