At this moment, Yamato was standing quietly in the duel arena. Suddenly, the [N O V E L I G H T] space in front of him rippled, and his opponent was in position.

Then, a countdown began to appear on the screen.

It was also at this moment that several members from #176 Channel were all greatly shocked upon seeing their opponent.

"What a coincidence, our opponent is actually that guy?!"

"Hmph, they probably don't even have a tactic. I didn't expect we'd take a victory right at the start!"

Seeing this, the Leader of #176 Channel also cast a provocative glance toward the position where Bai Cheng and the others were.

With Bai Cheng's strength, she naturally noticed the other party's gaze immediately. She looked up to meet his eyes, a hint of confusion in her own.

Seeing this, the disdain in the eyes of the #176 Channel Leader deepened.

"To actually reveal a look of college-student-like stupidity—we're definitely going to win!"

Others, seeing this, also began to shout at the light screen in front of them: "Go get him! Take down that idiot Employee!"

The countdown floating on the light screen soon reached zero.

The bell for the start of the match suddenly rang through the arena. The cruelty of the deathmatch rules caused the air in the entire stadium to freeze.

The Settlers of the losing channel would face a fate where half are annihilated and half are reduced to slaves, while the winner would devour all of the opponent's resources and territory.

This near-crushing set of rules instantly ignited the fighting spirit and fear of all channels.

In an instant, the originally lifeless atmosphere of the entire venue was set ablaze.

Following the shout of one person, countless Leaders began to cheer for their Employees.

And at the exact second the countdown ended, Yamato's figure moved without any warning.

He instantly erupted with the strength of the ninth rank of Guardian, his speed so fast that only afterimages remained!

His opponent, whose true strength was only at the late Elite-level, couldn't even react in the face of such a massive strength gap.

This was a completely crushing-level battle—no, it couldn't even be called a battle!

In the next second, a line of blood had already sprayed into the air.

By the time the onlookers from #176 Channel realized what had happened, they saw that their Employee had already been decapitated.

Then, a notification began to pop up on the large screen.

【#2 Channel VS #176 Channel, First Match: #2 Channel Wins!】

【#176 Channel, please send out your second contestant within five minutes!】

【Note: The winning side will only have the power to actively change contestants after defeating one channel's worth of opponents.】

The screen in front of them had already popped up the notification, and a countdown for the final five minutes to enter the arena also appeared.

However, the people of #176 Channel seemed as if they hadn't seen these messages at all, still in shock from their Employee being killed in an instant.

"How could it be..."

"This shouldn't be possible. Xiao Kun had life-saving means. Even if he wasn't a match, he shouldn't have been taken down in one hit..."

One person's words came to an abrupt halt because he had noticed his boss's incredibly dark expression.

Though he was furious, as a Leader, he understood perfectly well that the longer he delayed, the more stamina the enemy in the ring would recover.

Even though Xiao Kun had died, he had at least forced the opponent to waste the power of one strike!

If they didn't get in there, the slight amount of stamina the opponent used would recover immediately.

"Dammit, Xiao Cai, you're up!" the Leader of #176 Channel shouted, incensed.

Although this Employee wasn't the strongest among them, and he also understood that going up was just seeking death, he had no other choice.

He didn't speak, nor did he provoke the Leader's bad mood; he just silently walked toward the ring.

The battle on their side was actually very fast compared to the progress of the entire tournament.

The waiting time was even longer than the battle time.

Unsurprisingly, this Employee named Xiao Cai was again killed in one hit by Yamato.

This time, while the #176 Channel Leader's face was still furious, it was clearly missing the surprised expression from the previous time.

In fact, he had already made preparations in advance.

Giving Yamato almost no time to rest, the moment Xiao Cai was killed, his next Employee to participate was already in position at the edge of the ring.

The third match was another instant kill.

The fourth time, the fifth time... until only one Employee and the various teammates remained beside the #176 Channel Leader, his face now looking extremely grim.

"Damn it, how can he be so strong?"

Yamato's strength seemed to have exceeded their expectations. This behavior of arranging a war of attrition to wear down the opponent's stamina was truly too naive.

The huge gap in strength actually allowed Yamato to exert almost no effort throughout the entire battle process.

"Xiao Xu, you must kill that guy for me!" the #176 Channel Leader roared in rage.

And this Employee named Xiao Xu was precisely the strongest Employee he had personally cultivated; his strength had now reached the peak of the ninth rank of Guardian.

If it weren't for not having completed the Promotion Trial yet, they would already have a King-level expert. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

This was also why, besides Xiao Xu, their other Employees were only at the Elite-level.

【Tenth Match, #2 Channel VS #176 Channel, Countdown: 30 seconds...】

At this moment, on the other side outside the venue.

Liu San stood at the edge of the stands, fists clenched, his gaze resolute.

As the representative of #2 Channel, he knew the weight of this battle; it didn't just concern Yamato's life and death, but also carried Bai Cheng's expectations.

Although he was incredibly confident in Yamato, whom he had personally trained, when it actually came to this kind of same-level duel, he still became nervous for no reason.

In contrast, Bai Cheng, standing in the spectator area, had a calm expression, but the appreciation in the depths of her eyes couldn't be hidden.

She could have easily swept the entire field, but she chose to give the stage to Liu San. This was both a form of tempering for him and a declaration to the other channels that their #2 Channel's strength was enough to crush everyone!

She was very satisfied with Yamato's performance, and she was equally full of confidence regarding the outcome of the upcoming battle.

On the ring.

Yamato stared at Xiao Xu as he slowly stepped onto the stage. Each of the latter's steps made the ring vibrate slightly, and his metalized skin glinted with a cold, iron-like light under the lamps.

The moment the countdown hit zero, Xiao Xu charged with a cruel grin, crashing toward Yamato like an out-of-control chariot, his fist carrying the sound of breaking air as it struck toward Yamato's face.

Both sides were full of confidence in their own strength, and they wanted to resolve this battle at the fastest possible speed!

Yamato's body shifted slightly to the side, and ice-blue mist suddenly rose from beneath his feet, condensing into several ice walls to block the offensive.

Xiao Xu's fist smashed the first layer of ice wall, sending ice shards flying, but it slowed slightly before the second layer—this was precisely the moment Yamato had predicted.

He took the opportunity to leap backward, his hands slicing through the air. Countless ice spikes poured down like a rainstorm, clanging as they struck Xiao Xu's metal body, but they only left faint white marks.

"Just scratching an itch!"