The Blade Armor Crab was an evolved form of the Sickle Crab—a massive, azure-blue crab the size of an eight-immortal table, with pincers as sharp as blades that could snap even steel with a gentle squeeze.
Not to mention its hard, thick shell.
The Little Fire Crow's Fire Feather Needles could still inflict some damage when landing on a Blazing Bull.
But against a Blade Armor Crab, even a direct hit from a fireball likely couldn't break through its defenses.
"This Blade Armor Crab is at the entry-level advanced stage. I've seen it fight in the official battle zone—it's incredibly strong!"
Someone revealed its strength.
This only deepened the contempt from the others around.
But contempt aside, the White Elephant Battle Club had no rule preventing high-level Spirit Tamers from challenging lower-level ones.
The difference between the official battle zone and the regular one was just the price, the battle environment, and the facilities—not the Spirit Tamer's rank.
The man's challenge was within the rules.
He didn't care about others' opinions either.
In the eyes of the surrounding audience, Su Hao had already succeeded in defending his arena. He'd proven his strength with the Little Fire Crow.
There was no need to fight an impossible battle.
Admitting defeat was the best choice.
It wasn't shameful either.
Once the battle started, that Blade Armor Crab would likely go all out to crush him.
The referee also looked at Su Hao and asked, "Do you want to give up defending the arena?"
Su Hao refused.
"I want to switch my spirit. That's within the rules, right?"
"Uh... of course." The referee was taken aback for a moment. "You're the one defending the arena. As long as you have other contracted spirits, you can send them in... but they have to be your own contracts."
"The challenger is the same."
Su Hao was relieved.
He called out to the Dream Butterfly in his contract.
A moment later, the Dream Butterfly fluttered its wings and flew over.
"Guno~ Guno~"
It learned the reason and glared at the hulking Blade Armor Crab with a displeased expression.
It dared to bully its little brother?
The exhausted Little Fire Crow flew out of the arena and landed on Su Hao's shoulder, chirping "Caw caw" in encouragement.
After passing the contract verification, the Dream Butterfly flew into the arena.
'What kind of spirit is this?'
The man frowned.
He'd only agreed to this to appease his useless younger brother and get some payback, but he hadn't expected the opponent to have another entry-level spirit.
He couldn't tell whether the Dream Butterfly was a beginner, intermediate, or advanced spirit.
Below the arena platform,
Many spectators also couldn't recognize what spirit it was.
Then, another know-it-all spoke up.
"This spirit is called a Dream Butterfly. It's an evolved form of the Silkworm Baby, only recently discovered. He... should be the one who found the Dream Butterfly's evolution path. He's still a high school student."
"Whoa—"
This high school student was clearly way too strong, yet he'd been pretending to be a newbie with an unranked Little Fire Crow!
The rest of us have wasted our twenty or thirty years of life! Ah!
"But... the Dream Butterfly probably evolved not long ago, right? So it likely just broke through to entry-level."
Most spirits undergo their first evolution when breaking through to entry-level.
The second evolution is used when breaking through to elite-level.
Only a few paths with great potential and difficulty in evolving wait until the spirit reaches a higher level before evolving.
On the battle platform,
As the referee's flag dropped, the man began issuing commands.
The Blade Armor Crab's massive body was incredibly imposing, as if one move could finish off the Dream Butterfly.
It swung its pincers, slashing out waves of water.
One after another, they surged toward the Dream Butterfly.
The Dream Butterfly, hovering in midair, fluttered its wings and weaved between the waves.
On the surface, it seemed like neither could gain the upper hand.
"But with the Blade Armor Crab's destructive power, if those pincers land a direct hit, one strike would be enough to knock the Dream Butterfly out of combat."
"On the other hand..."
They watched as the Dream Butterfly's Rice Pellet Machine Gun struck the crab's shell with crisp sounds, sparks flying.
But the Blade Armor Crab was completely unharmed.
"It's hard for the Dream Butterfly to truly hurt the Blade Armor Crab. That's the gap in raw strength—something command and tactics can't easily bridge."
The Dream Butterfly didn't need commands; it handled the Blade Armor Crab well on its own.
But the perceptive audience's assessment wasn't wrong.
"A tank-type spirit like the Blade Armor Crab is the worst matchup for the Dream Butterfly."
The Dream Butterfly, on the other hand, wasn't afraid of speed-type spirits like the Blade Leaf Warrior or Killer Mantis.
It was agile.
And with its high-level spiritual energy control, its spinning energy balls could even intercept moving fireballs, hitting spirits with precision.
But against a tank, its power fell a bit short.
"If it were an elite-level Giant Armor Crab, with a shell as hard as a heavy tank's armor, it'd be truly hard to break through."
This one here—with some effort, it could be taken down with energy balls until it GG'd.
But that wasn't necessary.
The big dummy... wasn't it the perfect test subject for the Dream Butterfly's illusion abilities?
The little one knew this too. While effortlessly dodging the Blade Armor Crab's attacks, it occasionally tossed out a few low-power energy balls.
They slammed into the shell, only making the Blade Armor Crab's attacks pause slightly.
But the dream-attribute spiritual energy was subtly seeping into the Blade Armor Crab without notice.
The "Dream Weave" technique was also secretly activated, gradually influencing the Blade Armor Crab.
—It hadn't learned "Nightmare Eye" yet, so it could only use the most direct and exhausting method to apply illusion effects.
But to outsiders, it looked like the Dream Butterfly's repeated attacks were futile, a last-ditch struggle.
"Still, lasting this long and dodging the Blade Armor Crab's moves time and again—this Dream Butterfly is already impressive. If it were any other entry-level advanced spirit, it'd have taken some damage to pull this off."
The man was a genuine advanced Spirit Tamer, unlike his useless brother who relied on family resources to stack spirits to entry-level. His commands were methodical, steadily advancing.
Using techniques like Water Curtain and Water Wave, the Blade Armor Crab gradually cornered the Dream Butterfly against the edge of the platform.
Further compressing its room to dodge.
"Use Water Curtain, then follow up with Air Fist!"
The Blade Armor Crab paused, raised its massive pincer high, and then...
Suddenly stopped.
It froze for two or three seconds. The man shouted and even used a "Burst" technique, but the Blade Armor Crab remained motionless.
A few more seconds passed, and the Blade Armor Crab suddenly moved.
It scuttled three steps left, then five steps right. Its crab pincers began flailing wildly in panic, smashing into the light barrier at the edge of the platform and then into itself.
Cracks appeared on its thick shell.
Its eight legs scrambled chaotically, then suddenly curled up, and it rolled around the platform like a ball.
No one knew how long passed,
The Blade Armor Crab had left the platform in shambles, flipped onto its back, both eyes shut, its eight legs trembling, until it finally fell completely unconscious.
Only its Spirit Tamer stood on the command platform, staring in disbelief at what had happened.
He lost.
Lost completely.
Lost to a high school student.
The man looked over and saw Su Hao standing with his arms crossed, a faint smile on his lips, watching the battlefield.
From start to finish, he hadn't needed to give a single command.
So confident and composed.
His defeat wasn't unjust.