Chapter 128: Encore
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Tehrn
“Give me all you got, this is my last fight, and I don’t want to leave the stage with regrets,” Wings of Heaven announced.
“Your Fist-blade is powerful indeed, but I am afraid that it won’t be enough to defeat me.” Wang Tong cracked a smile.
The corner of Wings of Heaven’s mouth lifted a bit; he thought that Wang Tong’s words sounded very familiar.
Suddenly, the two of them rushed for an attack simultaneously.
They both arrived at the center of the arena almost at the same time. Wings of Heaven used the Blade-fist techniques again and was able to stand his ground under Einherjar Wannabe’s counter attack.
The two fists collided into each other and the two fighters both stumbled back.
The audiences became quiet, and the cheers died down. They started to question the identity and the real power of Wings of Heaven, just like they had questioned Einherjar Wannabe.
Wings of Heaven attacked again. It was obvious that he had the edge regarding combat experience. His soul reading was maintained steadily around 150 sols as the deadly Blade-fist came one after another.
Wings of Heaven didn’t use any popular footwork such as the Inch Step. Instead, his footwork technique seemed straightforward but matched seamlessly with his fighting style.
The best kind of techniques was usually not the most popular one but the one that fitted ones fighting style the best.
It was the first time that Wang Tong had faced such an opponent whose attack and movements seemed simple and straightforward, but extremely difficult to be countered. He figured that the Inch Step would be too straightforward, and Wings of Heaven would be able to predict his next move easily. On the other hand, the Butterfly Dash seemed like overkill. Wang Tong conceded that it would be impossible to break his opponent’s solid defense using any of the footwork that he knew.
This was the first time Wang Tong encountered an opponent who seemed to have more combat experience than he had. What made the opponent even more deadly was that he had gained his experience through fighting human instead of Zergs.
As Wang Tong was considering his next move, he became caught in a barrage of attacks. The movements of the Blade-fist were unpredictable as it accelerated and decelerated at random intervals. It was deceiving and was packed with deadly force, a perfect technique to kill.
As Einherjar Wannabe was distracted by his thoughts for less than a second, he paid the price right away and was struck by a blow. The attack sent Einherjar Wannabe’s body flying a few feet away. Initially, when Einherjar Wannabe first detected the incoming blow, he wanted to use the Phantom Move to get out of the way. However, his opponent had predicted his intention and was one move ahead of him.
Silence fell inside the arena.
“Who the hell is this Wings of Heaven?”
It would be less surprising to the audience if he were from the TPA league. However, the fact that he was from the IPA league made everyone lament over such a waste of talent. He was a powerful thirty-six-years-old fighter, but he was stuck here in the IPA league.
Meanwhile, on the Moon, people watched the members of the Golden Star curiously, wondering if the deadly warrior on the screen was truly their Captain.
“If that’s true, he must be a powerful fighter, but how come—”
“If Einherjar Wannabe had not chosen him, we would still be oblivious about his whereabouts. What had happened during that operation was just an accident, he should’ve gotten over it. The intelligence said there were only a dozen scattered pirates, but for some reason, he had encountered an armada.”
That battle had been a brutal bloodshed. The Golden Star had become the most legendary team in the Special Unit after the battle.
During that fight, their captain had entered a battle trance and slaughtered all the pirates but saved his comrades’ lives. However, he had depleted his soul energy during the trance and that was worse than a death sentence to a fighter like him.
The Golden Star had created a miracle: they killed off the entire fleet of pirates with zero casualties. However, the captain of the Golden Star had since disappeared, and no one knew where he was hiding.
When the unconscious members of the Golden Star had woken up, their captain was already gone. It was the captain who had saved their lives. However, he alone had to carry the burden of the aftermath with him for the rest of his life.
He had to leave because he could no longer face his old comrades after being stripped the rights to fight.
He started to lose grip on reality and even tried to give up his life, but the link between his life and fighting had brought him back. Although he could no longer fight in real life, not even in the TPA, he spent most of his time on the IPA, using the virtual world to numb his pain.
He could not bring himself to ask his comrades for help. He didn’t need their sympathy.
When he saw Einherjar Wannabe’s fights, he thought he had seen a glimpse of hope. He felt something very familiar in this mysterious fighter, and he decided to end his debauchery once and for all with a match with Einherjar Wannabe.
The members of the Golden Star had already recognized their Captain. The name alone was a telltale sign of his identity.
He was a soldier who had lost his soul energy, just like a carrion that had lost his wings.
His comrades gritted their teeth as they also felt the pain of their captain for being denied of what was rightfully his. However, they could not do anything but watch him suffer.
“No matter where you are, don’t ever bring shame to the banner of the Golden Star!” their Captain used to tell them so, and without a replacement, they haven’t heard of these words for a while.
After landing a successful attack, Wings of Heaven paused. “Be serious now, don’t use those useless tricks on me!”
Wang Tong stood up slowly and rubbed his body where he was hit. “Fine, time to be serious,” he thought.
Einherjar Wannabe set his arms in front of him and was ready to strike.
