Blood from the blade slowly drips after it made its mark on its intended target. The elated, adrenaline-like feeling when blood is made is absent from the crowd as a series of different types of expressions were made.
Anyone can wield a blade, be they good or bad, the tool never discriminates and slices upon the request of the wielder. Maniacs would smile upon killing, doctors will desperately and cautiously slice with a frown or a solemn expression, chefs would smile while chopping, especially if the chopped product is delicious and magically lands into their mouth afterward.
The wielder of the blade can determine its usage, and bring forth a reaction, and right now Luon and Janet had two different types of expression. With a sword impaled in her body, Janet, smiled as if she had just won the lottery and said, “I am surprised at your capability to handle a sword. I didn’t think you could manage to see through that and stab me at the same time. It’s too bad you fell just a little short...”
At this moment, she painfully pulled out the sword that was stabbed into her body by stepping backward slowly. Blood slowly gushes from the open wound, and two miniature fountains of blood were made lasting only several seconds. As she had removed the sword that impaled her, she recovered her blade that was stuck within Luon’s body.
Seeing the damages done to their body it was evident that they were both done for. Usually, they would disappear right away when the program designates the combatants as dead. However, they were merely bleeding and not incapacitated. It was possible to recover from the wound if they were to have a healer, but nobody in Team Ascension or Team Diva could do so. The only way for them to live is to buy a healer from the commander shop. However, Gizmo was too far away, and Janet was the only one with authority to do so.
If Janet had designated a subordinate to take command temporarily, she might’ve been able to save her life. However, she didn't as she couldn't have imagined this outcome. Because she and the other idol members were already on the scene to delay the advances she thought that it would be a pointless action. The original plan was to use the stage to temporary halt the battle before countering against Team Ascension forces. And all of that was ruined by a nitwit who couldn’t take the time to appreciate good music.
Right now Janet felt like she was on top of the world, comparing the damage done from the exchange, Luon would end up eliminated. First, she tried her best to laugh a bit without increasing the depletion rate of her blood and said, “How does defeat feel like Luon? Didn’t expect this outcome did you? Within a few moments, you will get removed, and we will win this match.”
Luon who was painfully resisting death while on his knees holding a sword as support, turned towards her with a questionable look as he said, “Defeat? What are you talking about, how can your team possibly win this match with you in that kind of state...”
Luon’s words gave her an ominous feeling, she quickly asked to confirm whether her worries were real or not by asking, “What do you mean by I can’t win… aren’t you the commander? Don’t you command the battle from the frontline? Or at least that’s what the data said.”
Hearing her words, Luon responded with a snicker. He was defeated thoroughly in the exchange, she was only a little bit faster than he was, this caused his downfall.
“Unfortunately for you… I am not the commander of this match. Couldn't you have seen this during the waiting room? It was indicated right beside our names,” Luon asked.
“This...” Janet didn't know what to say. Before she could muster any reasonable thoughts, she began to cough blood due to the shock that Luon wasn't actually the commander. Her standing posture swayed as if she had hit the limit and she fell into a minor state of shock due to lack of blood.
The Vice-captain hurried beside her side to support her. Cradling Janet, she turned towards Luon thinking that even if they couldn't win, they can at least eliminate him before they lose.
However, she found her worries unnecessary as Luon let go of his sword and collapsed on the ground. He was still conscious as he sent his gaze over to Janet hoping that she would get eliminated first.
Mentally he thought that whoever won this exchange of blows was the last one standing.
Seeing her opponent's tenacious will and how bad the situation was, the Vice-captain said, “I guess this was it for us...”
Bendan who heard her words thought there was no need to add more fuel to the fire, so he merely started to train around the beach with the orcs. Tyron quietly sat watching the opposing commander slowly die out, to act against a wounded enemy was very dishonorable, but at the same time, they needed to win the match. He ensured nothing can stop her from dying unjustly.
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Watching her opponent's reaction dashed all her hope, there was no such thing as pity for the losers, and they were watching their every move. The Vice-captain knew why they had lost, it was mainly due to lack of information. In between concerts, lives, and training sessions, they had no time to study their opponents in more details. They only knew of Luon’s battle capability as a commander by watching the first video of where Luon fought against Team C Delta Plus, and even this was during the free period where the other matches were held.
Which is why they were under the impression that he was the commander, after losing the battlefield they were aiming for the moment that Luon would let his guard down and eliminate him. Little did they know he wasn’t the commander, but Gizmo was. If only they noticed the slight changes in positioning in the waiting room before the match started.
