Chapter 630: Underestimation (2 in 1)
Translator: Radiant Translations Editor: Radiant Translations
When those 2 names appeared on the screens, a wave of silence filled the stadium, as no one had ever expected this matchup! Evidently, w.a.n.g Zhong and Mo Wen were showing great regard towards each other in this finals, as both of them had clearly made a gamble. In fact, Mo Wen had made a counter play towards the possibility of Grai being Tianjing’s vanguard!
A faint smile appeared on w.a.n.g Zhong’s face. He had allowed Grai to be Tianjing’s vanguard for all of their earlier matches, before changing it up in the finals, all for the sake of making a gamble on Mo Wen’s character. However, Mo Wen was more restrained than he had predicted, and was willing to give up on using the 2 trump cards, Mo Ling and Napier Mo, and use Mo Zhong as his vanguard! Just this move alone showed a level of mentality and stability that no one else could match!
w.a.n.g Zhong had sent Barran up as Tianjing’s vanguard in an attempt to waste Mo Ling’s potential in this match. If his opponent did not send Mo Ling up, Barran might be able to put up a fight against their selection. However, he had never expected Mo Wen to send up their weakest member, Mo Zhong, as their vanguard.
In the viewing gallery, both Laura and Sharmie, who knew that Tianjing was going to send Barran as their vanguard, could not help but frown in response. Even Ma Dong was stunned by this development. Frankly speaking, they had made Grai their vanguard for all of their earlier matches just for the sole goal of blindsiding their opponents in the finals! Yet, Heaven’s Fate did not take the bait?
How could Mo Wen be so terrifying? Wasn’t the Mo Family famous for being the kings of straightforwardness?
The gamble of strength and wits had already begun. Their opponent, Mo Wen, who stood opposite them, was definitely not a foolhardy person! After a moment of silence, the stadium and Skylink instantly erupted into chaos.
Oh my G.o.d! Both sides were playing tricks!
Who said that w.a.n.g Zhong was a straightforward guy and would definitely send Grai up as his vanguard?!
Who said that the blind man was an honest person and would absolutely not use his Heart’s Eye to see into the past matches?!
These 2 fellows had basically duped the entire world!
Although the Heaven’s Fate fans started to cheer loudly upon noticing that Mo Wen had seen through the feint involving Grai, the depressed Tianjing fans also felt incomparably excited.
That’s because they quickly discovered that this outcome wasn’t a bad one!
On one side, there was the person deemed as the weakest member in the Mo Family’s line up. On the other side, there was the Ba G.o.d that had risen abruptly in strength!
Barran fighting against Mo Zhong?
That would absolutely be a show to watch!
Compared to w.a.n.g Zhong against Mo Wen, or Grai against Mo Ling, this might be a match that had similar odds! This was definitely a lucky stroke for Tianjing!
“Gogo Ba G.o.d! Go destroy Mo Zhong!”
“He definitely stands a chance! Mo Zhong is Heaven’s Fate’s only weakness! It’s now up to you, Ba G.o.d! You’re the man that had triumphed over Cabel!”
“The matter of him defeating Cabel is an accident by itself.”
“That’s an insufficient explanation. The only thing that can be inferred is that Cabel isn’t S+ rank material.”
Cabel’s face instantly turned red, while veins popped out from his temples: “Hey! You down there!”
Standing up, he pointed towards Barran. Soul Power started to revolve within his body, before he gave a roar so loud the nearby viewing galleries started to vibrate. “Destroy Mo Zhong! It’ll be a piece of cake if you bring out the strength you’ve used to win me!”
The audience roared with laughter upon hearing that. Having reached the finals, many people have obviously walked out of the shadows of their defeat, and have completely immersed themselves into enjoying the process of combat.
In viewing gallery, Vladimir reacted with a faint smile, before shaking his head. Barran was an extremely outstanding soldier, and was progressing extremely rapidly in terms of strength. With the skyrocketing speed of his progression, who knew how much he had improved over the past few days! This freshman definitely had the capability to hold his own against the ordinary mainstays of S+ powerhouse squadrons.
