With the score evened out at two to two, Karl conceded that regardless of the outcome of the final fight, he would be able to walk away from the tournament without any regret.
Although Lola was still very young, she was already one of the instructors at the Starry academy. Therefore, she felt there was no need to dwell on the loss or gain of one game. Her lack of interest in the outcome also stemmed out from her indifferent personality that was the defining character of Kaedeians.
The fifth and the final round was about to start.
Lola went into the fight with determination, as she was confident that her superior skills and ability would be able to overcome Karl's strange fighting style.
At the beginning of the battle, Karl had surprised everyone again by using the Art of Kale after it had failed him twice.
Karl's mind was filled with resolution, and his increased willpower seemed to have enhanced his performance, as it turned into the best execution of the Art of Karl the audiences had ever seen.
Marveling at Karl's ability, everyone thought that he was born to be a fleet commander.
Karl's sudden change in strategy had caught Lola by surprise. When Lola finally noticed the difference, it was already too late as Lola had already invested heavily in preparing for an entirely different game.
"Everyone, this is going to become Karl's one-man show." The host announced.
As Karl started the final attack, unleashing the power of the Art of Kyle, he seemed to have fallen into a battle trance.
His harassment came from all directions, and even Lola's insane AMP wouldn't stop her defense from crumbling.
"This is turning into a demonstration of how to execute the Art of Kyle!"
"Perfect, just...perfect!"
The hosts could not find any better words to describe Karl's ability.
A few minutes later, Lola was still struggling to defend her base. If it were anyone else, the battle should have already ended the second Karl had unleashed the final attack. However, Karl's reinforcements kept on coming to the front line, and soon, Lola found herself defending against an invading army that was twice the size of her defensive force.
Everyone could tell that Lola didn't want to give up, and they understood why. As the last hope of the Kaedeians, she couldn't give up without having exhausted her resources.
"WINNER is —KARL!" The host finally shouted after the Kaedeian's last unit was destroyed by Karl.
Karl stood up slowly. As everyone thought he was going to shout, he kept quiet and gave himself a thumb up and then announced, "I —AM—KARL!"
His words filled all earthlings with immense pride. Karl had transformed from a no-account to the superstar of the fleet battle, like a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon to embrace a new life.
After seeing such a provocative pose, many of Karl's female fans fainted immediately.
The moment Lola conceded her defeat, she also realized that although the earthlings were imperfect, they were the most creative ones.
This match started out as the most boring one among the quarterfinal matches. However, it had by then become one of the most enthralling fights to watch. A superstar was born in this game, and his name was Karl.
Cheers could be heard at every corner of the earth as people were elated by Karl's victory. At Bernabeu, students found it hard to make the connection between the fledgling they saw only months ago with the confident, super commander on the screen.
Kal watched the screen with gloomy eyes. He had trained hard ever since he had lost the match with Karl, and dreamed of eventually defeating Karl and becoming the only K that people know of. However, Karl's performance had shattered his dream.
Bisu patted Kal on the shoulder and said, "There are many other things you could be better at than him. He is born to be a fleet commander, and there is n
o point competing against him. "
Team-Earthling had unprecedentedly gained three seats at the semi-final, which belonged to Flash, Wang Tong, and Karl.
The strong suits of the three didn't overlap, as everyone excelled at one unique aspect of fleet combat. This year of fleet combat undoubtedly belonged to the earthlings.
After seeing Karl's victory, Samantha jumped out of her chairs and hooray-ed like a child.
Two of the four semi-final combatants were from Ayrlarng. Ayrlarng had never achieved such accomplishment, as this had never happened even during the time of Li Feng. Samantha had done it. She had not only brought funding and discipline to Ayrlarng, but she had also discovered geniuses hidden among ordinary students.
In a splendid manor somewhere on earth, Ma Xiaoru hugged Li Ruoer out of sheer excitement "Ruoer; we did it! They did it!" She said with a happy voice.
Li Ruoer masked a smile on her face. She was convinced that Karl was about to lose the third round. However, after a brief exchange of words with Wang Tong, Karl had turned the situation around.
The drastic effect of Wang Tong's words had piqued her interest.
As the heir of House Li, she was trained to be a great leader and a motivational artist. She always regarded her brother Li Shiming as a brilliant leader like her ancestor Li Feng, who was able to attract talented minds around him.
While she was dealing with Wang Tong, she felt that she was, although unwillingly, attracted to the boy, as her mind gravitated towards him uncontrollably.
"Ruoer, if Wang Tong wins one more fight, you promise you will talk to my dad, right?" Ma Xiaoru asked expectantly.
Li Ruoer nodded with a smile, but her eyes betrayed her jealousy.
During the semi-final, Wang Tong would be fighting against Flash, while Karl would be up against KKK.
In two days, as the semi-final unraveled, there would be even more intense fighting in store for the world to see. KKK was the best Ivantian player; his skills paled under comparison with Lola, yet, Karl defeated Lola. Therefore, everyone thought that there would be no surprise to see Karl beat his opponent and enter the final match.
The pompous Ivantians would have never thought that the joke would be on them.
Wang Tong and his friends celebrated their victory in their accommodations. None of them were surprised by Karl and Wang Tong's victory.
"Well done Karl! I was wondering what you and Cao Yi were up to."
"Haha, Boss, I had never thought of using it. But I had no other options at the time."
"Karl's performance was excellent. Even when we were practicing, we never thought that it would one day be used." Cao Yi said sheepishly as he scratched his head.
"That's right. We only practiced it as an ambush, but it seemed like it worked well even in a legit battle. Am I a genius or am I a genius? Haha!"
The three burst out laughing at Karl's goofiness. They were happy that Karl was able to walk out of his defeat and regained full confidence. There would be many roadblocks on his way towards a successful future, and therefore, it was essential for him to learn how to restore confidence after a defeat.
"Why don't we head out and walk around while we are on the Moon?"
"That right! let's celebrate!"
"I agree, Boss. We haven't really toured around the place yet ever since we have arrived."
Wang Tong nodded and decided to take the day off to relax.
With the help of the service bot, the four changed clothes and rushed to the streets of the Moon. Although Shang Jin was a decent sized city on Earth, it seemed like a squalid ghetto compared to the Metropolitan of the Moon.
It was dubbed as the most fabulous city mankind had ever built, and the students felt that it had lived up to its reputation.
They said one wouldn’t have visited the moon until they visited the Einherjar Memorial Hall that commemorated the fight between the Blade Warrior and Rilangalos.
It was a confrontation between the most mysterious warrior, the Blade Warrior, and the pride of Ivantians, the perfect human, Rilangalos.
Since no one knew what the Blade Warrior looked like, the Hall exhibited only the statue of Rilangalos.
The four students stared at the statue in utmost reverence. Although Li Feng was the high commander of the human alliance, without Rilangalos's support, his rise to power would be much more difficult. The alliance between the two was the cornerstone upon which the current human world was built.
Wang Tong was the only person who knew the real identity of the Blade Warrior, and he marveled at General Li Feng's self-control in holding the secret for so many years.