What? Who went where?
Athena didn't understand, but Bai Cha seemed to have suddenly lost patience. Before, she had parried Athena's moves, but now her movements became sharp and fierce.
Behind her, a giant spectral image of a beautiful woman suddenly stooped and roared at Athena and Raphael.
Yes, the female Asura was indeed beautiful, but beauty required her to be of normal size. A head as large as an elephant suddenly opened its mouth and roared at you, no matter how beautiful, it would only send chills down your spine.
Athena's six wings behind her trembled slightly. Even if Raphael and Athena fused, it didn't mean Raphael was blind; he could see. Being suddenly shoved in his face like that, he was so startled he almost jumped out of Athena.
"Go back, who told you to eat indiscriminately." Bai Cha flew up, pressed down on the Asura's head, and slapped her back.
The blood sea on the stage had already reached several meters high. The Asura was only a phantom without a lower body. After being slapped by Bai Cha, she sank into the blood pool, unable to climb out, and could only shrink back dejectedly.
The waves surged again, and Athena immediately felt that Bai Cha was serious. The divine light around her also turned into waves to counter.
Although this exchange seemed evenly matched, Athena keenly sensed a slight gap between her and Bai Cha in terms of level, intensity, and endurance. However, such a small gap was fatal between experts, and Bai Cha had never let her Asura help in battle before.
"I lose."
It was a point of realization; true powerhouses did not fight to the death but understood each other.
Athena retracted her scepter and said helplessly, "You are indeed very strong. Although our gap is not large, considering our ages, you are so much younger than me, you are truly much stronger."
The younger the age, the greater the potential. For a normal person, potential was highest before the age of thirty.
Although Athena's current gap with Bai Cha was only a hairline difference, Athena was already in her twenties, while Bai Cha had just turned eighteen not long ago.
Upon hearing Athena's words, Bai Cha finally came back to her senses. She glanced down at the audience again before bowing to Athena and leaving the stage.
Her steps were a bit hurried, her brow furrowed as if she was thinking of something unpleasant. Those watching her from below were a little worried.
"Where is Freya?" Bai Cha quickly walked to the seating area of China's shadow and asked Nan in a low voice.
"Hmm? I don't know, maybe she was called away by Balance Beam," Nan replied with slight surprise, but he recalled carefully, "I remember when she was watching your match, she suddenly walked away from the edge of the stage, but she must have spoken to someone, I heard her talking to someone."
Freya's voice was pleasant and recognizable.
Although the crowd below was noisy, Nan's perception had always been keen. Even though the conversation was fleeting, Nan still heard the voice coming from Balance Beam.
"What's wrong?" Seeing Bai Cha's expression was not right, Nan was a little confused.
"Nothing." Bai Cha touched the still radiant crystal flower on her chest and shook her head.
She had suddenly felt a bit uneasy for no reason.
Bai Cha frowned and pondered for a long time, but the unease persisted. She simply stood up and left the venue. It was morning, and her finals with Astoria were tomorrow night. In the meantime, both Astoria and Athena had matches. During this free time, she had time to wander.
With that thought, Bai Cha decided to go find Freya. Lucifer quickly followed.
However, half an hour later, Bai Cha emerged from China's resting area with an even more displeased expression.
She was gone. For half an hour, Freya hadn't contacted her, nor did she have a match, nor was she in China's resting area.
"Master, there's no need to be nervous. Miss Freya might have just returned to Balance Beam for something," Lucifer said, stepping forward to comfort her as he saw Bai Cha's anxious look. "After all, Miss Freya still belongs to Balance Beam for now."
That was true. Freya came to her every day, which gave Bai Cha the illusion that Freya no longer belonged to Balance Beam. With that thought, Bai Cha returned to the competition venue with Lucifer.
On the stage was the match between Athena and Astoria. It was evident that Astoria, as a veteran, was already a bit old. His age of over forty was no longer enough to support his potential compared to younger players. Although he seemed evenly matched with Athena, he clearly lacked Athena's drive.
After Athena, Astoria, and three other matches, the top three places were essentially decided. Everyone understood that Bai Cha and Athena had already secured the first and second positions.
Next were Astoria's matches against several leaders, but Astoria had already lost to Jupiter. Therefore, everyone knew that the top spots were likely to be divided among the leaders of these countries.
However, there were still a few matches that were very exciting. First was the internal match between Freya and Astoria, and then the match between Freya and Bai Cha.
Although Astoria had lost to Jupiter, Freya had previously defeated Oudimubula. Even after the match, with the referees' summaries, Freya could still reliably rank in the top five.
Furthermore, there was the match between Bai Cha and Freya. In the previous world competition, Freya had directly conceded to Bai Cha and given up her ranking. This time, during a casual conversation with Bai Cha, she had also said that she would give Freya a ranking. Therefore, some people were placing bets on whether Bai Cha would give the first place to Freya or if they would have a good fight.
On the stage, Athena waved her scepter, and a starry sky suddenly bloomed on the platform. The darkness in the universe was profound, yet every galaxy was incredibly brilliant, enveloping the stage at an extremely fast speed.
