The Spectral Wasps covered the sky and earth, layer upon layer, occupying nearly more than half of the arena. Even the sky was obscured by the Spectral Wasps; the slanting sunlight struggled to penetrate the swarm, dripping sparsely onto the ground.

  Skaar curled the corners of his mouth smugly. "This is my killer move—The Phantom Hive Sea! Fly, prepare yourself!"

  "Surrender, or die!"

  Skaar's eyes became increasingly sharp, as if he was determined to win this battle no matter what.

  In the broadcast system, commentator Jude's voice also became excited and trembling. "Heavens! A huge crisis for Fly, a huge crisis for Star City High! Just a few Spectral Wasps were already so powerful just now; now with this overwhelming Phantom Hive Sea, how will our miracle-creating genius Fly cope?"

  Leah chimed in, "Fly, pull yourself together! Absolutely do not lose to him!"

  Leah herself was quite fascinated by Fly. Previously, she was disgusted by Gareth's underhanded performance, and hating the house, she hated the crows on its roof too—she developed a distaste for Ironpeak Academy. So, supporting Fly and not wishing for him to lose the match came naturally to her.

  The audience seats were a chaotic mix of noise. Some spectators wore looks of fanaticism, craning their necks in anticipation, believing this was the duel of geniuses they had been looking forward to all along; some spectators looked worried, sweating for Fly; and there were others looking at the sky full of Spectral Wasps, afraid of being affected by the battle, their legs trembling, almost wanting to leave first...

  Members of the Freshman Invitational Committee came to the very front of the audience stands and pressed the red gemstones on the fence, injecting energy.

  In an instant, dozens of red pillars of light shot straight into the clouds from the fence between the arena and the audience seats. Subsequently, these dozens of light pillars connected together. Between the pillars, golden light flickered, forming a transparent energy shield that completely separated the arena from the audience seats.

  This was an energy shield specially set up by the event officials to prevent the battle from affecting the audience. It would only be activated in moments of crisis. From this, one could also see how powerful and wide-ranging Skaar's The Phantom Hive Sea was.

  Star City High Contestant Rest Area.

  Dean Sterling watched the match footage on the broadcast screen, screaming bad news in his heart.

  "Using Spirit Binding Arts to drive Spirit Constructs on such a large scale... generally speaking, it's very difficult to achieve."

  "Leaving aside the fact that for every Spirit Construct obtained, a corresponding animal must be hunted, just the spiritual power consumed to drive so many Spirit Constructs at once is not something a low-level Beast Warrior can burden. No, let alone a low-level Beast Warrior, even an ordinary mid-level Beast Warrior might not be able to handle it. It would probably take a Grandmaster-level Beast Warrior of Tier 6 or above to drive so many Spirit Constructs at once with ease, right?"

  "This Skaar from Ironpeak Academy is at most in his early Tier 2. How can he..."

  Dean Sterling's eyes constantly swept over Skaar. Suddenly, he seemed to discover something.

  "That wooden stick!"

  At some point, an extra "wooden stick" had appeared in Skaar's hand. Its shape and size were exactly the same as the one held by his Beast Totem, The Phantom Hivequeen.

  "Is this... is this a Totem Armament?"

  Generally speaking, the act of a Beast Warrior holding a weapon identical to their Totem Beast was called "Totem Armament."

  The conditions to achieve Totem Armament were extremely harsh. One needed to create a warrior item that looked exactly like the weapon held by the Totem Beast. Afterwards, they had to inject the Totem Beast's genes, refine it with the Beast Warrior's soul power, and invest a massive amount of medicinal resources to potentially achieve it.

  A slight carelessness during the process would lead to complete failure.

  Dean Sterling thought to himself.

  Watching the scene on the broadcast screen, the look in Dean Sterling's eyes was uncertain.

  ...

  Faced with the overwhelming army of Spectral Wasps and Skaar's ultimatum, Fly only replied with one word—Merde!

  This was the word replied by Napoleon's Old Guard when facing the surrender demand of the Anglo-Prussian coalition forces after the defeat at Waterloo.

