Chapter 260: Miho Hits Big! Chapter 260: Miho Hits Big! The slanting world kept on slanting, and if not for Leo being a higher-ranked individual, he might have already become disoriented. The arena felt wrong—like gravity itself had tilted just a few degrees off, enough to make the ground unreliable beneath his feet. He had to focus slightly for the world to return to normal, but if he left it as it was, even with Tavian standing right in front of him, his attack would have landed somewhere else entirely. If it was this effective against someone like him, a Low 4-star Individual, Leo could only imagine what it would do to lower-ranked beings. Tavian, already anticipating Leo to veer sideways, was caught completely off guard when Leo’s trajectory didn’t change in the slightest, and he continued charging straight toward him. Tavian’s eye shone with sharp excitement. "Body Engraving Arrays—Aura—Strength!" he roared. Suddenly, his empty palm was engraved with 2 overlapping, intricate structural lines that seamlessly blended into one another, glowing faintly as power surged through them. In that same hand, a mace materialized out of thin air and swung sideways toward Leo with brutal force, the air screeching under its weight. But in the very next instant, 2 daggers appeared in Leo’s hands. He twisted mid-motion, forcibly shifting his trajectory, bending his body just enough as the mace grazed past from above, its wind brushing against his hair. Klink! Slash! Leo vanished. He reappeared behind Tavian in a flash. Tavian’s eyes widened in shock. His mace was nowhere to be seen. The only thing visible was a thin, deep red line stretching across his neck. As the mace landed somewhere inside the ring with a dull, low impact, Tavian smirked faintly, his pupils turning toward Leo. "Fucking monster..." he muttered hoarsely. Spurt! Blood sprayed freely from the gushing wound on his neck, but before even a single drop could hit the ground, Tavian was teleported away—along with his staff and the separated mace. Leo was left standing alone in the ring, staring down at the dagger he had used to slash Tavian’s neck. "Damn," he muttered quietly. "I thought the teleportation failed, and he would really die..." At that moment, Leo had cut all 3 jugular veins along with the internal carotid in Tavian’s neck, effectively severing the blood supply between the brain and the heart. If not treated within 5 to 15 seconds, the brain would shut down, and within 5 minutes, complete biological death would follow. The total duration of their match hadn’t even reached 2 minutes before Leo had effectively concluded it. Ting! Congratulations! You won your bet! {The amount that has been bet is in square brackets} Balance: 387,890 [387,000] → 1,007,090 AC Miho’s expression lit up the instant he saw the notification, his eyes widening with delight. Meanwhile— Ting! Ting! Ting! You lost your bet. Balance: 11,780 [5890] → 5890 AC Balance: 11,430 [6000] → 5430 AC Balance: 11,500 [6400] → 5100 AC "NOOOO!!!" All 3 girls grimaced as they watched their balances get wiped out. While they were nearly on the verge of tears, they noticed Miho nearby, looking slightly dejected as she muttered to herself. "If only I knew Master Leo would end the battle this quickly! I might have even put that 890 AC in! I could have gained more!!" It wasn’t just them—the entire arena was in shock. Some people were left utterly broken, staring blankly in disbelief. Others erupted into loud cheers, having scored big with the 2.6 odds on Leo. It made sense. Every one of Tavian’s previous battles had lasted nearly half an hour, yet this one was over in less than 2 minutes. "W-wow!" the host exclaimed, momentarily stunned. "There we have it! Our top star has shown who the real boss is!" Some people, however, were visibly furious—like the same man from before. "Tavian! Why?!" he wailed. "I loved you! sob I trusted you! sob You betrayed me!" Once again, the people around him instinctively widened the distance between themselves and the man. Others loudly accused the match of being rigged. "No way Tavian gets defeated so easily! It’s a rigged match!" "Yeah! Didn’t you say Leo’s beast didn’t obey him? Then why the hell is he this strong without them?!" "Whhoooooo!!! From now on, My favorite fresher is Leo!" Some grumbled in regret, cursing themselves for not betting when Leo’s odds were higher. Hearing the uproar, the host quickly stepped in to defend. "People! I said there’s a rumour his beasts didn’t obey him! And never commented on his personal strength since it’s completely unknown!" he said loudly. Even so, he couldn’t suppress the smile threatening to appear on his face. After all, 2% of whatever the house earned would go straight into his pocket. With both betting pools combined, the house had gathered nearly 4,188.06M AC (4,188,053,100 AC). When Leo won, they paid out a total of 3,283.06M AC to the winning bettors. Even then, the house still walked away with a profit of 905M AC (905,987,889 AC). Tarun’s 70% share amounted to 633.5M AC. As for the host’s 2%, it still came to 18.10M AC—a substantial amount for a newbie Assistant Professor. These payouts weren’t generous by any means. The odds were structured so that the house always profited. If Tavian had won instead— Total Pool: 4,188.06M AC Total payout to Tavian’s bettors: 3,839.31M AC House profit: 348.75M AC Tarun’s 70%: 244.12M AC The house was never at a loss—only the size of the profit changed. As for the host— Host 2%: 6.97M AC That was exactly why he was never seen lacking energy; the constant inflow of money worked better than caffeine ever could. {Note: Bets were made in 2 phases, so calculations were done accordingly, and a single formula cannot reach this conclusion} Back in the area where the top 10 students were watching, shocked exclamations echoed nonstop. "What the hell?! Did the illusion and distortion array not affect him at all?!" Dhalia exclaimed, staring at Leo standing calmly in the centre of the ring. She had been toyed with by Tavian during their previous match. Lyra wore the same stunned expression beside her. As for Aaron and Marco, they could only scratch their heads in confusion. "Did Tavian go easy on him...?" one of them muttered, though neither believed their own words—especially when they recalled Leo shattering the astral chains binding him. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎 Marco’s mammoth was rendered immobile by those same chains. Lily stood with her hands folded, wearing a proud expression, as if every bit of praise was directed at her. The next moment, Tavian was teleported into the room, completely healed and dressed in a fresh set of clothes. Seeing everyone’s expressions, he simply shook his head, took a seat, and began to meditate. Strong-willed as he was, even he needed time to process a near-death experience. Soon after, Leo was teleported away from the arena and returned to the top 10 room a minute later. Lily’s face brightened as she congratulated him. Not long after, preparations for the next match began. --- A/N: I will publish the next Chapter soon.