"This commander definitely doesn't have much soul power."
Yaxiu analyzed, "He only brought a small squad of thousand-feather bird-dragons, so the limit of his soul power armaments should just be the quota needed to arm this flock."
Then the next question was who would fight the sorcerers, and who would take on the commander.
Sonia analyzed seriously, "First of all, winning or losing the team match against the sorcerers doesn't matter. The only goal is to stall for time until the third person kills the commander... I think I should face the commander."
"Then the Watcher and I fight the sorcerers?" Diya asked. "But what do we need to do so the colosseum registers us as a team? Hug each other?"
"No!"
"Hold hands?"
"Also no!"
The Witch looked at the Sword Princess in bewilderment. The Sword Princess also realized the major loophole in her plan and hurried to patch it: "Wait, no. The Watcher has the Soul Summoning sorcery spirit, so he can arm himself with troop classes. It makes the most sense for him to go after the commander."
"It had to be me all along," Yaxiu glanced at them. "I'm the one who needs to record the map anyway. Speaking of arming troop classes, though..."
Yaxiu raised his hand, and form-fitting azure armor materialized over both the Witch and the Sword Princess. Sharp starlight shimmered across the ten fingers of the Witch's hands, while the Sword Princess's longsword sparked with a dazzling arc of light.
"Lucky we killed that Ragecleaver Dragon earlier, or I wouldn't have had any soul power to arm you."
Yaxiu had squandered all his previous soul power in the cabin of lost memories. If he hadn't armed himself with Star Hall's Tier-6 unit, the Star Flinger Warrior, he wouldn't have been able to suppress the amnesiac phantom of the Empress at all.
"Why didn't you save it for fighting the commander?" Sonia blinked, startled. "I already said winning or losing against the other sorcerers doesn't matter..."
"If I'm really going to lose, a few extra layers of armor won't save me," Yaxiu said. "Besides, I'm facing a commander. At worst, I can just forfeit directly. But if you run into some bizarre sorcerers and get slaughtered before you can even concede..."
"The chances of that are tiny, and I have the Sincerity spirit to boost my mental resistance—"
"Well, I've already spent it, and there are no refunds." Two warm glows lit up Yaxiu's hands as he tagged the Witch and the Sword Princess each once. "And there's this Buff Sword..."
Because the actual names of Singular Devotion were too flirtatious, Yaxiu was too embarrassed to say them out loud, muddling them into "Healing Sword (Joy)," "Buff Sword (Love)," "Piercing Sword (Wrath)," and "Slowing Sword (Sorrow)," instantly degrading the miracle into some knockoff concocted in a backyard workshop.
Sonia felt that tingling numbness spread through her whole body again, her waist itching as though jolted by an electric current. Diya, on the other hand, felt light and delightfully cool all over, giving her the illusion of falling in zero gravity.
Their pre-battle preparations complete, the sports car pulled up to the perimeter of the colosseum. The arena was a classic peristyle structure surrounded by an outer colonnade; the moment someone stepped into the corridor, the colosseum would teleport them inside.
First went the duo of Sword Princess and Witch. Exchanging a glance, they opted for arm-in-arm bestie mode and stepped into the corridor, instantly teleported away.
As the scenery shifted around them, they kept a firm grip on each other's arms, sensing an unknown force trying to pry them apart. But could Sonia and Diya's plastic sisterhood be tested without spending money? After testing them for a few breaths, the unknown force gave up, and the next moment, they landed together on the sand in the center of the colosseum.
"...Am I dreaming? Did two sorcerers really just show up to crash our party? ...So the Revelation spirit's warning that 'you will be ruined by someone close to you' meant I shouldn't team up with you!?"
"Alice thinks venting your anger on others like this is totally classless."
"Alice isn't even here! How could she think anything?"
"In reality, Alice is right next to me."
"Isn't Alice lying in a cof—never mind, I don't want to know."
