The King's Avatar

The clocks chimed to signal the beginning of the New Year, and players of the Alliance gathered in City Q, where the All-Star Weekend was being held this year. Tyranny’s once-outstanding old generals’ days were numbered. The Alliance seemed to have taken this into account and decided to give hosting rights to Tyranny’s home city. However, it looked like fans voting for the All-Stars did not share the sentiment. It was quite unfortunate that Tyranny’s Zhang Jiale and Lin Jingyan were both unable to make it into the All-Stars.

On the night of January the 3rd, City Q, in Tyranny’s home stadium, Glory Alliance’s Season 10 All-Star Weekend finally began. The 24 All-Stars’ characters were introduced by projecting them in the stadium with hologram technology, along with New Year’s greetings.

Ever since the introduction of the hologram technology, the presentation of Glory’s players and characters reached new, astonishingly heights. These heights were paralleled by the characters, representing the very apex of Glory. For these events, the hosting team would go all out to make everything as spectacular as possible.

Usually, they arranged the characters to appear one by one and perform some actions, such as training moves or a choreographed fight with another character. This time, under the direction of Tyranny’s hosting, a new theme was introduced: duos.

Samsara’s Cloud Piercer and One Autumn Leaf;

Blue Rain’s Troubling Rain and Swoksaar;

Tiny Herb’s master and apprentice Witches;

Void’s Ghost Duo;

Hundred Blossoms’ Blood and Blossoms;

Happy’s Lord Grim and Dancing Rain;

As the duos appeared pair by pair, the other theme was introduced: Memories!

The screens within the stadium began to play the classic moments created by each of these duos. Many Glory veterans could recognize familiar scenes from just fleeting snapshots.

In the ten years of Glory, players and characters were constantly being passed on. Likewise, within each and every team, duos were constantly being created.

However…

A pause appeared in the on-screen action, and a question cropped up.

Was there a duo that had survived since Season 1 of Glory for the entire decade, and had fought side by side until today?

Everyone gave a start, and considered each duo that had flashed up on the screen.

Cloud Piercer and One Autumn Leaf? They only started fighting alongside each other this season.

Troubling Rain and Swoksaar? Swoksaar was a legend passed down ever since the beginnings of Team Blue Rain, but Troubling Rain made his debut in Season 4, the same time when the Golden Generation’s Huang Shaotian began his professional Glory career.

Tiny Herb’s Witch duo only existed after Gao Yingjie made the main roster starting from last season.

Void’s Ghostblade duo formed after Wu Yuce joined the team in Season 5 and insisted on playing the Ghostblade class.

Hundred Blossom’s Blood and Blossoms were formed in Season 2. However, they were separated after Sun Zheping had to retire due to injury. It was reformed after Yu Feng was transferred to Hundred Blossoms.

As for Happy…. you couldn’t get any newer if you wanted to.

None of those duos had endured the test of time, so who had?

Loud shouts rang out across the stadium before many were able to work it out. This was Team Tyranny’s home stadium, and of course had more local Tyranny fans than anyone else. These fans were also the only ones capable of causing such a loud ruckus.

Thus, the answer was revealed amidst the clamoring.

Desert Dust and Immovable Rock.

Since the birth of the Glory Alliance, the Striker Desert Dust and the Cleric Immovable Rock, from Team Tyranny, were the two All-Star characters that had fought side by side until today.

The hosting team’s duo was the epic climax afterall.

After countless calls from the crowd, the King of Fighting Desert Dust, who had not once known retreat in ten years, appeared on stage with the ever-present Immovable Rock by his side.

Ten years…

The clips of this duo played for longer than any other. From the birth of the Alliance until today, these two characters had become a symbol of Team Tyranny. No other team had a duo that always stood at the peak. Not even the former Excellent Era with their unrivalled accomplishments!

Many of Tyranny’s old fans that had followed their team for ten years could no longer control their emotions.

Fuck, you’re trying to tug at our heartstrings? This isn’t Tyranny’s style, why are you trying make us cry? Tyranny’s manly men do not cry. How embarrassing is it to have tear-streaked cheeks?

”A partnership that has lasted ten years. Unwavering. Steadfast. The character may be timeless, but the player eventually departs. However, only one player, from our Team Tyranny, has brought Desert Dust with him onto the stage. He has lead Team Tyranny into battle from day one and continues to do so. Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, all the way until today in Season 10! He has stood here eternally, at the summit. This player, the one and only. WHO IS HE???”

”HAN WENQING!!!” The whole stadium erupted into a thunderous roar. Han Wenqing was the only player in all of the Glory Alliance who deserved this portrayal. Originally, his arch-rival Ye Xiu would be his equal for this, but unfortunately Ye Xiu took a year and half break starting in Season 8. Therefore…

There stood Han Wenqing. The one and only.

