Ascenders Cup (2/2)

Standing at the edge of the ninety-ninth floor, Tanka looked at the dome-shaped security office that stood out from the rest of the building and said.

“Begin now.”

At his command, the Modder standing at his right instantly fired a rocket launcher-like device mounted on his shoulder. Instantly, a metal claw-like object attached to a thick steel cable shot across the stormy winds and pierced into the tower on the opposite side. Feeling the cable becoming taut in his hands, the Modder immediately thrust his end into the floor underneath him, using the device like a pile bunker.

To the PeaceKeeper’s left, the Cursemaster had already begun the process of casting his Ultimate Ability! Wisps of black-coloured power left his body and snaked around him as chant after chant left his mouth. Just when the casting was about to reach its peak, Tanka suddenly grabbed the Cursemaster by his shoulder and threw him towards the opposite building! Oddly enough, his javelin-like throw wasn’t aimed straight at the opposite floor, but rather in an arc towards the security office.

“Let’s go.” Uncaring of his falling teammate, Tanka said to the Modder and grabbed onto the steel cable, making his way to the other side.

---

Meanwhile, watching the falling Cursemaster, the members of Phoenix's Fires were rendered speechless. All of them had a single thought within their minds.

‘Are they crazy? Why would they sacrifice one of their members without any reason!?’

However, just as the Cursemaster entered the range of Phoenix’s ‘guaranteed kill zone’, she faintly heard him mutter. “... is fair!”

“ULTIMA–” Unfortunately, her warning went incomplete as well as her finger that had half-squeezed the trigger. Phoenix felt herself freeze and saw her stats fall by 90%!

Cursemaster’s Ultimate Ability - Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair. It was a control skill that stunlocked the opponent for 8 seconds while decreasing their stats by 90%. The ability came at the cost of a 15-second chant time, and the inability of the Cursemaster to move while their target was stunlocked. Any hostile attack on the stunned target will also cause the stunlock to release.

In other words, while Pheonix remained immobilised for 8 seconds, the Cursemaster would keep falling for the same duration. He was as good as dead!

The sudden eruption of battle caused the Virtual and the Brawler to freeze in shock for a second. However, they recovered quickly and immediately assumed battle stances. Unfortunately, their opponents had already taken into consideration their reactions.

A second after Phoenix’s immobilisation, the roof above the security office suddenly split apart and fell. Falling along with the chunks of concrete was the eight-foot-tall PeaceKeeper and the masked Modder. With practised ease, the two newcomers immediately headed towards their respective opponents; PeaceKeeper towards the Brawler and Modder towards the Virtual.

Having a higher agility stat, the Modder was the first person to arrive before his opponent. Speaking not a single word of taunt, he immediately threw a fist-sized orb towards the floating Virtual.

Drawing an arc through the air, the orb arrived before Mo’et just in time for him to regain his senses. Seeing the object, Mo’et had no thoughts to confront the stronger challenger’s attack and immediately backed off. His actions, however, proved to be futile as the attack wasn’t even an actual attack in the first place.

The orb exploded a little distance away from the Virtual, into a cloud of electricity and dust-like silver-coloured particles. This cloud, upon coming into contact with Mo’et caused his already fallen agility to fall even further. His body also seemed to grow more substantial and opaque. His attack, having succeeded, caused the Modder to immediately press on with his next sequence of attacks.

Mo’et, however, wasn’t an inexperienced greenhorn either. Instantly recognizing the disadvantageous situation that he was in, he unhesitatingly used one of his Special Abilities: [Digitized Stream]. Turning into a stream of digital data, his body flashed with light and instantly disappeared from the scene.

The Modder did not seem disheartened by this reaction. In fact, he did not seem to react negatively at all. After all, his aim had already been met.

Isolate the Brawler!

With Phoenix taken out of the battle and the Virtual made incapable of attack, Sons of Machina had met their goal; Isolate the Brawler. What followed next could be easily guessed.

Kill him!

Instantly turning around, the Modder rushed towards the field where the PeaceKeeper was fighting the Brawler. It couldn’t exactly be called a fight as much as one-sided oppression. Tanka’s towering figure caused the Brawler to have difficulty breathing, much less fighting back.

