There wasn’t anything surprising about the rules of the CHF competition. If one doesn’t want to enter the group battle, one would have to squash one’s opponent and obtain 4 victories. However, that would be a rather difficult feat to pull off. After all, any squadron that was able to enter the final competition would have 1 or 2 experts within their ranks. Therefore, the blind picks and risk-taking for the first duel would have to rely on one’s information gathering and peddling.
Being one of the 5 great assassins on the Mo’s List, Eddie was undoubtedly the star of this match. Basically, all of the neutral standing audience had tuned it or came here just to watch him. In fact, there was nothing special about a squadron like Tianjing for them to pay attention to.
The first duel: Grai VS Yingren Brooks.
Hearing that, a faint smile appeared on Eddie’s face, as everything was completely under his control. Indeed, his opponent was planning on using Grai to seize a point. How could that be easily allowed by him?
All of the first duels in the ten battlefields would start at the same time. Compared to this match, the other few battlefields, especially the one with the Stuart Academy going up against the Saint Mongol Academy was the real focal point of the audience’s attention. The majority of the gazes were trained towards those few battlefields, as people were more interested in the matchups between the strong, and not the strong against a weakling.
Although the Bierlia Academy had their own set of fans, the atmosphere within the audience gallery here can’t match up to that of the Stuart Academy. What’s more, there were indeed too few people that could afford to travel such a long distance via the armoured railway to watch the match. Therefore, the audience gallery appeared slightly empty and quiet. Clearly, this wasn’t considered to be a perfect start for Bierlia Academy, who was looking forward to showcasing a spectacular performance.
“Don’t drag it out too long.” said Eddie in an indifferent tone. “At the very least, we have to be the first squadron to finish this entire match.”
Yingren nodded his head as a strange glint flashed across his greyish pupils. His opponent was the trump card of Tianjing, and had shown an astonishing performance during the elimination rounds. So what?
Although the results from the elimination rounds would undoubtedly reflect the strength one would possess, it definitely wasn’t all of it. What’s more, the significant part of a duel relied on one’s strategies and shrewdness. Such an opponent was definitely not his match.
“Give me a minute.”
Two black rays of light flashed around Yingren’s fingertips as he walked out.
“It’s that Hurricane Eight Blade Stream from the OP!”
“That actually is Yingren Brooks in person!”
Yingren had gain notoriety and fame from last year’s CHF. However, that was during the spring regionals, therefore its area of effect was rather small. The matter that had made truly made Yingren appear in the radar of the Federation was the match he had with All Mouthy King in the OP. His bloody methods, cruel and merciless blade technique,s and most importantly being the person that had dealt the most significant damage to All Mouthy King ever since the latter’s rise to fame had caused him to gain quite a few fans of his own. It had also resulted in the fame and reputation of the Brooks Family skyrocketing. This was something that was unexpected, resulting in him have even greater fame than his captain, Eddie.
Dressed in a tightly fitted black outfit, Yingren Brooks walked onto the fighting stage, with 2 blades as thin as cicada wings flashing as they twirled in his hands. Regardless of the time, the Brooks Family’s blade construction would always appear incomparably dazzling and vicious. However, it was even more special this time, as the black glints of light flashing of their surfaces caused the twirling blades to appear just like 2 rays of black light flowing around his hands.
Compared to the ordinarily built runic blades used in the OP, the blades constructed by the Brooks Family differed not only in their colour, but also their speed of travel in the air as well as their greater conductivity to Soul Power. Every single blade built was tailor-made for the user. At this moment, the 2 rays of black lights no longer only emitted the flavour blades, but appeared more like 2 black coloured spirits!
Although he wasn’t as attractive as Grai, Yingren possessed sufficient strength and ruthlessness. Let alone the fact that honour and glory were still the most important things in this world. After all, Yingren was the person that had fought against All Mouthy King. It had to be said that the supporters of Birelia Academy turned “high” upon watching this spectacle.
“Challenge the 10 greats, all hall Bierlia! All hail Musical Soul Academy!”
