Popularity is everything; I play a super genius

Pierce breathed a sigh of relief, but was also filled with anger.

As an elite of Kalentia and a bodyguard of the princess, he should absolutely crush these worthless scoundrels from the City of Fire!

Even without activating their special abilities, they should have won easily!

As a result, he was actually forced to use his armor first by the opponent!

You deserve to die!

Once Pierce is fully equipped, he no longer needs to focus on defense.

Therefore, he ignored the three mirror swords that were slashing at him from different angles, and instead calmed his mind and focused on building his own echo.

This is his trump card—

A third-tier flame system echoes, [Crimson Flame Dragon]!

This circuit has a total of five nodes and is a special amplification circuit with a difficulty rating of "difficult"!

This skill is only available to elite Tier 3 Echoers!

Then, a faint dragon's roar was heard!

The air was distorted by the scorching heat, and sparks kept emerging from the void, swirling and converging!

First, it condensed into a blazing white core, and then flames spread and grew along the skeleton like flesh and blood—

Dragon head, dragon body, dragon claws!

The next instant, a fiery dragon, its entire body ablaze, slowly emerged from above the arena, baring its fangs and claws.

The fire dragon raised its head and spread its wings, instantly raising the temperature of the entire arena to a suffocating level.

"You weaklings! Give me the feeling of absolute power!!!"

Pierce reached out and pointed heavily at Qiji.

The fiery dragon locked onto its target in an instant and roared as it swooped down.

The terrifying power of this attack caused the four children below the stage to change color.

If it were Saki Sakuya in his prime, they naturally wouldn't need to worry.

But now, with Saki in a wheelchair, there's no way she can dodge this attack!

"Saki-kun?!" The group exclaimed in surprise.

Even the comments section was filled with apprehension for Saki.

"Holy crap, we've been countered! The 'Lockless Sword Control' can't break through its defenses! This guy can safely unleash his ultimate attack!"

"This Flame Dragon Echo feels like the most powerful echo I've seen in the competition so far!"

"Haki, live!"

……

Outside the stadium.

Xi Wang couldn't help but grip the armrests of the wheelchair tightly, her heart clenching with worry for her brother.

Lingxing, who was sitting on her lap, saw that Xiwang's mouth was wide open, so she started throwing popcorn into it.

……

On the arena.

Facing the roaring fire dragon, Qi Ji did not panic; instead, the corners of his mouth under the mask slightly turned up.

Is it finally time to break the first seal?

Qi Ji slightly beckoned to the Mirror Swords, and in an instant, all three Mirror Swords disintegrated and flew back.

With a flash of light, the thousands of fragments reassembled into the [Thousand Faces] card.

Then, Qi Ji clenched his fist tightly in the air.

"Click!"

The Thousand Faces card shattered instantly!

In an instant, the [Thousand Faces] card on the system panel went completely dark.

Three words slowly appeared on the card:

"Damaged".

That's right, at this moment, Saki chose to destroy [Thousand Faces]!

Of course, this is not true destruction, only temporary.

【Thousand Faces】will automatically repair itself.

But what Sakiji wanted was this moment of "death"!

Without hesitation, Saki reached out and touched the [Silver Prayer] under his collar.

Only three of the following can exist at the same time: [Equivalent Prayer].

Qi Ji's three credit limits had already been used up.

Therefore, theoretically speaking, he cannot take out another loan until he has repaid these three costs.

However, theory is just theory, while what Sakiji possesses is the ability to transcend theory in practice!

The moment [Thousand Faces] was destroyed, the second wish on [Silver Wish] also dimmed.

The content of that prayer was:

[At the cost of "Thousand Faces" being infinitely weakened for the next month, the strength of "Mirror Image" will be infinitely increased within ten minutes.]

As the saying goes, a person's debts are wiped out upon death, and the same applies to prayers of equal value.

Since [Thousand Faces] is "dead," this prayer for [Thousand Faces] will naturally cease to exist temporarily.

