Chương 160: Stack, Stack Them All Up

Amidst much anticipation, the individual competition officially began.

The result was not unexpected for some people.

Wusong sent out Gallade, who had just entered the Quasi-Champion level, and cleanly and efficiently defeated Aldebaran in a 1v3.

The second one to appear, A-Liu, was even more brutal, using only a Gym-level Scizor to directly defeat the Ghost-specialized Pine Leaf.

There's no way around it, the attribute suppression is just too severe.

At this point, according to the best-of-three rule, Zhuqing Academy has already secured the victory in the individual competition.

Before Cynthia, the final character, even had a chance to appear, the match moved directly to the final arena battle.

Seeing Zhuqing Academy win the individual competition so easily, Mikoli in the private room jumped up, looking astonished: "Although their top genius is only Gadria, their core strength is too exaggerated, isn't it?"

The family knows their own affairs.

He and Daigo can indeed easily overpower Gosho and Aryu, but it's hard to say how much stronger the other members of the German Academy team are compared to Kaman and Gorin, who were just eliminated.

So, by this calculation, the overall foundation of their German Academy is actually inferior to that of Zhuqing Academy, which they consider an easy target.

The clowns are actually themselves?

"Otherwise, why do you think I wouldn't try my best to get first place?"

Daigo sighed and pushed his friend, who was blocking his way, aside.

If he hadn't carefully calculated the overall strength of both sides before the match, how could he, with his pride and arrogance, have taken the initiative to back down?

Whether he can defeat Cattleya is another matter, but the other members of the German Academy are truly no match for the core members of the Zhuqing Academy.

As the two conversed, the final showdown, which would determine the winner, officially began under the watchful eyes of the entire audience.

After their quick defeat in the doubles competition, the outside world was not optimistic about Zhuqing Academy.

But with Quartz Academy suffering a crushing defeat in the individual competition, bringing the score to a 1-1 tie, the suspense of this opening match was reignited, and the game immediately became exciting.

"Congratulations! Congratulations!"

"Quartz! Quartz!"

The audience on both sides chanted the names of the two colleges.

While the overwhelming battle wasn't exactly exciting to watch, Genji was an eloquent referee who would vividly recount the history of the two academies and the match that had just taken place, giving a detailed account of its level in the Saiyu Tournament.

The visuals weren't great, but Genji's narration was excellent, so everyone was still looking forward to it overall.

In particular, when they learned that most of the contestants present were comparable to the eight masters, their shouts reached their peak.

It's okay if they don't understand it, as long as they can brag about it after listening and watching it.

Quartz Academy's preparation area.

Despite the deafening shouts outside, the atmosphere at Quartz Academy was unusually heavy.

In their original tactical plan, the battle should have been won cleanly and decisively with the previous singles and doubles matches.

Who would have thought that they would be dragged into an embarrassing situation of a 1-1 tie?

"Shiba, you know the consequences if you lose the arena match," Watari said calmly.

"If we really lose, that'll be a real mess," Kona joked with a laugh.

Anyway, she won the doubles match, and even though she was subjected to online bullying by the public after the match, she was the one who received the least criticism.

Moreover, her hometown is not in Kanto itself, but in the Orange Islands, which belong to Kanto.

If you're not comfortable staying here, you can just pack up and leave.

Even if she moves to another region, her hometown folks will support her, and it's not up to others to point fingers.

"Ha, I won't lose!"

Shiba sneered, cracked his knuckles, and led the remaining four arena participants of his team, striding onto the battlefield.

On the other side, Cattleya and Lu Sha walked side by side, leading the team out of the passage.

Compared to the oppressive atmosphere of Quartz Academy, Zhuqing Academy is much more relaxed and carefree.

As Lu Sha had predicted, the competition had progressed smoothly to the arena stage with Cattleya in charge.

Then they would have no reason to lose anymore.

"Click!"

As soon as Lu Sha stepped onto the field, he let out an excited shout.

In the arena battle, they would be the first to appear, and theoretically, they would need to engage in a five-on-one gauntlet match.

But with the young lady's invincible superpowers as a backup, let alone five, even ten, he could take them all down.

"In the first round of the tournament, Zhuqing Academy has sent out their absolute ace! And Kanto Quartz Academy is sending out Ami first!" Genji's excited voice echoed in the arena.

Hearing the audience's unanimous applause, the two sides on the field had completely different feelings.

Compared to Lu Sha and Cattleya's relaxed and carefree demeanor, Ami, standing opposite them, was clearly under immense pressure.

"Go, Steelix!"

With a flash of light, a giant Steel Serpent, ten meters long and exuding a dojo-level aura, crashed into the arena.