To describe Tanka’s combat style in a word, it was ‘Precise’. Not oppressive or aggressive, but precise.

And it was this inhuman precision that caused his opponents to be endlessly oppressed!

Each step, each turn, each stab, every single attack of Tanka was inhumanely precise. Such precision made one wonder if this person was even human!

A stomp to destroy the Brawler’s balance, a quick stab to his right to force him to dodge to the left, a sudden thrust with his shield to smash his head… Tanka relentlessly chained his moves forcing the Brawler to act in a certain way before springing an unavoidable attack.

Don’t fall into his flow and face his attack? Doing so was even more foolish.

A PeaceKeeper’s strength stat stood at a whopping 20 points! Not to mention, each and every one of Tanka’s attacks aimed at a critical point. Were Fisticuff to take an attack instead of dodging, he would instantly lose a chunk of his health and fall into an even more dangerous and passive position.

Shortly put, the Brawler had no choice BUT to dodge. And dodged, he did. Brilliantly.

Fisticuffs was a simple-minded teenager who lacked a strategical game sense that allowed him to analyse and plot against his opponents. However, when it came to game mechanics, he was unequalled!

If Tanka’s combat style could be described as ‘Precise’, Fisticuff’s combat style was ‘Dirty’.

A stab aimed at his neck? No problem. He would simply bend his neck at an unnatural angle to evade it. It looked ugly but got the job done.

Stomping the ground to throw off his centre of balance? Why not simply jump into the air? Without his feet touching the ground, his centre of balance cannot be shaken. So what if one looked like a monkey? It got the job done.

Shield smash? Sure! How about I return a kick to the shin alongside that? This was the very peak of fighting dirty.

Brawling wasn’t like boxing or other martial arts. A Brawler did not seek to overwhelm or oppress his opponents. A Brawler only sought to gain victory.

A victory that came with any means necessary. They did not seek honour or glory like their other martial counterparts. They only sought victory, no matter how ugly, hollow, or dirty it looked.

And Fisticuffs was a genius in fighting dirty.

While Tanka endlessly oppressed the Brawler, Fisticuffs endlessly harassed the PeaceKeeper. His every move sought to break the flow that his opponent sought to create. With one side creating a flow and the other side instantly breaking said flow, a strange, incredibly fragile balance was created between the two combatants.

A balance that was immediately broken with the joining of the Modder.

Not exchanging a single word with his Captain, the Modder immediately threw two silver-coloured orbs towards the Brawler. The orbs arced across the air together and split apart just as they were about to reach the Brawler’s feet. Electricity flashed across the bodies of both the orbs which then conjoined together forming an electrical chain shot.

Sensing immense danger almost instantaneously, Fisticuffs instantly reacted. Kicking the broken floor, he leapt into the air with all his power while simultaneously twisting his entire body. Like a noodle dough being rolled and stretched, the Brawler’s figure twisted and stretched within the air, narrowly missing the conjoined orbs which would’ve bound him.

However, just before he could rejoice for pulling off that superhuman stunt, Tanka’s attack arrived. A straight stab with his folding sword that aimed straight at the Brawler’s chest.

An instantaneous reaction, a superhuman evasion, and a narrow escape. Having pulled off all three of the stated actions in the span of a single second, Fisticuffs no longer had the ability to evade the PeaceKeeper’s attack. He could only helplessly watch as the folding sword made contact with his chest.

The PeaceKeeper possessed the highest strength stat amongst all playable characters. Having said that, the attack punctured the Brawler’s chest with little difficulty. Fisticuffs HP dropped like a falling waterfall, entering the red in an instant.

Just as the PeaceKeeper’s blade was about to claim its first victim in this final match, a change occurred.

BANG! The sound of a gunshot echoed and Tanka immediately felt his balance crumble. His eyes peered down towards the ground, only to find it crumbling away as his body succumbed to the forces of gravity. Turning his eyes towards the source of the gunshot, he managed to catch a glimpse of Phoenix’s smoking barrel.

“Eight seconds are up, you bastard!” The crimson vest-wearing Gunner cursed while seething with rage. The PeaceKeeper then fell through the floor.

