Chapter 397: The Unexpected Turn

The first member of the Kusanagi team to appear was naturally Erkaidang Hongmaru—just by his clothes and hair you could tell he was the most flamboyant guy, and being the one to make a grand entrance was definitely his favorite thing. This one‑handed lightning fighter made a single leap onto the arena, his hands sweeping past his hair. His hair shot upward, a typical shamate—Bai Lang thought so.

Opposite them, of course, was Buzhihuo Wu—the two were old acquaintances, having met more than once in previous King of Fighters tournaments, and they had fought each other many times. Bai Lang sat in the frontmost seat, and beside him was Colonel Ha Di Lan, wearing a hat and sunglasses. The colonel sat calmly, watching the upcoming battle. Bai Lang's posture was rather swaggering, his arms spread on either side of the chair back, his right foot resting on his left knee in a carefree manner.

The bout in the arena was a clash of ninja fire versus lightning; Erkaidang, that reckless guy, also landed a hit on Buzhihuo Wu, and Andy's eyes widened dramatically, as if he could hardly wait to jump in for a double‑speed fight. Bai Lang watched with great excitement; both fighters employed a rapid, fierce style, and their defenses were rather poor, so a fast‑against‑fast match was truly a sight to see. "Whoever shows a flaw will immediately suffer a crushing blow," Bai Lang said.

No one listened to his words; after all, they were all martial artists—could they really not see it? The two on the stage had faced each other many times, so they knew each other's strengths and weaknesses and were planning a combo to knock the other out. "Both of them are fragile; it's a matter of who can break the deadlock," Bai Lang thought. The flame fan versus lightning fist was dazzling, and finally a massive lightning fist at the climax locked the ultimate ninja bee; Buzhihuo Wu lost by a slight margin.

Next, KING used a simple Poison Snake Strike to KO Erkaidang Hongmaru, and immediately faced the next entrant, Da Men Wulang. Da Men Wulang was another terribly unwatchable martial artist; his art was judo.

In this match, two other teams were also spectating: Ba Shen An's team consisted of Ba Shen An and two gorgeous women, while the Bad Guy team's three members had only MR. BIG present, the other two absent. Bai Lang was still watching as KING was about to use a swift move to defeat Da Men Wulang—Da Men's weakness was his slow movement and attacks. At that moment, three strangers suddenly appeared…

Even Bai Lang couldn't tell how those three arrived; once there, the tallest one—a white‑haired man in red—landed a punch on the ground, causing the earth to quake. "What? This kind of thing exists? That punch shouldn't have that power!" Bai Lang felt the force stir the scorching magma beneath the ground—Ri Ben is a volcanic seismic zone, and the punch's power traveled through the earth, letting Bai Lang, via the tremor, realize that just over a kilometer beneath his feet lay a small magma chamber.

There should be a hot spring here; a Japanese could buy this land, dig down twenty meters and get hot water, making a tidy profit… Amid such daydreams, the magma surged upward at an impossible speed, defying all science. The ground, the arena, the entire stadium began to collapse, and the fissures on the surface spread over roughly two hundred meters in radius.

The wealthy onlookers fled in panic, while the martial artists were thrilled, shouting "Oh! Oh! Oh!" repeatedly, finally able to have a free‑for‑all! The surrounding gamblers also cheered, their long‑awaited wager finally unfolding. Everyone who had bet on this match being stopped laughed wildly; the next question was who these disruptors were. The two fighters in the arena remained unruffled—actually, they had long been prepared.

Bai Lang saw KING sigh, presumably regretting his own failure to reach the finals; Da Men also shook his head, a bitter smile tugging his mouth. The two losers, having no combat ability, were immediately escorted out by others—Buzhihuo Wu refused to leave, claiming she could still fight, but Andy forcibly dragged her away. After the three disruptors detonated the area, they took no further action, simply standing in the middle and waiting.

The ground moved like small boats bobbing on the sea, magma spouting from the fissures and receding, the air scorching with a sulfurous smell. All present were martial artists, so the dry, hot air affected them little. At that moment, Bai Lang saw the two gorgeous women punch out, gouging Ba Shen An's kidneys… then they leapt to the three strangers.

When Ba Shen An entered the arena he exuded a domineering, cool swagger, yet now two women had gouged his kidneys, leaving him collapsed on the ground, fate unknown, a pool of blood spilling out and being briefly seared by magma into a violet flame. "You! Are you the Great Snake?" Kusanagi Kyo shouted, "Great Snake Eight Heroes Assemble, the Seven Chains of the Withered Earth, the Wild Lightning of Xia Er Mi, the Fate‑flame of Chris!" the three cried respectively.

"Ha, with that skill, the nickname fits nicely!" Bai Lang muttered, already standing up, the ground beneath him unmoving, locked solid even amid the magma. "Great Snake? Ba Qi Great Snake? Hey! Are you crazy? Are you members of a gang called Ba Qi Great Snake? How much ransom are you after with this sabotage?" Bai Lang shouted loudly—he actually knew, but if he didn't cause trouble he wouldn't be Bai Lang.

"They want to resurrect the Great Snake!" a woman in odd white clothes and tight pants appeared inside. "Resurrect? Dead, alive, dead again—does this cursed place even have monsters?" Bai Lang kept up his act, while the other martial artists could no longer hold back and rushed at the five people before them. "Crazy Inazuma Dance!" the eyeless, scantily‑clad woman shouted, then lifted one hand toward the sky as if pulling something down, slammed downward and hurled the generated thunderball onto the ground.

Purple‑red lightning radiated from her, and some of the more cowardly martial artists took the bolt outright, shrieking as they were electrocuted, smoking like a furred monkey falling over—among them was Kaobi… When the lightning reached Bai Lang, it vanished without a trace. The other capable martial artists either dodged or hard‑blocked, stopping the strike. "This is a sweep, then—everyone below a certain level, retreat first—who knows how many will die?" Bai Lang thought.