To be honest, Ami's strength is not weak.

If she had been placed in yesterday's test, she would definitely have been in the top twenty.

Unfortunately, she ran into Cattleya and Lu Sha today.

"Battle begins!"

The instant Genji made his gesture, Rikusa opened his mouth wide, and a dense stream of blue dragon-type energy surged out.

The moment this energy left its mouth, it surged against the wind, transforming into dozens of violent tornadoes that mercilessly swept towards the giant steel snake.

Seeing this scene that resembled a natural disaster, Ami's face turned deathly pale.

This level of destructive power is something a Garchomp should never be able to unleash!

"Steel Snake, use Dig!"

Ami's instructions were very timely.

Logically speaking, given Steelix's defense and speed, it should have had ample time to burrow underground to evade.

Unfortunately, a flash of eerie blue light appeared in the eyes of Gadriya, who was standing behind.

A surge of immense psychic power descended instantly, causing the massive Steelix to stiffen abruptly, pinning it to the spot.

Boom!

The next second, Steelix was completely engulfed by the ultimate-level tornado.

Even though Steel-type has resistance to Dragon-type, Steelix only lasted for less than twenty seconds under this almost endless continuous attack before collapsing to the ground.

"Steel Serpent!"

Ami covered her face and cried out in despair. Although she had anticipated this scene before going on stage, the speed of this defeat was just too fast.

"Steel Serpent is unable to battle. The winner of this round is Zhuqing Academy!"

Genji merely glanced at the arena before decisively announcing the result.

The continuous barrage of ultimate-level moves, coupled with the forced suppression of Heavenly King-level superpowers.

Let alone a Gym Leader-level Steelix, even if it were replaced by a near-Elite Four-level Pokémon, the outcome would be the same.

In Genji's view, Zhuqing Academy's strategy was already out in the open.

Use players ranked 5th or 6th to exchange pieces and send off the doubles match.

Let Wusong, A-Liu, and Xi-Luo Na consistently score points in the singles competition.

Finally, it was Cattleya's turn to defend the ring alone.

Faced with this kind of formation, even if it's the German Academy, the probability of losing is extremely high if they don't split up Daigo or Mikuri to play in a doubles match.

The key point is that even if the German Academy wins the doubles match, the singles match requires three people to compete. Due to the rules, Daigo cannot fight three matches in a row by himself.

With the strength of Wusong and Cynthia, they will definitely be able to win a crucial point in the singles competition.

Wusong and A-Liu can't compare to geniuses like Daigo who became famous at a young age, but they're not on the same level as others either. They're guaranteed to be at least Champion-level in the future.

Zhuqing Academy has four such core seeds.

The only chance for the German Academy is to have Mikoli lead the team to win the doubles match.

Then they abandoned the individual matches and focused all their remaining strongest players on the arena matches.

First, let the others frantically wear down Gadria, and then let Daigo finish her off.

However, if this all-out, all-out battle were to occur in the first round, even if the team ultimately won, it would be an extremely ugly victory.

Not to mention that if things go wrong, the German Academy would be doomed.

Thinking about this, Genji understood Daigo's choice.

Trainers and Pokémon are ultimately just mortal beings.

During the long and high-pressure competition, even if the top four geniuses of Zhuqing Academy don't get tired, the other contestants and their Pokémon will experience mental fatigue.

If you don't play and conserve your energy, you're bound to become lax.

When that time comes, it will be Hoenn's most secure chance to defend their title.

"Ami, this won't do either!"

When Ami walked off the field dejectedly, Ryota, who was about to take her place, sneered.

"If you're so good, then you do it."

Ami didn't even bother to lift her eyelids.

She admitted that her skills weren't great, but among the remaining people at Quartz Academy, apart from Shiba, no one had the right to criticize her.

Even someone as insignificant as Ryota could easily push through the ranks with her Steelix closed eyes.

"Cattleya, let me take you on! Go, Charizard!"

Ignoring Ami's cold face, Ryota walked confidently onto the battle stage and unleashed his Charizard.

Oh wow? Professional level?

Lu Sha casually sensed the aura of the Charizard opposite him and almost burst out laughing.

Even a Gym Leader Steelix couldn't withstand his attack just now. Where does this mere Pro-class Charizard get the courage to be so arrogant?

"Battle begins!"

Faced with such a lopsided match, Genji didn't even bother to say anything more.

"Charizard, show our bond!"

Hearing Ryota's passionate shout, Rikusa blinked his shark-like eyes in surprise.

A bond-based start?

Could it be that...?

Oh, you're overthinking it. Mega Evolution hasn't been released yet, so it's fine.

