327 Triumph ?

Zhao Yao's mind whirled with possibilities.

He still felt fairly relaxed. After all, there was no way that the Butcher would defeat him. He did not have to worry about surviving; He just had to focus on how to win.

"Even if he breaks my neck, my cognitive function should still be active for a minute or so. That should be enough time for me to switch to Matcha's TimeFreeze. It's risky though."

"Also, what if he just squishes my head like a grape?"

"If I died outside of the belly, I would have to wear that appalling dress."

He recalled the first time he had to put on that dress.

"Nope, not gonna happen. I'm never cross-dressing ever again."

The fear of being seen in a dress was enough to make Zhao Yao drop the idea.

"I could just use Elizabeth's power instead. I'll distract the Butcher and put on the armor," he thought.

Ten seconds had passed before Zhao Yao landed on this option. He quickly turned to stare right into the Butcher's eyes, his own gleaming red.

"Eh?" the Butcher uttered as he felt his control of his body gradually slip away.

He could not stop his hand from loosening its grip on Zhao Yao's neck. He could do nothing as he dropped into an involuntary squat, then leaped upwards with astounding strength, rocketing straight to the sky.

The impact of his take-off was so great that a thick crack had split the earth beneath his feet.

In an instant, the Butcher had diminished into a speck that soared further and further away, growing smaller still.

Zhao Yao smiled. Elizabeth's mind control was an unrivaled form of defence in one-on-one combat. Even the Butcher was no match for it.

He could have compelled the Butcher to hurt himself, but he did not do so. Conniving was not a good look for a Cat King.

"I'll have to face him head-on."

As the Butcher began his long descent to the ground, Zhao Yao cut to Dust Ball's skill.

Supercats began appearing on the battleground, each concealed by Roly Poly.

"Let's go into Stealth Mode."

"Assault Arm!"

"Electric Arm!"

"Defence Shield!"

"Ground Liquification!"

As Zhao Yao issued one command after another, supercats began rolling into the real world and leaping onto different parts of his body.

The contestants were not paying any attention to him. Their eyes were glued to the Butcher.

"What's happening? Why has he jumped so high into the sky?"

"Haven't you heard of the Buddha's Palm Technique?"

"You've got to be kidding. This guy is a kung-fu master too?"

While some of them remained rooted to the ground, waiting to see what the Butcher would do next, others had fled the arena.

A handful of them watched Zhao Yao, whom had his head raised towards the sky, unmoving.

"Why isn't Daniel Wu running? Now's his chance."

"How would I know? That choke might've compromised his mental capacity."

"Who cares about him? C'mon, we've got to go before that monster returns."

Soon, the Butcher was but 200 meters from the ground. He threw punch after punch at the air around him, hoping to chalk up enough friction to slow his neck-breaking descent.

While he struggled, Zhao Yao remained absolutely composed. His hands were folded behind him, head raised to the sky. There was an air of dignity in his face.

"Our mystery man had taken straight for the skies!" the Cat King of the North exclaimed, "What could he be trying to do? Use the force of gravity to flatten Daniel Wu? I would worry if I were him, but Daniel isn't running. Does he actually have more secret tricks up his sleeves?"

"By the looks of it, I doubt anything could help him win this time."

The elimination zone broke into a clamorous racket.

Fish Ball stood up, shouting at the screen.

"Fool! You've got to run! Why would you mess with someone like that? Are you out of your mind?!"

Every pair of eyes in the audience was glued to the screen, waiting for Zhao Yao's catastrophic defeat to play out. There was no doubt in their minds that he would lose. The Butcher was just far too powerful.

The gap between the two final opponents grew smaller still.

Zhao Yao maintained the same position and self-possessed demeanor as before.

"I must look so frickin' cool," he thought.

While he appeared to be doing nothing, he was actually preparing for the upcoming battle.

He had entered the Diamond Hall to exchange two power-up cards.

One card was obviously for himself. The other was for Ares. Now that the supercat was unquestionably loyal to him, he had no qualms about strengthening his ability as well.

The combined power of Ares and Zhao Yao's magnified force fields cast a golden glow around them that soared towards the heavens.

"I...I feel like my veins are bursting with...with power!" Ares exclaimed in surprise.

"You sound like you're about to blow your load," Gaia commented.

Zhao Yao hushed him.

"Can we please focus on defeating this piece of s**t?"

The activation of the power-ups, coupled with Ares' recent level-up, pushed the potency of the force fields to unprecedented heights.

They were ready for the Butcher, whom was now a mere 50 meters from reaching them.

There was a trace of excitement in his eyes as he noticed the golden glow that enveloped Zhao Yao.

"Now, that's more like it! C'mon, Headless Horseman, gimme all you've got!"

The glow grew brighter and more luminous as the energy and damage it cast grew stronger. It ripped Zhao Yao's black robe into pieces, revealing his headless body. Even the ground around him split into a spiderweb of cracks. The rocks and trees near him did not stand a chance either. They shattered as easily as glass.

