The both of them were ace operators, equally matched in skill, but they still needed to determine a winner in the end. After battling hard for many rounds, both of them wanted to end it. In unplanned unison, they both used their most powerful offensive skill.
“Whirlwind Strike!” This was Jiang Shaoyu’s ace sure-kill technique.
“Rippling Strike!” This was the ace top-class skill Lin Xiao had been keeping as a trump card.
A mecha could be seen beginning to rapidly spin while holding its weapon, while the cold weapon held by the other mecha began spinning furiously. One used their entire body with mountainous force, while the other’s terrifying destructive force was derived from rapid rotations, aiming to scratch the surface and create an opening—both weapons finally struck each other!
“Bang!” A large shockwave shook the arena, ripples even forming on the transparent barrier surrounding it. From this, it was apparent that the impact was truly powerful.
In the space above the arena, however, the two cold weapons respectively wielded by their owners withstood each other. The two mecha looked as though they were frozen in time, neither of them moving an inch!
Boom! A large shattering sound erupted in the arena. The audience was surprised, not knowing where that sound had come from. Just as they were all still making guesses about it, a series of shattering sounds erupted in the stadium. This time, somebody suddenly shouted out in shock, “Quick, look at their cold weapons!”
That shout drew the audience’s attention to focus on the cold weapons of the two mecha. Those with keen observation immediately figured out where the shattering sound had come from—it was from where their cold weapons had clashed. Cracks actually appeared on the blades and following the sharp shattering sounds, more and more cracks formed… The great force born from ace level techniques had utterly shattered both mecha’s cold weapons.
After a “Crack!”, both mecha’s cold weapons could not hold their original shape and shattered into pieces, and not only that, the arms of their mecha also fell apart simultaneously.
The two arms of Jiang Shaoyu’s mecha holding his sword began to crumble. While the same was happening to Lin Xiao, his situation was a bit better compared to Jiang Shaoyu, the reason being that he was wielding his sword with one hand; thus, only his right arm was breaking apart.
This basically determined the final winner. After both launched strikes at one another, the resulting great force destroyed both arms of Jiang Shaoyu’s mecha, whereas Lin Xiao was lucky enough to still have his left hand intact. Without both arms, Jiang Shaoyu could no longer use his left hand to hold a gun and match Lin Xiao in a long-range battle. Although Jiang Shaoyu had tried his best to delay the match until the end of the time limit, he would ultimately still lose to Lin Xiao due to the scoring.
Jiang Shaoyu lost to Lin Xiao again. This meant that in terms of mecha piloting, Lin Xiao was indeed more capable than Jiang Shaoyu, and that was why he was able to defeat his opponent twice and win.
Just like that, the finals opponent for the First Men’s Military Academy became the First Co-ed Military Academy. This result made the two girls, Luo Chao and Han Xuya, feel conflicted regarding the two academies—they didn’t know if they should be cheering for their own military academy or cheer for Boss Lan. In the end, Luo Chao decided to be a bit selfish and cheered for her Boss Lan! It was a pity for those seniors, who were just heartlessly abandoned by their two juniors, Luo Chao and Han Xuya.
However, before the finals, the battle for the third and fourth place had to be fought. This battle was between the two schools with no chance or luck in getting into the finals, the Second and Third Men’s Military Academy. Since their strength levels was on par with each other, they also fought hard for five matches, and because of the destruction of his mecha’s arms from the previous fight, Jiang Shaoyu had to use the reserve mecha. Zhou Chao-Ling managed to only keep the match at a draw, most likely because the lack of time had led to the reserve model not being calibrated to the best possible condition. It could also be that after losing to Lin Xiao, his mentality was wavering, in addition to his careful and solid control of the mecha. This had resulted in the match remaining at a draw until the end of the match.
Neither of them landed a decisive blow. No points were deducted as both their mecha operation had been near perfect. Their scores were the same at the end; however, military academy rankings were unlike single battles, as they could not end with a draw. In the very end, the official could only ask the teams to draw numbers out of a bag to determine the winner.
It should be known that Jiang Shaoyu was extremely unlucky in this tournament—he picked a number first, yet he managed to pick out the smallest number. Just like that, the Third Men’s Military Academy was deemed victorious for this match, taking third place, while the Second Men’s Military Academy unexpectedly fell to fourth place, reaching an all-time low compared to the last 30 years. It had to be noted that in many of the previous years, the Second Men’s Military Academy had always placed in second place in the group tournament.
After losing the group matches, the Second Men’s Military Academy’s overall score dropped to fourth place. If they did not manage to turn things around in the next day’s battle royale, the Second Men’s Military Academy may again produce the lowest overall score ever. This made both instructors and cadets of the Second Men’s Military Academy feel suffocated—mind you, they had been planning on taking first place.
After the matches determining the third and fourth place came to an end, the backstage began to become busy. After 30 minutes, the final group matches for the title of first and second place that everyone was awaiting would begin.
But a new round of battles for who goes in which match ensued in the First Men’s Military Academy’s group.
“Let’s use the same tactic?” Mu Shaoyu said while readying his fists.
Han Yu, who had already woken up from his meditative state, said, “Of course!” The good luck they had was not easy to come by. They must seize the moment and use it to their advantage.
Zhao Jun was also full of confidence. He hadn’t missed out on any matches since they started using rock-paper-scissors to determine the match lineup. He had a feeling that his luck would be very good this time as well.
