In the spectator stands, Ningguang watched the lineup of opponents and revealed a confident smile. "This round is in the bag." Keqing nodded in agreement. "Exactly. There's no way any of them can beat Captain Beidou in the water." The surrounding Liyue players were equally optimistic. "Boss, bring home those three points!" "No way anything goes wrong this time." "If we win, we'll be at six points total." Hearing their discussion, Furina curled her lips. Keep dreaming. Do they really think they can beat our Lynette? They'd already seen what happened earlier—Freminet alone had wiped out an entire group.
After sweeping his gaze across the contestants, Valerius signaled everyone to stand on the diving platforms. Beidou glanced sideways at March 7th and smirked. "Let's see how tough you are. Your Blade just bullied our Xingqiu earlier, didn't he? I'll pay that back." March 7th grinned without fear. "Try me." Off to the side, Belle looked like she'd already accepted her fate. "Please go easy on me…" Only Raiden Shogun stood there calmly, her expression indifferent as she scanned her opponents. A faint, disdainful smile appeared at the corner of her lips. They were already arguing among themselves before she had even made a move. How amusing. She would eliminate them all soon enough.
"Ready?" Valerius asked.
"Let's go."
The whistle blew.
With a splash, all the players launched themselves into the water at once. They had learned from the previous match—first, create distance. Speed was everything.
"Huh? What is Ei doing?"
Everyone had already jumped in, but Raiden Shogun took a running start and leapt high into the air.
"The Shogun… is jumping high?"
The Inazuma spectators were completely confused. She had spoken with such confidence earlier, and they thought she had a solid plan. But this…?
Suspended in midair, Raiden Shogun narrowed her eyes and raised her hand.
"Watch this—Chain Lightning!"
In an instant, dark clouds gathered overhead. A massive bolt of lightning tore through the sky and struck directly into the pool.
"WHAT?!"
"This is cheating!"
"You can do that?!"
Electric arcs exploded across the water. The contestants who had just begun swimming convulsed violently, then floated motionless on the surface.
Even Valerius was at a loss for words. So this was the terrifying magic Raiden Shogun had obtained earlier.
Splash.
Only after releasing the lightning did Raiden Shogun drop into the water.
"Tch… a bit numbing."
The moment she touched the water, her body trembled. Although she had avoided the main strike by staying airborne, the residual current still made her muscles tingle. It took her a while to steady herself.
Then, with cold efficiency, she gathered the unconscious players together and pressed them all beneath the surface.
[Notice: Player Belle has been eliminated.]
[Notice: Player March 7th has been eliminated.]
[Notice: Player…]
One elimination notice after another rang out.
[Notice: Player Lynette has been eliminated.]
[Notice: Player Beidou has been eliminated.]
In the end, every single opponent had been wiped out.
Only then did Raiden Shogun quickly climb out of the pool. If she stayed any longer, she might end up eliminating herself.
Back on shore, she took a moment to recover before raising an eyebrow at Valerius. "Well?"
"…You're insane. In a good way."
What else could he say? He gave her a thumbs-up. Only she could come up with something like that.
The audience was stunned. The match had ended before it even began. A total wipeout.
Was the Raiden Shogun fearless or just reckless? What if she had knocked herself out with that lightning strike?
Still, thinking it through, she had planned it well. By jumping into the air first, she had avoided the strongest impact of the lightning.
With that, Inazuma finally scored points.
Returning to her team, Raiden Shogun said nothing. She sat down beside Yae Miko, arms crossed, chin slightly raised in silent pride.
"You're crazy. What if you had knocked yourself out too?" Yae Miko said.
"Hmph. I am the Raiden Shogun. A little lightning means nothing to me."
If Yae Miko hadn't just seen her trembling from the shock, she might have believed it. Still, this time Raiden Shogun had delivered results, so she let her have her moment.
The scoreboard updated once again.
Mondstadt: 5 points.
Liyue: 5 points.
Inazuma: 4 points.
Sumeru–Fontaine Alliance: 8 points.
Xianzhou Alliance: 5 points.
Penacony Coalition: 4 points.
Belobog Alliance: 3 points.
Zenless Zone Zero: 3 points.
"That's insane. Why are Sumeru and Fontaine so strong?"
"They're already at 8 points!"
"No way—we can't let them score anymore."
Seeing the scoreboard, many players grew uneasy. If this continued, that alliance would run away with victory.
Quiet calculations began forming in everyone's minds. From now on, anyone could win—but Sumeru and Fontaine absolutely could not.
Valerius picked up the microphone again. "Alright, next event—Hot-Blooded Pole Vault. Please watch the VCR."
The big screen lit up once more. This time, the setting was a series of rooftops. Buildings stretched out in all directions, some connected by ropes, others separated by wide gaps. Poles and unicycles were scattered across the rooftops.
"Huh? Everyone competes at once?"
Valerius raised an eyebrow. This wasn't a one-by-one event—everyone went together.
"This is going to be interesting."
A whistle sounded, and the participants sprinted forward. The fastest grabbed poles, planted them into the rooftop, and vaulted across to the next building. Others followed closely behind.
Then—
Whoosh!
One of the trailing participants, realizing he couldn't catch up, simply hurled his pole forward. The airborne competitor ahead was struck mid-jump and sent plummeting down.
"What the hell?!"
"That's straight-up jumping off buildings!"
"They can attack mid-air too?!"
"Riding a unicycle across ropes… what kind of circus stunt is this?!"
The crowd erupted in shock. They already knew this "sports meet" was chaotic—but this was on another level.
As the final participant reached the finish line, the screen faded.
"Alright, pick your players."
Every faction fell silent.
The previous events had been rough, but this? Leaping between skyscrapers? One mistake and it was a free fall.
Even if they wouldn't die, no one wanted to experience that.
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