Total Annihilation Incoming

Night had fully fallen. Above the open-air arena blazed a canopy of brilliant stars.

The Swift Star Wolf owed its name to exactly this: starlight granted it enhanced regenerative power.

Wolf-type creatures were already renowned for their stamina and endurance; with these special star-markings that let the beast absorb the power of starlight, it only grew fiercer the longer the battle stretched. Had the challengers attacked as a group, the Swift Star Wolf might not have been able to rampage so freely — but one-on-one, students ranked below 100 simply couldn't match it.

As the Swift Star Wolf continued stacking up its victories, Mo Fan had used the downtime to recover a fair amount of Magical Energy.

Without resorting to intermediate-tier spells, the recovered Magical Energy wouldn't stretch far — but even his basic-tier magic was anything but ordinary.

Occasionally a challenger would appear among those ranked higher on the ladder who had genuine combat experience — someone who could hold their ground against the Swift Star Wolf and even leave marks on it. But with Mo Fan's masterful lightning-field control working in tandem with Fire Burst amplified to nearly intermediate-tier strength, even those fighters ranked in the low hundreds found themselves completely outmatched.

It had been difficult enough to hold their own in one-on-one fights to begin with. Now with the Summoned Beast and its Summoner fighting together as one, the scenes of battle were nothing short of brutal.

Mo Fan had clearly planned from the very start for a war of attrition — or perhaps he simply had so much experience crushing weaker opponents that he knew exactly how to conserve his strength and weather an unbroken stream of challengers.

The tally kept climbing. In truth, few of these bouts deserved to be called proper fights. Students ranked below 400 had mostly forfeited outright; those below 200 amounted to little more than Magical Energy attrition. The only remaining hope now was for more Dual Spirit Seed students ranked within the top 140 to step forward — to seize this window while the Great Demon Lord and his Summoned Beast were wearing thin, and put a definitive end to this challenge storm that had already shaken the entire school.

"This Mo Fan is nothing but trouble. The Dean told him a thousand times not to cause problems — and sure enough, he didn't cause *problems*, he just turned the entire Fire Hall upside down. Is *that* his idea of keeping a low profile?" Teacher Gu Han, who had rushed over at the commotion, pressed his fingers hard against his temples.

*This is the Main Campus, for heaven's sake. You're a freshman — would it kill you to keep your head down?!*

His complaints aside, as Gu Han looked at Mo Fan — still standing on the arena floor — a quiet warmth crept into his eyes.

*This kid...*

*Still alive. That's what matters.*

*Still able to run wild and cause havoc across this school.*

*That's enough.*

Wei Rong could barely watch anymore. Of everyone present, the department head was suffering the most.

He was beginning to regret it himself — what had possessed him to make an example out of this student just because Dean Xiao had personally handled the transfer? Now he'd stirred up a nightmare. How was Fire Hall ever going to hold its head up in front of the other departments after this?

"Next challenger — ranked 101, Zhao Ji," Wei Rong announced, his voice drained of all energy.

In all his years of teaching at the Main Campus, this was, embarrassingly, the first time he'd called out challengers' names until his mouth ran dry and his spirit felt wrung out completely.

He had put countless arrogant students in their place over the years. Today, this one student had stripped him of every last ounce of fight.

As Zhao Ji, ranked 101st, stepped onto the arena platform, a light kindled in the eyes of every spectator. The Fire Hall students, their faces hollow with despair, suddenly flickered with a last dying ember of hope.

"It's Zhao Ji — he has to be the strongest of all the challengers!"

Students ranked in the top 100 were barred from challenging anyone ranked below them. The elite seated ringside — all of them upstaged by Mo Fan — had long been grinding their teeth, champing at the bit.

"I always knew everyone below rank 100 was dead weight — today this transfer student has finally proved it. If it were me, Kunle, up there, I'd have finished him and his pet long ago!" one of the top-100 students scoffed.

"Exactly. All the real powerhouses in the top 100 are barred from stepping in, so we have to sit here watching some transfer student run amok. It's infuriating."

"Honestly, you so-called powerhouses are all talk," a blunt female student cut in. "Not one of you took anyone below rank 100 seriously at the start — and now you're all here running your mouths about it?"

Mo Fan's performance had set Fire Hall ablaze with fury, but to students from other departments, it read as sheer nerve — recklessness backed by the ability to justify it. Unlike a certain breed of people who were strong yet forever posturing as too refined to care — mouthing disdain while every twitching muscle betrayed just how badly they wanted in.

"Rank 100 is the dividing line. If Teacher Wei Rong had set his challenge ranking at 50th from the beginning, this farce would have ended long ago. Now we in the top 100 have to share the shame of that pack of useless challengers — and we can't even do anything about it. Born with Dual Elements? Nothing particularly impressive about that, in my opinion. He's not the only talented person in the world. Don't you agree, Dongfang Ming?" A girl with a vaguely haughty air and a mushroom-bob hairstyle spoke up.

The corner of Dongfang Ming's mouth twitched.

The mushroom-haired girl clearly didn't know the full story. She pressed on: "Dongfang Ming, why aren't you saying anything?"

Dongfang Ming rolled his eyes. *I simply don't want to.*

Dongfang Ming had once had every reason to expect a direct path into the Lingyin Tribunal upon graduation — he'd already earned the rank of Trainee Tribunal Agent there. Then Mo Fan had walked into his life like a walking curse, and the future his family had so painstakingly paved for him had crumbled to dust.

He remembered their fight with painful clarity: Mo Fan had never even called on his Summoned Beast, and Dongfang Ming had still lost.

And on top of that, Mo Fan apparently also possessed Shadow Element Enchanted Gear — none of which he had used once during today's battles.

From start to finish, Mo Fan had activated only a single piece of Footwear Enchanted Gear in his opening fight. Heaven only knew what other high-end equipment he was sitting on. Someone who could amplify basic-tier magic to the fourth level could not possibly own just one pair of Blood Beast Boots.

"His Summoned Beast looks completely exhausted," someone in the crowd remarked. "I think Zhao Ji has a real shot — he's the strongest of all the challengers."

Zhao Ji had indeed caught a lucky break: the Swift Star Wolf's speed was noticeably slower than before, and its attacks had lost much of their edge.

The Swift Star Wolf had accumulated too many wounds. Since this was a Fire Hall challenge, every student opponent had Fire Element magic, and a good number of those with Spirit Seeds had imbued their flames with scorching effects. Across so many consecutive fights, that accumulated damage had begun to seriously hamper the wolf's movements.

Mindful of the Swift Star Wolf's condition, Mo Fan recalled it into dimensional space.

The moment Mo Fan recalled it, the color drained from the faces of several department heads.

"Don't tell me he has a Contract Beast too!" Wei Rong said, looking visibly unwell.

Contract Summoning was an intermediate-tier Summoning Element spell. Contract Beasts were, as a rule, several tiers stronger than dimensional beasts.

If Mo Fan had also cultivated his Summoning Element to the intermediate tier and produced a Contract Beast even stronger than the Swift Star Wolf, Fire Hall was finished — utterly and completely wiped out!