Ren Yuanhao held the bamboo slips of the Puppet Master's final testament, feeling their weight as if the item carried a man's entire existence.
He wished to help, but in comparison to his own mission...
While he hesitated, the Puppet Master, under the gaze of the returning spectators, stepped onto the arena.
Roxis led the applause, and the crowd joined in, but an unusual killing intent was evident on almost everyone's faces.
"Jello, who do you think has a higher chance of winning between these two?" Roxis asked what seemed like an obvious question.
"The gap between them is enormous, nearly a thousand in Ability Index difference. I imagine you doctors, who prioritize data, can guess the outcome better than us."
Jello stared at the two men like a lion, but Roxis then said, "No, I'm different from those two. Sometimes data is just data, and a person's will to win can be seen as an implicit data point. This implicit data sometimes produces results more incredible than the Ability Index."
Jello, surprisingly, smiled. "I didn't expect to hear that from you."
"I'm not an old-fashioned researcher. I came here today for observation, and it seems I came at the right time."
The two stopped talking, their attention shifting to the battle on the third tier.
The Puppet Master took out a puppet from his black bag.
The puppet looked very much like a real person, but its movements were extremely peculiar. Its stance and grip on the blade were like a soulless zombie.
"Hey, are you planning to fight me with this disgusting thing?"
The Masked Man held his katana, his eyes piercing through the mask, as cold as a deep pool on a frigid mountain.
No one had seen him draw his sword, but his legend had already spread throughout the A-grade area.
"I know you're very strong, but sometimes underestimating someone can lead to a great loss."
The Puppet Master spread his five fingers, and the puppet, as if imbued with a soul from the underworld, perfectly mirrored its master's stance!
The Masked Man still held his katana lazily, his sharp eyes seemingly having found the opponent's fatal flaw!
"A loss? I'm sorry, but against you A-grade area trash, I always feel like I'm getting the better deal!"
As soon as the words fell, Roxis pulled the trigger. The command gun roared deafeningly, and the battle began under this thunderous sound!
The spectators held their breath, seemingly afraid to even exhale, their eyes fixed on the battle on the third tier.
In their minds, the Masked Man's strength was overwhelming, but out of pity for the weaker party, they secretly hoped for a miracle.
The puppet, like a living being, gripped its long saber and rushed towards the Masked Man with extreme speed. It drew and slashed, its blade light forming an impenetrable net, directly striking at the Masked Man. However, the Masked Man's speed seemed even faster than the puppet's, so fast it was difficult to capture.
Each of the puppet's swings seemed to carry a heart-stopping gust of wind, but it was precisely these missed swings that conveyed a terrifying message.
The Puppet Master, seemingly trying his best, couldn't even touch his opponent, not even a single hair!
"Is this all you've got?" The Masked Man dodged with a peculiar movement, appearing completely at ease, as if not exerting himself, his words full of mockery.
The Puppet Master's fingers moved like lightning, each pull and drag like a dance full of spirit. At this moment, he produced another lifelike puppet!
This move was something he hadn't used when facing the Division Master earlier!
"Controlling puppets with both hands?"
"This is too monstrous!"
"It is indeed an extraordinary skill, but if he's dividing his attention, the two puppets might not be able to unleash the same fierce offense as before. I don't know if this is a good thing."
The spectators marveled and also worried for the Puppet Master.
"A bit interesting, but do you think in the face of absolute strength, numbers can still be an advantage? How laughable!"
The Masked Man still hadn't drawn his sword, his movements becoming even more elusive, like a black smoke enveloping from above. The two puppets drew their blades and attacked, immediately cutting through the black shadow!
Everyone gasped in unison, thinking the Masked Man had been cut in half. However, the next scene made all the spectators widen their eyes. Despite the bright daylight, they felt a bone-chilling cold as if plunged into an ice cave!
The black smoke had indeed dispersed, but these wisps of smoke suddenly emitted powerful electrical discharges like currents in thunderclouds the moment they approached the puppets. Like a thunderbolt that appeared out of nowhere, they smashed the two puppets into pieces in an instant!
"Holy crap! What kind of ability is that!"
"I don't know, but judging by the scene, it's probably an elemental ability!"
"No wonder his Ability Index is so high; if it's an elemental ability, then it's not surprising."
Before the crowd finished speaking, the black smoke suddenly closed in. With a flash of white light, the threads connected to the shattered puppets were abruptly severed.
The Puppet Master retreated rapidly, immediately spitting out a mouthful of blood.
"You, who use puppets as your means of attack, must experience a certain degree of feedback damage when your puppets are attacked. This is the weakness of your ability. Give up."
The Masked Man looked at his defeated opponent with extremely cold eyes, not even having drawn his katana.
"Give up? Not yet!"
The Puppet Master's knuckles emitted a strange noise that was difficult to bear. The completely shattered puppets suddenly recoiled like sand, and the Masked Man, as if sensing the terrifying power within the puppets he had destroyed, transformed into black smoke and soared upwards.
The sand, as if controlled by invisible threads, formed a bizarre sand blade, or like a swirling sandstorm, it immediately latched onto the black smoke like a persistent maggot!
This time, the black smoke seemed to be covered by a dense net from above, unable to move. The Puppet Master's lips curved slightly, and his hands, as if crushing tomatoes, clenched into fists!
*Crack!*
A chilling sound of breaking bones erupted from within the black smoke enveloped by the sand. The sand then shattered and scattered, and the black mist finally lost its ethereal form, slowly descending and transforming back into the Masked Man's figure.
It was then revealed that the Masked Man was now entwined with white-glowing threads, and his limbs were making incredibly stiff movements, as if following the Puppet Master's finger!
"What the hell! Has the Masked Man been controlled by the Puppet Master?"
"What happened? When did those threads get wrapped around him?"