However, Team Diva spent that time singing to increase their fan base as the match was executed on many news channels in the Nexus solar system. Their fame soared once the match started after each song. The music chart rankings increased as it was posted real time on everyone's BMPU. Even though they lost the battle they managed to get more fans, in the end, all they wanted to do was get more popular.
‘We really aren’t cut out for fighting… Janet, we let you down,’ thought the Vice-captain as she lovingly gazed at her partner. Although they didn’t win this battle, they won the hearts of many fans. Soon enough, Luon vanished from his spot signifying his elimination, and Janet followed only moments later.
After the two the rest followed suit and the match was over, it was Team Ascensions victory.
…
The group returned to the waiting room that they were in earlier to watch the remaining matches. There were no noteworthy matches so far, most of them were one-sidedly beaten and had no new tricks. Bored Luon could only go through the data provided to him about their opponent's weakness, strengths, and redeeming features. It was no surprise that Arisa’s team, who fought the last match of the day, won with ease without revealing any new strategy.
At this point in time, every team was hiding their trump cards to some extent, so most of these matches had nothing fancy. After the top 8 were decided, Luon’s group was teleported on the stage alongside Team Diva, and various other teams to display good sportsmanship and to thank their opponents for the match. The next set of matches will be held the next day.
When Team Diva’s name was announced, many members of the crowd cheered, whistled, happily creating a joyful atmosphere lasting nearly a minute. The crowd felt pity for these singing goddess who took up arms, they were aiming for the aesthetical value within the crowd hearts, however, what may look good may not function as well as other methods. Because of this, they were limited on their selection choices for units, and the combat abilities were sealed by external factors, except for the final bout.
After Team Diva was Team Ascension name, they were told to come up once to offer their thanks to Team Diva for the match. As they departed to the center of the stage, lasting nearly double the time Team Diva had, a portion of the fans continuously curse at the group while the rest remained silent with a small majority supporting Team Ascension.
The extreme fans of Team Diva managed to obtain a massive library of scandalous pictures. There were mermaids, female knights where bikinis, the idol members in several different poses. These good for nothing supporters couldn’t help but spit at Team Ascension’s victory. If Team Diva were to keep winning wouldn’t they be able to receive more content?
Despite the awkwardly unbalanced crowd the crew politely did the ceremonial act of thanking their opponents before saying a tidbit before leaving. When it was Janet’s turn to say something she brought the inner actress inside of her as she tearingly said, “Although many of you had hoped for us to continue on, this is the end of the line. Between a true warrior and a greenhorn fighter, it was plainly obvious to see our limitations. Despite our efforts to satisfy you all with an interesting, action-packed, beautiful match - beneath true power, beauty and pride don’t matter as only the victor can continue. Thank you all for the support, and I hope that you’ll come to see our next concert!”
Janet gave a bow garnering many cheers, and increasing her fan base by numerous times over, even though she lost, she knew her priorities.
The day was half over as the Vortex Container had conserved a lot of time. It didn’t take long before everyone in the Nexus solar system knew of the results, and from one aspect of it, Luon had become famous overnight.
He wasn’t famous for his prowess as he had lost to Janet in a one versus one scenario, nor was it for his strategic value as Gizmo was the commander. Instead, he became famous for his shamelessness. The number of shameless acts he had done was numerous, and game-changing at the same time. It all started with a rifle that had eliminated the first girl right away, he had used a one-time consumable product while saying some cheeky words causing many viewers to cringe. Another minor one was during the sea battle he had merely sat on a monster whose presence changed the fight and acted as if it was all his doing. But what really hammered the nail in the coffin was the fact that while Janet and the other two girls were singing, he had wrecked the stage in the first few seconds of the song.
Many audience members thought, ‘You’re already winning so why not let them sing at least one tune?’ Social media who were bored out of their minds due to lack of exciting news blew it up like spilling oil over an existing fire.
However, the target of all this negativity was utterly negligent of this. Instead, Luon was looking at the members of their next match. It wasn’t the first time he had seen it in Nexus University. However, he didn’t anticipate these people as their opponents. Their school had a diverse culture, from vampires to humans, elves and… even orcs. Their next opponent was a 5 man male orc team named Pride. With muscles as thick as a horse limb, these five straightforwardly brought havoc to their opponent's team. Luon looked at their match history with a frown, their strategy literally pulverized all their opponents.
How could he win this? How should they battle this? Luon suddenly had a bright idea, he turned on his Vortex container and started to fix several settings.
Their next match, without a doubt, would be an interesting one to see.