Naturally, the two sorcerers whose prize had been snatched right out from under them were stunned beyond belief, looking on the verge of infighting. In fact, the mere fact that they hadn't flown into a rage and broken down spoke to mental fortitude far beyond Sonia's expectations. Put yourself in their shoes: an opportunity you spent all your luck to seize suddenly stolen by strangers, an opportunity that would never come around again in a lifetime—if it were Sonia, she'd certainly want to bring down heaven and earth in wrath.
Looking closer, however, the village girl's expression instantly turned solemn. "No wonder they dared challenge a Heroic Spirit Commander. They've actually controlled a Great Jagras and a thousand-feather bird-dragon... A zombified Great Jagras, perhaps a necromancer... Wait, could that thousand-feather bird-dragon armed in black armor be the Heroic Spirit Commander's minion, which they wrested control of?"
"Witch, be careful. They have the ability to affect the mind. I have the Sincerity spirit, so I should be fine... Witch?"
Diya snapped back to reality, pulling her observing gaze away, and nervously raised her fists. "Are we starting the fight?"
"Their main fighting strength should be the Great Jagras and the thousand-feather bird-dragon, so our best strategy is naturally to find a way to eliminate the sorcerers themselves directly, avoiding combat with their minion monsters," Sonia said. "Which one do you want to take?"
"...I want to hit the one with fairer skin and the prettier face."
"Then I'll take out the curly-haired one with darker skin."
...
After the Sword Princess and Witch went in, Yaxiu immediately drove in after them.
If the sports car could be recognized by the colosseum as an item he could use, that would be amazing. Yaxiu would surely find a way to visit the colosseum every night during his Void Realm Exploration to farm faction realms, plowing a road straight to the third layer of the Void Realm with his sports car.
Unfortunately, only he himself was teleported inside the colosseum.
Yaxiu first took in his surroundings. He saw no sign of the Sword Princess and the Witch. In front of him stood only a black-robed figure holding a longsword—taciturn, with aloof eyes and an expression devoid of panic or fear. At a glance, this was unmistakably a Heroic Spirit Commander.
Miracle: Heart Pen!
The first thing Yaxiu did upon landing was use the Heart Pen to draw an ink-mark trench around himself. Not only was the Heart Pen exceptionally effective for setting traps, but it was also the only time Yaxiu could currently use it—the activation steps for this miracle sorcery procedure were exceedingly tedious, and since Yaxiu had only just acquired it, he couldn't possibly cast it in the middle of battle.
Yet even after Yaxiu finished drawing the ink-mark trench, his opponent showed no reaction. Raising his head, Yaxiu discovered that his enemy had been watching him the whole time.
No.
She wasn't looking at him.
She was looking at the medium for Heart Pen—the Heart Sword sorcery spirit that converted ink into marks.
"Yaxiu Heath?"
Yaxiu froze.
This was the first time he had heard his own name in the Void Realm. It felt like someone suddenly calling out his real name on the internet—a subtle, absurd sensation.
If another sorcerer had called out his name, or if a Void Realm structure had spoken it, Yaxiu could at least understand.
But why would a Heroic Spirit Commander call out his name?!
The black-robed figure pulled back her hood, revealing long, pointed ears, thin pale-cyan lips, a high nose bridge, and long, dark green hair. In life, she must have been a proud and fierce elf, Yaxiu thought.
Standing before Yaxiu was indeed a female elf commander. Yet although Yaxiu had seen plenty of female elves, he had no recollection of her whatsoever.
"You recognize me?" A possibility suddenly crossed Yaxiu's mind. "Are you a Spider Tower commander? Did you all get my physical description to hunt me down the moment I entered the Void Realm?"
"No, I am not from the Spider Tower," the female elf shook her head. "Nor did I recognize you."
She pointed at the Heart Sword beside Yaxiu and said, "I merely recognize it. It is a sorcery spirit born from a split of my own soul, a gift I prepared for my child."
Yaxiu was completely stunned.
He looked at the Heart Sword, then looked at the female elf.
"Valkas?"
Chapter 380