Phoenix was pissed! She felt genuinely angry at being outplayed by Tanka, and for falling into a superbly crafted trap. She was the player with the most experience playing this game! She was a veteran!

And for the veteran to fall into such a trap, she felt humiliated.

To rewind, after being stunlocked by the Cursemaster, Phoenix could do nothing but watch her teammates be battered by her opponents. She watched as the Modder overpowered the Virtual (being its counter), and felt anxious at the Brawler’s narrow evasions under Tanka’s oppression. Seeing Mo’et be forced into fleeing away made her feel insulted while watching Fisticuffs being cornered into a lethal attack ignited her anger.

Tanka’s plan had almost been perfect. He had seized initiative in the battle and had almost gained an unassailable advantage. It was a pity though that he was unable to predict the Brawler’s raw genius.

Fisticuffs managed to hold out just long enough for his captain to come to his rescue. And she did.

Released from her eight-second stunlock, Phoenix immediately released her overflowing anger into her attack. Opting to use one of her Special Abilities [Buck Shot], she fired at the ground beneath Tanka’s feet. The shot fractured the ground causing the PeaceKeeper to fall through the floor and for his lethal attack to miss its mark. Fisticuffs had managed to live with a silver of his health remaining.

Having dealt with the most immediate problem, Phoenix wasted not a single instant. She immediately turned her barrel towards the scurrying Modder, pulling the trigger. Shots were fired at incredible speeds with incredible accuracy.

Still, the Modder was a force to reckon on his own. Almost half of the shots that were fired off Phoenix’s barrel were dodged by the Modder while the ones that did manage to seek him were either intercepted with an attack of his own or met with a non-lethal area.

Sprinting, jumping, and rolling, the Modder soon left the Gunner’s sight and then the floor. The advantage that the Sons of Machina had created at the beginning had been lost with Phoenix’s release. There was no longer any point in staying here by himself.

“Argh! F*ck, f*ck, f*ck, F*CK!! Those f*cking bastards!!” Lacking an outlet to release her pent-up rage, Phoenix repeatedly cursed. “Tanka, that bastard! I’m going to kill him!!”

Letting out one final shout, Phoenix then turned to face Fisticuffs. The blue-haired mohawk-wearing youth lay sprawled against the ground with a blank expression on his face. His mouth repeatedly mumbled, “monster… monster… monster…”

Running up to him and kicking him on the side, Phoenix exclaimed, “If you’ve got the time to be mumbling, heal up! The match is still not done.”

Her shouts seemed to bring him back as he wordlessly sat up and started applying his healing hit. Having started the game with an optimal loadout, each player had three healing kits in their inventory. These kits could NOT be exchanged.

While he healed up, Phoenix took a look at her HUD and realised that she still had two seconds left in her ‘Weakened State’. “This f*cking curse.” She mumbled beneath her breath.

While the Cursemaster’s Ultimate Ability stunlocked a character for 8 seconds, it also imposed a 15 seconds stat debuff that locked all stats by 90%. This was the reason why Phoenix had opted to shoot the ground underneath Tanka instead of aiming a shot at the person himself. With the PeaceKeeper’s constitution, even though he had lost his armour, she would still be unable to finish him off.

“No doubt he took this also into consideration when he was planning this surprise attack,” Phoenix absentmindedly mumbled.

A play style that sought to ascertain absolute victory. This was the sort of player that Tanka was.

Shaking her head to get rid of superfluous thoughts, she barked at the Brawler. “Get up. The two of us are going to hunt down that Modder bastard.” She then tapped at her ear and continued, “Mo’et, here’s what you’re going to do…” She gave him some instructions.

“Let’s give these bastards a good reply for their surprise.”

Team Phoenix headed off with renewed passion.

---

Meanwhile, Tanka, who had fallen through eleven floors, walked across Floor 76 with unhurried steps. His left hand continued to carry the tall tower shield, while his right hand quietly hung by the side of his waist, hovering over the folding sword that was sheathed by his waist side.

Although his near-flawless plan had met with failure, there was not a trace of frustration or anger in his demeanour. His dark, black eyes remained as clear and limpid as ever.

