Bounding off the stage with her heart still racing, March 7th immediately whipped out her phone and fired off a message to the Astral Express group chat:
March 7th: 97.8 points! Tied for first place with Guinaifen! Aren't I incredible?!
Dan Heng: Congratulations.
Stelle: March is the greatest!
Welt: This score is the best possible recognition of your hard work. However, the battle bracket ahead will be demanding, so do not let your guard down.
March 7th: Hehe, don't worry Uncle Yang, I'll stay sharp!
March basked in the warmth of her Express family before looking up to see Asta hurrying over with a bright smile to offer her congratulations.
Meanwhile, near the entrance tunnel of the staging area, Guinaifen gave her best friend a warm nudge.
"Sushang, go out there and show them what you've got!"
Guinaifen truly didn't stress over her personal rank. She had initially signed up for the regional qualifiers simply to support the game. To be honest, she still held a soft spot for the raw, tactical duels of the Masters Tournament, where a Trainer and their partner threw everything into overcoming the opponent before them, free of complex theatrical staging.
Her decision to bring street acrobatics to the stage had been an attempt to honor her roots. She hadn't anticipated that the routine would earn such widespread acclaim from the Xianzhou people, alongside warm praise from Cai Xing, Madam Yukong, and the acrobatics master.
Having poured every ounce of passion into promoting her craft, she felt no regrets.
Now, she simply hoped Sushang could climb even higher.
Though Sushang rarely aired her anxieties, Guinaifen understood her better than anyone. Sushang might be simple and straightforward, but she possessed immense personal pride. Seeing her best friend achieve galactic renown, Sushang had no intention of falling behind.
While traditional combat was a grueling hill to climb, the hybrid format of the Contest was tailor-made for her unique strengths.
"Right," Sushang murmured, offering Guinaifen a firm nod.
She turned toward the archway, letting out a long, slow breath. The nervous tension was there, but weeks of rigorous martial conditioning under her parents had forged a steady heart.
The lights across the arena fell into shadow, signaling the start of her showcase.
The stage materialized into a wide training courtyard paved with weathered bluestone tiles.
Dressed in form-fitting martial robes, Sushang moved across the court in perfect harmony alongside Scyther and Scizor.
Their sword forms flowed seamlessly—uniform in discipline, yet distinct in posture, radiating an understated martial rhythm that Xianzhou natives instantly recognized as refined sword intent.
Without warning, a luminous humanoid figure enveloped in blazing golden light dropped from the sky, striking with overwhelming force.
Though Sushang and her two mantis partners reacted instantly, raising their blades to parry, the crushing kinetic force drove all three back across the paving stones.
Regaining their footing, they looked toward the intruder.
The figure appeared as a towering phantom of golden light. While its features were shrouded, its slender silhouette bore an unmistakable resemblance to Sushang's mother.
Resting beneath the phantom's feet stood a Farfetch'd, holding its scallion over its shoulder with an unmistakable look of cheeky mockery.
Given the phantom's familiar posture, the creature was clearly the battle partner of an elder.
Riled by the bird's smug gaze, Sushang, Scyther, and Scizor raised their weapons with focused resolve, charging forward together.
A fierce, high-speed clash erupted across the courtyard.
The golden phantom moved in absolute lockstep with Farfetch'd, allowing the lone bird to hold off three coordinated opponents with casual mastery. Its scallion cut through the air like an unbreakable, razor-sharp longsword.
By contrast, the martial forms Sushang and her team had spent hours drilling began to look strained under the elder's overwhelming pressure.
Even so, Sushang's offense was blistering. Beyond the innate visual effects of her Pokémon's techniques, the Grand Celebration stage enhanced her own sword arcs with radiant trails of light, elevating the duel into a grand martial arts spectacle without needing a Moltres to augment the stage.
As blades and scythes clashed at blinding speeds, shockwaves tore through the courtyard, reducing the stone tiles to rubble.
The audience was glued to their screens, thoroughly swept up in the raw, unadulterated thrill of the swordfight.
Beyond the kinetic action, viewers drank in the sharp, elegant posture of Xianzhou swordsmanship, imagining what it would feel like to wield a blade with such natural poise.
Pressing their numbers, Sushang's team gradually forced Farfetch'd into a three-way pincer. Scyther and Scizor flanked the bird's blind spots, closing in to deliver a decisive strike.
Just as the pincer closed, Farfetch'd swung its scallion in a sweeping 360-degree arc. A razor-thin wave of pressurized sword wind erupted outward, knocking all three back.
Golden radiance burst from Farfetch'd's body, splitting into three distinct beasts of light—an eagle, a tiger, and a bear—that lunged toward Sushang and her partners.
Steadying her footing, Sushang raised her blade, her voice ringing clear:
"The Shape of the Great Void? I can use that too!"
"Shape of the Great Void—Phoenix Manifest!"
A blazing phoenix of fiery energy surged from Sushang's blade, soaring forward to intercept the golden eagle.
Behind Scizor and Scyther, translucent spectral avatars of their own mantis forms rose into the air, manifesting through pure kinetic air pressure.
According to tournament rules, stage effects could enhance the Trainer, but Pokémon were strictly forbidden from using artificial stage projections.
The towering avatars rising behind Scizor and Scyther were forged entirely from their own Flying-type energy.
Sitting at the judges' desk, Julian nodded in quiet admiration.
Shaping intangible wind energy into cohesive physical forms was vastly more demanding than freezing solid ice. While March's ice constructs had been grand in scale, ice was inherently tangible. Compressing turbulent air into stable martial projections required astonishing precision.
The two manifestations collided in mid-air, shockwaves tearing through the storm as both sides locked in a dead heat.
"Kwah?"
Farfetch'd blinked in genuine surprise, before its eyes narrowed into a sharp, approving smirk.
"Gaaah!"
The bird raised its scallion high before its chest, and the golden phantom behind it mirrored the stance, raising a massive greatsword.
In an instant, Farfetch'd's aura shifted entirely. Unbounded sword energy raged across the courtyard, blotting out the sky in a dark, suffocating tempest.
A crushing spiritual pressure descended over the arena.
Farfetch'd's eyes flared with blinding gold. High above the clouds, a colossal celestial blade materialized, tearing through the storm as it plummeted toward Sushang and her team.
The sheer weight of the descending blade threatened to force Sushang to her knees.
"Is this... the Great Void's Eminence?!"
Sushang's eyes widened in momentary shock, but her hesitation vanished in a heartbeat, replaced by unyielding defiance.
"Think you're the only one who can summon the Sword God?! Watch this!"
"Scizor! Scyther! With me!"
"Zor!" "Scy!"
30+ chapters are available now and daily updates!
@patreon.com/AgentTwilight