  This also fully demonstrated Fly's determination—he would absolutely never surrender.

  "Perfect. As expected of the number one freshman of Star City High." Skaar waved his hand down. In an instant, thousands of Spectral Wasps lunged at Fly together.

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  For a moment, the atmosphere at the scene was tense to the extreme. The noisy audience seats quieted down, everyone holding their breath and concentrating on this scene.

  Some spectators even quietly turned their heads away, seeming unable to bear watching young Fly being torn to shreds by this army of thousands of Spectral Wasps.

  Referee Carlos also focused his mind, ready to spring into action. Once Fly couldn't hold on or sent out a distress signal, he would go to support immediately and end the match.

  This year's Freshman Invitational had already seen too much pain; no new wounds could be added.

  It was just that, facing these sky-covering Spectral Wasps, Carlos wasn't confident he could save Fly safe and sound in the first instant either.

  He was indeed a high-level Beast Warrior, much stronger than Skaar. But the difficulty of saving someone was far higher than defeating an opponent; sometimes, one could only go with the flow.

  Facing the menacing army of Spectral Wasps, Fly didn't choose to fight head-on. He unleashed his "signature move"—burrowing.

  In just a split second, Fly disappeared, leaving only a bare hole in the ground.

  "Follow me down if you have the guts!" Fly's voice came from underground.

  "Hmph, let's see where you can run!" Skaar tapped his magic wand lightly, and the Spectral Wasps drilled into the hole left by Fly one after another.

  "I'll find him even if I have to dig three feet into the ground!" Skaar said. "Skill: Hive Sight!"

  A faint blue light emitted from Skaar's eyes, and the vision of the Spectral Wasps underground was instantly transmitted to his eyes.

  He saw that the underground tunnels were dense and numerous, with forks growing everywhere. For a moment, Skaar controlled the Spectral Wasps to spin madly in various forks, losing their direction.

  This Fly is so formidable; to have excavated such a complex underground tunnel system in such a short time. Skaar exclaimed in admiration.

  In fact, as soon as Fly entered the underground, he quickly split into a dozen Husk Puppets to spread out and dig in different directions.

  With the characteristics of his cockroach totem itself and the buff from the Skill Steelbone Blades, he dug holes fast to begin with. Now with more than a dozen "Flys" digging together, the speed was more than ten times faster.

  So, within just a few minutes, this complex underground tunnel system like an ant nest was excavated.

  Fly's intention was clear: he had to find a way to stall for time.

  He also saw that it was extremely physically exhausting for Skaar to control so many Spectral Wasps at once. As time went on, he was destined not to last.

  Therefore, he could only think of a way to consume time, letting Skaar defeat himself without fighting, just like facing 'Emperor' Valerius during the Power Assessment Test back then.

  But facing a bare arena and thousands of Spectral Wasps, where could he stall for time?

  After thinking it over, there was only his old trade—burrowing.

  It wasn't that Fly was willing to "build a palace" under this stadium, but he really had no choice.

  To stall for time and confuse Skaar, this was the best method right now.

  Sure enough, Skaar's Spectral Wasps couldn't find the real Fly's figure for a long time. What they found were just those Husk Puppets, already shriveled like paper.

  Time passed minute by minute, and the cold sweat on Skaar's forehead came out crop after crop.

  Although there was the Hive Mind Synergy of the swarm and the support of his Totem Armament, making the consumption of casting Spirit Binding Arts on a large scale not as huge as usual, it was still casting beyond his level after all. It was hard to bear over a long period.

  At this moment, Skaar also gradually understood Fly's intention.

  "Want to stall for time, huh? What a way to stall!" Skaar said through gritted teeth.

  He tapped the magic wand in his hand lightly, transmitting his voice to the Spectral Wasps underground.

  "Fly, I know you can hear me, so I won't explain too much."

  "You want to delay time so that my power runs out and I defeat myself, right?"

  "I've already seen through your intentions!"

