The sound of the collision thundered violently outside the prison.

Everyone waited in excitement.

No one could see anything anymore.

The battle inside...

Was completely obscured from the others.

Meanwhile, Lord Grass Puppet stood...

Within the shell.

Half of his body was visible.

The impregnable defensive shell...

Had been heavily shattered.

His sharp gaze toward me carried clear surprise.

He couldn’t see my face.

But...

Beneath the mask...

I was smiling.

"In the end."

I said.

"Your shell wasn’t weaker than a Greater Catastrophe Beast...

But..."

I whispered.

Raised my hand again.

The two silver spears floated upward.

Energy exploded from within them.

Then...

I brought them crashing down upon the fractured shell once more.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

The shell scattered apart throughout the prison.

And once again...

The Lord was exposed.

But...

Once again...

The ground beneath him exploded.

Another shell emerged...

Wrapping around him immediately.

My smile vanished.

I raised the spears again.

Struck downward.

Moments later...

I destroyed the second shell.

Then...

A third replaced it.

After many minutes...

I stopped.

Panting heavily.

"For hell’s sake."

I snarled.

"How many shells do you even have..."

I had already shattered over fifty of them.

Every time one broke, another appeared.

"What kind of power is this?"

I whispered.

Suddenly...

A violent headache struck me.

My accumulation...

Had already dropped to half.

The silver spears consumed enormous amounts of accumulation...

And concentration as well.

They were merely a new weapon I still wasn’t used to.

Now I understood.

That bastard...

Had planned this from the beginning.

"How stupid am I...

Damn it."

A prison wall draining my accumulation...

Against a shell powerful but not invincible.

I destroyed it the first time...

Then thought it was over.

Another shell appeared...

So I thought he was merely resisting.

But in the end...

I was nothing but a monkey dancing in his garden...

While he enjoyed watching my foolish performance.

From the very beginning...

He had lured me into attacking the shell.

Fine then...

There was no other solution.

It was foolish to think I could defeat a Fourth-Rank Lord using only blades.

I had to use it.

There was no alternative.

"Flame Art."

I whispered.

But...

"Why not?"

I murmured.

Then smiled.

"Yes...

I’ll try something first."

I moved toward the edge.

Raised my hand.

The spears smashed violently against the prison wall.

The wall rippled violently.

But only a clean cut appeared.

"Damn it."

I whispered.

It wasn’t a wall?

It was closer to a mountain.

I struck again violently.

Then again.

And again.

After a while...

I stopped.

"Cutting through it like this won’t work."

I whispered.

The silver spears...

Seemed suited for destroying defenses...

Not drilling through endless layers of grassy roots.

There was only one solution left.

Destroy the shell so completely...

That nothing remained.

"Fine."

I whispered.

Then charged again.

Dozens...

Then hundreds of strikes.

The impacts echoed violently.

Then...

Nothing...

Except that I...

Had lost over seventy percent of my accumulation.

I stood silently.

My breathing was heavy.

My body burned.

And my head throbbed terribly.

Meanwhile...

Lord Grass Puppet remained inside his shell.

Motionless.

Silent.

As if he were simply waiting...

For the moment I collapsed.

"You bastard."

I whispered.

Then...

Closed my eyes.

Flame Art...

Began moving within my body.

Heat surged through my veins.

Little by little...

The silver blades started trembling.

Then...

Ignited.

Dark crimson strands of flame...

Spread across the silver spears.

A faint burning sound...

Filled the prison.

Outside...

The audience still couldn’t see anything.

But they heard it.

Fwoooosh...

Fwoooosh...

As if an enormous fire had ignited inside the sealed shell.

"What’s happening in there?!"

One of the Lords shouted.

Even the Fourth-Rank Lords...

Began changing their expressions.

Inside...

I slowly opened my eyes.

The silver spears...

Were no longer entirely silver.

Crimson fiery veins...

Spread across them like blood vessels.

"If the spears aren’t enough to pierce you..."

I whispered.

"Then let’s try something else."

I raised both spears before me.

Then...

Started merging them.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!

Pressure exploded inside the prison.