“Be careful now!”
The two of them darted toward each other at the same time again with terrifying speed.
Einherjar Wannabe’s footwork looked like the Inch Step, but somehow it was different. The two closed in quickly and started attacking each other fearlessly. Both combatants’ moves didn’t follow any set structures as they seemed to be acting on a whim. Upon closer look, Einherjar Wannabe’s moves were even more impulsive and unplanned than his opponent.
Wang Tong had then reckoned that this opponent was capable of giving him a precious opportunity to test and improve his skills thanks to the huge amount of experience his opponent had.
Einherjar Wannabe’s arm suddenly moved in the most unthinkable direction and picked up speed to hack at his opponent’s neck. Wings of Heaven delivered a kick at the belly of Einherjar Wannabe in return.
Both combatants had attacked the vital points of their opponent’s body, making their attack an instant kill. These moves were so deadly that they were usually not used by PA players.
Wang Tong didn’t pay any attention to the deadly kick because he had already calculated that his fist would land on Wings of Heaven’s neck before his kick would. However, his opponent’s neck twisted and turned as if there were no bones in it, the twisted neck would have made people cringe, but it was effective in dodging Wang Tong’s attack. The scale of the battle had suddenly tipped toward Wings of Heaven.
Faced with a frontal attack, Einherjar Wannabe didn’t try to dodge. Instead, he closed in onto his opponent. He knew that it was already too late to dodge, and if he did, his opponent would follow up with another, even more powerful, killing strike.
When the kick landed on Einherjar Wannabe’s belly, it was as if it had landed on a pile of soft cotton. Wang Tong had concentrated his soul energy around his dantian, and the force of the kick was therefore absorbed. Wang Tong then grabbed his opponent’s foot, lock it in place as he delivered a powerful roundhouse kick at his opponent’s crotch. All the while, Wang Tong remained calm and focused.
Wings of Heaven managed to block Einherjar Wannabe’s kick with his arm, but Einherjar Wannabe didn’t let go of his opponent’s feet. Instead, he yanked it toward himself with one hand, while he chopped at the neck with the other hand at lightning speed. Wings of Heaven sprung the other direction and turned his back at Wang Tong; meanwhile, his left hand reached the ground, and with the aid of a push, his right feet broke free of the iron clamp and kicked once again at Wang Tong’s belly.
The two were hit at the same time.
Einherjar Wannabe took a step back as he gathered himself while Wings of Heaven sprung to his feet with a push-up.
The two locked their eyes onto each other, and they could both see the burning desire of winning the fight in their opponent’s eyes.
In this first round of attack, Einherjar Wannabe had gained a slight edge. Wings of Heaven conceded that he had underestimated the combat experience of his young opponent.
Suddenly, a message appeared on the big screen, informing everyone that Wings of Heaven was likely the former captain of the Golden Star. Everyone was shocked by the news, and the real power of Wings of Heaven started to set in.
Ever since humans entered the age of interstellar traveling, more and more people were willing to put their life at risk for the luring profit of smuggling. The spread of the mind opening operation and the underground METAL market had also given the criminals high tech arsenals at their disposal. Despite the numerous resolution of the Confederation to get rid of the pirate activity, the vast space had made it extremely difficult.
A few years ago, the smuggling business had finally reached an unpreparedness level. The four major factions of the Confederation agreed to unite together to fight against the rampant pirate activities, and thus the Anti-Smuggling Special Unit was born.
Each faction had selected their elite members of the military to form the Special Unit, and therefore, everyone had thought that the Special Unit could crush the pirates quickly, and no one saw it coming when they ended up getting stuck in a bloody war ever since.
The Anti-Smuggling Special Unit had only gained a slight edge over the pirates in all forms of warfare, let it be information warfare or ground battles. But there were also memorable moments like the victory of the Golden Star.
The captain of the Golden Star was also a legendary figure; however, the battle that made his legend also had decreed his downfall.
“Why did such a strong fighter is muddling around in the IPA league?”
Right away, people started to realize that some tragic event must have hit him right after the battle.
Neither Einherjar Wannabe nor Wings of Heaven had noticed the message on the screen. They stared at each other, both satisfied to have found a worthy opponent.
Wings of Heaven had wanted to use a fight with a TPA player as a stepping stone for accepting his new role. However, he was worried that no TPA player would have accepted his invitation. He could easily arrange a fight in the IPA league, but the fictitious nature of the IPA league had rendered the fight almost pointless. Einherjar Wannabe’s acceptance to his challenge had come at the last moment before he was about to give up entirely; a hope rekindled.
Slowly but surely, the fighting spirit that had guided Wings of Heaven for so long was awakening.
Wings of Heaven unsheathed a long blade. It looked ordinary, but it had taken countless souls.
This was his encore, and he didn’t want to leave with any regret.
As soon as Wings of Heaven took out his blade, Wang Tong registered a sudden change in the air, as it started to be filled with soul energies that emanated from his opponent. The soul energy of Wings of Heaven increased dramatically and finally stabilized around 180.
