Reincarnated as a Tabby Cat: Daily Life with the School Beauty Empress

Chapter 65 Top Eight

the next day.

Stadium, 9:00 AM.

The top 32 teams will begin the elimination rounds to compete for the top 16 spots.

Su Qianxue and Murong Hui had a favorable draw, as they weren't placed in the same half of the bracket. This means they won't meet until the finals at the earliest, provided both of them make it to the finals.

In the first match, Su Qianxue faced off against a player from the Lieyang Empire.

A boy named Mu Qing, a sixth-level martial artist, had a contracted beast that was a sixth-level king-level "Blazing Fire Eagle". The fire eagle had a wingspan of eight meters and its whole body was covered in crimson flames. When it circled above the arena, the heat waves rolled in, and even the judges' seats could feel the temperature rise.

Mu Qing is one of the host country's top contenders, with extensive ring experience and an aggressive fighting style. In the four matches on the first day, he averaged less than a minute per match.

In the stands, the support area for the Lieyang Empire had already begun chanting Mu Qing's name in unison.

Su Qianxue stood in the center of the arena, holding her staff, without releasing any skills in advance.

"Yichen, don't rush to make a move. Let me practice first, and then I'll take action when necessary."

"Meow." Yichen perched on her shoulder, his golden cat ears standing up, his emerald green eyes fixed on the fire eagle in the sky.

"start!"

The fire eagle swooped down. Its eight-meter wingspan body, engulfed in flames, descended from the sky at such speed that it left a fiery red trail in the air.

Su Qianxue waved her staff, and a shield of light appeared.

A pale golden shield of light unfolded before her. The fire hawk crashed into it, and the collision of flames and light energy exploded into a wave of mixed-color energy. The shield cracked slightly, but did not shatter.

Firehawk was thrown off and rolled in the air to regain its balance.

Mu Qing frowned. His attack hadn't broken through her defenses.

He gripped a fire-attribute psionic whip in his hand, flicked his wrist, and the whip crackled with flames as he lashed out at Su Qianxue. At the same time, he controlled a fire hawk to flank her from the side, launching a two-pronged attack from both human and beast.

Su Qianxue took a step back and tapped the ground with her staff.

The realm of light opens.

Within a fifteen-meter radius, the air turned a thick, golden color. The density of the light-elemental energy was extremely high; any attack not of the light attribute entering this range would have its power significantly reduced.

The fire whip lashed into the area, and the flames hissed as they contracted, losing 30% of their power.

At the same time, Yichen jumped down.

Gravity and space superposition.

Mu Qing's body suddenly felt heavy. His knees buckled, and he almost knelt on the ground.

Eighty times the force of gravity pressed down on him, making every step feel like walking through mud.

The fire eagle fared even worse. In the air, it had no foothold. Eighty times the force of gravity pulled it downwards; no matter how fast its wings flapped, it couldn't overcome the drag of gravity.

The Firehawk, with its eight-meter wingspan, crashed straight down onto the arena floor like a burning stone.

Yichen had been waiting for this opportunity.

The second move of the Foshan Shadowless Claw.

There weren't just one claw mark, there were twelve.

Twelve spatial rifts appeared simultaneously on the Firehawk's body, from wingtips to tail feathers, and from chest to back.

Upon seeing this, Mu Qing immediately chose to surrender.

"Dragon Empire, Su Qianxue, wins!"

The Dragon Empire's area in the stands erupted in chaos.

It wasn't a cheer, it was a catharsis. All the pent-up frustration from losing so many games yesterday was released at this moment.

"Su Qianxue! Su Qianxue! Su Qianxue!"

The audience of Dragon Empire began chanting her name in unison.

In a stadium with over 90,000 people, this wave of sound may only account for one-tenth of the total volume, but its volume is astonishing.

The audience of the Blazing Sun Empire was silent for a few seconds. The genius in their eyes had been destroyed by a cat.

He was indignant, but speechless.

The commentator's voice was tinged with excitement: "Su Qianxue, the dark horse of the Dragon Empire, has once again won the match with overwhelming force! Her contracted beast displayed a terrifying combination of skills: gravity control, spatial attacks, and multi-hit strikes. Such a configuration is unheard of in the known skill set of Emperor-level contracted beasts!"

At the same time, Murong Hui's match was also taking place on another secondary arena.

Her opponent was a female contestant from the Ice Phoenix Empire, a sixth-tier martial artist whose contracted beast was a seventh-tier king-level "Mystic Ice Python".

This fight was much more intense than the one on Su Qianxue's side.

