Duanmu Huai was not surprised at all by this development.
After all, for players, not a single Duel Tournament they ever participated in had ended peacefully.
Basically, in the end, either the organizers became the final boss, or a boss suddenly descended from the sky. Not to mention that when he questioned the blond man earlier, Duanmu Huai had already guessed the outcome.
After all, the blond man had said that the Power of the Battle God would choose someone suitable for it on its own, which meant that the Power of the Battle God possessed self-awareness. And once any power gained self-awareness… it very easily developed the flavor of some sort of conspiracy. Even more so when looking at the rules of this Battle God Tournament — that Power of the Battle God clearly wasn't anything good, right?
Well, facts proved Duanmu Huai's thoughts correct. This thing really wasn't anything decent.
So…
Duanmu Huai simply killed it.
Yes, just like that.
He summoned his armor, grabbed it with one hand, swung his Thunder Warhammer, and smashed its skull until brain matter burst out — killing it on the spot.
Seeing the Battle God smashed to death by Duanmu Huai, most of the organizers immediately fled without a trace. Clearly, they knew their scheme had been exposed, and staying here meant certain death, so they ran faster than anyone else. But Duanmu Huai didn't care. After all… he had only one goal for coming here.
"...…"
Standing before Duanmu Huai, Marie Rose lowered her head, her small face pale — as for her reason for joining the Battle God Tournament, she had obediently explained everything. Just as Duanmu Huai had guessed, in the beginning, Marie Rose desired power capable of defeating Duanmu Huai. Then she was deceived by a certain man and stupidly signed an agreement to participate in the Battle God Tournament.
After that, the man showed her the competition rules. Once she saw them, Marie Rose was naturally horrified and said she absolutely did not want to join such a tournament.
After all, Marie had a very clear understanding of her own strength and knew she could never win in a tournament like this.
But at that point, the other party showed their true colors. They told Marie she had already signed the agreement and must participate, or else act as a teammate. If she refused, they would capture Honoka as well — although Marie had considered resisting, she… yeah, she really couldn't win.
In the end, she had no choice but to be brought here and shoved to the sunglasses man as his partner.
"I-I'm sorry…"
"Don't apologize to me. It's not like I suffered any big problem. Shouldn't you be apologizing to Honoka?"
"I-I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, Honoka…"
Marie Rose lowered her head again and apologized to Honoka, who stood beside Duanmu Huai. Honoka shook her head.
"It's fine, Marie. I'm just glad you're okay…"
"I'm really sorry, Honoka… w-wahhhhhhh!"
By the end, Marie threw herself into Honoka's arms and cried loudly. For someone who had been forcibly taken to a place like this and forced to live in constant fear every day, this had definitely been a nightmare. Fortunately… everything had been resolved perfectly in the end. At least it was a blessing within misfortune.
With the Battle God dead and the management having run away, the entire Battle God Tournament was practically finished. Only a few little bottom-level workers who couldn't escape remained. But Duanmu Huai didn't make things difficult for them. Instead, he ordered them to return all the girls to their original places, completely disband this ridiculous organization, then took his reward and led the girls out of this sunless underground world, returning to the Duel City.
However, although the tournament itself didn't give Duanmu Huai any real benefits, the Duel City, grateful that he had destroyed the Battle God, decided to give Duanmu Huai a reward — they gifted him an island located near the sea of the Duel City, an island named "Venus Island," as a reward for eliminating the Battle God and destroying the organization behind it.
It had to be said, the island was beautiful, full of tropical charm. And here, Duanmu Huai could directly open a portal connecting to his battleship, meaning he could bring the girls to Venus Island anytime to enjoy tropical scenery and a proper vacation.
By the way, Lorena's "Women Fighters Team" actually reached the semifinals. Although Lorena worked hard, her teammates were useless. In the end, they lost to the Tiger Dragon Fist Team… well, whether there were some unknown reasons behind that, who knew.
Originally, after the tournament ended, Duanmu Huai intended to let the girls return home and rest. But all of them refused. Yue Huasha said she was his wife, and after returning home to bury Akuji's ashes, she would come back to join him. Honoka said she wished to stay by Duanmu Huai's side as his assistant.
As for Marie…
"Uu… anyway, the rules said I have to become the slave of the victor. Since it's a rule, I must follow it, so I'll reluctantly stay here!"
Well, at least that was what Marie said. As for what she really thought, Duanmu Huai didn't plan to investigate.
Coincidentally, he placed the two of them in charge of Venus Island. Then — he marched back with full momentum and found Anne.
"Anne, you remember what you said before, right?"
"Eh?"
Seeing Duanmu Huai appear again, wearing a not-at-all-good-intentioned smile, Anne blinked in confusion.
"Uh, what is it, Mr. Knight? What did I say?"