  "Playing a game of cat and mouse with me in the underground caves, right? Do you think I will grant your wish?"

  "My Spectral Wasps... can self-destruct!"

  "Thousands of Spectral Wasps self-destructing collectively... think about what the consequences will be!"

  "Do you think you'll be fine just by hiding underground?"

  "I'll count to ten. Come out and surrender obediently, otherwise..."

  As he spoke, the phantom of bee wings emerged behind Skaar, flapping rapidly as he flew into the sky.

  "Ten."

  "Nine."

  ...

  "Stop! Contestant Skaar, what are you doing!" Referee Carlos shouted hurriedly. At this moment, he was also in a dilemma. He knew that the collective self-destruction of these thousands of Spectral Wasps would have extraordinary power, but...

  "Eight."

  "Seven."

  In the audience seats, people were agitated.

  "What is he doing? He said self-destruct?"

  "It's those glowing bees of his that will self-destruct."

  "What? So many bees self-destructing underground together? Fly is still underground."

  "Exactly. Let alone a person, I estimate the entire arena will be flipped over."

  "Heavens! Fly!"

  "I think it's nothing. At least the match is exciting... Ouch, ouch, stop hitting me..."

  The person who said this was instantly beaten up by the spectators next to him who were worried about Fly...

  ...

  In the broadcast studio, Leah's face was full of worry, her exquisite and beautiful features almost scrunching into a ball. "Heavens, this Skaar is trying to put Fly to death? Stop the match! I think the match must be stopped immediately." She shouted excitedly, having lost the calmness a match commentator should have.

  Jude beside her was also full of worry, but the professional quality accumulated over many years forced him to calm down. He gently held down the agitated Leah and said, "I am indeed very worried too, but this is a competition... a competition between Beast Warriors. As long as the competition rules are not violated, no one can stop it, not even the referee."

  Jude glanced at Referee Carlos. He had already retreated to the edge of the arena, observing the situation nervously, ready to run into the audience stands and hide inside the energy shield at any time.

  "Maybe it hasn't been like this for many years, but I have seen this kind of scene before."

  As he spoke, the scene of the confrontation between Lysander Thorne and Julius Kane ten years ago gradually emerged before Jude's eyes.

  At that time, the scene was much bigger than this...

  ...

  Star City High, Contestant Rest Area.

  Dean Sterling and 'Emperor' Valerius watched the match broadcast nervously. Dean Sterling put his hands on his chest, constantly making praying motions.

  ...

  "Two."

  "One."

  Cracks split open on the arena.

  A dazzling white light drilled out from the cracks.

  Then came the second crack, the second white light.

  Followed by the third...

  With a sound like rolling spring thunder, a blinding bright light came from below.

  People stimulated by this bright light lost their vision in an instant.

  Many years later, when the audience of this match recalled the scene at that time, they would invariably say:

  ...

  After a long time, the noise gradually ceased.

  People whose vision gradually recovered looked towards the competition venue, only to see a bottomless pit replacing the original arena.

  Dirt and stones blasted in all directions were still falling, as if it were raining stones from the sky.

  "Hahahaha..."

  A burst of ear-piercing wild laughter came. People looked in the direction of the sound, only to see a solitary figure standing in the sky.

  It was Skaar's figure.

  Fly was nowhere to be found.

  It looked like he had won.

  He laughed so rampantly that his shoulders were shaking violently, like a door opening and closing.

  "I won! I finally won! Although my power is completely exhausted, I finally defeated you, the number one freshman of Star City High—Fly!"

  "It was worth it!"

  "Hahahaha..."

  He laughed wildly again, as if completely immersed in this final victory, feeling nothing even as stones filled the sky smashed onto his body.

  "I won! Haha, I won!"

  "I, Skaar, am the final winner!"

  "Hahahaha..."

  At this moment, a familiar voice came from the abyss.

  "Is that so? Do you really think so?"

  Skaar looked down in shock, staring into the bottomless, endless abyss, his face full of astonishment. "Fly! ?"