Taking repeated glances at the ticking timer on his HUD, Tanka softly mumbled, “Only nine minutes left.”

Arriving at the corner of this floor, he took a glance at the thundering storm clouds outside. Winds battered and buffeted the windows producing thunderous noises that nearly drowned out everything else. The splintering electric currents within the clouds had also intensified, covering the sky in an impenetrable net of lightning.

“The storm has reached its peak. It’s almost time to proceed with Phase 2.”

Turning around he started to walk deeper into the floor. The sound of the storm outside gradually lessened, and the faint noises of gunshots and battle resounded in the air.

---

“Don’t let that bastard breathe! Push! Push! Push!” Phoenix rapidly instructed within her comms while squeezing the trigger on her gun without rest. Her movements as she aimed, shot, and reloaded her gun almost looked transcendent.

A few dozen metres in the distance, a battle between the Brawler and the Modder was currently taking place. Team Phoenix's Fires, having chased after the Modder in a rush, had swiftly caught up with him on Floor 83.

While the Modder tried his best to shake off this tail and get away from the disadvantageous situation, Phoenix’s exquisite control over the field left him no avenues to retreat. Helpless to get away, he could only bite the bullet and fight. While doing his best to stay under cover and away from the Gunner’s line of sight, the Modder faced the prodigious Brawler in direct combat.

Compared to the other characters, Brawler and Modder were the two most balanced characters in the game. Their stats and abilities allowed them to be great frontline fighters while also being good supports. If one were to ask which one would have a leg-up over the other, the answer would be; neither.

As such, with both characters having fairly equal stats with no obvious merits or demerits, the battle boiled down to a simple test of ability. It was a test of game mechanics, field sense, and combat ability between Fisticuffs (Brawler) and F1rstS0n (Modder).

As the frontline battle erupted, it quickly became clear that in the field of game mechanics and field sense, F1rstS0n had the advantage. Even when facing a 2v1 situation, he did not panic in the least and instead secured himself a field where the Gunner’s support and field control abilities would be greatly limited. He then actively made use of the field around him to gain every advantage, be it small or large, possible.

However, in terms of combat ability, Fisticuffs was vastly superior to the Modder. In fact, he was so vastly unequalled that every advantage that F1rstS0n managed to painstakingly secure was quickly rendered null under his relentless assaults.

Front jab, heel kick, eye poke, shin kick… attack after attack rained down upon the Modder forcing him into a situation of absolute passivity. This, combined with the Gunner stopping him from mounting an escape, meant that the Modder could only one-sidedly take hits.

The battle quickly escalated with the Modder trying his level best in trying to turn the situation around. Alas, he was alone and stranded while his opponents were together and cohesive. The situation went as expected with no surprises and the Modder rapidly lost his health.

Health having entered the red, F1rstS0n found himself pushed into an open area that, from a quick inspection, seemed to have been a visitor’s lobby. The massive space had an equally massive skylight, the majority of which had unfortunately fallen into ruin. Through the skylight, one could see the raging electrical storm that was ongoing outside.

“He’s almost down. Keep up with your attacks and quickly kill him,” Phoenix instantly analysed and instructed Fisticuffs.

Wide-open fields such as this lobby were the perfect stage for Gunners like her. That being the case, Phoenix immediately secured herself a vantage point and positioned herself within. She then trained her barrel on the Modder who was being one-sidedly beaten by her teammate and kept her finger on the trigger. She, however, did not fire.

It wasn’t that she was growing lax from seeing that victory was almost at hand. It also wasn’t that she had almost run out of bullets and was aiming to conserve the ones that remained. The reason that she didn’t continue firing at the Modder was because of the electrical storm that was raging outside.

Due to the storm having reached its peak, the electromagnetic fields within the building and the area surrounding it had gone completely haywire. The communication distance between the team members had fallen to a measly 20-metre radius, and most electronic devices were either useless or malfunctioning to the point of being useless.

Returning to the earlier point, the reason that Phoenix couldn’t shoot was due to the fact that her bullets kept deviating from their intended path due to the storm. Every shot that she fired took this deviation into consideration before leaving her barrel. As one could expect, such a task weighed heavily on one’s mind. Phoenix was no different and had exhausted a great amount of her mental energy.