The Xuanbing Python was large and had high defense; its ice-type domain skill froze half the arena. Although Murong Hui's Qinghuo Phoenix was effective against ice-type attacks, her opponent was a level higher than her, making a direct confrontation impossible.

Murong Hui used the close-combat capabilities of the Crimson Flame Sword and the burst damage of the Phoenix Burning Heaven Technique to hold off her opponent for nearly five minutes.

At the last moment, she seized an opening. When the Xuanbing Python unleashed its ice-type ultimate move, it was momentarily stunned for 0.3 seconds. Murong Hui pierced the gap between the python's scales with her sword.

We won, but it was a hard-fought victory.

Round of 16.

The afternoon matches continued. The round of 16.

Murong Hui's luck has run out.

Her opponent was Chi Yan from the Blazing Sun Empire, the contestant Murong Qingfeng had highlighted. A seventh-tier martial artist, the Emperor-level Flame Demon Lion, possessing extremely strong melee combat abilities.

The match lasted eight minutes.

The fire-type domain of the Flame Demon Lion suppressed the flames of the Clear Fire Phoenix. Although both belong to the fire type, the flames of the Flame Demon Lion were of higher purity and higher temperature, directly "burning" the flames of the Clear Fire Phoenix.

Use fire to extinguish fire.

Murong Hui fought to the very last moment, even chipping the blade of her Crimson Flame Sword, but the gap in raw strength couldn't be bridged.

The Fire Phoenix was slammed to the ground by the Flame Demon Lion.

Murong Hui bit her lip and raised her hands in surrender!

Final ranking: 10th.

The Dragon Empire, which had only two remaining members out of its top 32, has lost another one.

Only Su Qianxue remained.

The list of the top eight teams was displayed on a holographic screen in the stadium.

Dragon Empire: Su Qianxue.

The Blazing Sun Empire: Chi Yan, Jiang Yu, Mu Lie.

Ice Phoenix Empire: Bai Li, Shuang Yue.

Senluo Empire: Mo Qianshang, Lin Lan.

One person from the Dragon Soaring Empire. Three people from the Blazing Sun Empire. Two people from the Ice Phoenix Empire. Two people from the Senluo Empire.

As for Group Two, the other half of the holographic screen displays the list of the top eight teams from Group Two.

The name of the Dragon Empire was not mentioned at all.

Bald.

A clean-shaven head.

The atmosphere in the stands of the Dragon Empire plummeted to freezing point.

Some cursed, some remained silent, and some secretly wiped their eyes.

Professor Fang sat in the professors' seat, his face ashen.

Group 1 only had Su Qianxue left, while Group 2 was completely wiped out. If he brought this result back to the capital, he wouldn't be able to face anyone, let alone explain it.

Murong Qingfeng's expression didn't change much. She leaned back in her chair, her gaze fixed on the list of the top eight on the holographic screen.

Su Qianxue.

One person carries the flag of the Dragon Empire.

The quarterfinal matchups immediately appeared on the holographic screen. The draw was random, and the results were announced on the spot.

Group A: Su Qianxue (Long Teng) vs. Mo Qianshang (Senluo)

Group B: Crimson Flame (Fiery Sun) vs. White Glass (Ice Phoenix)

Group C: Jiang Yu (Lieyang) vs. Lin Lan (Senluo)

Group D: Mu Lie (Lie Yang) vs. Shuang Yue (Bing Huang)

Su Qianxue glanced at her opponent.

Mo Qianshang. The contestant whose information was blocked by the Senluo Empire. His contracted beast, the Shadow Poison Spider, is a King-level Rank 8. On the first day of the competition, he paralyzed two contestants from the Dragon Soaring Empire with poison mist, easily winning the match.

[If I remember correctly, this guy mocked me on the pedestrian street that day, saying he'd see.] Su Qianxue looked away.

Yichen perched on her shoulder, his emerald green cat eyes scanning the eight names on the holographic screen.

[Group A, the opponent is that poisonous spider man. Poisonous mist? Cat Lord's gravity field can suppress the poisonous mist, and illusion magic can interfere with the spider's senses. Not difficult.]

[Group B, Crimson Flame vs. White Gloss. Fire vs. Ice, a classic matchup. Ice Crystal Qilin vs. Flame Demon Lion, either one winning wouldn't be surprising.]

[In Groups C and D, the Blazing Sun Empire has secured three spots, guaranteeing at least two players a spot in the semifinals no matter how the competition unfolds. The host nation's strength is undeniable. However, I haven't even used half of my full power. I haven't yet employed illusion magic or sorcery. I'm afraid using them would be too conspicuous.]