"You said that if I found light, cute, pretty armor, you'd be willing to wear it, right?"
"Uh… well… did you find it, Mr. Knight?"
At that, Anne's eyes lit up. Duanmu Huai nodded and handed her a gift box.
"Here, take this. I believe it will suit you very well."
"Thank you, Mr. Knight! I'll go change right now!"
Anne cheerfully took the box and bounced back to her room.
However, moments later, a scream echoed out.
"What is thiiiiis!!!"
Following her scream, everyone saw Anne rush out of the room, her face red as a tomato as she threw herself at Duanmu Huai.
"Mr. Knight! This isn't armor at all!!"
No wonder Anne was blushing — she was wearing a two-piece swimsuit-like outfit: a sleeveless white top woven like swimwear, and a white bikini bottom. Of course, that alone wouldn't have been a big deal. The problem was… the things on top of that.
Yes. If it were just that, it would be a normal swimsuit. But this outfit came with a set of black leather straps, forming a tight bondage harness!
So right now, Anne looked like this in everyone's eyes: a black collar around her neck, tight black straps crossing over her swimsuit, wrapping around her delicate white skin, binding her upper body and arms tightly, with thin belts circling her slender waist, outlining her graceful curves in an irresistibly tempting way…
"Uuuu… what even is this…"
"How is it? Not bad, right? I put a lot of thought into choosing it."
Seeing Anne's flushed face, Duanmu Huai raised his chin and chuckled. As he said, selecting a swimsuit took him some effort. Originally, he had planned on choosing an "Ultra Deep V" swimsuit — as the name suggested, it was basically a long V-shaped strip barely covering anything, and one wrong move would expose everything.
But after thinking about it, Duanmu Huai felt it was too much. He only wanted to tease Anne, not have her exposed in front of others. So he gave up on that.
Of course, there were also elegant, princess-style swimsuits, or ones that could practically be worn as lingerie. But that wouldn't satisfy him either — after all, he'd come all the way to the Duel City specifically to get payback on Anne. Giving her something lovely wouldn't fulfill his desire to prank her.
Thus, he ultimately chose this SSR swimsuit called "Venus Cage." On one hand, it was safe — no wardrobe malfunctions. On the other hand, it perfectly achieved the goal of pranking Anne.
Looking at Anne's burning-red face, Duanmu Huai felt his time grinding in the Duel City had not been wasted at all.
"How is it? Pretty good, right? It took me forever to pick this one. Not only is it pretty, it has good defense too."
"Uuu… even if you say that, this is way too embarrassing! Why does it have straps? It's like I'm some kind of pet…"
"Heh."
Hearing Anne's complaint, Duanmu Huai chuckled and leaned close to whisper in her ear.
"That's right. Remember, you are my pet. Understand? You naughty little kitten?"
"Uuuu…"
Anne's face flushed even redder. This time, she didn't dare talk back. She only lowered her head and stood there quietly. But soon, when Anne saw a tail swishing across her field of vision, her eyes suddenly sparkled.
"Guleya!"
Shouting loudly, Anne darted away from Duanmu Huai and pounced toward Guleya, grabbing onto her.
"Mr. Knight, I think Guleya would look great in this too!"
"Eh? Anne? Wait—!?"
Hearing Anne's words, Guleya froze, horrified. She tried to protest, but before she could finish, Anne extended her finger and gently brushed the base of Guleya's tail. Guleya trembled instantly and fell silent, only able to stare at Duanmu Huai with pleading eyes — and he ignored her entirely, shrugging as he took out another gift box.
"Here. I know you and Guleya are close. Good things should be shared with good friends."
"Hehehe, Mr. Knight really understands me! Guleya, go change too!"
"Wait, Anne, I don't need it—!!"
Before Guleya could finish, Anne dragged her into the room.
"Come on, come on! Guleya, you go change too! It'd be embarrassing if only I wore it!"
"You can just wear your uniform outside!"
"That's different! The feeling isn't the same!"
Although Guleya was extremely unwilling, she couldn't resist Anne and had no choice but to walk into the changing room.
"Haa…"
Seeing Guleya enter, Anne finally exhaled, leaning on the door and placing her hand over her chest — she could still feel her heart pounding wildly.
Uu… what happened to Mr. Knight just now?
Remembering the earlier moment, Anne felt her face burn again. When Duanmu Huai leaned in and whispered that line to her, she suddenly felt an urge to hand everything over to him, to let him ravage and dominate her completely. She even suspected that if Duanmu Huai had pushed her down at that moment, she probably wouldn't have resisted at all…
Uu… that scared me to death!
Anne slapped her own cheeks firmly, then took a few deep breaths, forcing her wildly beating heart to calm down.
Even so, Anne still couldn't figure it out…
What on earth was that…?
(End of Chapter)