The moment William's first strikes echoed across Platform 65, countless eyes turned toward him.
The spectators were not surprised by his victory.
They expected the candidate of the Immortal Body to possess strength beyond ordinary standards.
What shocked them was the method.
He did not overpower his opponents through raw force.
He did not rely on overwhelming energy.
He did not even allow the battle to become a direct exchange.
He simply changed the rules of engagement.
A terrifying combat style.
A style where the enemy was never truly fighting him.
They were fighting the very relationships that connected their attacks to reality.
Across the other platforms, battles reached their climax.
Platform 29
Mike stood surrounded by the remaining candidates.
A giant warrior covered in metallic scales charged toward him with a roar.
His fist carried enough force to shatter a mountain.
But Mike did not retreat.
He smiled.
"Too slow."
The moment the fist approached his face—
his body blurred.
No.
It was not speed.
It was something stranger.
The space around him folded like a mirror.
The warrior's attack passed through the location where Mike had been, only to emerge behind its owner.
BOOM!
His own punch landed on his back with multiplied force.
The giant was launched out of the platform before he even understood what happened.
The remaining candidates immediately became cautious.
They had realized something.
Mike did not simply manipulate space.
He manipulated the paths through which attacks traveled.
Every assault could become a weapon against its owner.
Within less than a minute, Platform 29 had a single person left standing.
Mike.
Platform 45
The battlefield had become silent.
No explosions.
There is no screams .
Only a slow sound.
Step.
Merito walked forward.
The candidate of the Eternal Nullified Physique.
The opponents facing him were sweating.
They had watched the previous demonstrations.
They knew what his power represented.
Erasure.
The cancellation of concepts themselves.
One candidate gathered a massive storm of energy and released it toward him.
Merito did not dodge.
He simply raised his hand.
The storm disappeared.
Not destroyed.
Not absorbed.
It had never reached him.
Another candidate attempted to escape.
Merito took another step.
The distance between them vanished.
He appeared before him without moving through the space in between.
The man's eyes widened in horror.
His consciousness was instantly canceled.
His body remained standing.
But his eyes became empty.
He had lost all awareness.
The elders monitoring the battle immediately removed him from the platform to avoid permanent damage.
In less than thirty seconds—
Platform 45 had a victor.
Merito.
Platform 80
Fire covered the heavens.
But this was not ordinary fire.
Even the surrounding space showed signs of distortion.
Vladimir floated in the center of the inferno.
His eyes burned like stars.
His voice echoed.
"Do not blame me for your weakness."
A single spark left his finger.
Only a spark.
But every candidate felt death.
The spark expanded.
A wall of crimson fire swallowed the battlefield.
The candidates fought desperately.
The shields.
The Barriers .
The defensive techniques.
Nothing survived.
Their powers were burned before they could even form.
Moments later—
Only Vladimir remained.
The flames slowly returned to his body.
His expression did not change.
As if eliminating geniuses was no different than extinguishing candles.
Back on Platform 65…
The battlefield had become quiet.
The others candidates had already fallen.
Only two remained.
William.
And the woman carrying the Life-Thief Physique.
She stared at him.
Her expression was no longer calm.
She had observed every movement.
Every reaction.
Every defense.
She understood one terrifying fact.
Normal attacks could not reach him.
The relationship between his existence and any incoming force would simply be severed.
"So that is your weakness."
She suddenly spoke.
William looked at her.
"A weakness?"
A faint smile appeared on her face.
"You cut connections."
"Which means something must exist to be cut."
For the first time in the battle—
William's eyes sharpened.
She continued.
"Then I simply need to create a connection powerful enough that you cannot erase it before it reaches you."
The atmosphere around her changed.
The black energy surrounding her became thicker.
Darker.
More concentrated.
The entire platform began losing color.
The stones beneath her feet cracked.
The life hidden within them disappeared.
Even the microscopic organisms in the air died.
She stretched her hand toward William.
"Life Devouring Chain."
A massive dark rope appeared.
It was not merely energy.
It was composed of countless layers of stolen life force, compressed into a single terrifying bond.
It crossed the battlefield instantly.
William moved.
His fingers touched the chain.
For the first time in the tournament—
he did not erase a connection before it reached him.
He waited.
He wanted to understand it.
His hands grasped the dark chain.
The energy he had discovered during the platform training flowed through his body.
The unknown energy within the chain collapsed.
Its structure broke apart.
The giant attack shattered.
The audience gasped.
But—
a fragment remained.
A single strand.
A thin, invisible thread of life-stealing power slipped into William's left hand.
The woman's eyes widened.
Then she smiled.
"I got you."
Instantly, William felt it.
His vitality.
His life.
Something was pulling it away.
Like an invisible creature feeding from his very existence.
The spectators became tense.
Even some ancient beings leaned forward.
The candidate of the Immortal Body had been touched.
But William did not panic.
He looked at his hand.
He observed the foreign power.
He analyzed its nature.
Then—
he did something no one expected.
He opened his body.
Not to the enemy.
To the universe.
From the endless sea of cosmic space surrounding Andimadoria, he attracted wandering energies.
Cold.
Chaotic.
Untamed.
They entered his body like a flood.
The Life-Thief candidate's expression changed.
"What are you doing?"
William looked at her calmly.
"Giving your power something else to eat."
The two forces collided inside his body.
Her life-stealing energy attempted to consume everything.
The wild cosmic energy resisted violently.
A war began within William's flesh.
At the same time, he activated his own biological defenses.
Every cell.
Every fragment of his being.
Every mechanism maintaining his existence.
Fought against the invasion.
For several seconds, his body became a battlefield.
Then—
the foreign power was destroyed.
The woman's face turned pale.
"Impossible..."
William stepped forward.
"Your mistake was believing life is the only energy inside a living being."
He grabbed her wrist.
She tried to escape.
Too late.
With a simple movement—
he threw her toward the edge of the platform.
Her body crossed the boundary.
The light of the arena surrounded her.
She had lost.
Silence filled Platform 65.
William remained standing.
Not even breathing heavily.
His clothes were damaged.
His hand still carried traces of the previous battle.
But his eyes remained calm.
Above him, the celestial system announced the result.
Platform 65: William, Candidate of the Immortal Body is the winner.
Throughout Andimadoria, countless beings memorized that name.
Some with admiration.
Some with curiosity.
Some with fear.
But among the true monsters of the tournament—
MARk .
Merito.
Vladimir.
And many others who had hidden their strength.
Their expressions did not change.
Because they understood something.
The first stage was not a battle to determine the strongest.
It was merely the moment when the weak were removed.
The true war…
had only just begun.