Please do not stop the Monthly Tickets! Even those of you with guaranteed monthly tickets, please cast them for this book.

There is absolutely no need to worry about the update frequency; my passion and inspiration are currently at their absolute peak.

All that is missing is the momentum you provide.

If you give enough drive, multiple updates are entirely possible.

Bring on the Monthly Tickets! …… No one could fathom what had truly happened.

A person who had clearly been severed by a sword strike and sunk deep to the bottom of the lake—someone who should have been dead—was somehow still alive? While his appearance was somewhat disheveled and his clothes tattered, on the surface, there wasn't a single major wound apparent.

It wasn't just those from the world of light who couldn't understand; even those from the underground world were profoundly surprised.

Only a select few knew the truth.

And among those few was Izayoi Sakuya.

She had witnessed it: just as Lin Luo was about to be pierced by that colossal sword, an exact duplicate of himself detached from his body...

No, perhaps that wasn't the right way to put it.

More accurately, he had used a perfect copy of himself to endure that strike in his stead, seizing the opportunity to slip his true body out and vanish into the void.

Although Izayoi Sakuya had no idea how Lin Luo managed it, one thing she had confirmed: Lin Luo was indeed the person she had fought on Library Island.

That method of escaping using a substitute was exactly the same as what happened back then. "How interesting.

It seems I'll need to really put my mind to it to figure out how to win the next match...

A True Progenitor Vampire cannot be defeated by conventional means," Sakuya murmured with a slight smile, a thoughtful glint appearing in her eyes.

The battle seemed concluded.

Fully twenty-odd seconds had passed, and Kunel had not reappeared.

Regardless of the exact circumstances, the ten-second count outside the ring remained absolute.

The victor was undoubtedly Lin Luo.

Yet, at that moment, no one made a sound.

The fight they had just witnessed was too shocking; it completely shattered the "common sense" they understood.

It wasn't until nearly a minute had passed that a person in the audience suddenly began to clap, roaring with laughter. "Splendid! What kind of device could accomplish that? Even legendary magic couldn't reach this level.

It was utterly brilliant!" Hearing this, the audience members first exchanged glances.

Then, as if a collective realization struck them, almost everyone began to applaud, erupting in fervent, excited cheers. "Haha, exactly! Truly magnificent.

There wasn't even a hint of a prop visible.

It was just like a horror scene from a movie—the realism was incredible!" "It's only interesting when it's this realistic! For a split second, I truly believed someone was going to die.

That was thrilling!" "Indeed.

Speaking of which, that punch that sent him flying was hilarious.

I've only ever seen scenes like that in anime." "No, no, no.

The most unbelievable thing was that sword.

What kind of prop can make a sword grow that massive in an instant?" "Isn't the strangest part how Contestant Kunel kept shifting forms? That has to be sleight of hand!" The audience buzzed with chatter.

Guided by the deliberate efforts of a few, very few people were willing to accept that the battle they had just witnessed was real.

While the phenomenon was certainly unusual, upon deeper thought, they could rationalize it.

Firstly, the people of Mahora were accustomed to seeing strange things, being largely 9s themselves, and thus paid less mind to genuinely supernatural events.

While the recent fight was far beyond their common sense, precisely because it was so far beyond, fewer people were inclined to believe it was real.

However, if they dismissed it as skillful acting using props, while still incredible, it became a more believable scenario for them.

This stemmed from a human instinct to reject things they deem impossible.

For example, if someone announced the world would end tomorrow, even if it were true, most listeners would likely just laugh it off because, in their view, it couldn't happen.

Just like this match, their subconscious insisted it couldn't be real, so they naturally sought an explanation that aligned with their established reality, however stretched.

Even if a few individuals disagreed, when the majority held the same belief, the minority would gradually begin to doubt their own perceptions and follow the crowd.

This was the so-called blind herd mentality, an unchangeable constant in every world. "Hah!" Seeing that the situation seemed under control, a person seated far from the main audience let out a heavy sigh.

This was the same individual who had spoken first, and his true identity was a magician from Mahora Academy. "Regardless, we've passed the immediate danger.

But going forward..." His face was etched with worry.

While a lie might fool people once or twice, if exaggerated events continued to pile up, even the most flawless fabrication would eventually be exposed—especially since their current deception wasn't flawless.

It was time to start making contingency plans.

…… Because of the previous match, the entire arena had been reduced to dust.

Rebuilding a full ring would be troublesome, so a temporary, simplified stage was erected.