Not only had he lasted ten years, he had lasted ten years while being the best of the best. While his age might have slowly robbed him of his mechanical speed and reactions, his spirit and indomitable will never swayed. This was Han Wenqing, the player behind Desert Dust, the captain of Team Tyranny, for ten years straight.

Han Wenqing quietly stepped onto the stage. Desert Dust’s projection stood beside him. The stadium gradually quieted down, expecting this warrior who has fought ten years’ worth of battles to give a speech.

But he didn’t!

Han Wenqing refused the microphone that was handed to him by the MC. He said nothing, while glancing at the projection of Desert Dust that was beside him.

Seeing the character that he has controlled for ten years standing next to him was a rare experience for Han Wenqing. As he glanced sideways, he stretched out his right hand and actually gave the hologram a pat on the shoulder. Then, he lifted his outstretched right hand and clenched it into a fist. Towards the entire audience, the players, he waved his fist once. Although it was not forceful, it carried a distinctive air of conviction.

He didn’t need to say anything.

I’m still standing. I can still clench my fists. That is enough!

Han Wenqing’s gesture set off another passionate round of cheering. At the same time, Zhang Xinjie also walked onto the stage, his meticulously calculated footsteps landing him precisely next to Han Wenqing.

Zhang Xinjie was not the first owner of Immovable Rock; however, he had fought by Han Wenqing’s side for almost seven years. Players were not like characters and could not fight on endlessly. From this, each player could be considered an inheritor. From the bygone past, to now, to the distant future, through their characters they passed on their spirit and willpower forevermore.

The two players clasped hands tightly and embraced each other under the gaze of tens of thousands of spectators.

The whole stadium erupted into applause.

No one felt that Tyranny was being biased in showing their own team’s players in this All-Star Weekend. Han Wenqing was the most befitting as the main character of the Glory Alliance’s tenth anniversary. He was the only one to have experienced the full ten year history of the Alliance, and at this moment, it did not matter whether he was on Team Tyranny or not.

The applause did not dwindle. Even though Tyranny did not actually plan to only show off Han Wenqing, all the others who appeared on stage next naturally didn’t get the same kind of resounding welcome. The other 22 All-Stars joined the stage while clapping along with the crowd. They stood on either side of Han Wenqing and Zhang Xinjie, placing them in the very middle, in a gesture that gave more than enough face to Tyranny’s hosting arrangements.

The lively opening had finally come to a end. Each player left the stage and joined their own teams in the players’ stands. The All-Star Weekend was a festive occasion, so everyone was being very casual. Many players mischievously snuck off to other teams’ areas and found their more familiar colleagues, greeting each other and chatting about who-knows-what. On stage, the preparations were being made for what was always the first event of the All-Star Weekend: the Rookie Challenge Competition.

The first onto the stage was a rookie from Team Parade.

Many audience members let out a yawn. Compared to the excitement brought about by the dramatic appearance of Han Wenqing earlier, this was too much of a slump.

Li Jiu?

Who was that?

Small- to medium-sized teams already only received a limited amount of attention, let alone a rookie who did not get a chance to appear on stage very often. Li Jiu really was an unfamiliar name to fans. This kind of Rookie Challenge was no fun! The viewers felt that not having an exciting rookie might impact the turnout for Day 1 of the All-Star Weekend. It honestly was not interesting to follow or discuss a rookie who had no reputation. This was in contrast with last year, which had very exciting Rookie Challenge matches where many rising stars stole the stage. The viewers racked their brains and thought: of all ten years of professional Glory, it seemed like there was no good crop this year! There didn’t seem to be any strong rookies?

Tang Rou?

When everyone considered this question, this name was the one that popped up in the minds.

Peh peh peh!

Many people spat. This woman doesn’t know heaven from earth, and she even went back on her own word! Where do you think this is? Did you expect everyone to easily forgive you? Don’t feel so privileged just because you have good looks! Fuck off!

This was the opinion of many towards Tang Rou. Even within Happy’s fanbase, many people felt unbelievably upset when they remembered that there was such a person on the team; their hearts were very conflicted..

Everyone came to the conclusion that there really were no rookies this season who were especially notable. How about second-year rookies? They also qualified for the Rookie Challenge. They thought of Lu Hanwen, but since he already participated last year, it didn’t seem like they would support him going up again?

Poor Li Jiu was already completely forgotten by the masses, who were all pondering whether there was anyone after him worth watching. Meanwhile, Li Jiu’s voice rang out: ”I would like to challenge Senior Ye Xiu from Team Happy.”.