The Master’s Choice

Outside the Interstellar Duel Arena.

Dozens of Guard Ships hovered in the sky. On the plaza below, teams of fully equipped alien guards formed three rings outside and three rings inside, sealing off the arena grounds completely.

"Be careful. Blade and the Two-Headed Monster escaped from prison. Both are powerful creatures capable of taking on a hundred enemies alone."

"Once the targets appear, deploy the Voltage Paralysis Net and capture them!"

The Deputy Guard Chief picked up his communicator and issued the orders sternly. The guards held their breath, not daring to make a sound as they remained on full alert.

Carnage, standing at the rear of the guard formation, had a cold gleam in his eyes as he reminded them in a low voice, "There’s also a man named Kyle. He’s the chief culprit behind the Underground Prison riot. There’s no need to capture him. Shoot him on sight."

"Yes!" The deputy chief nodded solemnly and was about to relay the command through the communicator.

Just then, the ground beneath them began to shake violently. Amid the guards’ startled cries, cracks burst across a section of the arena plaza.

"Raaagh!"

Accompanied by a sharp, hoarse beastly roar, shattered stones and dust exploded outward from the cracks. A gigantic black shadow suddenly smashed through the wall of the underground passage, raising its two heads in a berserk frenzy.

"The Two-Headed Monster has appeared! Everyone, get ready!"

The deputy chief raised his right hand. The guards all focused on the massive shadow in the distance, but what happened next left them collectively gaping in shock.

The enormous shadow reared up in the center of the dust cloud and roared, only to suddenly collapse backward helplessly, crashing onto the ground with a thunderous bang.

"What’s going on?"

The guards stared in confusion.

As the dust obscuring their vision gradually settled, they could clearly see that half of the monster overlord Two-Headed Snake’s body remained in the underground passage, while its upper body lay lifeless on the ground. Its serpentine body had been split open from the inside out by a sharp weapon, nearly severed in two. Blood streamed from the gaping wound like a spring.

As their gazes rose, the guards all shuddered. Even Carnage, seated in the rear, revealed an expression of terror and disbelief.

A silver-haired young man stood atop the corpse of the Two-Headed Snake, drenched in blood. Most of his clothes had been torn apart, exposing his steel-like body. He slowly straightened, his icy eyes looking down as an overbearing, savage aura radiated from him like that of a demon god.

"My god, he killed the Two-Headed Monster!"

The guards all sucked in a sharp breath.

"Not just that—look inside the underground passage…"

Following the guards’ terrified indication, they looked through the collapsed outer wall smashed open by the Two-Headed Snake and saw the Scythe Man’s corpse sprawled miserably over a pile of rubble, a bloody hole blasted through his chest.

"Before the Champion’s Match has even begun, three challengers who advanced to the final four have been killed by the intruder?!"

Thinking of the Tentacle Child who had died at the start of the Underground Prison riot, the guards’ scalps went numb. As they looked at Kyle standing tall, every inch of their bodies went cold, and they instinctively retreated a step in fear.

Anyone capable of killing three monster-level creatures was undoubtedly a monster among monsters!

Yet no one knew that this was when Kyle’s body was at its weakest. His Super Soldier ability had temporarily failed, and the prolonged battle had drained too much of his stamina. Right now, even an ordinary creature could knock him over.

Life was like a play—it all depended on acting!

Relying on nothing but sheer stubbornness, Kyle struggled to maintain his upright stance. With an expressionless face, he coldly swept his gaze across the area, intimidating the surrounding guards and ships through sheer presence alone.

For a time, the plaza of the Interstellar Arena fell silent. Not a single guard actually dared to attack Kyle first.

"What are you waiting for? Move! Are so many of you really afraid of one man?!" Carnage could no longer sit still. His body and soul trembled with fear as he kept backing away, gritting his teeth as he spoke.

Hearing that voice, Kyle lifted his eyes. His gaze passed through layer after layer of alien guards and landed on Carnage twenty meters away. A trace of realization appeared on his face. "Oh. So you’re here."

Carnage’s face instantly turned deathly pale. He could not personally attack the man before him; that was his fatal weakness. He could only borrow others’ hands.

"In my capacity as chief, I order you to open fire!" Carnage growled.

The guards finally came to their senses and gripped their Laser Guns, aiming them at Kyle in the center of the encirclement.

"Vis, hasn’t the fighter been remotely controlled over yet?" Kyle asked quietly.

"Sorry. The fighter appears to be detained in an enclosed underground area. It can’t break through and reach you," Vis replied swiftly.

"Is that so? Then I can only… force my way out." Kyle took a deep breath, and a Creature Card silently appeared between two fingers.

Just as Kyle and the guards were both preparing to act, a small spaceship suddenly flew toward the plaza from the direction of the Central Building. Its disc-shaped body was covered in vivid, stylish graffiti, casting a large shadow as it blocked out the sun.

Not only did the many Guard Ships in the sky show no intention of stopping it, they actively moved aside one after another, clearing ample airspace and lowering their altitude as though afraid of stealing the small ship’s spotlight.

"It’s the Master. The Master has arrived." Someone said it, and immediately all the guards looked toward the small spaceship with respect.

The small spaceship hovered high in the air. The Master had no intention of appearing in person, instead dispatching more than a dozen drones that combined their projection beams to form a three-dimensional holographic projection of himself.

The Master’s enormous projection looked down at Kyle, while Kyle calmly raised his eyes to meet his gaze.

"Master, he broke into the Underground Prison and killed three final-four challengers!" Carnage shouted.

"I know." The Master actually smiled. Looking at Kyle, he applauded in approval. "Intruder, if you were any other creature, you would have died long ago. But you are powerful. That interests me greatly, so I will give you two choices."

"What choices?" Kyle asked calmly.

The Master raised two fingers. "First, become my enemy and face the pursuit and execution of guards across the entire planet from this moment onward. Second, replace the dead challengers and participate in the Champion’s Match two days from now. I’ll give you ten seconds…"

Kyle interrupted him. "I choose the second."

No matter what, as long as he could buy two days, allowing his condition to recover, he would have far greater confidence whether he chose to fight or flee.

"You are an intelligent creature. I think highly of you. I hope that two days from now, you can bring me some surprises in the Duel Arena." The Master laughed heartily, and the holographic projection vanished.

Kyle smiled faintly, knowing that the crisis had been temporarily resolved.

The guards in the plaza secretly breathed sighs of relief. Only the chief whom Carnage symbiotically clung to looked livid and utterly miserable.

Afterward, Kyle obediently allowed the guards to escort him to an isolated single room in the Central Building.

Although it still had layer upon layer of defenses such as Laser Gates and Space Corridors, and although he was fitted with two Neuro-paralysis Control Devices, the single room came with its own washroom, lounge, and even an exercise area. Its array of high-tech intelligent facilities made it far more luxurious than the hotel he had stayed in before.

Even Kyle had never expected such a change.