"Will you surrender?" Huo Yuhao asked, his Susanoo towering menacingly over the Star Luo Imperial Academy team. Its eyeless gaze sent chills in their hearts.
Demon! Princess Jiu Jiu and her teammates deeply understand the almost tyrannical defensive power of the Star Barrier and had never once thought it could be shattered by sheer brute force, let alone with such dominance.
Now, seeing Huo Yuhao's Susanoo towering over them, its ominous presence and flame-like aura of Kuraokami still radiating from it, they felt a chill down their spines.
The towering, skeletal figure loomed like an indomitable guardian, leaving no doubt that Huo Yuhao held the upper hand.
"T-Thank the Sea God..."
"J-Junior brother....no, sect master...! I leave them to you..."
Both Xi Xi and Bei Bei went down to their knees, their exhausted bodies finally succumbing to the toll of the battle. They were battered and bruised, but a look of profound relief washed over their faces as they gazed at Huo Yuhao's towering Susanoo.
Huo Yuhao's intense gaze softened slightly as he looked down at his teammates, nodding with a reassuring glint in his eyes. "Rest now. You two have done a great job."
Princess Jiu Jiu clenched her fists, her expression wavering between disbelief and defiance. "H-How...? How did you manage to break my Star Barrier? I saw the ice covering my barrier for a moment, and even if it were the Ultimate Ice, it couldn't possibly breach through unless your cultivation is a whole realm higher than mine!"
The Star Barrier is known for being impervious to almost all elemental energies, even with ones of the Ultimate Attribute. Though, there are certain factors that can shatter the barrier.
One such factor, is that the opponent's elemental attack is much stronger than the user of the Star Barrier could handle; a great example of this right is that Xu Jiujiu couldn't block an attack from a Titled Douluo with her Star Barrier, yet.
The other was taking control over the Star Barrier, which only those with the affinity towards the Star or Light element could do.
In Electrolux's words, "The strength of the opponent is derived from Star Power. What's the origin of the Star Power? It's light. No matter how they are structured internally, they are all made of light." And now that Huo Yuhao has started practicing the Divine Law of Holy Necromancy, he would have the means to take control over the Star Barrier and weaken it at the very least.
However, the method that Huo Yuhao used was the former, and although he made it look effortless, only he himself knew the actual difficulty involved.
The chilling ice of the Kuraokami is terrifying enough that even the Ice God had trouble controlling it, the Star Barrier simply couldn't block such terrifying fiery ice—but outright using it would kill Princess Jiu Jiu, her teammates, Ma Xiaotao and the others!
In order to avoid that, Huo Yuhao needed extreme concentration in order to control the Kuraokami and compress it into a single point and use its power to perfectly destroy the Star Barrier, while causing no harm to anyone.
It was such a dangerous method, however, Huo Yuhao wanted to keep his ability to use the Light element a secret and thus went on with this option to break the Star Barrier.
Huo Yuhao smirked at her, "Let me repeat myself again—I'm just stronger than you."
"You—!"
"Hm?" Huo Yuhao furrowed his brows, his Susanoo raised it arm once more, immediately frightening Princess Jiu Jiu and her teammates to take a step back.
"I-I....I surrender," Princess Jiu Jiu stammered, her confidence thoroughly shattered. The imposing figure of Huo Yuhao's Susanoo, arm raised and cloaked in the dark, flame-like aura of Kuraokami, left no room for doubt—resistance was futile.
Huo Yuhao's smirk softened into a more neutral expression as he watched her concede. "Good choice," he said, lowering the Susanoo's arm. His icy gaze held no malice, only a quiet authority, as he allowed the skeletal figure surrounding him to dissipate, the dark aura fading away into the air.
"Winner of the team match, Shrek Academy!" The referee proclaimed, immediately garnering loud reactions from the audience.
Princess Jiu Jiu's teammates breathed sighs of relief, their expressions a mixture of fear and admiration.
It was at that moment that they were fully convinced of Huo Yuhao's prowess.
