I was tense even after the match was over. My brain was replaying every second of the earlier battle without conscious thought. Breeze and Rain’s rapid attacks, God of War’s forceful but nimble blows, and my defense against both of them. For 25 seconds, I danced on the knife’s edge and came out feeling like my skill had reached a whole new level. I had never been pressured this hard since the start of my career, and I couldn’t believe that I had somehow survived it. Yes, even I couldn’t believe that I had made out of that alive, much less emerged the victor.

Seven-Star Lamp once said that some people, like Shusheng and Lin Fan, were born to war, and I was beginning to think that he was right. No matter how dire a situation, a true Heavenly King wouldn’t panic and fall into a pattern. They would keep fighting until they found the light at the end of the tunnel. Otherwise, they were a false king at best, no matter how strong they were.

When the audience’s applause woke me from my daydream, I was already outside the battle room.

……

God of War, Breeze and Rain, Shallow Sunlight and Yeye the Witch left the stage with a forlorn expression, leaving behind their defeater, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, to continue to the final. At the same time, our next and final opponent, Hero Alliance, stepped onto the stage. Undeterred by our performance, Vienna’s Sorrow shot me a lazy smile that completely failed to conceal the fighting spirit burning in his eyes. It was obvious as day that he couldn’t wait to assume his rightful throne.

For some reason, the American host was even more excited than we were. First, she blushed red after trading a few words with Vienna’s Sorrow that I couldn’t understand. Another short conversation later, she abruptly spread her arms and gave him a passionate hug. Now I understood what was going on. Vienna seemed unperturbed by this probably because this wasn’t the first time a fan had made a request like this. The only female player in his team, Death Wish, was also smiling playfully at her leader.

After that small interlude, the host spoke to us in Beijing Chinese. It could be that she received her Chinese language lessons in Beijing.

"Good day, From Water. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is now in the final. Can you describe what you are feeling right now?" the host asked He Yi.

He Yi shot Vienna’s Sorrow a glance before saying something in fluent English. Since I couldn’t understand the full sentence, Lian Xin translated for me, "Boss is saying that we’ll do our best to defeat our opponent just like Vienna said he’d do earlier. She also said that we would become the champion, and that Hero Alliance wouldn’t be able to stop us!"

I smiled involuntarily at the declaration. "Well said…"

The American host seemed surprised by the passionate statement. Vienna’s Sorrow himself was clenching his fists as he replied smilingly, "Then we shall meet on the battlefield. May this settle our feud once and for all!"

I curled my lips but didn’t take him seriously. The three main cities of China were only one Dragonbone Mountain Range away from the three main cities of the USA, and we had already fought multiple wars and skirmishes before today. If one thing was certain, it would be that the WEL final wasn’t going to settle anything.

……

Below the stage, Li Chengfeng smashed a fist on the handrails while shouting, "Fuck ‘em hard, Lu Chen! 3:0 those bitches and send them back to their grandma’s house!"

Even Warsky was shouting next to Li Chengfeng, "Yeah! Hero my ass, they’re just a bunch of dogshits who bully the weak! 3:0 their asses and show them their place!"

Behind them, Stranger of Three Lifetimes stopped sipping her cola and quipped, "Pooh, you two are the ones who are acting like retards. Get back to your seats and stop blocking my view already!"

Li Chengfeng: "..."

Warsky: "..."

I laughed. I could completely understand their excitement. Despite our differences, we were all representatives of China, and now, one of us had made it to the final. It was no wonder they and our Chinese supporters were excited. If we won, the honor would be shared with all who had a five-pointed star in front of their IDs!

"Enter this line-up, Eve!" I said quietly beside He Yi’s ears. "Me first, Lian Xin second, Beiming Xue third, and the rest as usual. I bet that Vienna’s Sorrow will fight the first match!"

"Okay!"

He Yi did as I said, and Hero Alliance didn’t take long to finish their entry. Very soon, the match-ups appeared on the big display, and I was right—

1v1: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-187 Undead Swordsman VS Vienna’s Sorrow LV-189 Berserker

1v1: Lian Xing LV-188 Phantasm of Stars VS Beethoven’s Joy LV-186 Knight of Stars

1v1: Beiming Xue LV-188 Dark Archer VS Da Vinci’s Code LV-185 Shadow Archer

1v1: From Water LV-186 Magic Knight VS Death Wish LV-187 Mage

2v2: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-187 Undead Swordsman & Beiming Xue LV-188 Dark Archer VS Vienna’s Sorrow LV-189 Berserker & Beethoven’s Joy LV-186 Knight of Stars

……

It was your classic immovable object versus unstoppable force scenario, so this final was destined not to disappoint. First, I, the ace of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, would be duking it out with the ace of Hero Alliance, Vienna’s Sorrow. Then, Lian Xin would be dueling Beethoven’s Joy, and it so happened that their two classes came from the same origin. Then, the dark archer would fight the shadow archer and determine the best archer of them all. He Yi would battle Death Wish, and finally it would be a battle of aces!

