For a moment, everyone felt like they had just dug up a literal mountain of gold.
They immediately opened Klee's status panel.
"Holy—Sword of the Prophet?! All attributes +6!"
"Seraph's Wings… it even lets you fly?!"
"Orb of Air—all Air magic damage +50%!"
"There's a Orb of Earth too!"
"Wait—Fire Magic Tome?!"
Exclamations rang out nonstop as one overpowered artifact after another was revealed.
At this point, everyone stopped looking at Klee like she was a walking treasure chest—
they were looking at her like a god-tier player.
This little girl's loadout was straight-up terrifying.
Just her equipment alone almost rivaled the combined stats of four or five veteran players.
"Eh? What's this?"
Suddenly, Hu Tao pulled out a pitch-black cloak from among the pile of scrolls.
"Cloak of Death… Necromancy +30%, and summoned units change from Skeletons to Liches."
After reading the effect, Hu Tao froze.
"…There's something like THIS?!"
Her heart screamed internally.
If you had this earlier, why didn't you say anything?!
If I'd had this, what the hell would I need Cursed Armor for?!
Just throw troops onto the battlefield and victory would be guaranteed.
Ten thousand skeletons versus ten thousand liches weren't even on the same level.
Was this little girl secretly an undercover agent for the enemy?!
Only then did Klee remember—
she had intended to give this cloak to Hu Tao, but she'd picked up so many new items afterward that she forgot.
She hurriedly said,
"This was meant for Sister Hu Tao! Klee found it from lots of monsters!"
"…Ah. Thanks."
Hu Tao accepted it with a stiff, forced smile.
Inside, she wanted to cry.
What am I supposed to do with this now?
The timing's already gone!
The others also noticed the cloak and collectively collapsed in despair.
"It's… it's fine… we can still win without it."
"Yeah, yeah, let's just say we're giving them a handicap."
"Exactly… we don't even need to go all out."
Klee was too well-liked to blame, so everyone forcibly comforted themselves.
Only Valerius found it hilarious.
Still pretending, he thought, amusement flickering in his eyes.
He walked calmly onto the high platform.
"Alright. All finalists, please enter the arena. Everyone else, to the spectator stands."
Quickly, both sides moved.
All other players took their seats, leaving ten people on the field.
Honkai Side:
Bronya, Feixiao, Fu Xuan, Silver Wolf, Herta
Genshin Side:
Hu Tao, Raiden Ei, Neuvillette, Jean, Xianyun
"Please send out your first combatants."
Valerius's voice echoed again.
The field cleared, leaving only Herta and Xianyun standing opposite each other.
"It's starting, it's starting!"
"Do you think the Adeptus' plan will work?"
Keqing nudged Ganyu anxiously.
"Theoretically… it should."
Ganyu wasn't fully confident either, but she hoped her master's strategy would succeed.
After all, with preparation against an unprepared opponent, there should be an advantage.
Nearby, Barbara clasped her hands in prayer.
"Lord Barbatos, please bless us… bless the plan's success… bless Sister to win…"
This made Venti, sitting beside her, feel extremely awkward.
Bless what exactly?
If I could intervene, I'd have gone myself.
In the arena, Herta and Xianyun faced each other.
"Herta-sama will win!"
A loud voice echoed through the stadium.
"Who was that? Pretty supportive, huh?"
The Honkai side looked around in confusion.
But scanning the crowd, none of their people had spoken.
"…Uh, that came from the other side."
"Huh?!"
March 7th was baffled.
"Looks like they're not united at all. And they still think they can win?"
She felt she'd discovered the truth—
clearly, the Genshin side had oppressed someone so badly that a player defected mid-battle.
"Sounds reasonable."
"Yeah, makes sense."
Many nodded in agreement.
Even the enemy is cheering for us—what's there to doubt?
Only Herta's face darkened.
She pointed straight at the Genshin stands and snapped,
"Tell Bennett to shut up!"
"…Ah."
So it was Bennett.
Now it all made sense.
Why would the enemy cheer for them?
It was a curse buff.
"Heh heh…"
Embarrassed, Bennett shrank back into his seat.
This had been Albedo's idea.
Bennett himself hadn't wanted to jinx anything.
Unfortunately, he'd been useless this entire match—
started with few troops, then got sucked into a one-way portal and trapped on a dead-end path.
He'd done absolutely nothing but sit there, watching the chat for days.
At least…
Bronya never found his city.
Lucky? Or unlucky?
Even he didn't know.
Back in the arena.
Herta looked at Xianyun with disdain.
"I hear you're an Adeptus. Don't blame me later for not showing mercy."
"Hmph."
Xianyun waved a hand calmly.
"Show whatever skill you possess.
Once this one moves, you may not even have the chance."
"Confident, aren't you?"
"Confidence? No. Merely experience."
Herta's lips curled upward.
Experience, huh?
Let's see how you handle Armageddon.
Xianyun, meanwhile, had already made up her mind.
Once we're in, I'll show you what it means to make troops vanish.
"Duel!"
The battle began, and the scene shifted instantly.
A vast, empty desert battlefield.
No terrain advantages. No cover.
"Come. Let me show you what magic truly is."
"Come. Let this one show you what strategy means."
Both raised their hands and deployed their troops.
One Phoenix.
One Black Dragon.
The entire audience froze.
After all that dramatic buildup—
one unit each?
And both at quantity one.
"…Uh, did Herta bring the wrong troops?"
March 7th was dumbfounded.
This was the final battle, and she brought one Phoenix?
Even if it was a Tier 7 unit, that felt insane.
Welt reacted instantly.
"March, Herta likely plans to use Armageddon to weaken the enemy's forces for later rounds."
"Ohhh."
Now it made sense.
Armageddon hits both sides with fire magic, but Phoenixes are immune.
Meaning—
Herta only damages the enemy.
"Pretty clever, actually," March nodded.
But Himeko frowned.
"No. The enemy's Black Dragon is immune to all magic."
"…Ah?!"
March panicked.
"So that means—Herta's plan completely fails?!"
She'd thought Herta was about to cripple the enemy, but instead the counter was absolute.
"The enemy is terrifying," March said nervously.
"They even anticipated Herta's strategy at this level!"
"No," Welt shook his head.
"That's unlikely."
"Then…?"
"They probably thought of the same idea."
He'd seen it clearly.
If they had truly predicted Herta's plan, they wouldn't have brought only one Black Dragon.
This wasn't foresight—
It was two geniuses choosing the same opening gambit.
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