“Tianjing’s sent their trump card for the first duel? Are they going all in?”
“I guess they wanted to win at least a single duel.”
“Win? Are you joking? His opponent is Yingren Brooks! That’s the person with the Hurricane Eight Blade Stream that had once chopped up our brother King!”
“Tianjing’s really too naive!”
” You can see that the audience’s support in completely one-sided.” the host appeared relatively relaxed. Other than giving explanations of the competition’s process, she needed to shake the atmosphere up. After all, with Tianjing being determined as weaklings, they had to be criticized. An analysis of the difference in statistical data wasn’t something that the audience wanted. “Student Grai from Tianjing had truly shown a rather impressive performance in the elimination rounds. However, the final competition is clearly not the same stage as the elimination rounds. Training exercises and genuine combat are 2 entirely different matter. I personally feel that with Yingren’s strength and the combat styles of the 2, this duel won’t take very long. Being a member of an A+ squadron and being up against a mere C rank squadron, it looks like Bierlia Academy might very well be able to take the first victory of this CHF’s final competition.”
Seemingly disgusted with the noise coming from the audience, Yingren made a “shut-it” gesture to the Tianjing side. It had to be said that everyone didn’t think highly of the Tianjing squadron, and even felt that this squadron wasn’t sufficient for them to warm up.
“Fuck! This is too outrageous!” Ma Dong rolled up his sleeves. ” If I was a combat type, I’ll immediately go up and rape his ass! And that host with her vulgar mouth!”
“It’ll end up with you being raped.” Hymin destroyed his joke without the slightest mercy shown. “Its best to wait obediently by the side and watch the show.”
Hearing this banter, Wang Zhong started to chuckle. To him, it’s Tianjing that really needed a warm-up, not them.
On the stage, not a single superfluous expression was present on Grai’s face. To him, this stage, cheers and everything outside and inside was just like a brand new journey. It had just started. As for the end point…he wasn’t too willing to think about it. To him, it was the scenery of the journey that was most important to him.
Let’s enjoy everything! Today will be the starting point!
Within the vast and spacious stage, 2 figures stood face to face with one another.
A cold and cruel expression was present on Yingren Brooks’s face as fighting intent surged within him
He had pulled out and watched the performance his opponent had shown during the elimination rounds as part of his preparations of this match. That Grai had used an excellent example of psychological warfare. Naturally, he had also great speed and was a technique type soldier. This was exactly the type of opponent he was most familiar with.
“Huh?” Yingren’s eyebrow twitched slightly as a sliver of a sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“Yingren is using the trademark “Black Hurricane” blades of the Brooks Family…as for the other side, ouch.” the host had quickly focused on the weapons held by Grai: “He’s actually not using the sword type weapons that soldiers would ordinarily love to use. Instead, he had chosen to use 2 daggers. Could this be the legendary trick of attracting attention? However, trying to play with blades in front of the Brooks Family is just like a kid waving sticks in front of an expert.”
At this moment, various kinds of derogatory remarks appeared in the Skylink live broadcast chat.
“I thought that they’ll send an Assassin. Could the Assassin be inferior to the Brooks?”
“Isn’t he a soldier? I remember seeing him use a runic sword to obtain victory against the invigilator during the elimination rounds. This fellow had actually changed weapon types? He’s basically looking to die.”
“Didn’t everyone say that Tianjing’s captain is has a brilliant mind? I think he’s an idiot. The others have already guessed that Grai would be up for the first duel!”
Like a tsunami, the occasional comments made by the students of Tianjing Academy were instantly submerged and shoved to the ocean floor. After all, Bierlia Academy was a A+ rank sqandron, and had a massive fan base in Bierlia City. Even those that couldn’t afford to take the armored train to Stuart City to support on site amounted to a number that dwarfed the Tianjing supporters multiple times over. Before the actual start of the match, the odds for Tianjing were extremely tragic, while the support polls were overwhelming one sided, with Birelia Academy reaching as high as 87%.
