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I lost…

Fang Rui shook his head as he walked down from the stage. His greatest strength was his dirtiness, yet he actually lost because of a dirty move from his opponent. Like a swimmer drowning, it was too disgraceful.

“Fuck, Han Wenqing!”

When he returned back to the player bench, he took the towel that his teammates handed over, but he didn’t wipe his hands. Instead, he threw the towel hard against the seats as if Han Wenqing was sitting there.

“If you were my opponent, I definitely wouldn’t have fallen for that,” Fang Rui said honestly to Ye Xiu.

“Nah, you definitely would have,” Ye Xiu replied back honestly.

“Definitely wouldn’t have.”

“Definitely would have.”

Chen Guo felt a bit confused, but after thinking about it for a bit, she understood.

Fang Rui meant that he had been careless because Han Wenqing wasn’t the type to play dirty. If he had been against Ye Xiu, he definitely wouldn’t have been so careless because Ye Xiu was someone who did play dirty, but Ye Xiu was denying it.

“Pay attention to the match! Stop arguing!” Chen Guo scolded the two.

“Little Tang, good luck! Destroy him!” Fang Rui immediately turned around and called out to Tang Rou. But because of how loud the audience was, his voice could no longer reach her.

Chen Guo felt deeply worried. Ye Xiu had won a lead at the cost of his energy, but not only had they lost their lead, they had fallen behind.

Han Wenqing had beaten two of Happy’s players. He lost almost no health against Su Mucheng, and although his fight with Fang Rui had taken a long time, half of the time, they were just running around. The other half of the time he had the initiative. Fang Rui hadn’t been able to land any effective combos. He had only been able to trade a few blows while he was defending against Han Wenqing. In the end, Desert Dust won with 59% of his health left, and much of this was because Han Wenqing had often taken blows that he could have avoided in order to keep up his offense.

1v3!

Tyranny’s home crowd had already begun shouting for a 1v3. Considering he had beaten two players and still had over half of his health left, it was a very reasonable expectation.

On stage.

Han Wenqing, Tang Rou.

Desert Dust, Soft Mist.

Striker, Battle Mage.

Ten years ago, it was these two classes that began the longest rivalry in the Glory Alliance.

The two weren’t teammates, but Han Wenqing was incomparably familiar with this class and was very proficient against them. Facing Battle Mages not named Ye Xiu, Han Wenqing had an astonishingly high win rate. Apart from a few rather extreme situations in the group arena, in a fair 1v1, Han Wenqing had never lost against a Battle Mage.

At the Season 8 All Stars, One Autumn Leaf’s successor, Sun Xiang, who was the most skilled Battle Mage of the new generation, had fought against a Han Wenqing past his prime. In the end, Han Wenqing still came out on top.

Now, he was facing Tang Rou, this season’s Best Rookie and a Battle Mage.

But no matter the Battle Mage, there was always a shadow of Ye Xiu. Even the proud Sun Xiang had practiced hard to learn Ye Xiu’s Dragon Raises Its Head. As for Tang Rou, she had been taught by Ye Xiu, and there was no escaping his legacy.

However, Han Wenqing discovered that not only were there shadows of Ye Xiu in Tang Rou, there were also shadows of himself.

This girl also liked to be fierce and aggressive, wanting to use force to destroy everything, just like him. Attack, attack, and attack, never retreating, always attacking. It didn’t matter how much health was lost, as long as the opponent was injured more.

This was their style, and Han Wenqing couldn’t be any more familiar with it.

A familiar opponent and familiar self. The shadows of these two rivals had overlapped in her.

How difficult would it be to face this sort of opponent?

Han Wenqing sucked in a deep breath and focused.

The match began.

Dragon Breaks the Ranks!

Without any hesitation, the moment Tang Rou loaded into the map, Soft Mist launched an attack. In this small map, for these two players, the start of the match was like a gunshot signalling the start of a 100m dash.

Who would be faster?

Tang Rou!

Tang Rou’s Soft Mist was faster because Han Wenqing chose to run away as soon as the match began.

A decision that he would have never done in the past had once again appeared another fight today.

This time? Because he was familiar with himself and his opponent’s playstyle, he chose not to make this a contest of speed. In the past, he would often like to win this way, seeing who was faster, who was fiercer.

But now, Han Wenqing was very clear about how his hand speed and reaction speed had slowed down. He couldn’t compare with his past self.

So he used what reaction and hand speed he had to dodge.

Boom…

The dash from Dragon Breaks the Ranks seemed to explode as it swept past Desert Dust. It failed to hit, but just the surging magic energy from it shook Desert Dust. However, this was all within Han Wenqing’s expectations. Desert Dust borrowed this force to spin his body, using a Whirlwind Kick to strike Soft Mist’s back.