Qiao Ting glanced at Ling Lan and softly asked, “How about it?”
“Sure!” Ling Lan said indifferently.
The five of them formed a circle once again and began to play rock-paper-scissors to see who would win.
“Hahaha, like I said, my luck is overflowing in this tournament! Thanks guys, looks like I have taken the first match!” Zhao Jun laughed hysterically, his eyes full of pride. He had once again taken down four people with a single rock.
“Mother, your luck is f***ing off the charts today. ” Mu Shaoyu angrily bumped Zhao Jun with his shoulder. Zhao Jun didn’t react in time and was bumped out of the circle. He wanted to stand firm right after, but suddenly his knees felt weak, causing him to kneel down and drop heavily to the ground. He began to curse loudly, gritting his teeth from the pain.
Mu Shaoyu and Han Yu began to laugh hysterically after seeing Zhao Jun’s situation, pointing and screaming out that he was getting what he deserved for his prideful behavior.
Ling Lan flicked the lowered finger on her right hand and coldly looked towards Qiao Ting who was beside her. Qiao Ting coolly turned his head away but, unfortunately, the red spot behind his ear had exposed his embarrassment—not only had Ling Lan secretly done something, even the proud Qiao Ting had not managed to reign in his depressed feeling, which was why he had also quietly punished the overly prideful and arrogant Zhao Jun.
Of course, he had faced the consequences of his actions. Ling Lan glanced disdainfully at Zhao Jun who had already gotten up and begun to rub his knees—to think he had the audacity to show off in front of her.
The four of them ignored Zhao Jun and started the next round of rock-paper-scissors. This time, Mu Shaoyu was tossed out.
Mu Shaoyu crouched down and held his head in frustration in the face of this result. ‘Why did I use paper? If I had used rock, then wouldn’t the second round have been mine for the taking?’ This time, he had ended up the one to hold the line in the fifth match. Just the three of them, Ling Lan, Zhao Jun and Qiao Ting, would be able to savagely acquire three wins even without Han Yu. What would he be doing if he went after them?
While Mu Shaoyu was flooded with regret, the others had determined a winner after starting a new round. Qiao Ting calmly took back his fist, but revealed a bit of joy between his brows. “Thank you for giving me the second match!”
Han Yu angrily took back his scissors and faced Ling Lan who had also lost from using scissors.
After a few seconds, the match was decided—Han Yu looked at his palm as if he was about to gobble it up. Ling Lan said coldly, “Captain Han, thank you for your generosity.”
Just like that, the order in which the contestants from First Men’s Military Academy would be going into battle was established. First match: Zhao Jun; Second match: Qiao Ting; Third match: Ling Lan; Fourth match: Han Yu; Fifth match: Mu Shaoyu!
Time passed by very quickly and the half hour quickly passed. The matches between the First Men’s Military Academy versus the First Co-ed Military Academy had begun.
It was the first match; Zhao Jun was up. Whether it was the audience or their opponents, they had all given up on trying to figure out what order they would send out their members into battle. Who knows who they’ll be sending out, so they thought. Even Qiao Ting could appear in battle in any of the first three positions. Anything can happen right?
Although Zhao Jun had advanced to ace operator level, the mecha he brought was a special-class mecha and that being the case, he could only use the special-class mecha. However, a special-class operator operating a special-class mecha and an ace operator operating a special-class mecha were two completely different concepts. No matter if it was speed or power, ace operators could operate the special-class mechas to their limit.
The First Co-ed Military Academy sent out their fourth strongest member for the first round, a special-class top-level operator with capabilities similar to that of Zhao Jun. He didn’t really inconvenience Zhao Jun that much and was easily defeated. Zhao Jun took the first match without any issues.
The First Co-ed Military Academy wasn’t ready to give up just yet because, in reality, they were more happy than regretful. Although they did think that it was a pity that their fourth strongest had become a sacrifice for Zhao Jun, the result of having used a somewhat weaker member to make the First Men’s Military Academy expend their second strongest player was doubtlessly a good one.
After ten minutes of intermission, the second match of the finals began. Qiao Ting went out onto the arena which made everyone restless again. Although the audience didn’t care about what order the First Men’s Military Academy had set up, was it really wise to send out their strongest member into the second match?
For the First Co-ed Military Academy, this was like being wild with joy after striking gold, the reason being that they sent out their weakest member for the second match. Using their weakest member to expend the opposing side’s strongest ace operator was a wonderful thing for them. Even if they had gone to great pains to formulate a plan, the result may not have been as good as this. There was even a member who slapped himself hard in the face to see if he was dreaming.
Naturally, no issues cropped up in the ensuing fight—Qiao Ting easily defeated his opponent and took the second match!
The First Men’s Military Academy had taken the first two matches. Now they would be able to be the crowned champions of the group tournament after winning the next match, but the audience didn’t couldn’t see it happening. Some people even frowned at the result, as the First Academy’s two strongest ace operators were already expended. There was still three matches left—could the other members of the First Men’s Military Academy really be able to take one of the remaining three matches?
It should be known that among the three people left from the First Co-ed Military Academy, there was not only an ace operator, but also two other similarly capable special-class peak-level operators. By contrast, the three members left in the First Men’s Military Academy were the weakest three. If the order of the next three matches was weakest versus strongest… then the situation would not look well for the First Men’s Military Academy.
“The third match is the most important one!” Everyone held the same thought in mind.