Given the intensity of the last fight, it was unlikely this new platform would see much use anyway.

Even erecting this simplified ring took time, thus delaying the next match by half an hour.

In truth, very little time was actually spent on the matches themselves, as nearly every bout concluded in under ten minutes, some in under one.

The real time sink was the venue repair...

As the saying went, it wasn't the fighters who were damaged in a fight, but the venue.

From the ring to the Earth itself, being repeatedly ravaged—it was quite pitiable to consider.

In the contestants' lounge, Mikoto and Suigintou watched Lin Luo with deep concern.

Although Mikoto was a classic tsundere, the preceding events had genuinely startled her, making her slightly more forthcoming than usual.

Only after confirming Lin Luo was completely unharmed did they finally relax. "But seriously, that last fight was so over-the-top.

Will they ban these matches now?" Mikoto asked suspiciously, having also been briefed on the current situation. "Unlikely," Lin Luo shook his head, then gestured toward the audience outside. "Look at them.

Not a single person accepted what they saw as reality.

The mages in the academy must be doing their work.

Besides, when truth and falsehood mingle, when falsehood is treated as truth and truth as falsehood, reality and lies are ultimately just a matter of perception." "That does make sense," Mikoto nodded.

What the mages feared was the exposure of the magical world, but if the audience refused to believe it, there was no need to halt the competition.

Time ticked by slowly.

Once the organizers had constructed a makeshift ring over the pond, the second match of the semi-finals finally commenced as scheduled: Evangelin versus Izayoi Sakuya.

For observers from both the world of light and the underground, this promised to be another highly anticipated bout.

Of course, everyone hoped that the scenario from the previous match would not repeat itself.

While it was certainly exciting, their hearts could hardly bear the stress again.

On the ring, Evangelin and Izayoi Sakuya stood face-to-face.

Having learned from the previous match between Lin Luo and Al, once the two contestants, Asakura Kazumi and the other referee, announced the start, they hurried off the stage without hesitation.

She was still young and had a vast youth left to enjoy; she didn't want to meet an untimely end by making a cameo appearance in this Martial Arts Tournament. "It's finally our turn, isn't it?" Evangelin smiled at her opponent. "I imagine you can use your full power now, correct?" Sakuya returned a slight, graceful, and composed smile. "It's fine.

But what about you? If you’re still in the same condition as last time, you probably won't win against me." "Tch, talking big.

Let's see what you’ve really got then," Evangelin clicked her tongue.

With a light laugh, her figure vanished from the spot.

This wasn't teleportation magic, but the highest speed instantaneous movement technique.

In an instant, she closed the distance to Sakuya and lunged forward, scarlet fingernails clawing toward her opponent.

Whoosh! Equally elusive and untraceable, Sakuya disappeared from her original spot, leaving only a single playing card gently drifting down.

Simultaneously, as Evangelin spotted the card, she also saw that countless throwing knives had surrounded her, creating an inescapable, all-encompassing blockade.

If it were just this attack, while bizarre, it shouldn't have put her under significant pressure.

However, Evangelin's expression changed drastically as she realized her movements had slowed down—by a factor of five, or perhaps ten? It was hard to calculate, but at her current speed, she couldn't dodge the barrage of knives.

Without a doubt, Sakuya was using her time-stop ability.

This move was inherently designed to paralyze the enemy before unleashing an attack, but because Evangelin possessed a degree of temporal immunity, it only managed to slow her down.

In duels between masters, speed was a critical factor; even a one-second delay could completely tip the scales of victory.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! In the blink of an eye, Evangelin’s body was riddled with silver throwing knives.

For Sakuya, the change in match rules had been perfectly advantageous.

If she couldn't use real blades, her knives would be useless, leaving her with no chance against a True Progenitor Vampire.

Throwing knives combined with time control was her most effective weapon against a vampire.

But to Sakuya's surprise, Evangelin, covered in knives, did not bleed.

Instead, she began to melt, finally collapsing into a pool of shadow, causing all the throwing knives to clatter onto the floor. "Shadow magic? No! A shadow clone?" Sakuya sounded genuinely astonished. "Just how many abilities does my full power possess, I myself can hardly remember.

If it weren't for your attack just now, I might not have recalled that specific technique," Evangelin's voice echoed from behind her.

Hearing this, Sakuya didn't seem surprised; in fact, she appeared to laugh with delight. "That's better! If I won instantly, it would have been far too dull."