As Ben dove down from the high altitude, the first to feel his terrifying aura were the people in the arena.
That oppressive force—like Mount Tai—was suffocating!
Every participant in the deathmatch had a drastic change in expression. They all looked up at the descending figure, their faces filled with disbelief.
Even Three Eyes was shocked at this moment.
Then—
All the monsters and demons scrambled in panic, desperately trying to flee to the edges of the arena.
Unfortunately—
It was already too late.
"All of you, die!!"
A loud roar thundered from the sky, echoing throughout the entire arena.
The next moment—
Crimson fist shadows, like shooting stars, rained down, crashing onto the arena with devastating force.
Boom!
An unprecedented explosion erupted!
It was as if a Dongfeng ballistic missile had detonated in the center of the battlefield.
The entire arena trembled violently!
The explosion's intense light was blinding, resembling the scorching brilliance of the sun itself. It was so dazzling that many spectators nearly lost their sight.
And when the searing light finally faded—
The terrifying shockwave followed, surging outward in all directions like an unstoppable tide!
Crack! Crack!
The massive arena groaned in agony.
Under the sheer force of the shockwave, countless solid floor tiles shattered and were sent flying.
Monsters, demons, and over twenty human participants disintegrated in an instant.
Blood splattered. Flesh and bones flew.
The entire battlefield was thrown into utter devastation, a scene reminiscent of the end of the world.
A few spectators noticed—
The powerful seed from the Federal Nation, "Green Lantern," had managed to form a green energy shield just in time…
Yet, under the sheer force of the shockwave, his shield shattered in moments. His entire being was obliterated, vanishing without a trace.
The Green Lantern Ring's power was determined by the user's will.
And clearly, this newcomer from the Federal Nation lacked the willpower to withstand such an overwhelming attack.
…
The shockwave rampaged across the arena for several more moments before finally dissipating.
When the dust settled—
What remained was pure carnage.
Blood. Severed limbs. Shattered bones.
A scene straight out of Shura's hell.
Even the arena itself was in ruins.
A massive crater—nearly a hundred meters in diameter—had formed in the center.
The once-pristine floor tiles were completely obliterated, exposing the bare earth beneath.
The grand arena no longer resembled a battlefield.
It looked like a war-torn wasteland, ravaged by relentless artillery fire.
Thump!
At that moment, a lone figure descended from the sky, landing beside the crater.
It was Ben.
Unscathed.
Unbothered.
To be honest, even he was surprised at the sheer destruction caused by his full-power punch.
The last time he tested "Fist Bone Impact" was outside Chicago University, when his stats had just exceeded 600.
And even then, he hadn't gone all out.
But now?
With the blessing of "Super Strength," his true attributes had reached three thousand.
That was five times stronger than before!
Ben was thoroughly satisfied with the results.
With one punch, he had eliminated more than half of the thousands of participants.
Of course, he still had a long way to go before reaching Karp's level, where a single punch could level an entire town…
…
As Ben observed the aftermath, analyzing which enemies were truly dead and which were merely pretending, the audience sat in stunned silence.
Many of the eliminated participants stared blankly at the scene, unable to process what they had just witnessed.
No one spoke.
The entire venue was dead silent.
Every pair of eyes was glued to the destruction Ben had unleashed.
Because they couldn't believe it.
Was this really the power of a freshman?
This was also called a "freshman"?
Wasn't this more like an old powerhouse secretly disguising himself?
Everyone had heard rumors about Ben before.
To most, he was nothing more than a "gigolo"—kept by "Freshman Number One" Leo of the Henry family.
At first, people believed that Ben was a weakling with trash-tier talent.
But as the elimination rounds progressed, his continued victories forced everyone to reevaluate their impressions.
Still—
At most, they only considered him a promising freshman powerhouse.
Now?
Holy crap.
He had been pretending all along!
And now that he had finally revealed his true strength—
Everyone was scared.
This is beyond the standard!
Many still refused to believe their eyes.
Some thought they were hallucinating.
"I knew it!!"
Suddenly, a freshman shouted, startling those around him.
His teammate immediately turned to him.
"Brother Conrad, what do you know?"
"I know why Leo got SSS-level mission evaluations twice in a row—despite using the same Natural Devil Fruit ability!"
Conrad's gaze was locked onto Ben.
"My Devil Fruit is stronger than Leo's, but I can barely get an S-level evaluation…"
"It's all because of him!"
"Only he could kill so many monsters in the spirit realm!"
"We've all been deceived… Ben isn't a weak gigolo at all—he's the real hidden boss!!"
The realization hit everyone at once.
This explained everything.
Leo's SSS-level mission evaluations suddenly made perfect sense.
One of Conrad's teammates frowned.
"But if Ben was always this strong… why did he choose to stay hidden and let Leo take the spotlight?"
Another teammate scoffed.
"Are you an idiot? He hid his power so he could exclusively use his talent!"
"Remember—the Holy Land operates on a Gu breeding system. Once a transcendent reaches a certain threshold of power, their talent stops appearing in the Holy Land!"
"This guy is a master strategist!"
Conrad smirked.
"Good thing I was smart enough not to step onto that arena."
At those words, the strongman next to him broke into a cold sweat.
Yeah…
If they had gone up there, they wouldn't even leave bones behind.
"Brother Conrad is wise!" the strongman said.
"This bastard…" Conrad clenched his teeth as he stared at Ben.
"He's the real Freshman Number One! And here I was, doubting myself… thinking I wasn't as good as Leo."
His teammate chuckled.
"Too bad for you, Brother Conrad. This is the Amnesia Spirit Realm."
"When we leave… we won't remember any of this."
Conrad's smirk froze.
Then his face turned ugly.
He opened his mouth—
And after a long pause, only one word escaped:
"FUCK!!!!"
…
Meanwhile—
In other sections of the audience, whispers and murmurs spread rapidly.
Many freshman powerhouses who had planned to enter the battle felt a wave of cold sweat wash over them.
Seeing the Federal Nation's Green Lantern reduced to ashes, they understood one thing—
Ben wasn't just strong.
He was the true apex predator.
Even Leo's SSS-level mission evaluations were clearly his doing.
At that moment—
The entire audience finally understood.
Ben wasn't just a freshman powerhouse.
He was the hidden emperor of this battlefield.
And the real Number One freshman.
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