Thunderbolt Star Saga

Challenge (Part 2)

The training arena thrummed with the violent symphony of colliding energies. Gu Shuling pressed through the jostling crowd just as Xu Zihan’s light armor ignited, twin auric streams unfurling like phoenix plumes beneath the vaulted ceiling. The secondary-tier combatant’s energy distortion sent shockwaves rippling across the forcefield shielding the combat platform.

"Secondary-tier?" Liu Ke’s hissed disbelief sliced through the crowd’s roar, his betting slip dampening beneath trembling fingers. Two hundred credits suddenly weighed like millstones. Leaning against an observation pillar, Lin Fan observed with amusement. "Hydraulic armor’s damage absorption dominates first-tier matches, but against a two-thousand-energy light variant…" His commentary dissolved as the arena exploded in prismatic spray.

Li Ouyang’s water armor disintegrated under golden fist phantoms, Xu Zihan’s assault leaving afterimages in her wake. By the seventeenth shattered energy node, the aquatic specialist plummeted like a broken marionette, armor fragments and blood tracing crimson arcs through ionized air.

"Si Tu Junji!" The challenge tore through the cheering throng as violet-striped wind armor surged onto the platform. Gu Shuling caught Lin Fan’s predatory smile—the same expression he’d worn when stalking alleyway prey in the slums. Electromagnetic resonance from his thunder armor clashed with the wind armor’s howling vortex.

Their collision deafened novice spectators. Si Tu’s razor gales swarmed like hornets, only to deflect into the alloy platform, fracturing its surface into a spiderweb of fissures. Lin Fan’s count ceased at the seventh energy surge. When his lightning blade cleaved the storm’s heart, the overtaxed forcefield detonated in a shower of sparks.

Smoke cleared to reveal Si Tu’s breastplate seared with charred lightning patterns, Lin Fan’s crackling fingertips resting against his exposed throat. "My gratitude for the lesson," the youth said, his dissipating armor leaving lingering auroras. In the shadows, Xu Zihan adjusted her hood, fingertips brushing blood-flecked insignia before vanishing.

Gu Shuling maintained her grip on Si Tu’s collar until Lin Fan tugged her toward the mess hall, her combat-ready glare softening to flushed embarrassment. "Conceal your capabilities again…" She jabbed at his healing knuckles, oblivious to her own buoyant tone. Amid the ruined arena, Liu Ke gaped at energy readouts—the collision’s peak values had shattered all documented thresholds for secondary-tier combatants.