"Doesn't matter." Qian Wu shrugged with an air of casual indifference.
"Makes no difference whether they're here or not. The gap between me and everyone in this arena, including all of you, isn't just a matter of soul rings."
"It's Battle Armor!"
"I'll be straight with you: I'm a genuine Battle Armor Master!"
Arthur blinked and replied with a flat, "Oh."
"Oh?!" Qian Wu erupted. "What do you mean, oh?!"
"Battle Armor! I'm a Battle Armor Master!"
"Do you even know what Battle Armor is?!"
Arthur dug a finger in his ear, the picture of innocence. "Yeah, I know."
His tone was breezy, as if discussing something completely unremarkable. "So what, you want me to give you a medal?"
Qian Wu's face darkened. Behind him, the phantom silhouette of a massive beast flickered briefly into view before vanishing. That, apparently, was his Martial Soul.
It lasted only an instant, but Na'er clearly recognized what it was. She hurried to Arthur's side and murmured a warning: "Be careful. His Martial Soul looks like a Titan Giant Ape. It's a terrifying one."
A Titan Giant Ape?
Arthur had some memory of that: an ancient beast from the Soul Douluo continent, incredibly powerful, known to prey on dragonkind. The Dark Gold Fearclaws Bear owed much of its strength to Titan blood running through its lineage.
And this could be someone's Martial Soul?
Though, if he remembered correctly, the Titan Giant Ape was supposed to be a foreign species. A beast from another dimension.
He gave Qian Wu a strange look. Arthur suddenly didn't feel like releasing Excalibur anymore. He was afraid one full-power beam would leave nothing of the guy but dust.
He motioned for Na'er to step back, then let golden soul power begin circling slowly around him, hand closing around Excalibur. "Is your Martial Soul really a Titan Giant Ape?"
"If it is, I'd advise you to put your Battle Armor on right now."
Qian Wu sensed the shift in Arthur's aura and clearly misread it entirely.
A vicious grin curled at the corner of his mouth. "Scared now? Too late!"
"You're just a Spirit Elder. I don't need Battle Armor to crush you without breaking a sweat."
The truth was, the Holy Spirit Douluo had told him the exact same thing before the match: put on the Battle Armor the moment the fight started.
Qian Wu hadn't understood why. No matter how he looked at it, Arthur was only a Spirit Elder, while he was a Spirit King with an extraordinarily powerful Martial Soul. How much of a threat could he really be?
Refusing to take it seriously, he let the phantom of the Titan Giant Ape behind him solidify fully. A massive claw tore through the air with a piercing screech, launching at Arthur with enough force to leave hairline fractures in the space it passed through.
Na'er watched from the side with her heart in her throat, soul power already stirring instinctively, ready to jump in at a moment's notice.
"Tch. You're wide open from every angle. You really are just a brute, aren't you?" With his earlier suspicion confirmed, Arthur felt the thrill drain right out of him.
He flicked his wrist without much effort. The holy sword and the giant claw crossed paths, but the flat of the blade arrived first, smashing squarely into Qian Wu's face.
Reach wins fights.
Qian Wu was immediately sent flying at a speed that far exceeded his approach.
Thud.
His body slammed into the ground hard, skidding backward along the surface, kicking up a shower of dust and shattered stone in a deafening crash.
The vicious grin on his face froze solid. Searing pain replaced it, and blood poured freely from both his nose and the corner of his mouth.
Three full seconds of silence blanketed the arena before it erupted into a roar that shook the stands.
This was the first direct clash of the entire tournament between Arthur and one of Shrek's Spirit Kings.
Nobody had expected that even a Spirit King would get sent flying by a single hit from Arthur.
Qian Wu struggled to his feet, eyes unfocused, clearly rattled from the blow.
A moment passed. He pressed a hand to his swollen cheek and stared at Arthur in disbelief. "That strength, you..."
Arthur gave his blade a casual spin, then raised Excalibur to shoulder height beside his ear. "Never underestimate your opponent. Take that lesson to heart."