Peng!

The sound of a collision sounded.

The instant Tang Rou realized that the Dragon Breaks the Ranks would miss, she cancelled the skill. Dragon Breaks the Ranks was a high-level skill with little starting or ending lag. It could be considered an abnormality among high-level skills. Soft Mist turned around. Before her Dragon Breaks the Ranks had completely dissipated, she used a Sky Strike, blocking the Whirlwind Kick from Desert Dust.

The two characters ricocheted back. They readjusted themselves and charged forward again!

When two players of this playstyle met, the result was going to be an intense battle. However, from their first exchange, it could be seen that the two relied on different things. Han Wenqing relied more on his experienced and his understanding of Battle Mages and Tang Rou, guessing what his opponent would do next. As for Tang Rou? She relied on her fast reaction and hand speed. It was always Han Wenqing’s Desert dust making the first move and then her reacting, catching up and not losing out.

The two were locked in combat. Their healths plummeted. In this sort of confrontation, how could there not be fierce trades?

It was just that even though Han Wenqing’s Desert Dust was losing in terms of health, he had other players behind him. As for Tang Rou’s Soft Mist, even though she came in with full health, after this even fight with Han Wenqing, even if she won, she would be facing the next opponent heavily injured.

This was why players like Han Wenqing and Tang Rou weren’t suited for the group arena, especially with five players rotating. Their brave advances often led to trades, health for health. If they could completely suppress their opponents, it worked out well. But in today’s match, force against force, it was unlikely that either side would be winning without losing much health.

If this continued, Happy would win this round, but their hopes for the group arena as a whole weren’t optimistic.

“Sigh… Little Tang…” Even Chen Guo felt that it wouldn’t be good if this continued.

“What’s wrong? I think she’s playing very well!” Ye Xiu said.

“Tyranny still has another player!” Chen Guo reminded Ye Xiu. Did he count wrong?

“If she doesn’t play like this, she probably won’t even be able to see the next player,” Ye Xiu said.

“Ah?”

“Do you think Little Tang has a better chance at winning against Han Wenqing meeting force with force, or by slowly playing it out in a contest of experience, decision-making, and technique?” Ye Xiu said.

Chen Guo was stumped.

Experience, decision-making, technique… a contest with Han Wenqing?

Chen Guo already knew the answer.

“Through a spurt of energy, she still has a chance. But if she slows down the pace, it’ll be much more difficult,” Ye Xiu said.

The fight was like a whirlwind, decided in less than a minute. Tang Rou, but she sacrificed much of her health in doing so. Soft Mist only had 50% of her health left, exactly half of it. The two traded blow for blow, with neither side able to gain an advantage over the other. In the end, it could only be a draw.

Tyranny’s fans were feeling quite regretful about this outcome! They had hoped to see a 1v3 from their captain on this playoffs stage. It would truly be too amazing of a comeback.

However, doing this much was already an outstanding performance. When Han Wenqing walked down from the stage, the applause was thunderous. Apart from that, Tyranny’s fans also felt that Tang Rou was quite admirable, daring to face their captain so bravely. Of course, if she had been a different class, it would have been even more admirable. They had a subconscious hate for Battle Mages.

The group arena was at the final match point. Tyranny’s fifth player appeared on the big screen.

Song Qiying, Striker, River Sunset.

A new generation Battle Mage against a new generation Striker. The two would be facing each other on the stage. However, they didn’t have the personalities of their seniors.

Although Tang Rou’s Battle Mage had absorbed much of Ye Xiu’s techniques, her style was a complete opposite of Ye Xiu’s.

As for Song Qiying? He was rumored to be Han Wenqing’s successor, but his playstyle was more similar to his vice-captain’s. It was the complete opposite of Han Wenqing’s.

But no matter how much their styles had changed, the subject of this confrontation would never change.

Victory! Only victory mattered!

As soon as the match began, Soft Mist rushed forward. She didn’t use Dragon Breaks the Ranks, instead running to start her offense. With only 50% of her health left, she needed to gain the upper hand. And Tang Rou? She was most proficient at establishing advantages through aggression. And in this simple map, there was no better method.

Song Qiying was very calm. Although he wasn’t as experienced as Han Wenqing, he knew what Tang Rou needed. He calmly avoided her rush.

Then, he didn’t immediately counterattack like Han Wenqing did. Such a forceful counterattack would quickly result in the two sticking together. Even though trading blows would be an effective strategy for him since he had the health lead, it wasn’t his style, so he didn’t do it.

Perhaps this was Tyranny’s true style: it wasn’t just pressing onward relentlessly, but tenaciously persevering with one’s own path.