379 Chapter 379: The First Round

\"Finally, after all that side-tracking, we're finally going to start the tournament!\"

\"Side-tracking?\" Yue Chu gave me a perplexed glance when I started throwing my hands up and yelling in joy.

\"Yeah. Not filler. Readers just complain about everything that they don't want to read as filler, but those side-tracking were imperative to move the story onward as it would impact what happens during the tournament. Like Anastasia, for example. I won't spoil the readers, but it's not a coincidence that she had something happen to her during the qualifiers. And Bu Fan's sister too…\"

\"Sorry.\" Yue Chu raised a hand. \"You've lost me totally.\"

\"Well, essentially, there are no fillers, and these events are all related to what happens in the main plot, so people whining about them being fillers are just wrong.\"

\"I still don't understand.\"

\"Never mind. Anyway, let's proceed to the first match. We're up against…uh, Adolf Academy, was it?\"

\"Is that what Harrison told you?\" Yue Chu burst out laughing. \"Well, he wasn't wrong, but to prevent copyright troubles, they changed their name. Now they are known as Adorno Academy.\"

That was one hell of a reason to change the name of their school, and I honestly doubted that Skeleton Wizard would bother with an obscure story like mine to file some copyright claim, so it was probably unnecessary. Even so, I understood why they did it.

There had been several other matches, but because I didn't want to drag the story out unnecessarily (and it was a pain to write fight scenes about characters who would probably show up once or twice and never appear again), I was going to skip over them and head straight for our match. Of course, in reality, Harrison would have the team watch those matches again and again to ensure we knew what sort of tactics or fighting style our future opponents would employ, but I wasn't going to bore the readers wiith longwinded analysis.

If you really enjoyed that sort of thing, you could go read Battle Frenzy instead.

Anyway, our team showed up early in the massive stadium that the Stuart family had reserved for the national Federation high school tournament. I couldn't help but look around, admiring the gleaming chrome shell that made up the walls. There were tens of thousands of seats, surrounding the metallic arena in the middle. Even though it looked nothing more than a football field sized slab of concrete for now, I was aware that using magic, they could transform the arena into any type of environment they wanted. A forest, a lake, an urban environment, anything.

As long as you had the right spells and the right personnel (those who specialized in such magic), you could do almost anything. Obviously, such personnel were in high demand, because not everyone was capable of learning landscaping magic (or healing magic, for that matter).

Everyone applaused when Adorno Academy showed up at the other end of the stadium. The ten members were striding into the open area, which included a huge space for technical teams, substitutes, and the captains and vice-captains to sit around, strategize and plan, or watch the match. They even had holograms and other equipment up for the benefit of both teams. The technical area, if I remembered, was an old throwback to old football/soccer games where the manager and the coaching team would prowl around, watching his players.

They adopted a dignified stance, looking almost like celebrities stylishly making their entrance in some ball or whatever those movie stars ceremonies were called. Sorry, I don't watch those. Anyway, everyone was screaming and cheering for them.

As for us…not so much. We were still a relatively obscure team, and there was some polite applause. Not many people enthusiastically roaring our names and such, probably because we didn't have time to build up a fanbase, and our performance over the last few years was far from impressive. Even though we had gotten a few decent results this year, there weren't that many who knew too much about us.

That said, there were quite a few people cheering us on as underdogs. I could see Adrian and his friends amongst the crowd, including Melina and his middle school classmates. Then I could see Harvey Deng and a fairly large contingent of supporters from Jing Tian Academy also cheering within the crowd, their grayish uniforms standing out against the other schools. I smiled and waved to both Adrian and Harvey and their friends, wondering if the two would ever meet one day. They could become good friends, given how similar they were.

Well...Harvey had to be careful, though. Adrian seemed to be the scheming type, particularly after what happened in the Stuart Corporation Building…

The captain of the team, Cecil…ahem, I mean Cain, was narrowing his eyes as he watched us. His gaze was intense.

I could probably guess what he was thinking. If this was a typical Chinese webnovel, he would probably be thinking along the lines of, \"what a trash team\" or \"no matter what kind of strategy you have, it's useless in the face of overwhelming power\" or something.

Utter bullshit. The most brilliant strategies could bring down even the most overwhelming of power. It had been done so in the past, and it would be done again here. Just like how the Vietnamese gureilla forces defeated a superior French army when they tried to recolonize Indochina. David versus Goliath. The battle of Zulu. Stuff like that that became legends.

\"Who will you choose as your first figher?\" Cain asked, his eyes cold and hard. He was holding back, testing to see who we would field.

Harrison turned and nodded at his Holy Saints teammate, Lily. She took a deep breath and acknowledged his silent instructions with a jerk of her head, and then stepped forward, climbing atop the arena.

\"Oho! The first fighter for Jing Tian Team has entered the stage!\" the commentator announced with a flourish. \"It's Lily Liam! She's the backbone of the third year students in Jing Tian Academy, and has been a reliable starter for the team for the past couple of years! Will she be able to replicate her impressive display from last year?\"

The crowd murmured and watched, with some nodding in approval and others shrugging nonchalantly.