Faced with the fiery breath that Charizard was spewing at full power, Lu Sha didn't hold back at all and opened his mouth to unleash a tornado that blasted it head-on.

To be fair, this Charizard is fairly strong.

At the professional level, it is truly remarkable to have mastered flamethrower to an instinctive level.

But in the face of Lu Sha now, this little flame is nothing.

A violent tornado swept past in an instant, and the Charizard had no chance to resist before collapsing to the ground as if it had been deliberately injured.

This time, Lu Sha didn't even need to use the young lady's superpowers.

Shark can now kill pro-level Karami without even using his hands.

"The victor is Cattleya of the Celebration Academy!"

Genji's ancient well remained calm, mechanically announcing the result.

The gap in strength is simply too large.

With such a precipitous gap, it's impossible to win, let alone even wear down Lu Sha's stamina.

The biggest divide between the Heavenly King level and those below it lies in the addition of attribute origin.

Even Gadalia's superpower source hasn't been forced out yet, so it's clear that Zhuqing Academy's side isn't even warming up.

The subsequent two matches followed a similar pattern in both process and outcome.

Lu Sha easily crushed his opponent with just two simple and unadorned tornadoes.

After four stomp-and-run games with no suspense whatsoever, even a layman's average viewer could see something was wrong.

Clearly, Quartz Academy, as the number one seed, has been pushed to the brink of elimination.

Those viewers in Guandu who were watching the live broadcast on TV were probably slapping their thighs and cursing loudly.

Quartz Academy represents the face of Kanto.

It's only the first round of the knockout stage, and they're playing against Zhuqing Academy, which is at the bottom of the rankings. How can they be facing elimination in the first round?

Those who knew the details of Zhuqing Academy were fine, but ordinary viewers who were unaware of the truth could only see the glaring battle descriptions at the top of the TV screen.

【Kanto·Indigo Academy (1) VS Sinnoh·Celebration Academy (64)】 Seeing how poorly Quartz Academy had fared against Zhuqing Academy, which ranked 64th, their blood pressure was about to spike.

"Now entering the arena is Indigo Academy's ultimate ace, Fighting-type trainer Shiba!"

Seeing Shiba stepping onto the arena shirtless, wearing only a pair of fighting pants, Genji, who was in mid-air, finally put away his nonchalant attitude and his eyes became slightly serious.

The biggest highlight of today's opening match is the clash between Cattleya and Shiba.

The combination of Gadalia and Lusha is an Elite Four level trainer paired with a non-Elite Four level Pokémon.

Meanwhile, Shiba's team consisted of a near-Elite Four level trainer paired with an Elite Four level Pokémon.

Judging from their strength on paper, the two sides seem to be evenly matched.

However, because Psychic types are naturally strong against Fighting types, and having personally experienced the aura that Cattleya unleashed, Genji actually favored Cattleya more from the bottom of his heart.

However, Fighting-type Pokémon are known for their high burst damage and long endurance in battles with limited boundaries.

Facing Garchomp, whose raw strength isn't exactly top-tier, they might actually pull off an unexpected comeback.

"Cattleya, are you planning to keep fighting me with this immature little doll? Oh, I forgot, according to the rules of the arena, you can't change your Pokémon. Sorry, although it's a bit unfair, I've taken this victory!"

Shiba tightened the martial arts headband on his forehead, roared, and hurled the Poké Ball in his hand.

"Go forth, mighty strength!"

"Strange!"

With a powerful roar, a four-armed monster with an extremely robust physique and bulging muscles slammed heavily into the center of the arena.

Upon seeing the appearance of the Heavenly King-level monstrous strength, Lu Sha not only did not back down, but instead let out a strange laugh and began to twist his body in place.

Left hand, one slow motion; right hand, one slow motion.

Soul Dance Sonic Boom, activate!

He's already level 47!

It's just one level away from evolving into Garchomp.

Although this move has already been demonstrated once in a previous exhibition match, if it works well, you only get two chances in your lifetime, so of course you have to cherish those opportunities.

Seeing Lu Sha's extremely cringe-worthy dance and the aura emanating from him that was rising at a terrifying speed, Genji on the judges' table looked strange.

He felt like he had seen this scene in a video before.

He turned his head and glanced at the other side of the field.

Instead of moving to the center of the arena, Guai Li took advantage of the few seconds before the match to frantically strike various warm-up poses on the spot, starting to stack the [Gathering Qi + Bodybuilding] buffs on himself.

Seeing both sides frantically stacking buffs before the match, Genji's lips twitched. Instead of waving the signal to start, he patiently waited for a while.

Since we're both thinking of stacking them, let's stack them first and then hit them.

He also wanted to see which side would be stronger after both sides were fully amplified.

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