However, everyone seemed to have forgotten that the Mo Family was once Earth’s strongest defenders!
At this moment, both parties had already walked up the stage. As though everyone had wasted too much energy shouting and cheering earlier, or being influenced by the tranquil auras radiating from the 2 heavy soldiers on the stage, the noisy stadium started to gradually quieten down. Although the hum of voices was still present, there were much fewer shrieks and shouts coming from the audience.
Standing on the stage, the noisy hums of voices coming from the surrounding viewing galleries have completely disappeared from Barran’s world. In fact, he felt as though his surroundings had turned incomparably silent. Earlier in this CHF, he had met Mo Zhong in the Grozny Compet.i.tion Zone. During that time, he had felt that Mo Zhong was incomparably tall and large, and stood in a realm he could never reach, to the extent that he had felt feelings of wors.h.i.+p form in his heart. Thinking back to his journey to the CHF finals, he was still unable to execute even the most fundamental heavy soldier techniques just over half a year ago! At that time, he had just entered the academy. However, at this moment, he was actually standing at the largest stage possible for the youth of Federation to stand on! This was the finals of the CHF! Under the focus of the entire world, he was about to square off against such an outstanding heavy soldier, with the outcome directly affecting the final victor of this match. This was basically a dream to him!
Ba-dump, ba-dump…
The pounding of his heart reverberated through his consciousness, beating at a rate far quicker than usual. Barran was a little surprised by this. Having experienced so much, he had believed that he would no longer feel as nervous any more, as he was already able to control his own emotions. Nevertheless, why was his heart beating so quickly?
No, this wasn’t nervousness.
Barran felt that this rapid beating of his heart was different from the nervous pounding caused by his former fl.u.s.tering on stage. At this moment, despite his heart beating extremely quickly, he felt incomparably stable, and filled with incomparable strength, and incomparable…excitement!
This was excitement! And the desire to cross hands against an expert, as well as obtaining victory through combat!
This was his heartfelt voice of wanting to become stronger!
Barran took a deep breath and closed his eyes. As he did so, he slowly retracted his mind and spirit, causing the sounds of his rapidly beating heart to vanish. In the next instant, the sounds from the stadium flooded his ears.
“Humm humm humm humm….
“Go go, Barran! Go go, Tianjing!”
Among the low whispers of discussion that flooded the stadium were the shouts and cheers from several Tianjing and Barran fans.
The G.o.d of war had descended!
Barran’s eyes suddenly snapped open. As he focused his mind, all of the small thoughts that had filled his mind when walking up the stage instantly disappeared. A ferocious aura proceeded to surge out of Barran’s body, while he gave a fierce clench of his fists. Having completely recovered, he would take the first duel for Tianjing!
Filled with surging power and blooming willpower, the completely recovered Barran was about to fight the apex of all fights in the finals! Having acc.u.mulated his power for a long time, it exploded out from his legs. Soul Power surged out from his entire body, turning into something akin of heavy armour, while his entire body expanded in size.
A faint smile appeared on Mo Zhong’s face. Sweeping his left leg back slightly, he drew a semicircle on the ground. Nevertheless, there wasn’t any terrifying aura, nor was there any surge of unique power. The only thing he did was to raise his hand, before it appeared as he had become a part of nature!
This? Was this stance from the Mo Family’s hidden martial arts? Although he didn’t appear one bit ferocious, everyone felt as though they were seeing an extremely calm and tranquil lake! Furthermore, his grasp of opportunities was basically spot-on!
Just as he entered his stance, Barran had already rushed over.
BANG!
A loud bang rang out, as the ma.s.sive collision caused the entire stage to shake. Countless rock chips shot through the skies, while a ma.s.sive shockwave rippled in all directions, smas.h.i.+ng fiercely against the surrounding defensive barrier. Although there was no damage to the barrier, the frightening bang and tremor still frightening quite a lot of people in the audience.
An energy wave visible to the naked eye expanded out rapidly from the collision, before the clas.h.i.+ng of Soul Powers caused lightning bolts to arc across the dome-shaped defensive barrier, creating an awe-inspiring spectacle. Narrowing his eyes, Barran sucked back all of the Soul Power radiating from his body, before unleas.h.i.+ng it once again.