Ares raised his paws and pressed them together. This caused massive hands weaved with the golden light to appear behind Zhao Yao, all of them bearing the same pose as Ares's paws.

Zhao Yao and Ares faced the Butcher. They moved in perfect sync to extend an open palm in his direction, propelling the golden hands to scorch through the air, straight at their opponent.

The wave of energy crashed into the Butcher like a tsunami. He felt like a helpless fly fossilized in a piece of amber.

"Beautiful!" he laughed maniacally.

He then threw a punch of his own against the golden glow. The collision between the opposing forces of energy created an earth-splitting explosion that flung the Butcher across the woods.

The impact was nothing for him. He landed squarely on his feet, which caused the ground to sink beneath him. He catapulted himself forward with a burst of energy, crushing the rocks behind him into pieces.

The power generated by his feet spread through the rest of his body. It energized his hips, up to his shoulders, and sweeping into his fists. His was making his way to Zhao Yao like a ballistic missile.

"Die!" he roared.

The Butcher put all the energy he had into the punch that he threw at Zhao Yao.

It rocketed towards him, gaining traction as it got closer. In response, Zhao Yao and Ares lifted their palms in perfect synchronicity, then smashed downwards.

"Butcher…"

A loud boom sounded. A large, golden hand had appeared from nowhere and it pressed the Butcher in the ground, mimicking Zhao Yao and Ares' action.

The Butcher's feet sunk into the ground from the weight, but he was not giving up so easily.

He pushed hard against the mud and sand beneath him, generating enough energy to split the ground open. He jumped up onto the ground and started tearing across the woods again.

"Do you really…"

This time, Zhao Yao and Ares made a sweeping action with their hands. The giant golden hand did the same but on an infinitely larger and more powerful scale.

The Butcher could not fight the swell of power that was sent his way. He held his head in his hands as he was thrown off his feet and sent flying into the distance like a baseball struck by a bat.

He barreled through every tree that he passed, cutting each cleaning into two, before finally crashing to the ground.

"Think that you…"

Once TimeFreeze was activated, Zhao Yao appeared next to him in a flash, his right hand gripping onto his head.

"Could…"

The Butcher let out a roar of rage when he realized that Zhao Yao now had the upper hand.

He struggled against his grip, throwing punches and kicks in any and all directions, sending destructive spheres of energy everywhere.

Zhao Yao switched from Matcha's power back to Ares'. The two used their magnified powers to subdue him.

"Win me?!"

Zhao Yao dragged the Butcher by the head, then tossed him forward like a bowling ball.

It was a simple action, but the power-up cards transformed it into a deadly one. He hurled the Butcher with so much force that as he was sent rocketing in the opposite direction, he uprooted trees and ruptured the ground along the way.

He finally came to a stop when he smashed into a hill, which promptly started to fall apart from the impact. Rocks, gravel, and mud started raining down the Butcher, threatening to bury him alive.

In that moment, Zhao Yao and Ares quickly lifted their palm. The golden palm did the same, cupping the dangerous debris and tossing them away.

The Butcher could be seen lying on the ground.

Zhao Yao and Ares raised a hand, then delivered a swift smack. Once again, the golden palm followed, heading straight for the Butcher.

Just as it was about to land on the Butcher and no doubt pulverize him, it came to a sudden halt.

Zhao Yao took a look at his fallen opponent. He was out cold.

That was good enough. Zhao Yao and Ares retracted their hand and paw respectively and the giant, golden palm dissipated into nothing.

The woods had grown quiet.

Zhao Yao looked around him. He was faced with what looked like the aftermath of war. The grass was no longer even and flat, but turned inside out such that mud and lumps were pockmarked its surface. Not a single tree in sight still stood. They had all fallen onto the ground in a heap of leaves, branches, and trunks.

The sun was beginning to rise. He could see the red glow it cast along the horizon. The first rays of light landed on Zhao Yao, mixing with his own golden aura to produce an almost ethereal glimmer.

The remaining contestants gawked at the Headless Horseman as he basked in the unearthly light.

Zhao Yao turned to them.

"Is there anyone else who wants to take my sapphires?" he asked casually.

He received no response. It was as if the crowd had been rendered mute. They could only stare at him dumbly.

He had achieved exactly what he set out to do. His victory was indisputable.

It was nothing short of a triumph.

What the crowd did not know was that this was not even the full extent of his powers.

He did not get a chance to cross-dress after all.

The Cat King of the North was gaping at the screen as well. Usually verbose, even he was at a loss for words.

The same could be said about the spectators in the elimination zone. The way they looked at the Headless Horseman had changed. They stared up at him as if he was a legend.

Conversely, Inspector Ho did not wish to see anymore. He slumped against an armchair.

"This...this kind of damage… Even the combined force of your men and the Muscle Society would not put a dent in him, would it?"

Lin Chen's eyes were glued to the Headless Horseman.

He did not respond to the Inspector immediately. All he could think of was, "We must not become enemies with this man."