All the grassy roots trembled violently at once.

Pain slammed directly into my skull.

Blood dripped from my nose.

But I didn’t stop.

The two weapons...

Slowly began merging.

A horrifying grinding sound echoed...

As though mountains were crushing against each other.

I forced Flame Art violently into the spears...

The resistance was overwhelming.

My mind nearly exploded.

The pain became unbearable.

I dropped to one knee.

Forced myself upright again.

"Not today...

Not tomorrow..."

I snarled.

"I will not lose this challenge.

You two will merge."

I glared toward the spears.

"Even against your will."

AAAAAAAH!!

I roared violently.

Flame Art descended upon the two spears.

Crushing them brutally...

Until the resistance finally vanished.

Then...

Suddenly...

The sound ceased.

And from within the dust...

A single spear appeared.

Black.

Like the night itself.

Long...

Massive...

Larger than before.

Crimson flames coiled around it like living serpents.

The aura radiating from it...

Made the grassy roots tremble violently.

Even the shell before me...

Started cracking on its own.

I smiled.

Despite the pain.

Despite the headache.

And despite the fact that barely any accumulation remained.

"Only now..."

I whispered.

"Let’s see...

Which one of us falls first."

The spear floated above my head.

I raised my hand.

And in an instant—

The spear vanished.

Then appeared directly before the shell.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

A colossal impact exploded outward.

The mighty shell...

Shattered across the ground.

Like broken pieces of plaster.

Before my eyes...

Lord Puppet...

Had been split into two halves.

His body collapsed.

Then—

"What?"

I whispered.

"Is this...?! A puppet?!"

I scoffed in confusion.

The fallen body changed color.

Then suddenly transformed into countless green whips.

"So it was only a puppet?"

I whispered.

"Then where’s the real Lord?"

The prison...

Still remained.

And my accumulation continued decreasing.

I looked right.

Then left.

Sensed...

Nothing.

"Time for a higher view."

I whispered.

Then...

Raised my right hand.

The black spear floated upward.

Then—

After canceling Flame Art...

The spear remained black and overwhelmingly powerful.

But it was no longer wrapped in flame.

I directed it toward the walls.

And began cutting.

No whip could stop it.

It was too powerful.

It moved right.

Left.

Upward.

Its speed was monstrous despite its size.

And in the next moment—

Everyone outside heard the new impacts.

Then...

Cracks started appearing.

Until...

Suddenly...

The mighty grassy wall collapsed.

I rose upward through the shattered prison toward the sky.

Moving like a meteor.

Beside me...

Floated my gigantic new black spear.

Everyone’s eyes focused on me.

Then toward the destroyed battlefield below.

There was no sign of Grass Lord anymore.

Then...

Suddenly...

A crack opened in the earth.

Slowly.

Calmly.

Like a hidden door opening.

Step after step...

Lord Grass Puppet emerged.

Still wearing the yellow robe.

His face pale.

His eyes sharp.

"You destroyed my beautiful puppet."

His voice rang loudly.

The entire stadium heard him.

Suddenly...

Dozens of corpses surged from the ground.

Grassy beasts over three meters tall.

With green square and circular heads...

And no eyes.

"Earth Scatterers."

Lord Puppet whispered.

The monsters charged.

Then leapt.

And above them—

Countless whips erupted from the ground.

Each beast rode atop a whip and rushed toward me.

I remained sixty meters away.

I didn’t retreat.

Instead—

I raised my hand.

Released the black spear toward them.

It shot forward insanely fast.

SWOOOOOOOOOSH!!

There wasn’t even a collision.

The spear was an enemy they simply could not confront.

The instant it touched them—

It sliced them apart like cheap wooden dolls.

The spear spun and surged.

Destroying everything in its path.

Then headed directly toward Lord Puppet.

Suddenly—

Another shell appeared.

Wrapping around him.

The spear destroyed it instantly.

But the Lord wasn’t inside.

Still...

More monsters continued emerging.

Then more whips.

Within minutes...

The battlefield became covered in monster corpses...

And shredded whip remains.

High above...