Not everyone believed Huo Yuhao's hundred thousand year old soul ring in the opening of the tournament, he had only defeated a group consisting of Soul Ancestors and Soul Elders, and he hadn't appeared in any other matches.
So it was to be expected that there would be some doubts surrounding his abilities.
Many of the doubters were Soul Masters, especially those from the remaining teams in the tournament.
But after this match, those doubts had been thoroughly shattered. The remaining teams who had once questioned Huo Yuhao's abilities were now forced to acknowledge the overwhelming power he wielded.
The Sun Moon team exchanged uneasy glances. They did their research about the Star Crown and knew about the Star Barrier, so they understood just how strong Huo Yuhao was when he shattered it into pieces.
"A-At least he didn't destroy the Absolute Defense Barrier," Muttered by a young girl with charming good looks in the Sun Moon team resting area. Her flowing red locks were a rare wine-red color. It was a deeper hue than Ma Xiaotao's, and her big blue eyes could melt any heart when staring at her. This was Meng Hongchen, sister of Xiao Hongchen.
"H-Hmm." Xiao Hongchen nodded, trying to calm himself.
Ma Rulong, their team captain, chuckled wryly. "If he did, let's just give up the tournament. With most of our higher class soul tools confiscated, and no reinforcement from the academy until a couple more days, there's no reason to think we could stand a chance against that level of power." His voice, though steady, carried a faint trace of unease, fear and reluctance.
The next instance, Huo Yuhao's actions shocked everyone and truly horrified the remaining team participants.
Back on the stage.
"....I'm sorry Huo Yuhao. But I'm afraid that you have to wait for a while before Ma Xiaotao could get out of the barrier," Princess Jiu Jiu said, her voice laced with fatigue yet managing a small, defiant smile.
Though she had surrendered, the Absolute Defense Barrier around Ma Xiaotao was still intact, keeping the second strongest member of team Shrek in containment for the remaining time of the soul tool's duration.
Huo Yuhao frowned, "You can't turn it off manually?"
Princess Jiu Jiu shook her head, a small smile on her lips. "Sorry, but I was only given the basics on just how to activate it."
'Liar.' Huo Yuhao sighed internally, immediately seeing through the obvious lie.
He was about to use his Sharingan and look over her memories, when he was stopped by Electrolux.
"You can simply cut that barrier." Electrolux said.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Remember that carving knife of yours? After thinking about it for a while, if you still haven't decided on a name yet, I've decided to name it the Life Guardian. Have you forgotten its special ability?"
'Judgement!' Huo Yuhao's eyes slightly widened, he remembered the curving knife, Life Guardian, special ability to take away life energy—which could only affect non-sentient beings.
Which would make it a very powerful weapon against all soul tools in the world.
"....I suggest you carry the rest of your teammates back to your resting area first, before—"
"Nah, I got it." Huo Yuhao smirked, cutting off Princess Jiu Jiu mid-sentence. With a single step, he jumped several feet into the air right in front of the fist-sized sphere.
His Mangekyou Sharingan revolved as he used a Genjutsu to shroud his face, his forehead specifically, making almost everyone that saw his face unable to recall exactly what they had seen. The subtle but potent Genjutsu blurred their memories, allowing Huo Yuhao to conceal the full extent of his abilities and avoid unnecessary attention on his Eye of Eternity.
There was a soft emerald glow and his forehead split apart, revealing his Eye of Eternity as the Life Guardian appeared.
Huo Yuhao grabbed the green blade with a firm grip, its soft emerald glow intensifying as he prepared to strike.
"Judgement."
Huo Yuhao softly muttered as he swung the Life Guardian in a single precise motion. The blade's emerald aura flared, and as it sliced through the air, it seemed to resonate with a powerful yet silent force.
The Life Guardian cut cleanly through the energy of the Absolute Defense Barrier, as if the barrier's layers of soul power were no more than paper.