Lights shone everywhere as we entered the battle rooms. This would be the final match of the WEL internationals, and everyone was looking forward to seeing the champion of the whole thing.

……

Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh...

After entering the game, we appeared on a tall platform next to the battle arena. We could be discussing strategy, but there was nothing to speak of. The gap between our strength and our opponent’s was so tiny that the outcome of this battle would probably be decided by luck and form. In fact, I thought we could 5:0 Hero Alliance just as easily as they could 5:0 us.

"Lu Chen, go get ‘em. You are our pride and love, and you cannot lose to the likes of Vienna’s Sorrow!" He Yi said to me before I stepped into the arena.

I nodded. "Don’t worry, Eve. I’ll do my best!"

"Mn!"

I summoned the system fairy and teleported myself into the arena. Vienna’s Sorrow was already waiting for me there. The man was smiling, but the emotion behind the smile was a burning need for vengeance. During the War of Dawn City, I had single-handedly stalled their advance for 3 hours and ultimately prevented them from occupying the city. It was a stain in both the Northern Alliance’s reputation and his. He had the absolute numerical advantage in that battle, and yet I still managed to cut his pretty head right off the neck. Considering his prideful personality, the only way he would consider the shame washed away was to annihilate me a dozen times in these WEL internationals.

Too bad he wouldn’t get his wish.

……

The countdown started. The battle between two rivals was about to begin!

3!

2!

1!

We activated Great Earth Transformation at once. In another battle, we might’ve considered duking it out mano-a-mano. As it stood, only a fucking idiot would do that when the champion trophy and MVP title were within an inch of our grasp!

Swhoosh!

A stream of ice erupted from Vienna’s Sorrow’s blade until it was ten meters long. His Divine General Skill, Ice Stream Blade, allowed him to attack another melee opponent from superior range!

Not going to wait for him to hit me, I rushed in like a lightning bolt but skidded to a stop when I was less than 15 yards away from him. At the same time, I waved my sword and fired Thousand Ice Slash!

Vienna’s Sorrow hurriedly backed out of range, but I immediately fired a golden seal at his location.

"Hmph!"

There was nowhere for him to run, but if he could time it right he could move away from Thousand Ice Slash before it landed, then move back to dodge the Ancient Seal. And that was exactly what he did to avoid taking any damage despite the miniscule 0.3-second gap between the two skills. I wasn’t done though. Not about to let this golden opportunity slip by, I activated Thunderous Charge while he was stuck!

The moment I reached him, I immediately followed up with Universe Break!

Eyes steely, Vienna’s Sorrow knocked my blade aside but couldn’t avoid the kick to the stomach. While he was staggered, I lowered my center of gravity and thrust my sword into his chest. I was so fast that he had no time to react whatsoever!

Burning Blade Slash!

The flaming auras tore his chest armor apart and dealt an insane amount of damage—

49020!

72994!

82677!

However, the one-shot skill failed to one-shot its target. As it turned out, the berserker had so much Defense that even Burning Blade Slash couldn’t one-shot him.

"Hah!"

Face twisted into an ugly snarl, Vienna’s Sorrow countered with a downward swing of his sword. Barrier Break!

I acted to parry, but Vienna moved faster than I imagined. First, he brought down his left arm and smashed my Purple Ying Sword out of the way. While I was open, he stabbed me through the Heaven-burning Armor and used Beast Howl Slash!

Pu!

128388!

The skill had connected with a weak point, and the tearing pain scorching my senses was almost unbearable. Not bothering to adjust my grip, I brought my sword up, slammed its hilt against the bottom of Vienna’s chin, and used War Crush at the same time!

Bang bang bang!

Vienna’s Sorrow reacted quickly and only ate the last hit of War Crush. Even worse, he exploited the range Ice Stream Blade afforded him and hit me with Triple Slash while retreating. The skill came too fast and concentrated to parry, so I had no choice but to Guard with the Dragon God Shield.

Buzz!

Once the attack was over, I removed the Dragon God Shield and charged him again. I leaped into the air—narrowly dodging another swing from Vienna—and activated Dark Pupils. The berserker’s equipment was too good and had almost no weak points. The only one I could spot was a faint red line on his right shoulder, and that was what I was hoping to hit.

The Purple Ying Sword sang, and I tossed my weapon straight at the berserker. The blade was imbued with both my undead energy and the energy of Coiling Dragon Revolution. The spinning blade shot toward Vienna like a bullet, too fast to be parried. There was a muffled groan, and the sword cut right through his shoulder!

120838!

As if that wasn’t good enough, Necklace of the War God’s Broken Blade triggered at that exact moment, stunning him for 7 seconds.

Pa!

I landed lightly and caught my returning blade deftly. Then, I slashed Vienna across the chest and deleted the remaining 5% HP.

The score turned 1:0. The first round was mine!