Leaning Landside!
Mo Zhong was knocked 5-6 metres back as Barran ploughed forward for the second time like a rampaging excavator. As he continued to unleash his might, he, who was in tip-top condition, felt his entire body rippling with energy. Now, he wanted to smash his opponent apart!
Mo Zhong continued to maintain a stable stance in the face of Barran’s attack, and he responded by opening his hands wide. However, in the next second, for some peculiar reason, Barran’s Leaning Landslide appeared to smash into an obstruction composed of the same kind of compounded strength! Did his opponent know how to unleash a 2nd drive?
Nevertheless, Barran did not show much hesitation before unleas.h.i.+ng another attack. Seeing this, Mo Zhong’s eyes flashed with brilliance, as he raised his hands and patted down onto Barran’s shoulders. Upon contact, circular arcs exploded downwards, causing Barran to feel as though his 2nd drive had sunk straight into cotton!
In the next second, Mo Zhong’s entire body smashed right into Barran. BANG…
Appearing to lose his centre of gravity, Barran immediately fell onto the ground.
Mo School’s Cotton Hands + 8 Extremes Collapse!
An expression of confidence filled Mo Zhong’s face. Although this move might be useless against other people, it was a different case against this tactless Barran. In terms of combat techniques, their Mo School was the ancestor of all combat techniques!
He had used his opponent’s 2nd drive against him, before using Cotton Hands to break him. His counter attack was made even stronger with the addition of the 8 Extremes Collapse, making it possess life-rending might, that was further strengthened with his acc.u.mulation of power and revolutions. Indeed, he was the weak link within the Mo Family. However, among the heavy soldiers of this CHF, Mo Zheng was ranked number one or two in terms of combat technique precision. As for Barran, who was type of heavy soldier who did not possess any divine talent, how could he match up to Mo Zheng in st.u.r.diness and toughness?
The 2 heavy soldiers proceeded to duke it out in the most primitive form of flesh to flesh combat, as well as the collision of 2nd drives. The defensive techniques that Barran excelled in were considered merely as fundamentals in Mo Zhong’s eyes. Mo Zhong was the only orthodox heavy soldier within the Heaven’s Fate squadron. Being a blue-collar existence, he was required to be able to endure various kinds of attacks, and be capable of taking beatings. Therefore, Mo Zhong was definitely qualified to be a first rate fighter. Barran’s entire moveset was only limited to his Leaning Landslide, defensive combat techniques and his Gravitational special ability, which didn’t even pose a threat to Mo Zhong.
Barran was completely suppressed by Mo Zhong in all aspects. In the contest of 2nd drive usage, Mo Zhong clearly had the upper hand. In fact, throughout their fight, both heavy soldiers did not use any more complex killing moves or special abilities. Instead, both of them relied purely on their fundamental strength and willpower! Although Barran was extremely persistent, Mo Zhong was keeping up with the same level of perseverance, showing a thirst for victory no less than the former.
This time, Barran did not explode with a divine-like level of willpower. Under the cheering of the entire stadium, the 2 of them duked it out for over 20 minutes. Finally, relying on a more precise control of his combat techniques, Mo Zhong finally triumphed over Barran, and obtained the first duel victory for Heaven’s Fate.
In terms of toughness, the Mo Family would dominate the top 10 percentile of the Federation. Thinking about the Heaven’s Fate squadron, they would definitely have done an extremely detailed a.n.a.lysis towards Barran’s strengths and specialties. Furthermore, there was no presence of any provocation or intention directed at Barran, and Mo Zhong had also suppressed the rebounding all-out style Tianjing was now renowned for. The genuine “all-out” and the so-called “life-risking all-out” were 2 different concepts. Without the stimulus from the external world, Barran was indeed unable to create any miracles.
Without a doubt, Heaven’s Fate had handled this matter better than any other squadron, by not underestimating their opponent’s emotions in any way. The reasons why mankind, though weak, was able to govern the entire world, wasn’t due to the strength. It was the truly frightening power that mankind could unleash with their souls once their bottom lines had been crossed.