\"So Captain Harrison sent out an all-round warrior, and a veteran too. A safe start.\"

\"Good choice. I would have picked Lily too if I were him.\"

Harrison merely smiled confidently as he watched, but there was no way to read his intention behind those glacial blue eyes of his. Cain was watching Harrison intently, his eyes still narrowed, but he remained silent. He then jerked his head toward the burly guy next to him, who was some reason also wearing glasses and handling a massive gun.

\"And now we have the first fighter from Adorno Team also entering the stage!\" the commentator was on a roll now. \"It's their Vice-captain Gunther Schalke! As opposed to the all-round warrior Lily, he is a heavy gunner!\"

I whistled when I saw the huge cannon that Gunther was carrying. From barrel to handle, it was at least the length of his height, and almost a quarter of his mass. The weapon had several sophisticated tracking devices inbuilt into its glossy, black frame, with some silver inlets. That thing looked like it packed some serious firepower.

Glancing at the rowdy spectators, I thought back to the rules of this elimination match. In the finals, as they called it, the rules had changed since last year. In the past, it used to be the best of five, where whichever team won more matches would progress to the next round. This year, however, they had added the team match component at the end of the five individual matches, which could potentially allow the losing team to turn the tables through display of superior teamwork even though they were weaker individually.

The rules were slightly more complex. Defeating an opponent net the winning team a point. So even if you were down 5-0 where all of your members lost every single individual match, if you somehow defeat all 5 members of the opposing team without sustaining a single casualty, you could tie the match 5-5. In an event of such a draw, the winners of the team match would take priority, and progress ahead of the team who won more individual matches.

Of course such a scenario was unlikely. More likely, even if you were 1-4 down, if you could eliminate 5 members of the opposing team while losing 2 of yours, you would tie the score 6-6, and progress by virtue of winning the team match. It was an excellent opportunity to showcase the new emphasis on teamwork, and force the team captains to strategize accordingly and not dismiss the team match in favor for brute force.

\"You can do it!\"

\"Good luck!\"

Shouts from the spectators echoed throughout the stadium as supporters of both sides screamed as loudly as they could. Lily, being the beautiful girl that she was, actually drew a lot of support and attention from the male portion, who for some reason began cheering for her instead.

Yeah, they weren't cheering for Jing Tian Academy, but for Lily personally. Yue Chu, fortunately, didn't look uncomfortable at all, having complete faith in Lily. Instead, he was grinning and leaning over to voice his own support for his girlfriend.

\"Do your best!\"

Lily raised a sword without glancing back, acknowledging his support. The male members of the audience grew wild at that, and their voices became louder.

Gunther's eyes narrowed behind his glasses, but he suppressed any resentment he might have felt at being overshadowed by his opponent and maintained a neutral expression. Even so, he couldn't help but snipe at Lily.

\"Looks like you're considered one of the stronger fighters on the Jing Tian Team. I'm sorry to say, but considering the class matchup and the difference between our abilities, you only have a very low chance of winning.\"

\"Really?\" Lily tested her sword by swinging it, doing some sort of warmup and pointedly disregarding his words. \"I'm sorry to say, I won't know until I actually try.\"

She then raised her shield and adopted a defensive stance, readying herself for battle. Of course she wasn't allowed to cast magic before the match, so there was no buildup of mana or anything. Even so, the commentator couldn't hold his excitement.

\"Oh! Look! Lily refuses to be intimidated by the heavy firepower that Gunther is carrying! She's all rared up and ready to go!\"

In response, Gunther lifted his cannon and aimed it at Lily. Like her, he wasn't allowed to cast any spells yet, so the barrel remained cool and inactive, with no trace of mana at all. I had no doubt it would immediately burst into life and begin firing the moment the match began.

\"Gunther is also preparing to fight! He is accepting Lily's challenge head-on!\"

Was there any need for so dramatic a commentary when the match had yet to begin?

The bell rang and a thunderous buzz echoed throughout the stadium, to signify the start of the match. The volume of the spectators rose several times, with people actually jumping out of their seats to peer forward.

\"Battle, begin!\"

Immediately after the commentator shouted, Gunther wasted no time, casting a spell. His huge cannon glowed and he fired a heavy burst from his cannon, the heavy weapon booming from the shot.

Lily deftly avoided it by sliding to the side. Without any hesitation, she charged forward and sprinted toward the heavy gunner, who maintained his position and continued to aim his glowing barrel at her advancing figure.

\"!!\"

The commentator swallowed his shock, and remembered his job. I could almost imagine him grabbing his microphone.

\"She evaded it! Amazing reflexes! It seems like Lily has gotten a lot faster than last year?!\"

Ignoring the commentary overhead, Lily streaked forward in a golden and crimson flash, her long hair flying behind her. Her figure turned into a blur as she weaved across the arena to close in on her opponent. Gunther grimly tracked her figure and released a barrage of shots, but she evaded every single one of them by weaving unpredictably through the stage.

Wearing an expression of determination, Lily thrust her sword forward and sliced apart another projectile that was speeding toward her. Even without the ability to read minds, I could tell what she was thinking.

I'm not going to let my teammates down!

Setting her jaw resolutely, Lily charged forward to deliver her first attack.