Matthew Atkinson & Natalie Russell
Global Layer of the Supernatural Realm
It seemed like today was a day of coincidences.
First, Professor Isabel Grant encountered a former rival colleague. Now, Aria Powell had run into this group of "former teammates".
Fortunately, Aria Powell was a seventh-rank expert with an extraordinary identity.
These former teammates, though all strong individuals, didn't say anything unpleasant. They simply greeted each other.
However, the mockery and knowing look in their eyes were impossible to hide.
Because of that, Aria Powell's expression was rather unpleasant.
But soon, the first round of elimination matches officially began, and Ms. Powell turned her attention to the competition.
In the center of the arena, suddenly, thousands of fighting rings appeared.
But this was quite normal. After all, there were just too many supernatural individuals participating in the Global Layer.
Even if they were divided into two Divisions, there would still be countless people in each Division.
If there were only one ring and everyone had to go up one by one, how long would it take to finish the competition?
And Matthew was used to this sight from the previous third layer. There, too, thousands of rings were set up for participants to compete in until the final rounds.
But what truly surprised Matthew were the figures that appeared on the rings after they had formed.
Subsequently, on each ring, the exact same defending champion appeared simultaneously.
Yeah, they were exactly alike. Like clones. Like the defending champion had used Naruto's Shadow Clone Technique.
And to Matthew's further surprise, the defending champion of the first round was...
Spider-Man?
There were thousands of Spider-Men at thousands of fighting rings.
They wore the same spider suits, had the same build, and even their stances were exactly the same.
"It's Spider-Man. He's quite strong, with an overall strength of around rank three to four."
Professor Holland began to introduce their opponent. He was sitting next to Matthew, and this introduction was mainly for Matthew and Natalie to hear.
Matthew certainly knew about Spider-Man. But how did Professor Holland know him?
He couldn't help but ask, "Professor Holland, how did you know him? Could it be that this person will appear in the later Supernatural Realm layers?"
"Yes." Professor Holland nodded and then said, "Although Spider-Man's overall strength is not strong, his sensory abilities are very powerful, and his reaction speed is very sharp. Even a fourth-rank supernatural might not be able to beat him."
Matthew agreed with this point.
Spider-Man had a spider-sense, which was very similar to high-level Observation Haki, so his sensory abilities were naturally amazing.
Unexpectedly, Professor Holland suddenly changed the subject and suggested, "Matthew, Spider-Man is not easy to deal with. How about you stay here instead of getting into the ring?"
Matthew was stunned.
Grand Magister Russell, standing nearby, chimed in, "Professor Holland is right. Spider-Man has a high fighting talent. Matthew, when it's your turn to go on the ring, you might as well just surrender."
Even Aria Powell said, "Matthew, do you know why I teamed up with you this time? For your safety, I think it would be better if you just forfeited."
Matthew was now beyond speechless.
He was probably considered the weakest member of the team by everyone.
"I think with my current abilities, taking down this Spider-Man shouldn't be a problem."
Matthew couldn't help but say, "In this champion challenge format, the whole team has to work together, and everyone has to earn points to get a good ranking. I don't want to hold the team back."
He really wanted to say that he was now incredibly strong. But who would believe that besides Natalie?
It would have been enough if they hadn't taken it as a joke.
As for demonstrating his strength directly… Fighting was prohibited in the Global Layer Arena except in the ring.
Matthew didn't want to risk losing his eligibility to compete over this minor matter.
"There's no need for that," Aria Powell said. "In the Champion Challenge format, defending champions in later rounds become stronger and award more points, while champions in the early rounds don't award many points."
"Spider-Man is just the first-round defending champion. Even if you beat him, you won't get many points unless you can keep advancing."
Matthew didn't want to talk about this anymore, so he just said, "Let me give it a try."
Aria Powell seemed surprised by Matthew's stubbornness and frowned slightly.
Of course, she wore special glasses that covered even her eyebrows, so no one could see her frowning.
"Giving it a try is fine," Grand Magister Russell said. "But if you find yourself outmatched, you must surrender immediately."
After a pause, Grand Magister Russell added, "And Natalie, the same goes for you."
Natalie frowned slightly but remained silent. The girl was currently in her rebellious phase...
"I understand," Matthew agreed. After all, the team members would change their minds after witnessing his strength.
This conversation involved many team members, and no one felt the need to suppress their voices. Therefore, the team behind them clearly heard everything that was said.
And immediately, someone burst into laughter.