A genuinely strong squadron would need to be able to control their opponents’ emotions, as well as their weaknesses.
Be it the Heaven’s Fate or Tianjing supporters, all of them knew that the key factor towards victory didn’t lie in this duel. Nevertheless ,the Tianjing supporters felt slightly regretful, as there were so many good chances in this duel. However, there was really no hope. Mo Zhong wasn’t weak. He was just being overshadowed by the radiance of the other Mo Family experts.
Without much hesitation, Tianjing had already sent out their selection for the 2nd duel, Emily.
“It’s that little la.s.s from a.s.sa.s.sin.”
“I feel that she’s a little too weak. In fact, even though she’s not w.a.n.g Zhong or Grai, Tianjing could have let Scarlet out to give it a go, right? Her performance in the semifinals was something truly inspiring.”
“f.u.c.k… Heaven’s Fate is actually fielding Napier Mo?”
It was yet another arrangement that was impossible to understand! This left the Skylink and the entire stadium dumbfounded.
According to reason, there was utterly no need to use a trump card like Napier Mo to deal with Emily. The half closed-ranged, half long-ranged Mo Shang was more than enough to handle her. After all, Emily’s performances in this CHF could only be cla.s.sified as being in the middle of the pack.
On the Heaven’s Fate side, Napier Mo, who had been arranged by Mo Wen to handle the 2nd duel, was now feeling rather helpless. Frankly speaking, he really did not like fighting against women, especially those that had an obvious disparity in strength when compared to him. Bullying women like that was a disgusting thought for him. Nevertheless, he had no choice, as Mo Wen’s words were akin to an imperial edict within the Heaven’s Fate squadron. Who knew what his big boss was thinking?
Upon seeing their opponent’s choice, Emily, who was usually cool-headed, could not help but feel a wave of anxiety surge within her. During this CHF journey, she had experienced and learned a lot along the way. Although she was still unable to come up with any brilliant performances, nor was she able to transform like Barran and Scarlet, she had gradually become more mature as time pa.s.sed. This made her believe that there would be no opponent out there who would be able to faze her anymore. However, she was now about to go up against the person that had just been crowned as the king of a.s.sa.s.sins and the number one a.s.sa.s.sin of the CHF a few days ago…
With a smile, w.a.n.g Zhong patted Emily’s shoulder and said, “Don’t be nervous. Just enjoy the stage of the finals.”
Hearing that, Emily nodded her head, before taking a deep breath. w.a.n.g Zhong’s words were always rather useful to her. That’s right! Enjoy the finals! Regardless of victory or defeat, it was alright to just give her all! What if she was able to create a miracle?
Walking up the stage, Emily took her position with crossed arms. Opposite him, Napier Mo wore a clown-like smile on his face, while continued to pinch the exaggerated clown nose that he wore. Furthermore, he started to run chaotically around the stadium, joke about with the audience, while making “du du” sounds. He really was enjoying this finals!
Throughout all of these, Emily’s eyes were locked onto each and every movement Napier Mo made. However, despite those actions being completely unrelated to combat, she was able to spot how terrifying they were. Before the finals, she had watched the movements Napier Mo had made during his fights countless times in an attempt to understand those swaying movements of his. Although they were chaotic, devoid of rhythm and possessing a carefreeness that could not be predicted, they were actually able to tie in nicely alongside the movements he had shown in combat.
What kind of person could fuse their training completely into their daily life?
The fundamentals of an a.s.sa.s.sin lay in speed, ferocity and precision. It was utterly unacceptable to forcefully learn such a fluttery type of movement. However, he was actually able to incorporate this training into his basic movements… The only thing that could be said was that he had fused the fundamental way of an a.s.sa.s.sin into his very being! At this moment, he could no longer be cla.s.sified under the faint concept of “speed, ferocity and precision”!
Although his casual movements appeared to be filled with loopholes, his opponents would only discover that it possessed no weaknesses at all when launching attacks at him. This was something that people would not be able to learn at all! The real terror was the shape edge hidden in the darkness, as well as the ability to obscure his opponents’ predictions!