Inside a quiet waiting room, a man with a small mustache sat cross-legged on the floor.
His expression was calm, his eyes tightly shut.
A black katana rested horizontally across his knees, and the entire room was wrapped in silence.
This man was none other than the legendary Sword Saint of Eastern Isles—
Ashina Isshin.
Throughout the history of Eastern Isles, he had never once tasted defeat.
In the hearts of countless Eastern Isles citizens, he was the strongest human of all.
Then, in the stillness of the room, a faint breeze suddenly stirred.
The next moment, Ashina Isshin lightly flicked his fingers.
A streak of bright white light flashed through the air.
In an instant, the wooden bed to his right was reduced to a pile of powder.
"So it has finally reached the last round," Ashina Isshin said slowly. "There is no need for that bed to remain any longer."
"It seems that, no matter what, I will finally cross paths with Dragon Nation's competitors."
"This Deathmatch is becoming more and more interesting."
Ashina Isshin slowly opened his eyes.
Two sharp glints flashed within them.
In his pupils, it was as if the reflections of twin blades had taken shape.
There was a reason he was called the Sword Saint.
This man had devoted his entire life to the sword.
He was a true warrior—proud, obsessive, and utterly pure in his pursuit of swordsmanship.
Single Slash.
Dragon Flash.
Thrust.
These were all techniques that had made his name resound throughout Eastern Isles.
Because of him, countless swordsmen within Eastern Isles had become even more fanatical in their worship of the blade.
Not far away, in another waiting room, a white-haired man stood quietly by himself.
He wore a white suit and black-rimmed glasses, his bearing refined and scholarly.
If not for the long weapon in his hand—longer than he was tall—most people would have mistaken him for a high-ranking corporate executive.
This man was one of Eastern Isles' ten contestants—
Kishou Arima.
He lightly adjusted his glasses and said in a calm voice,
"What a pity. The one called Adrian Vale is not among the contestants."
"The thing inside him… is strangely similar to the thing inside me."
"It seems the two of us will not be meeting anytime soon."
"I look forward to the day we meet properly, Adrian Vale."
At the same time, Will of Blue Star thoughtfully projected the scenes inside each contestant's waiting room for the world to see.
Very soon, Eastern Isles viewers spotted another familiar figure on the large screen—
a man named Tsukiyama Shuu.
He had short blue hair and wore a gentleman's suit. His gaze carried an aloof aristocratic chill.
At first glance, he looked like a noble and elegant young master.
But every now and then, a faintly twisted light flashed through his eyes, revealing a trace of something deeply abnormal.
"As expected of someone called a gourmet—he really does look like the kind of man who could turn any place into a banquet hall."
"Eastern Isles' contestants really are outrageously good-looking."
"This gourmet guy looks impressive, but how strong is he? He can't exactly cook a full-course meal in the middle of the Blue Star Deathmatch, can he?"
"Relax. Anyone who has lasted this long can't possibly be weak."
The screen shifted again.
This time, the audience saw a man wearing a strange, specially tailored suit of armor.
He had a helmet shaped like a grasshopper's head, a red belt around his waist, and green armor plating on both sides of his chest.
He looked bizarre—
yet somehow, impossibly, still cool.
"HAHA! That guy called Kamen Rider is still fully suited up even inside the waiting room. His battle awareness is incredible!"
"Exactly. He looks like the type who could safely last a long time on the battlefield."
"Honestly, that armor looks amazing. I want a set too."
"Even though it really does look like a grasshopper, it somehow feels cool on him. I just hope he doesn't disappoint us in battle."
"With so many powerful contestants, Eastern Isles is definitely going to claim ultimate victory this time!"
Meanwhile, over in Miracle Nation, their own contestants were already displaying their strongest sides, causing Miracle Nation's viewers to grow even more excited.
The first to appear on-screen was the contestant who had drawn the most attention among the ten—
the one codenamed Venom, whose real name was Eddie Brock.
At this moment, the being hidden inside Eddie had already separated from his body and was floating in midair while arguing with him.
Eddie Brock stood with his hands on his hips and snapped in frustration,
"You damned monster! Why do you always have to devour every enemy corpse whole?"
"Do you realize that after you eat them, you still return to my body?"
"It makes me feel like I'm the one eating humans. That feeling is disgusting."
Venom's long tongue lazily waved through the air as it replied with open disdain,
"What do you mean, your body?"
"I have half-control over it too. So if I want to do something I enjoy, that's perfectly normal."
"And let me remind you one last time—you have no right to tell me what to do."
Eddie Brock's face darkened, but he clearly had no good way to deal with the monster sharing his body.
Miracle Nation's viewers watched the pair argue and collectively felt a headache coming on.
"What is Eddie Brock doing? The enemy is practically right in front of him, and he's still fighting with the strongest thing inside his own body."