A pulse of energy radiated from the point of contact, and the supposedly impenetrable sphere wavered, then shattered into fragments of shimmering light that dissolved into the air.
The barrier, thought to be unbreakable by conventional means, had been undone in a single, flawless strike.
Ma Xiaotao, finally freed, was caught in Huo Yuhao's arm, she looked at Huo Yuhao with awe and gratitude. "How did you…? Don't tell me you have the strength of a Soul Douluo!"
Huo Yuhao simply smiled, tucking the Life Guardian away as his Eye of Eternity faded back into concealment. "Just a little soul tool that I've been working on," he replied, keeping his tone casual.
As they descended, the entire arena fell into a stunned silence, and the whispers began to spread.
"Did you see that?! The Ice King just used one move to cut apart the Absolute Defense Barrier!"
"No way! Doesn't that mean he's as powerful as a Soul Douluo?!"
"What? That can't be! He's someone below 20 years old, and you're telling me he's as strong as the Duke? Did you see clearly how he managed to do it?"
On the Sun Moon team resting area.
"....Let's just go home." Ma Rulong said, looking utterly dead inside. The rest of his team also looked equally stunned and came to terms with it.
"Sorry bro, but it looks like you won't be getting your match." There was a brief silence.
"Bro?" Meng Hongchen blinked and turned her head, and saw her brother still and face twitching. "Bro? Bro?! Are you—oh my gosh, are you foaming?!"
While Huo Yuhao recovered Ma Xiaotao, Xu Sanshi and Ling Luochen went to get Bei Bei and Xi Xi respectively before they returned to their resting area.
The moment they returned, Huo Yuhao and the rest were quickly bombarded by Wang Yan, Tang Ya, Wang Dong'er, and the others. Huo Yuhao was especially questioned by them about what he did to cut open the Absolute Defense Barrier.
"How did you do it? How? How?!"
He Caitou was especially....pushy, so to say. To the point that he even pushed back Wang Dong'er, Xiao Xiao and the other girls away—no matter how much death glares they were giving him.
"I-I'll tell you, all of you, about it later on." Huo Yuhao said as they headed back towards the Grand Star Luo Hotel.
They were just about to go up to their rooms when they were stopped by two strange people.
'Hm?' Huo Yuhao furrowed his brows, sensing a powerful aura of spiritual power from one of the two people.
They were two men who looked very ordinary in terms of appearance, but their figures were very peculiar. One of them had an abnormally large right arm, whereas the other one was very thin, but his head was huge, as if he were a big-headed doll.
Wang Yan, who was walking in front of the team, narrowed his eyes and said. "Excuse us."
The guy with the huge right arm said, "All of you can go, but this little fellow must stay. We need to talk to him." He growled, pointing towards Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao frowned, "I don't know either of you."
The big-headed guy looked at Huo Yuhao and smiled slightly. He said, "Don't you know us now?" His purple colored eyes rippled, looking especially gentle when one looked at him.
Huo Yuhao tensed up, his Sharingan gleamed ominously as he recognized what the big-headed guy was doing.
'A mental ability! A Genjutsu? It feels like a hypnosis-type ability...'
The rest of the Shrek team, aside from Wang Dong'er who had a streak of odd radiance flashed in the depth of her eyes, went into a trance.
The big-headed guy slightly narrowed his purple eyes, 'Eh? These two kids.... I expected the boy to resist me, but this one as well?'
"We don't mean any harm. We just want to talk to you—"
"Fuck off!"
Huo Yuhao cut him off, veins throbbing on his forehead as his Sharingan shifted into the Mangekyou Sharingan. His right lotus eyes revolved, like a blooming lotus flower.
"Tsukuyomi!"
.....
AN: Imma say this now, I have plans—plans that I cannot share with you all right now, because it is a future plotline. But little spoiler—there's more to his right eye Mangekyou Sharingan ability than meets the eye....Which is actually on the status chapter on Auxiliary.
Btw, y'all didn't reach the requirements for an extra chapter! So no extra chapter! Hmph.
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