Additionally, this lobby that she had forced the Modder into –Modder’s preliminarily relied on gadgets to fight. Forcing him into this place was equal to suppressing his stats by almost 70%– had a restraining effect on not only him but also on her to a certain degree. The deviation effect around this area was stronger than the deviation inside the building. Not taking a shot was equal to Phoenix resting and conserving her mental energy.

Plus, there was nothing to worry about. The Modder had only a sliver of health remaining and could no longer fight back. With his abilities being overly restricted within this area, it was only a matter of time before he was killed.

And with no surprise, that’s exactly what happened. With a final punch to the opponent’s throat, Fisticuffs drew first blood and gained the victory. At the end of his confrontation, he still possessed a whopping 55% of his total health.

Turning around to face his captain, Fisticuffs’ face held a big smile while his fingers shaped a ‘V’ sign. Just as he was about to boast to the captain, his eyes narrowed into slits as a bolt of black-coloured energy struck him on his chest. A large chunk of the Brawler’s HP disappeared while his character entered a ‘Cursed’ status.

Shocked at the sudden change, Phoenix immediately reacted and turned her sights toward the sneak attacker. Hiding underneath the shadow of a distant staircase was the ‘supposedly dead’ Cursemaster!

Right-hand holding onto a staff and left-hand forming hand signs, his mouth continuously moved underneath his hooded face as he chanted his spells. Purple light flashed above his left-hand which then turned into a ray of light heading towards the Brawler.

Being under the ‘Cursed’ debuff, the Brawler’s reaction was slower than he would’ve liked. The ray of purple light was unavoidable and struck him on the chest. Instantly, he felt his vision darken and his surroundings fall silent.

[Rob Senses] was one of the special abilities of the Cursemaster and so was [Life Leech], the black bolt that he had cast earlier. Facing two special abilities in tandem, the Brawler was hopelessly suppressed.

Meanwhile, Phoenix wasted not a single moment in locating her opponent and attacking. Unfortunately, however, the electromagnetic interference within this space was stronger than she had previously assumed. Her bullet’s deviation was greater than what she had initially calculated causing her to miss her first round of shots.

The missed shots hardly fazed her calmness as she quickly readjusted her aim and took the following round of shots within the subsequent few seconds. However, this delay of a few seconds gave the Cursemaster enough time to deploy his means of protection.

[Night’s Shield] a spell that summoned a shield with 200 points of defence appeared before the Cursemaster, blocking the round of shots from Phoenix. The Gunner, however, hardly let up and continued to fire at the shield. Two hundred points of defence, while sounding like a lot, only equaled two cartridges worth of bullets. Such a number meant nothing to an experienced Gunner.

Just when she was halfway through her second cartridge of firing, a message resounded within her HUD. [Player Fisticuffs had his life leached by Player WizardSkeddadle.]

The instant that message resounded, Phoenix saw red.

The bullets pouring out of her gun seemed to grow faster as they tore through the air and towards the Cursemaster. The [Night’s Shield] lasted for a few extra seconds before shattering into countless pieces and scattering into the air around him, just in time for Phoenix to finish reloading.

Taking aim, she squeezed the trigger while softly muttering, “Get f*cked.” A stream of bullets left her barrel and spiralled towards the Cursemaster.

Just as they were about to make contact with his head, ending his life in a single stroke, a dark shadow shot out from the ground and arrived in between the Cursemaster and the bullets.

It was the PeaceKeeper’s tower shield!

The tower shield stood akin to an unflinching monolith and guarded the Cursemaster. Bullets met the surface of the shield only for them to helplessly bounce off.

The floor underneath the tower shield quaked once before giving way and collapsing. With a heavy thud, an almost eight-foot-tall shadow leapt out of the hole and landed heavily behind the shield. Taking the shield in his left hand, he spoke without turning around, “I’ll guard. You attack.”

“Understood,” the Cursemaster succinctly replied and the duo from the Sons of Machina assumed their formation.

PeaceKeeper standing in the front holding a tower shield with his hands.

Cursemaster standing in the back, muttering his chants while signing with his hands.