I watched.

Searched.

Sensed.

Nothing.

"Where are you, you bastard?!"

I snarled.

There was no trace of Lord Puppet anywhere.

.

High above...

I searched again.

Sensed again.

Nothing.

"Where are you, damn it?!"

I growled angrily.

Meanwhile...

My accumulation continued dropping.

Less than twenty percent remained.

"I’m certain Lord Puppet is trying to exhaust me."

I whispered internally.

Again...

Lord Puppet appeared.

I immediately directed the spear toward him.

A shell surrounded him.

I shattered it.

But he wasn’t there.

"He’s playing with me?!"

I snarled furiously.

But what was the solution?

There had to be a way to force him out.

Where did he go?

These damned roots and monsters...

Were endless.

They emerged from the ground relentlessly.

"HAHHHH!"

I shouted internally.

"Damn it... he’s..."

My eyes widened.

Then...

I smiled.

"He’s hiding underground?"

All this time...

Then...

He had been underground preparing the monsters and roots.

All this time...

The thing before me had only been a puppet.

While the real Lord...

Was hiding?

Now...

Everything became clear.

The countless shells.

The endless roots.

He must have prepared them gradually underground.

That’s why...

They never stopped.

Because they were already there.

"So..."

I whispered.

Raised my hand.

This time...

Wind blades formed.

Then multiplied.

Then multiplied again.

The audience screamed at the sheer number.

Over four thousand wind blades.

Then...

The blades began merging together.

The sounds of collision and fusion thundered violently.

Then...

Massive blades began forming.

Then became gigantic.

Each one over thirty meters long.

I exhaled deeply.

"The burden is enormous...

These sizes..."

I truly had less than ten percent accumulation remaining.

I looked upward.

Above me floated five colossal circular blades.

Then...

They started moving.

Slowly...

Rotating.

The sound of their rotation was monstrous.

Then...

They descended.

Equally spaced.

Spinning together.

Like a massive plow drilling toward the earth.

"I’ll drag you out."

I whispered.

"Like insects hiding underground."

The colossal blades surged downward.

Together their size occupied nearly half the battlefield.

They rotated slowly...

But were unstoppable.

Suddenly—

Thousands of whips rushed toward them.

Pointless.

The blades continued advancing.

Toward the ground.

Then...

They struck.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

The impact exploded violently.

The blades began drilling mercilessly through the earth.

Dozens of meters.

Then dozens more.

Then suddenly—

A tremendous explosion occurred underground.

Everyone watched closely.

Listening.

Some even stood up...

Waiting to understand what was happening.

No one understood the purpose of those enormous blades.

Then...

The blades dragged something enormous back upward.

A gigantic hazelnut shell.

As large as one of the blades itself.

Thousands of whips covered its surface.

Suddenly—

The blades reversed rotation.

Tearing apart the colossal shell.

Grinding it between their monstrous edges.

Then—

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

The shell exploded apart.

Scattering across the battlefield.

And from inside...

The body of a Lord wearing yellow emerged.

His face pale.

His body covered in wounds.

He collapsed onto the ground.

Barely able to support himself.

Immediately—

I canceled the blades.

Then smiled slyly.

Extended my hand.

The black spear floated nearby.

Then—

I surged forward like lightning toward the Lord.

Dozens of meters...

Felt nonexistent.

Very close now—

I raised my hand to strike.

The black spear split the air overhead.

Then descended with terrifying force.

Suddenly—

The Lord raised his hand.

"I surrender."

He whispered quickly.

I stopped.

At the very last instant.

I stared at him.

Had I not feared it might be another trick...

I wouldn’t have been able to halt the attack.

I exhaled slowly.

Then looked more carefully at his pale face.

"That giant puppet...

Must have cost him greatly."

I whispered.

Then—

"You’re strong."

I said.

A moment later—

The crowd erupted violently.

Accompanied by the arena announcer’s voice—

Declaring my victory in the first match of the Auction Tournament.

I turned aside.

Then walked away.

"3%."

I whispered.

Only three percent of my accumulation remained.

I had barely won.

"Damn it..."