So naturally, one of the three wish columns on Qi Ji's page became empty.

Now, Saki has released a new [Equivalent Prayer II] —

[At the cost of spending half a month in a wheelchair, I'm exempt from the weakness of "Equivalent Prayer One" for ten minutes!]

When initiating a prayer, Saki can propose a price. If the [Silver Prayer] is accepted, it will take effect.

If not, [Silver Prayer] will provide several options that it considers equivalent for Saki to choose from.

And at that moment, the loan went surprisingly smoothly!

The credit limit was approved in just ten minutes!

[Silver Prayer] has accepted Saki's "deal".

Then, Saki smiled.

In other words, he got the ten-minute exemption without paying any new price!

Because when Saki said "sit in a wheelchair for half a month", he didn't say "the next half month".

You should know that he has been in a wheelchair for almost half a month!

And at this moment, this past half month is also counted as "half a month".

This is why Sakizawa came to the competition in a wheelchair.

Firstly, this can be considered a prelude to his "Ritual Two".

Secondly, it's also to better play the fool and outmaneuver the cunning.

After all, he had read a lot of online novels in his previous life, and after being a genius for so long, he was always a little itchy to be a genius.

I want to experience what it's like to be proven wrong.

Thirdly, it serves as the "price" for making a wish at this moment.

Of course, aside from the three reasons mentioned above, there is actually an even more important reason:

"For the sake of looking good."

Yes, that's right, it's all for aesthetics.

Because of his current physical weakness, Qi Ji walked with unsteady and slow steps, and even limped...

That looks so cheap!

This is something he absolutely cannot accept.

Rather than that, it would be better to become a wheelchair user.

At least it looks a bit more sophisticated.

However, the game of "pretending to be a pig" ends here.

Now it's time to "eat the tiger"!

The moment the prayer took effect, Saki returned in full glory!

No, he is even stronger now than he was at his peak!

The inlay of mythological and legendary fragments greatly enhanced Qi Ji's spirit!

Now, in the Tidal Competition, everyone is fighting as spirits!

Do you even understand the stats of Mythic Shards and Legendary Shards?

Saki Saku slowly stood up from his wheelchair.

This scene was first noticed by viewers who were intently watching the screen, and the live stream chat immediately exploded with comments:

"Holy crap! Wait! What did I just see?!"

"Lao Ji has stood up from his wheelchair!"

"Guys, this is a medical miracle! (doge)"

"I feel it! They're back, they're all back!"

……

Although it seems like a long time has passed, in reality, it was only a moment from when Saki destroyed the [Thousand Faces] card to when he activated the prayer.

Pierce's furious roar still echoed in the ring.

"Feel—absolute power!!!"

"Absolute power?"

Upon hearing Pierce's boastful words, Qi Ji let out a sneer.

He stood up from his wheelchair, took a step forward, and tilted his head to look at Pierce.

A fiery dragon descended from the sky, roaring as it pounced from behind Qi Ji.

However, Qi Ji didn't even glance behind him, but simply raised his arm and gently flicked it backward.

"Let me tell you, the so-called power is used to describe this kind of thing."

Qi Ji waved his hand nonchalantly.

That enormous, terrifying, and seemingly indestructible fire dragon collapsed inexplicably beside his palm.

In an instant, it burst open like fireworks, shattering into a rain of fire that scattered across the entire arena, dazzling and mesmerizing.

Saki clicked her tongue and commented:

"Your response is quite fancy, and it might be suitable as a celebratory performance when I win the big game."

In this situation, the live chat screen instantly exploded with comments:

"Holy crap! That's awesome! So cool!!!"

"One strike and the Fiery Dragon is reduced to fireworks! Tell me, who else can do that?!"

"They're back! The omnipotent, all-crushing Prison of Desolation is back!!!"

"Hilarious! Absolute power? Absolute fireworks!"

"Ahhh! This is the kind of desolate prison I've been wanting to see!"

"I've been lying here like a corpse for so long, I'm about to burst!!!"