This was the illusion of the Golden Universe. Initially, Athena did not use this move when fighting Bai Cha because she knew that illusions were the most ineffective ability against Bai Cha.
For powerhouses, illusions were the most useless, as they could see through them at a glance.
Therefore, facing Astoria, Athena had to contend with him for a long time, exhausting him significantly before using this ability. Although illusions were easily seen through by powerhouses, once trapped, they were fatal. For powerhouses, seizing that sliver of opportunity was crucial.
Astoria retreated rapidly, the hand holding the Scales of Justice trembling. However, he still resolutely and stubbornly raised the Scales of Justice in his hand. Behind him, a golden palace also rose, which was also a form of illusion.
In fact, it was less of an illusion and more of a domain.
Was this a decision to go head-to-head in terms of mental strength? It was indeed in the style of the Bai family, unyielding.
Everyone thought the outcome of this battle was decided, yet Astoria still made the fight exceptionally brilliant.
As the two domains collided, their extremely similar attributes caused them to instantly merge, expanding infinitely within the arena and enveloping everyone. This would depend on who, Astoria or Athena, could maintain the initiative.
Bai Cha sat idly, resting her forehead, allowing the illusion to envelop her.
This illusion had no effect on her; at most, it was like a car flashing its high beams at her.
However, to Bai Cha's surprise, after the golden light flashed, the people around her suddenly disappeared, leaving only her sitting in her chair, resting her forehead.
But even so, the chair beneath her and the table beside her suddenly transformed into ornate and intricate forms, as if carved from the world's most beautiful gold and crystal. Behind her was picturesque scenery, and in front of her, a vast expanse of grassland stretched endlessly. She could hear the flow of a spring and see the clear blue sky.
Bai Cha: "?"
What was going on? Was her mental strength so weak lately? She was only enveloped by an illusion for a moment, and now she had fallen into it? She hadn't actively connected.
Bai Cha felt that she had been too busy lately, neglecting her mental training. It seemed she needed to strengthen her mental power and start targeted training from tomorrow.
As she thought this, Bai Cha intended to break the illusion. Unexpectedly, a sweet and charming voice suddenly echoed in her ear.
Rather than in her ear, the entire space reverberated with this melodious voice, like the holy words of an angel in a cathedral, every word echoing in the ethereal space.
[Oh my~ My guest has arrived.]
[Then, welcome to the Romantic Theater~]
The voice was sweet, like fragrant flowers carrying the scent of candy wafting through the air. Hearing this voice, Bai Cha immediately breathed a sigh of relief. She had thought Freya was in trouble, but it turned out she was preparing another surprise for her.
Thinking about how many times this had happened, it seemed Freya really liked these strange romantic surprises.
Bai Cha pondered, thinking that she should also try to surprise Freya in the future. Freya would probably like it very much.
The scene before her changed. Bai Cha sat in her chair, and the picturesque landscape painting suddenly turned into an animation. The little figures in front looked like crayon drawings, with Q-version characters drawn in a small and cute manner, moving as if in stop-motion animation.
[When the world began, the World Tree spread its branches and said,
"This world shall have divine personalities to lead humanity forward."
Thus, divine personalities appeared. They transformed into divine statues and chose their masters, with divine personalities as the head and the twelve constellations as the auxiliary, guarding this blue planet under the starry sky and within the universe.
However, as time passed, this blue planet became more and more populated, with people dividing into factions and establishing nations... Oh my! The original people of the divine personalities, even after reincarnation, could no longer find their divine statues~]
[Thus, the divine statues could only settle for those with good character, but their talents were uneven, and their divine personalities even began to decline. Until one day, a little pink dumpling descended between heaven and earth. She had no parents, no relatives, because… she was the reincarnation of pure love.]
So, was this a reenactment of her childhood story?
Bai Cha rested her chin on her hand, lost in thought. She had never asked Freya about her past because Freya's little mouth was always chattering, and Bai Cha knew that even if she didn't ask, Freya would tell her.
However, this way of performing was truly in her style.
[Oh dear, you can't get distracted, my audience!]
The sweet voice suddenly became coquettish. The little pink dumpling in the stop-motion animation suddenly threw something at Bai Cha, just like a student caught sleeping in class and being hit with chalk by a teacher.
Bai Cha instinctively caught it. Upon closer inspection, it was actually a piece of candy.
[Alright, the performance continues... Where were we?]
The little pink figure in the stop-motion animation pouted and thought for a while, then suddenly seemed to remember, a lightbulb flashing above her forehead.
[So, our most adorable, most beautiful, and sweetest young lady in the world arrived at an organization called Balance Beam. She followed a scent, sensing that her divine statue was here.]
[She searched and searched, the journey was too long, she was so tired. She kept birds company and danced amidst the mountains and waters. She was so cute, and popular wherever she went, but she was still so lonely. She had just been born and didn't know what this world truly was.]
[Until one day, white light bloomed within her, and she suddenly arrived in the universe. A crudely shaped planet came before her. This planet was so proud, ferocious, and ugly. It said to this pink girl,]
[ "You are my child, imbued with my utmost benevolent power. You are my child who descended by deceiving the World Tree, so you must be used by me."]