"Battle Armor is a good thing. Next time, put it on the moment a fight begins."
Since Qian Wu had handed him such a perfect opening, Arthur had no intention of wasting it.
Pale blue-green eyes regarded his opponent with cool detachment.
Arthur's slender fingers tightened around the hilt.
Invisible wind element went into a frenzy, coiling around the blade of Excalibur and forming a translucent vortex that warped the air around it.
Dust and debris from the surroundings were forcibly dragged in, spinning into a visible torrent of razor wind.
"No, wait! Wait, wait!" Qian Wu was right at the very edge of the platform, and putting on Battle Armor took time.
He had no idea if he could hold on long enough.
He waved his hands frantically. "Please, bro. Come on."
"Just give me a chance."
"I was wrong!"
Every trace of his earlier arrogance was gone.
There was simply nothing left to be arrogant about.
The Holy Spirit Douluo had brought him here to help Shrek recover face. She had even warned him before the match to put the armor on immediately.
If he still lost the fight through his own carelessness, he didn't dare think about what came next.
Setting aside whatever punishment the higher-ups might hand down, the moment he set foot back at the academy, his classmates would swarm him and tear him to pieces.
And most importantly, Cai Yue'er was here watching.
Just thinking about Cai Yue'er's reputation at the academy pushed Qian Wu's survival instincts to their absolute peak.
"Give me a chance!!!"
"Come on, you're basically my own brother!"
Arthur said nothing and continued bringing the sword down.
"DADDY!!!"
That single word made even Arthur hesitate for just a fraction of a second.
It was enough.
Qian Wu's eyes lit up. His fifth soul ring flashed.
A layer of golden light began spreading across his body.
Thanks to his efforts, Arthur's strike arrived one beat too late.
"Hammer of the Wind King!"
The clear shout split the air. Arthur's arm drove downward with full force, slamming Excalibur and its terrible wind pressure straight into the ground.
In an instant, the translucent wind torrent detonated, expanding into a devastating circular storm. The ground was carved open in deep gouges, and shattered stone flew outward like shrapnel.
Even through the soul barrier, spectators could faintly feel the wind brushing past them.
A thick cloud of dust and debris swallowed the platform, hiding the result from view.
Gradually the dust settled. The scene below came into focus, revealing the devastated ground left in the storm's wake.
And Qian Wu, standing in his Battle Armor.
"Phew, I made it." Qian Wu's relief was almost palpable.
He had been lucky that his fifth soul skill was a body reinforcement technique, which had let him weather the gale.
Though of course, the real key had been buying time with that one word.
"Impressive," Arthur said, extending a sincere thumbs-up.
Qian Wu's face flushed instantly, half out of embarrassment and half out of wounded pride.
The audience in the stands hadn't caught a word of the exchange. All they could see was that armor had somehow appeared on Qian Wu's body.
"What's that?" someone asked in confusion.
"That's Battle Armor! It's Battle Armor!" a knowledgeable spectator cried out, voice full of shock. "He's a Battle Armor Master!!"
That announcement detonated the entire crowd.
"A Battle Armor Master?!"
In the federation, soul masters pursued many professions: Mecha Masters, Blacksmiths, Designers, and more.
Among them all, the one that stood at the top without any dispute was Battle Armor Master.
"He's a Battle Armor Master?! What does Arthur do against that?"
"How is my Arthur supposed to fight that?"
In the minds of the federation's citizens, a Battle Armor Master was the very symbol of a supreme combatant. An ordinary soul master simply could not win against one.
Qian Wu soaked in the shock radiating from every corner of the arena.
He felt like a pufferfish, swelling with pride all over again.
He squared his shoulders, the light on his single-word Battle Armor flowing and gleaming as his tone swung back to arrogance. "You really are something. No wonder the Holy Spirit Douluo personally brought me here."
"Too bad. The me you're looking at now is the real me, at full strength!"
He swept his gaze across the arena, taking in every member of Class Zero.
"Had enough fun? It's time to end this!"