Lein immediately stood up from the judges' seat and leaped onto the battle platform. Mr. Yusuf and the other teachers were shocked by Lein's sudden action.
"Mr. Yusuf, what's happening with the island master?" asked a teacher behind Mr. Yusuf.
Mr. Yusuf could only shake his head, as he didn't know either. "Let's just observe; it seems something is about to happen," Mr. Yusuf replied.
"Hey, look, why did the island master suddenly enter the battle area?" said a male student to his friends around him.
"I don't know, did Grace or Joy cheat?"
The students in the audience were also discussing it, as no teacher had ever entered the battle platform before. So Lein's sudden action was new to them.
Grace, seeing Lein descend onto the battle platform, was also shocked this time. She felt a bit of fear in her heart.
Joy was the most confused at the moment. "What's going on? Why is the island master approaching me?" he thought to himself.
Lein ignored them all; his golden sword then appeared out of thin air. Casually, Lein slashed the thread connected to Joy's chest.
Without resistance, the sword cut through the thread in Joy's chest, and it shattered. Immediately, the great power he felt earlier disappeared.
"What's going on, island master?" Joy asked Lein, who had suddenly drawn a golden sword.
"It's nothing... you're lucky this time," Lein said casually, then turned his gaze to Grace, who was very confused at the moment. She even wore a puzzled expression.
"Where are you from?" Lein asked Grace.
Grace approached and walked cautiously.
"I'm originally from America, sir, but when the shift happened, I was in Indonesia. So I settled and have been living in Indonesia ever since," Grace replied politely. She was confused but not afraid. She didn't feel she had done anything wrong.
"Why did you use such power on your friend?" Lein asked.
Grace was confused, feeling that Lein's question was like asking why she was studying at school. Wasn't she supposed to attack with all her might to win the duel?
Seeing that Grace didn't answer, Lein thought for a moment and finally realized the absurdity of his question.
"What's your talent level?" Lein asked directly.
What intrigued Lein the most was that the attack Grace had just unleashed was overwhelmingly powerful, almost surpassing that of a regular Tier-3 attack, even though Grace was only Level 19, Tier-1.
Hearing Lein's question, Grace was slightly surprised and took quite some time to think in silence. After a while, she finally spoke.
"Sorry, sir, I've sent a system message request," Grace replied.
Lein found Grace's answer odd. He then opened his system chat and saw a private message from the ruler named Grace.
- (Grace): SS rank, sir. (Accumulator - SS rank).
Seeing the letters "SS" in Grace's message shocked Lein internally. He then looked at Grace in front of him and asked, "Are you telling the truth?"
"Good, good," Lein said enthusiastically.
"I want to know, are you interested in becoming a core member of my alliance?" Lein asked Grace directly. Lein was very interested in the girl's abilities; the fact that Grace had hidden so well since the human shift and remained in Indonesia convinced Lein that she possessed excellent survival skills.
"I'm willing, sir," Grace replied eagerly. She had been hiding too deeply all this time. Even when she enrolled as a student at the Holy Star Academy, she only mentioned that her talent was A-rank with lightning abilities.
Initially, she had planned to join one of the major alliances. However, she didn't because she wanted to wait a few weeks to see which alliances would survive in the end. And after waiting a long time, the World Market Trade Alliance, where she was, led by Lein, had become the best human alliance, proven by Lein's 10 million-plus points on the leaderboard.
"Alright, come with me for a moment," Lein said as he jumped back to the judges' seat.
"Sorry, Mr. Yusuf, please continue. The winner of the battle is Grace," Lein said casually, while Grace sat in the seat beside him.
"Yes, island master," Mr. Yusuf replied promptly. He then turned his gaze to the moderator and gave some instructions.
"The winner is Grace!"
After the winner of the battle was announced, the students in the audience cheered excitedly for Grace.
"Congratulations, Grace... you're amazing."
"I knew it, Grace's hidden power must be incredibly strong. Even the island master had to intervene."
"You're right, Joy was lucky to be saved by the island master."
Small discussions arose due to Lein's previous actions. Although the students didn't fully understand what had happened, they still grasped the big picture.
Joy, who was still standing on the battle platform, looked at Lein with a blank expression. After a while, he finally opened his mouth and said, "Why did you say she's the winner?"
Everyone fell silent, even the teachers beside Lein were now pounding with anxiety. Where did this kid Joy get the courage to speak so disrespectfully to Lein, even questioning his actions?
Lein had never really taken action against the people on his island, but with some actions on Indonesia Island, the defense technology on the entire island, and the military strength, everything reflected just how terrifying this seemingly friendly young man in front of them was.
Mr. Yusuf was about to stand and teach Joy a lesson. But his action was stopped when a hand blocked him.
Lein's light laughter echoed throughout the battle hall, which was now very quiet.
"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now. I'll give you 10 seconds."
Lein counted down casually, saying each word calmly and clearly.
Joy didn't flinch; he opened his system panel and accessed the chat feature. Then he typed a few words into the chat panel.
- (Joy): (Blood King - S)
Lein heard the system notification sound. He opened the chat panel and indeed saw a new message from a ruler named Joy.