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The battle began with a loud declaration from the announcer. However, unlike previous battles fought on this same stage, neither combatant moved from their original spot. Instead, calmly, the man - Xiao Zhan - took a seat on the platform.

"Please, sit down. No need to be so anxious - my attack hasn\'t begun yet."

Ling Long, his opponent, held skepticism in her eyes, but she cautiously sat down anyway.

"Now then… are you ready?" the man asked, resting his chin on his two hands as he sat in a cross-legged position.

The woman closed her eyes. "Go ahead. No matter what you try, after ten seconds, you will be the loser. Not once have I ever been affected by psychological attacks of any kind - you have sealed your own fate."

"Oh, is that so?" Xiao Zhan chuckled, as if amused. "Well… since you shared such information with me, I shall do the same in return - not once has someone ever resisted my mental attacks. Accepting this gamble will not only cost this match… but also perhaps your life. Be ready."

"Hmph… enough with the big talk. I\'m ready."

"Very well. I like your confidence. Then, the timer starts… now."

The moment he said that, the woman\'s eyes suddenly snapped open, her body frozen. Her calm demeanor from moments earlier was nowhere to be seen. It was as if she was being constricted by a python, squeezing the living life out of her. Slowly, her body began trembling, increasing in strength little by little.

Meanwhile, Xiao Zhan seemed as calm as ever on the other end of the stage. His calm smile plastered across his face, he stared into Ling Long\'s eyes, as if greatly amused by the fear written in them.

Three seconds later, Ling Long was shaking violently, having lost all control over her own body. She spurted blood out from her mouth, then clutched her head in agony, hands trembling. Then, she suddenly started pulling her own hair out, screaming in agony. She even went so far as to choke herself, falling over to one side. Her originally proper and formal sitting posture was now nothing more than a crazy girl, mind broken by whatever she was seeing in her mind.

Ling Long cried and screamed, but neither the announcer, judges present, nor anyone else made any move to help her.

After all, the rules of this competition were stated clearly beforehand already - killing was allowed. What Xiao Zhan was doing was simply killing her… using torture.

The perpetrator laughed heartily as he watched his victim getting tormented further and further, as if this was no more than a daily occurrence for him. The audience watched on in horror at the fight, but to them, all they were seeing was a completely one-sided display of craziness and maniacal actions.

And then, at last, at the nine second mark, Ling Long could not take it anymore. Taking out her own weapon, placed in a sheath strung over her back, she stabbed the long katana straight through her own body, before falling to the ground, dead. Her eyes, still wide open, were that of fear and utter terror.

No one knew why she did this.

No one knew how Xiao Zhan made her do this.

No one knew what the poor girl had seen during those brief nine seconds of her life.

… That is, the last nine seconds of her life.

*****

"… That man. He\'s dangerous," I said quietly as Xiao Zhan walked off the stage calmly, as carefree and confident as he had been when coming on. Ling Long\'s body was retrieved by staff soon after.

"T-That was… sickening…" Qing Yue whimpered, gulping in fear.

I beckoned her over. She complied, falling into my arms. I patted her head gently.

"Don\'t be scared… as long as you have a strong enough understanding of yourself, mental attacks cannot get to you."

"Strong enough understanding… but that girl, Ling Long. She seemed to be confident in her mental strength…" Feng Mian murmured in worry. "I don\'t think what she said about no psychological attack ever working on her was a lie either."

"Then that just means she has a fatal weakness even she herself has yet to grasp," I explained calmly. "The profile of that man - Xiao Zhan, right? It said he was an Advanced Mage, if I remember correctly. Can someone confirm?"

Feng Mian quickly pulled up his profile in the database shown on the hologram, then nodded. "Yep, Advanced Mage. Says it right here."

I fell into thought. "I\'ve never heard of a Level Three or below spell being so powerful to be able to detect someone\'s fatal weakness in a short few seconds… a Magic Artifact, perhaps?"

"You\'re saying… he\'s using an artifact to do this?" Yu An Yan asked, folding her arms.

I nodded. "That is the only explanation… unless, of course, he is hiding his true strength. Though, I don\'t think that\'s likely, given the IMF are the ones overseeing this tournament. They aren\'t that stupid."

"Are there any limits to this artifact?" Obsidia asked - naturally, since she would have to face off against him soon.

"Hell if I\'m supposed to know," I chuckled. "Though… no mental attacks are inescapable. All psychological assaults have a way to defend against them - it\'s just a matter of who can, and the difficulty level to do so."

"Just remember," I continued, glancing at Obsidia in the eyes. "Stay true to yourself, and don\'t let the visions sway you."

"Hmph. I will be fine," Obsidia snorted. "My previous opponent had tried using mental attacks on me as well - look how that turned out."

"Xiao Zhan - or rather, his artifact - is on a completely different level," I sighed. "You say it like it\'s so easy now, but… when you really end up trapped in his mental mazes, will you be able to find your way out?"

"…" Obsidia fell silent. Had it been the old her, she definitely would\'ve argued back, saying she could with 100% certainty, but she had changed due to the last battle. She was genuinely contemplating the possibility of her losing now, and how to minimize that probability.

"H-Hold yon, awen\'t we overthinking this a wittle?" Amane interjected. She usually didn\'t participate in our conversations due to them being too advanced for her still young and innocent mind, but this time, she had to contribute her input. "I mean, can\'t Obsidiwa just wefuse his proposal?"

"It\'s not that simple," Mei Gui cut in before the rest of us could answer. "Sure, she could, but do you think just because she refused, her opponent would respect her decision and really not try to use a mental attack on her? You are far too naive, catgirl."

"Nya…" Amane scratched her cheek and tilted her head, pouting cutely. The other girls looked at her in pity, but there wasn\'t much they could do. The truth was, she needed to mature — mentally, I mean. She was already, ahem, mature enough physically.

"Miss Mei Gui," the IMF staff member\'s voice called out from outside the door. "You will be fighting next. I will return in roughly 15 minutes, as usual, to lead you to the arena."

None of us responded to his call, but he seemed to have just accepted that we heard it, since he didn\'t try repeating his message or anything like that. Instead, we heard the shuffling of footsteps, signaling that he was leaving.

"Who\'s Mei Gui fighting against?" I asked.

Feng Mian pulled up the bracket, then switched to the profile database to search Mei Gui\'s opponent up:

Name: Rain

Gender: Female

Race: Elf

Role: Fighter

Rank: Advanced Mage

Elemental Affinities: Earth, Water, Blessing, Light, Enchantment, Summoning

"An elf… if I remember correctly, aren\'t they super talented in magic compared to humans?" Yu An Yan wondered aloud.

Lan Xiao Su nodded. "Yes. Most are born with three innate elements."

"Wow… Mei Gui, can you win?" I teased.

"Of course, Master," she replied stoically. Her expression didn\'t change whatsoever, even after seeing her opponent\'s profile.

I snickered. "I would say \'good luck\', but you don\'t really need it, do you? I have full confidence you can win."

Mei Gui bowed to me, making a cute curtsy. "Thank you, Master. I will not let you down."

"Hey now… you never said anything that nice to us when we went up…" Xiang Peng complained, rolling her eyes.

"Too bad," Mei Gui replied before I could. "Master just likes me best. Deal with it."

As the other girls erupted in comebacks and whatnot, I laughed. 

"What a girl…"

Soon later, the man returned to pick Mei Gui up. It was time. Could she defeat her opponent? Of course she could.

My concern was whether or not she would be able to learn or improve anything from this fight. If she couldn\'t, that was fine, but I was hoping her opponent would at least be able to teach her a thing or two through their fight. 

People grew from conflict - Mei Gui was no different.