Matthew frowned, clearly annoyed, and immediately turned to question him, "Are you laughing at me?"
The team behind them had a powerful lineup, supported by a conglomerate.
Initially, two seventh-rank experts would lead the team for this Global Layer Competition, but with Aria Powell's departure, only one remained.
The rest of the team members were mostly sixth-rank experts, with the weakest being fifth-rank.
At this moment, seeing that Matthew, a freshman, actually dared to turn around and question them, immediately aroused their displeasure.
The person who had just laughed was a young fifth-rank expert. Upon hearing this, he sneered, "Why would I waste my time making fun of a naïve freshman like you? You overestimate yourself."
"Is that so?" Matthew said casually, "How about we make a bet on who will advance more rounds? If one of us gets eliminated before the other, the eliminated person will fall to their knees and beg for forgiveness, okay?"
When these words fell, everyone around was surprised.
No one expected Matthew to have such a volatile temper, and even less expected that a freshman would dare to make such a bet with a veteran fifth-rank expert.
What they didn't know was that Matthew himself was a seventh-rank expert, and he wouldn't so easily accept someone weaker than him laughing at him.
Matthew had no intention of waging war on everyone who mocked him behind his back, but he wasn't about to swallow an insult on his face either.
Perhaps he could have restrained himself elsewhere, but the Global Layer was an Amnesiac Layer; Matthew didn't need to restrain himself here.
However, the other party did not fall for such a simple provocation. Just as the man was about to say something, Matthew spoke again, cutting him off.
"You wouldn't be afraid of even a naive freshman like me, would you?"
These words immediately put the young man at a loss. Just moments ago, he had called Matthew a naive freshman, and now the words were turned towards him.
The surrounding teams heard the commotion, and all looked over. If this young person refused now, he would truly appear cowardly.
While the young man hesitated, Matthew added fuel to the fire, saying, "If you're a coward, just shut your mouth up, okay?"
Now the young man could no longer contain himself and gritted his teeth, saying, "Fine, Matthew, right? I'll remember you. I accept your bet. Don't you dare go back on your word later."
Judging from his fierce appearance, if it weren't for the prohibition of fighting in the Global Layer stadium, he would probably have attacked Matthew directly.
"I'm the one who should say that. So, you'd better not regret it." Matthew said with a smile.
At that moment, the competition had begun, with thousands of rings where contestants took to the stage.
Their entrance was quite unique. It was not about walking step by step into the ring, nor was it about flying into the ring.
Instead, they travel directly from their seats to the arena through a portal.
As soon as the matches began, everyone turned their attention to the rings.
"Matthew, why were you so impulsive?" Professor Holland glanced at the stage and whispered, "I know that guy. Don't let his youth fool you. He's a fifth-rank expert, stronger than me. Even though you're always performing SSS-grade results, you're still a freshman. You can't possibly beat him..."
Grand Magister Russell scoffed, "It was an impulsive and foolish thing to do. What will you do when you lose?"
The others were also surprised that Matthew would do such a thing.
Only Aria Powell glanced at Matthew thoughtfully. She felt that Matthew was probably standing up for her...
At this moment, suddenly, a prompt appeared in Matthew's left eye, telling him to get ready to go on the ring.
He immediately stood up and said, "It's my turn to go on the ring."
Then a portal appeared in front of him. Matthew stepped in and arrived directly at a nearby ring.
The crowd in the stands all turned to look at the ring.
Matthew stepped onto the stage and, without saying a word, headed straight for Spider-Man.
Spider-Man also quickly approached Matthew.
From afar, a spider web flew over first, aiming straight for Matthew's face. And it was extremely fast.
Spider-Man's strategy was simple: to use his webs to distract Matthew.
Unfortunately, although his spider web shot was fast, it couldn't possibly be faster than Matthew's speed.
Matthew raised his hand slightly and easily grasped the spider web.
He held the spider web tightly and pulled hard, and Spider-Man flew uncontrollably toward him.
However, Spider-Man, with his rich combat experience, quickly adjusted his posture in mid-air and even used the momentum to lunge forward, delivering a flying kick to Matthew's chest.
Matthew's reaction, however, caught everyone by surprise. He didn't even try to dodge, letting Spider-Man kick him in the chest.
-Thump
Matthew remained unmoved, while Spider-Man was suddenly sent flying backward by a shockwave.
And by the time he landed, he was already dead.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.174: The Second Champion – Bumblebee
Ch.175: The Third Champion – Cull Obsidian
Ch.176: Actions Have Consequences