Chapter 8: Star-Eclipse Eye

Chapter 8: Star-Eclipse Eye

“Tendou, my legs feel weak… c-can you hold me up?”

At the edge of the central arena, Jing Liuli stared in horror at the massive creature yawning lazily in the center. Her legs trembled uncontrollably.

Seeing her cower before even fighting, Tendou scowled.

“Coward. It’s not a real rampaging beast—it’s not going to kill us.”

“Oh? That’s not necessarily true.”

Unnoticed, Tachibana had appeared behind them. She leaned close to Tendou’s ear, her lips brushing past as she whispered,

“Tendou-chan, today’s assessment is different.”

“If you keep treating it like a game like before, maybe you’ll walk away fine… but as for Caroline-chan and Liuli-chan, I wouldn’t be so sure.”

“After all, the Doctor personally told me that all the big names are watching you this time. He made it very clear—my Terravaran mustn’t hold back.”

“You know the Doctor’s temperament, don’t you?”

Tendou’s mouth twitched.

“Yeah, that old fossil’s like a rock in a latrine—filthy and stubborn. Once he makes a decision, no one can talk him down.”

He narrowed his eyes at the beast in the ring.

“But Yume-nee, I don’t know what you’ve been feeding this thing, but normally, Terravaran's dorsal fins are yellow-gray stone scales. Look at yours—its back shines with a metallic luster. I can see it gleaming from a hundred meters away.”

“That’s not an ordinary Terravaran anymore. It’s on the verge of breaking through, isn’t it?”

“Heh~ who can say?”

Watching her feigned innocence, Tendou ground his back teeth so hard he thought they might crack.

Don’t give me that crap. You raised the thing yourself and claim you ‘don’t know’? Who are you trying to fool—kids?

Only now did Liuli catch on to what Tendou had said, realizing this lizard wasn’t just strange, but outright abnormal. That discovery alone made her feel her courage crumble completely.

“Te-Tendou, I just remembered—I have something to do. I’ll be going first!”

Unfortunately for her, Tendou had already predicted the escape attempt. He grabbed her by the collar like a kitten and lifted her right off her feet.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Hugging her precious pillow tight, Liuli clasped her hands together in pleading.

“Tendou, please, just let me sit this one out, okay?”

Tendou rolled his eyes.

“Keep dreaming. You’re already here—so let’s go!”

“Noooo!”

With her screams ringing through the arena, Tendou leapt down, dragging her into the battlefield.

Thud!

The moment he let go, Liuli collapsed to the ground hugging her pillow, trembling pitifully.

Compared to this hopelessly cowardly “battle butterfly,” Caroline was far more composed.

She knew perfectly well the three of them had no real chance of victory.

But as Tendou had said: they didn’t need to win against the Terravaran. They only needed to shock the old men watching from above.

And in that, their odds weren’t too bad.

Watching them file onto the arena, Tachibana asked with a smile,

“Everyone ready?”

Tendou nodded firmly—while simultaneously holding down Liuli, who was trying her best to shake her head.

Tachibana ignored the coward’s desperate begging look, her voice cold and crisp as she declared:

“Then—the final assessment begins.”

The words had barely left her lips when the Terravaran’s lazy eyes snapped wide, flaring with savage fury.

It rose to its full height, scales glinting, and opened its massive maw.

A thunderous roar ripped out, a soundwave so heavy it was felt in the bones.

“ROAR!!”

The deep, booming shockwave blasted out like a stormwind, sweeping over Tendou and his two companions.

In an instant, the trio felt the crushing weight of the monster’s presence—the overwhelming pressure of a true apex predator.

And this… was only the appetizer.

Boom!

The Terravaran rose to its feet, one massive claw stomping down on the hardened arena floor. Like a moving mountain, it charged at Tendou and the others with the momentum of a collapsing peak.

Its sheer weight was terrifying—just the simple act of running sent tremors rippling through the enormous central arena.

“Scatter!”

From the rear of the formation, Caroline shouted loudly.

But even before she spoke, Tendou had already sprinted off toward the left flank.

Even Jing Liuli, who had been trembling with fear just moments ago, suddenly erupted with surprising potential.

Though her mouth kept muttering about how scared she was, her body moved without hesitation.

That oversized pillow she always carried—taller than she was—suddenly revealed a strange “flying carpet” effect, dragging her along at high speed as she skimmed low across the arena toward the right.

This unexpected ability instantly drew the attention of the VIPs watching from their private booth.

“Not bad at all. I was always curious why Liuli, despite her obvious psychological weakness, could still rank third among the monstrous Children of the Stars.”

“Now I understand. Her talent in star energy manipulation must be top-tier—an S-rank at least.”

The canary-masked noblewoman’s eyes followed the girl flying just above the ground on her pillow, her voice full of praise.

Of course, she could also tell that Liuli’s peculiar “star tool,” shaped like a pillow, played a crucial role in this feat.

But just as a powerful Star Core is wasted on someone who cannot wield it properly, the finest star tool is useless without someone who can bring out its full potential.

The canary-masked noblewoman didn’t know what grade that pillow star tool belonged to.

But she did know this: with Liuli’s fragile star energy reserves, simply activating such a tool was already remarkable—much less controlling it with such ease.

That could only mean one thing—Jing Liuli possessed an extraordinary gift for star energy manipulation, able to achieve the greatest effect with the smallest amount of energy.

“This girl, Jing Liuli, is impressive indeed,” the griffin-masked man admitted, “but the cat at the back isn’t any less remarkable.”

“Oh? Is that so?”

Intrigued by the griffin-masked man’s words, The canary-masked noblewoman turned her attention to Caroline, who stood calmly at the rear.

Unlike The canary-masked noblewoman, who had been focused on Liuli, the griffin-masked man had set his eyes on Caroline from the very beginning.

Not only because, like him, she belonged to the Machina Type of Starbearer—but also because he could sense the immense potential hidden within her.

At that moment, Caroline’s two feline ears stood tall, while her hair shifted from its usual dark green to the same silvery-white as Tendou’s.

The sight of her like this… was strikingly similar to a soulless WiFi router.

Seeing this, The canary-masked noblewoman paused in thought, then suddenly exclaimed in realization:

“A star energy data chain! This child is so young, and already has such incredible computational capacity… another little monster!”

The Star Energy Data Chain—this was something only a handful of geniuses among the Machina Type Starbearers could accomplish.

For the so-called star energy data chain meant turning oneself into a signal hub, using star energy to link with one’s teammates, and sharing real-time battlefield data with them.

And achieving this was no simple feat.

Not only did it require exquisite control over star energy, and a certain minimum energy level, but above all—it demanded tremendous computing power.

Without that, it was impossible. Before you could even think about distributing data to your allies, the flood of chaotic battlefield information would drown your mind completely.

The result?

The dreaded condition known as “brain overload.”

Of course, Caroline and Jing Liuli’s performances were both remarkable.

But compared to Tendou at this very moment… their brilliance was like fireflies before the blazing sun and moon.

Because instead of fleeing from the massive Terravaran barreling toward him, Tendou… stopped.

He slowly removed the dark sunglasses perched on his nose—revealing his signature, piercing azure-blue eyes.

And then—

Across the whites of his eyes, delicate star energy trajectories began to etch themselves, as if the entire starry sky had begun to flow within his gaze.

He had activated his Star-Eclipse Eye!

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