The 2v1 against Team Sons of Machina had suddenly flipped and had become a 2v1 against Team Phoenix's Fires. It was an incredible twist that came as a surprise to some and par for the course to others.

Phoenix, who had the tables flipped on her, was unexpectedly calm. Watching the duo head towards her position, she suddenly yelled. “Do it NOW!!”

Alongside her sudden shout, Tanka’s PeaceKeeper suddenly froze. A stream of digital blue light shined across the surface of his body which then turned into a set of digital-looking bindings!

It was Mo’et who had used his final special ability, [Digital Binding]!

As it turned out, when Phoenix’s Fires had split up earlier, Phoenix had already given instructions for Mo’et to arrive at this particular location and hide in wait. The Virtual, who had 60% of his stats and his Ultimate Ability locked in this stage of the game, was of no use in direct combat situations. His weakened self would only serve to hinder the others. However, that being said, it was not that he had no remaining use.

Not at all. In fact, Mo’et had a very important task; Restrict Tanka!

It was the very reason that Phoenix had chosen to bring him to this final match!

A Virtual was the most direct counter to the PeaceKeeper. For, when facing a PeaceKeeper, a Virtual’s abilities had twice the increased effectiveness.

[Digital Binding] was originally a skill that would unilaterally bind a target for 3 seconds no matter the target’s status effects. There was also a 25% chance of failure for this ability to manifest when facing a Brawler, a Gunner, or a Cursemaster.

However, when this ability was used against a PeaceKeeper, the binding effect lasted for a whole 6 seconds, while the chance of failure dropped to zero!

In short, Tanka was currently immobilised and at the mercy of the Gunner!

“Checkmate, ya bastard,” Phoenix spat out while pulling the trigger, aiming towards the PeaceKeeper’s head. However, just as victory was about to be claimed by Phoenix’s Fires, a change occurred.

A roiling black cloud suddenly met with the digital bindings surrounding Tanka and proceeded to dissolve the chains. Tanka, who had regained his movements, dodged just in the nick of time and watched the bullet graze past the corner of his helmet.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw the body of the Cursemaster dissolve and disappear alongside the digital chains.

[Soul For A Soul] was the final special ability of the Cursemaster. As the name suggested, it was a self-sacrificial ability that traded one’s life in exchange for dealing a fixed percentage of damage against the target. If the target’s stats were less than half of the Cursemaster’s then it would directly claim their life!

WizardSkeddadle who had just now used this ability exchanged his life for that of the enemy Virtual. An extremely timely trade!

Phoenix, having watched it happen and having understood the process, stood up from her vantage point feeling baffled. A sense of immense shock ran throughout her system leading her to unconsciously ask, “Did you plan this?”

The PeaceKeeper simply nodded his head in reply.

Phoenix felt her spine chill at the revelation. To lure your opponent into a trap of your making was difficult. To predict said trap and plan around it to trap the trapper was even more difficult.

To predict that your opponent would predict your trap and plan a trap around it, and then build a trap around this fact was simply impossible! And yet, Tanka had done the very impossible!!

Not only had he predicted that Phoenix would plan a trap around the Modder, sacrifice the Brawler in order to lure out the Cursemaster, only to use that Cursemaster to lure out the PeaceKeeper, and finally trapping the lured out PeaceKeeper into an inescapable web… Tanka had even planned around it!

The difficulty of such a task was understandingly biblical. What’s more? He had successfully used her own traps to progress his own schemes!

Facing this incredible schemer, Phoenix directly felt her inferiority. In front of this inhuman man, her veteran status and game experience meant nothing.

A saying that she had heard during her youth flashed across her head at this moment; ‘No amount of hard work can overcome sheer, god-given talent!’

In her impetuous youth, she had laughed at this saying and scorned the very idea of it. However, having faced Tanka’s schemes, she finally understood what it meant.

Clenching her fists and biting her lips, Phoenix stared defiantly at the PeaceKeeper calmly standing below her, “This isn’t over yet! I haven’t lost!”

“This stage greatly affects your mobility while I remain unaffected. Your energy shield has been rendered useless against the storm. The armour covering your body means nothing before my armour-piercing rounds. The only advantage that you have is that tower shield, and I don’t believe that you can block every shot of mine!”

