The instant the word "NOW!" left the examiner's mouth, Jin Kai exploded into motion, his entire body language a primal roar that matched the ferocity of his pet. There was no testing the waters, no sizing up his opponent. This was a declaration.
"PANTHER, FULL ASSAULT! SHOW THEM WHAT REAL POWER IS! SPARK BARRAGE!"
The Volt-fang Panther became a conduit for a storm. It didn't launch a neat volley of attacks; it unleashed a chaotic, spreading torrent of crackling blue energy, a sizzling web of lightning that arced across the ground, turning the arena floor into a death trap. The air hummed and smelled sharply of ozone.
To the thousands watching, the tiny Rock Vole was utterly, hopelessly trapped. But Lin Ke wasn't watching the chaos. His mind was seeing the gaps in the storm, the intersecting vectors of energy, the safe pockets in the raging tempest. His voice cut through the electrical hum, impossibly calm.
"Execute Plan A. Left, two steps. Evade. Use the southern pillar."
The Rock Vole moved like a ghost forged from stone. It wasn't a panicked scramble; it was two precise, efficient steps, its body low to the ground as a bolt of lightning seared the air where it had been a millisecond before. It flowed around the base of a decorative stone pillar that jutted from the arena floor, using the terrain to break the line of sight as the storm of sparks crashed harmlessly against the stone.
Jin Kai sneered, his confidence absolute. "Hiding won't save you! Get in close! LIGHTNING CLAW!"
The panther became a blur of black fur and blue light, abandoning the ranged attack to close the distance with terrifying, unnatural speed. Its claws were supercharged, each one a dagger of raw voltage ready to tear its opponent to shreds. A collective gasp rippled through the stadium. This was the end. It was simply too fast.
But this was exactly what Lin Ke was waiting for. He's taking the bait. Wasting a massive amount of energy on a high-speed charge.
"Hold your ground," Lin Ke commanded, his voice a steady anchor in the storm. "Wait for my mark… Now. Rock Harden."
The Rock Vole planted its feet. The now-famous earthy yellow glow enveloped its shell just as the panther descended. But it didn't brace for a direct hit. In a move of sheer, unpredictable genius that defied all conventional tactics, it angled its hardened shell slightly, turning its own body into a low, smooth ramp.
SCREEEEEEE!
The sound was a horrific, nails-on-a-chalkboard shriek of physics going spectacularly wrong. The panther's devastating attack didn't shatter the Rock Vole's defense; its own unstoppable momentum carried it up and over the little creature's back, sending the ferocious predator tumbling awkwardly head over heels a few meters away.
For a single, stunned heartbeat, the entire arena fell completely silent. Jin Kai's jaw literally hung open. He had expected to see his pet shred its target into a thousand pieces. He did not expect to see it get outsmarted by a living skateboard ramp.
"Impossible…" he muttered, his confidence finally cracking.
"Don't engage. Maintain distance," Lin Ke instructed his pet, pressing the advantage—not of damage, but of confusion and frustration.
For the next several minutes, the arena became a stunning, brutal ballet of instinct versus intellect. Jin Kai, his cool completely gone, grew more and more frantic, commanding his panther into a relentless frenzy. The field was a constant flash of blue lightning and the roar of a thwarted predator.
But under Lin Ke's flawless, quiet direction, the Rock Vole became an untouchable ghost. It used every rock, every pillar, every slight dip in the terrain to its advantage. When it couldn't dodge, the earthy glow of Rock Harden would flare to life at the last possible second. Each blocked blow sent a fresh spiderweb of cracks across its already damaged shell, and Lin Ke could feel the drain on his pet, the slow, steady cost of this strategy. Through the Editor, he watched the two energy cores. The panther's was a raging bonfire, magnificent but rapidly consuming its fuel. His Rock Vole's was a small, dense furnace, burning its resources with calculated efficiency.
This was the war of attrition he had planned. The Rock Vole wasn't winning. It was simply refusing to lose, weathering a hurricane with an impossible resilience that was slowly, surely, draining the very lifeblood of the storm itself.