The two players started their warm up. As Wang Tong performed his warm-up exercise, listening to the cheers of the audience, he thought it was a good day to start his victory.
All the other students from Ayrlarng had already finished their matches, and therefore they all attended Wang Tong's game. Due to his lesser popularity, Wang Tong had only half the number of the audience than Karl.
"Boss! Go !" Karl shouted loudly, unable to hide the excitement from his earlier victory.
Most of the audiences were from the S club, and they were here for Wang Tong. As a second-grade student group, it was an extraordinary achievement to have three of their members entering the finals. Motivated by their accomplishments, they came to cheer for their leader's match.
There were a few from the Lustre Academies, and the rest of the audiences were ordinary public.
The entrance of two new audiences stirred up the viewers. It was a beautiful girl and a handsome teenage boy. Their appearances were scintillating, attracting more attention than the two contestants in the simulation room. They were the Ivantian Prince Dower and the young lady from House of Zhang.
Why did the two come here?
Excitement flashed in NADD's eyes, as he was convinced that the two honored quests had come to watch his performance. As a sense of pride rose inside him, adrenaline shot through his body. He was all the more determined to defeat his opponent with his best performance ever.
Wang Tong cracked a smile after seeing Patroclus had teamed up with Zhang Jin.
"He is very confident, don't you think? Instead of preparing for the fight with you, he is reveling in the fleet combat. " Zhang Jin said quietly.
Zhang Jin was much smarter than Li Shiming, and since the latter could deduce the identity of the Mysterious Einherjar Wannabe based on his disappearance during the Norton Campaign, so could Zhang Jin. Plus, she had full confidence in Patroclus's senses.
However, Zhang Jin had never thought that the boy she had rescued from Norton would become the one to change the course of human history. She lamented failing to reach that conclusion the minute she saw Wang Tong on Norton. She should have known better that no one other than the heir of the Blade warrior would be able to survive the planet by himself for a year.
What kind of tactics would render all the five major tactics ineffective? Zhang Jin remembered the sense of familiarity when she first saw Wang Tong.
She conceded that Wang Tong still had a long way ahead of him. The world had changed since his last incarnation, so she decided to wait and see if the fame of the Blade Warrior would eventually translate to power and strength.
Patroclus's effeminate face showed a faint and almost insubstantial smile.
All the girls’ attention gravitated toward him, some peeking at him and some outright ogling. Thus, it seemed that if the Ivantian prince were faced with a female opponent, he wouldn't even need to fight, since his charming looks alone would be able to make his opponent throw herself at his feet.
It was hard to find a single shortcoming in Patroclus. Unlike most Ivantians, he was not even pretentious. Perhaps, his only downfall was his perfection, if perfection could be counted as one.
The battle started.
Wang Tong could tell from NADD's initial formation that he was about to focus on early aggression.
Wang Tong and NADD both sent out their scouts, the Mirage. Both scouts met each other and NADD attacked first.
Three seconds after the engagement, NADD's unit exploded into pieces while Wang Tong's proceeded forward.
A wave of applause erupted from the audiences. The members of the S club had been worried about Wang Tong's performance, but seeing his easy victory, they were relieved and cheered in excitement. NADD attempted to showcase his micro control skills. However, he was completely overwhelmed by his adversary. The Ivantian had lost his edge over Wang Tong already. He attempted to win back the control of the battlefield by pushing out a wave of suicide ships. However, that move was also countered by Wang Tong with ease. Wang Tong's final counterattack crumbled NADD's defense and ended the battle in just under seven minutes.
Zhang Jin was slightly disappointed by NADD's performance. She figured that she and Patroclus's appearance might have disturbed his concentration during the battle. Losing a scout ship at the beginning would not constitute a considerable disadvantage. However, due to his eagerness to prove his ability, he had forced himself into an aggression when his fleet were not yet ready. His desire to prove himself eventually became his downfall.
Wang Tong didn't feel the need to celebrate his victory at all; it was all too easy for him.
During the second round of the match, while NADD was still trying to come to terms with his defeat, his fleet was already engulfed by Wang Tong. Another catastrophic failure.
After losing two fights in a row, NADD's face turned pale. It took him two defeats to realize his opponent's real power, and was finally waken up from his illusions.
Teetering on the edge of defeat, NADD knew that with one more mistake, he would fall into the chasm of failure. The thought gave him immense pressure. He didn't even dare look back at the faces of the two honored guests. The thought of their disappointed alone had already been fraying the edge of his sanity.
NADD's hands were shaking, unable to execute even the most basic commands, and Wang Tong immediately defeated him with ease.
It was clear then that NADD's insufficient forbearance had hindered his ability. Such was the unpredictability of the fleet combat; many things could have gone wrong to render the hundreds of hours of training before the match useless.
There were people who got extremely nervous and slipped up under pressure, such as NADD, and there were also people who got excited and performed even better, such as Karl.
The audiences cheered for Wang Tong's victory. Ayrlarng and Capth became the only two schools whose participants had all passed their first playoff match.
Samantha also sent a message to the participants, congratulating them and wished them good luck in the following matches.
"What do you think of it, Jin?"
"I can tell that he is more powerful than he appears. Don't overthink things. I understand where you are coming from." Zhang Jin cracked a smile, trying to hide her excitement.
She doubted that her family elders would believe what she was going to tell them. The significance of the news she was about to bring to her family was so profound that she had to remind herself to be very cautious.
"I will need your help… Don't let the news leak out from the Moon. I don't want the media to bother him."
"You seem very sure about this."
Patroclus put on a faint smile,"Jin, do you believe in destiny?"
Patroclus had wanted an opponent who was as invested in their fight as he was. He was slightly disappointed on seeing that Wang Tong had partaken in the fleet combat instead of focusing on his METAL training. The Ivantian prince was convinced that Wang Tong did this because he was overly confident, if not conceited.
Zhang Jin knew precisely what Patroclus was vexed about, but she didn't interpret Wang Tong actions the same way Patroclus did. From the couple times of brief encounters with Wang Tong, Zhang Jin was already convinced that the earth boy was neither conceited nor arrogant. Therefore, she was confident that there were more than what met the eyes in Wang Tong's participation in the fleet combat tournament.
Whatever was hiding underneath the plain view had piqued Zhang Jin's interest. On the other hand, she was also very confident in Patroclus's strength, especially when he was serious about his opponent, which didn't happen too often.
Meanwhile, inside a conference room on earth, two young men smiled at each other amiably.
"Brother Li, congratulations on your success!"
"Thank you, brother Porten." Li Shiming smiled.
"I knew you were busy, but I have important news for you. I have reduced the candidates down to five." Porten said as he waved his arm in the air and a projection appeared, listing the details of the five potential "Einherjar Wannabe."
Li Shiming smiled faintly and then said, "No matter who he is, he would definitely show up in this year's tournament."
"Hehe. Brother Li, if I were you, I would do away with this fool who dares to mock your ancestor. He is a disgrace to House of Li" There was anger mixed in Porten's voice.