“Meanwhile, this area is the perfect stage for me to show off my Gunner’s abilities to the fullest! Uneven terrain, loads of elevated platforms, broken walls and debris to act as covers. Most importantly, I’m a ranged unit whilst you are a close-quarters combat unit. Facing me, you have no chance of victory.”

A confident smile appeared on her face, as she said, “Give up, Tanka. Victory is as good as mine! There is no point in fighting any further.”

Tanka, who had patiently waited and fully listened to her passionate speech, remained quiet for a few seconds before opening his mouth and speaking.

“Previously, when I was studying your team, I was confused about a single thing.” He raised his head to look at the stunned Gunner and continued in his monotonous voice, “How was it that an immensely skilled player like you, never achieved victory in this tournament despite participating in it six times and making it to the finals three of those times? It confounded me.”

“However, now I finally understand the answer.”

Hearing his emotionless words, Phoenix felt a wave of great anger overcome her. Just as she was about to curse out loud at him, the system announced.

[Five Minutes Remaining.]

“You have lost.” Tanka voiced out curtly.

The instant his words fell, a great explosive sound that drowned out the roiling storm up above echoed endlessly. Phoenix and Tanka immediately felt the ground underneath their legs shake, throwing the duo off balance. The shaking and explosive sounds did not lessen with time but instead greatly increased with each passing second.

Mind overwhelmed with confusion and shock, the final sight that Phoenix saw was the clear, limpid eyes of Tanka as he covered himself with his tower shield, and the destructive sight of Tower A falling towards her and crashing against Tower B.

That was the final sight that she saw before darkness engulfed her vision.

---

[...who would’ve guessed that the mad giant’s plan was to collapse the entirety of Tower A, crashing it against Tower B and destroying the Fallen Towers Stage! Hey, now that I say it, the clue was in the name after all!]

[With a building coming down upon you, it is clear who would survive in such a scenario. The PeaceKeeper possessing the highest constitution stat amongst all the characters in the game would clearly last longer than the Gunner.]

[With a mad strategy that caused everyone to question the sanity of the man behind it, Sons of Machina clinched victory in the final match of the Ascender’s Cup, claiming the chance to enter Eden and winning endless wealth, boundless honour, and UNSURPASSABLE STATUS!]

A holographic screen floating in the air played the scene of an overly excited man screaming into his microphone with unbounded excitement. Watching this scene, was a pink-haired girl, eighteen or nineteen years old. Her eyes shined with injustice while her face wore a fox-shaped air filtration mask which huffed with white smoke.

“Are you watching that recording from three years ago, again?” A mature-sounding male voice reprimanded. The girl jerked from the suddenness and turned around to face the speaker.

Tall, with navy blue-coloured hair, and wearing a mask that was reminiscent of a jackal, a young man of similar age to the girl entered the store.

“Oh, it’s you, Vix. You scared me there,” the girl patted her chest in relief. She then recalled his words and pointed at the screen while huffing, “That match wasn’t fair at all! You can’t simply destroy the stage and call it a victory! That’s cheating!”

“It isn’t cheating. It’s called ‘outplaying the opponent’,” the young man succinctly explained. He then questioned in a doubtful tone, “Aren’t you supposed to be outside, looking for a fifth member to join our team?”

Hearing his words, the young woman looked away like a kitten who had been caught doing something that shouldn’t be done.

Seeing her reaction, Vix unconsciously spoke louder, “Fox! I told you this isn’t the time to be playing around. If you are serious about joining this tournament, you need to take this seriously!”

“I AM taking this seriously!” Fox yelled back. “Look!” She exclaimed and reached out to grab the tablet that lay strewn on the table beside her. Displayed on the tablet’s digital screen was a poster.

[Do you want to test out your skills and gain 5000 credits in the process? Come on down to Owl’s Old Repository, located on 2nd Industrial Avenue and take the challenge! Winners will be entitled to the 5000 credit reward while the losers… Well, you’ll have fun. What’s the harm in trying?]

[Come challenge us! Maybe, YOU have what it takes to become a TRUE CHAMPION!]