Yingren did not know about the situation present in the Skylink chat, nor did he care about it. For their Bierlia Academy, TIanjing was just a little traveller in their journey within this CHF. As for the so called trump card standing right before him, attaching a definite level of importance in him was already a sufficient show of respect by him.
The 2 thin blades twirled rapidly as they danced across his fingertips. On the contrary, Grai appeared extremely relaxed as he stood before Yingren, his 2 daggers grasped firmly in his hands. At this moment, one could not spot even a sliver of threat from him.
Ding!
The competition bell rang out. Yingren’s gaze instantly grew sharp and fierce. The thin blades twirled across his fingers before gently resting between his thumbs and indexs.
Start!
Whoosh!
Whoosh! The halt in the movement of the blades was for the sake of causing a more eye catching radiance to flash out. With a soft ring, 4 black rays of light flew out at the same time. Like a Leeroy Jenkins, Yingren gave cry out before transforming into a rapid figure shooting forwards.Those with a weaker sight would feel as though a blur had appeared before their eyes, while Yingren was gone like the wind.
Instantaneous movement?
Apparently it wasn’t, as this was just the ordinary dash from an assassin that excelled in speed. Nonetheless, his super quick speed was already enough people to see a blur.
However, before the slow-eyed audience could find the figure of Yingren Brooks, the shadows of his blades had already flashed in the air. Instantly forming a black net of blades, they sealed all the escape routes Grai had!
Four Blade Stream Activated!
Wang Zhong gave a slight nod. The style was the same as before, yet the flow and speed have progressed. A skill is dead, but Yingren’s control over the distance of his blade shadows and combat flow have improved a great deal since their fight.
The progression of the blade streams was just like the increase in speed of a sports car, requiring an activation process. The activation of a 4 blade stream was entirely different for that of a 2 blade stream. From the looks of it, this fellow had improved his explosiveness by quite a bit ever since their fight.
Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh!
Ding Ding Ding DIng Ding!
A series of metallic rings resounded out as the blades of the 2 parties clashed against each other, sounding just like a coherently extended musical instrument. Yingren’s attacks appeared just like the howling winds and torrential storms wreaking havoc though the night, filling up the entire sky. This caused Grai to appear as though he was suppressed, as his opponent’s super quick blades gave him completely no room to react.
However, it appears that Grai’s speed was also extremely quick. Although the blade net formed by 4 blade shades had suppressed him from all side, it was unexpectedly defended completely but him, as the 2 ordinary daggers danced and flipped around his fingertips. Although their movements didn’t appear as fanciful as Yingren, they appeared considerably deft and nimble in his hands.
“This Grai’s pretty good! He’s actually able to face the 4 blade stream head on.”
“I remember that brother King was having a rather difficult time against the 4 blade stream, and was even injured by it. Haha, this Grai’s stronger than brother King!”
“Are you joking for real? Brother King had used a runic sword during that fight. This guy’s using dual daggers, so he won’t be suppressed like then.”
“You bunch of wastrels! Brother King was only acting during that fight! Don’t try to talk bullshit when you know nothing!”
“Indeed, this appears to be close to his limits. Although he speed might be on par with Yingren, the knife techniques used are completely different. Those blades Yingren is using can completely destroy any weapon on the same level as it!”
“What’s more, competing with Yingren’s speed is tantamount to seeking death! Why didn’t he use the strength advantage that soldiers excel at to balance the playing field?”
“That’s the problems of intelligence, keenness and thought process of a C rank squadron.”
Although there were very little people present in the audience gallery for this match, it was extremely lively in the Skylink live broadcast chat feed. That’s due to quite a few people having tuned in just to watch Yingren. The reason they wanted to see Yingren due to them linking him and All Mouthy King together. WIthout the presence of All Mouthy King, they would stand on Yingren’s side. Such reasoning was straightforward, as he had crossed hands with their idol. If Yingren had actually known the true reason of them tuning in, god knows if his prideful heart would cause him to spurt out blood.