"Maybe that's just how they get along? Like… honest communication?"
"No, no. Let's not lie to ourselves. They're obviously just arguing."
"If they didn't share one body, they would've started beating each other senseless a long time ago."
The screen shifted once more.
This time, a figure fully cloaked in black appeared.
This was Miracle Nation's second contestant—
the one codenamed Deadpool.
Not a single inch of his body was exposed. His entire form was wrapped in a combat suit, with two short blades crossed on his back.
He gave off an extremely strange aura.
At the moment, he was lying on a bed, talking nonstop.
"Oh my God, why hasn't it started yet? I'm dying here."
"I'm gonna kick all my opponents' little butts and let them feel the power of love."
"Man, I miss all my little sweethearts…"
Miracle Nation's viewers immediately felt their scalps tingle.
"Why does this guy never stop talking?"
"From the look of him, he should be pretty strong. It's just a pity he has a mouth."
"There's a Dragon Nation saying that describes him perfectly—'that little mouth just keeps yapping nonstop.'"
"I really want to smack him in the face with Uncle Smith's old boot."
The screen shifted again.
Now everyone saw Adam.
He was Miracle Nation's super-soldier creation.
By Miracle Nation's standards of beauty, Adam's appearance was flawless.
But what truly made him terrifying was his combat talent.
In previous battles, Adam had shown frightening learning speed—instantly absorbing his opponents' refined combat techniques, blending them together, and turning them into moves of his own.
That single trait alone had made him increasingly monstrous with every fight.
Aside from Adam, Miracle Nation's most eye-catching contestant—other than the man who could float through the air like a natural disaster, Magneto—was the one called Joker.
Joker wore clown makeup and dressed in a full circus clown outfit.
And in earlier battles, he had constantly pulled weapons out of nowhere, as if his body contained an invisible armory.
At this moment, inside his waiting room, Joker had arranged a pile of toy bricks across the floor.
With nimble fingers, he quickly stacked them into a miniature town.
Then he pulled out several tiny human dolls and placed them among the tiny buildings.
Next, he produced a small knife and began dismembering the dolls one by one.
Miracle Nation's viewers immediately felt uncomfortable.
"I don't know why, but this guy gives off serious psycho vibes."
"Same. But every time I look at him, I also kind of want to laugh. Is he some kind of comedian?"
"I've never seen a comedian casually dismembering dolls with a knife."
"If you handed him a gun right now, I honestly think he'd fire it without hesitation."
As if responding to that exact comment, Joker suddenly pulled a pistol from his coat.
He was just about to squeeze the trigger when he paused, looking puzzled.
"Hm? Strange… why did I take this out?"
The Miracle Nation viewer who had just mentioned the gun nearly went pale on the spot.
Thankfully, Joker soon lost interest and returned his attention to the toy town.
On Dragon Nation's side, the first person shown to the public was the old Celestial Master of Longhu Mountain—
Zhang Zhiwei.
He wore a gray-white Daoist robe, with long white hair and beard, and a gentle smile that always seemed to rest on his face.
"That man called Magneto is rather interesting," Zhang Zhiwei said mildly. "So he's from Miracle Nation? A power that seems to control metal… He should make for a decent opponent."
A dangerous glint flashed through his eyes, and Dragon Nation's viewers instantly shivered.
"Damn… just one look from Old Master Zhang nearly made me piss myself."
"Of course. That's the Celestial Master of Longhu Mountain. He's the real deal."
"Magneto is doomed if he runs into Old Master Zhang."
The screen turned again.
Now the audience saw Wang Ye, the genius Daoist of Wudang.
Wang Ye's most famous techniques were rooted in Taiji and Bagua.
And once battle began, he always assumed that same immovable posture—still as a mountain, responding to change with stillness.
Even during the earlier free-for-all, his feet had barely moved.
After him came Fahai, the abbot of Jinshan Temple.
He had already changed into a fresh monk's robe and draped a red kasaya over his shoulders.
But the moment Dragon Nation's viewers saw him, they noticed something else first—
the terrifying muscles bulging beneath the robe.
"HAHA! As expected of Fahai—one punch, one 'kid'!"
"Forget bodybuilding champions. None of them are qualified to carry Fahai's shoes."
Finally, the screen turned to the contestant many had already begun calling an immortal—
Wuxian.
Even now, no one could say for certain what Wuxian's power truly was.
Everything about him was cloaked in mystery.
All anyone knew was that an immortal-like aura seemed to surround him at all times.
Then—
Will of Blue Star announced the final battle pairings.
The whole world fell silent for a brief instant.
Then the names appeared.
"Wuxian vs. Venom / Eddie Brock!"
"Zhang Zhiwei vs. Magneto!"
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