NOVEL NEXT Chapter 245: Match 2, Day 1
[Location: Zhonghua Zenith Stadium, Shanghai, China]
[Match 2 - Day 1]
[Fixture: USA vs Germany]
All of Day 1 games took place in the same stadium, the Zhonghua Zenith Stadium. And this time, it was USA vs Germany.
Japan vs France took place in the afternoon, and hours later, USA vs Germany arrived at the zhonghua zenith stadium to fight it out.
And like usual, the first thing was the opening ceremony.
This time, the performer was AURORA REX, the celestial-voiced, genre-bending superstar from Iceland.
As the sun dipped behind the steel sky of Shanghai, Zhonghua Zenith Stadium was awash in deep red and electric blue. Silhoutted against the horizon, an enormous mechanical phoenix soared above the crowd as the arena trembled.
AURORA REX, clad in a shimmering cloak of fiber optics, stood atop a floating gear-shaped dais. With haunting vocals and primal drums echoing across the skyline, she sang "Chains of the Sky," a soaring electro-symphony written just for the World Cup.
On the jumbotrons, visual projections depicted two nations rising from opposite ends of a fractured globe: USA's Avatars cloaked in rebellious fire, and Germany's warriors sheathed in icy precision.
Opposites. Fated.
"Let freedom clash with order! Match 2 begins… NOW!"
It started.
[LOADING…]
[FIRST ROUND: INDIVIDUAL BATTLES]
[USA – Blaze Reaper [Berserker] vs Germany – Eisenritter [Paladin]
The battlefield; Ruins of Brazis, is a crumbling jungle temple with collapsing floors.
Blaze Reaper, USA's most explosive DPS, entered like a thunderstorm, his two-handed axe crackling with heat, eyes burning with rage.
Eisenritter, a legendary German tank, stood like an iron fortress, greatshield raised, halberd ready.
The duel was brutal. Fast-paced.
Blaze Reaper crashed into him like a battering ram, chaining together berserk strikes and slams. But Eisenritter absorbed it all, reflecting damage with "Martyr's Aegis" and pinning Blaze down with Hammer of the Reich.
But then came the turn.
Blaze Reaper activated the Awakened level Berserker skill, Unyielding Flame at record activation time, stunning his opponent. It was a powerful skill that recharged abilities on HP drop.
With only 18% HP left, he exploded in a fury of flame, broke Eisenritter's shield with a seismic cleave, and finished him mid-roar.
---<VICTORY>---
[USA: 1 point]
[Germany: 0 point]
[USA – Robert Gunslinger [Launcher] vs Germany – Nachtwind [Assassin]
And finally, Dallas Rayne, USA's captain took to the arena for the first time.
It was a battle of steel to silence.
Nachtwind used an Awakened level skill from the onset, teleporting above the Launcher as he dropped from above like a phantom, dual daggers gleaming.
Clearly, the guy was a pro among pros.
But Dallas didn't flinch.
He responded, and a tactical slaughter followed.
Nachtwind used shadows like paint on a canvas, blinding behind, poisoning, stunning, disrupting devastating Launcher skills that required charging.
And yet, through it all, Dallas was calm, too calm.
Nachtwind realized it too late.
KABOOM!
Having been setting a trap for the Assassin since the beginning, knowing fully well how slippery and deadly Assassins could be, Dallas finally triggered his trap, unleashing a titanic explosion that used the volcanic terrain to his advantage, engulfing the Assassin entirely.
He didn't survive it.
But just before he died, Dallas still had type to send him off with a message.
["Skadoosh."]
'Ouch'.
---<VICTORY>---
[USA: 2 points]
[Germany: 0 point]
The third individual battle followed.
[USA – CypheX [Mechanic] vs Germany – RunegeiBt [Arcane Artificer]
Two masterminds. One battlefield.
It was war.
Turrets vs totems. Tech grenades vs runic traps. Drones swarmed.
The ground lit up in layers of radiant circuitry. The entire field looked like a computer motherboard in meltdown.
RunegeiBt's arcane engine nearly overloaded CypheX's defenses, until he rebooted mid-fight with "Overclock Protocol", an Awakened level Mechanic skill, and turned his sentry into a walking mech.
The final blow was a bomb, an EMP bomb.
CypheX overloaded his suit and used himself as an EMP bomb.
KABOOM!
---<VICTORY>---
[USA: 3 points]
[Germany: 0 point]
USA claimed a clean sweep in the individual battle round, against Germany!
This USA team was scary.
[LOADING…]
[SECOND ROUND: 3 VS 3 BATTLE RUSH]
[USA's Team:]
>Blaze Reaper [Berserker].
>Robert Gunslinger [Launcher] – Captain.
>Shadow Agent [Thief].
[Germany's Team:]
>Eisenritter [Paladin] – Captain.
>Nachtwind [Assassin].
>Himmellicht [Elementalist].
The first battle of the 3 vs 3 battle rush started, and it was a rematch from earlier sparring days on the pro scene.
It was Blaze Reaper vs Nachtwind.
Nachtwind opened fast; blinking, flanking, stunning. It was a crazy exchange across the first few minutes, but Blaze weathered the storm, and then he feinted a retreat.
As Nachtwind pounced, Blaze turned mid-step and spiked him with "Flame Maw Uppercut", catching him off-guard.
One down. But Blaze had only 22% HP left.
The second battle was Blaze Reaper vs Himmellicht.
This was pure elemental destruction. Himmellicht summoned thunderous clouds and layered storms. Blaze lunged, was slowed, frozen, zapped, but still charged through it all.
The crowd counted every step.
In a breathtaking moment, Blaze leapt through the final lightning storm… but a chain lightning spell hit his axe mid-air, electrocuting him on impact.
He fell inches from landing the final hit.
Himmellicht won, but he was at just 13% HP.
Next was Robert Gunslinger vs Himmellicht.
Against team USA's captain, the infamous gunslinging Launcher, the Elementalist stood no chance. Dallas blew away the remaining HP in one devastating attack.
And then came Robert Gunslinger vs Eisenritter.
With 100% HP and full buffs, Eisenritter tried to stall, but Robert Gunslinger was not patient enough to play the long game with his enemy.
He pulled out "Dawn's Apocalypze", an Awakened Launcher skill.
Two minutes later… one parry, one reflect, and one exploding ray did it.
---<VICTORY>---
[USA: 6 points]
[Germany: 0 point]
That was it… Germany was out.
A flawless victory for USA.
The Unites States team this year was different. They were ruthless, imperious, seemingly unplayable.
With that performance, they put themselves firmly among the favourites to win the Warstar World Cup this time around.
The final team battle was supposed to take place in the Shattered Vale map, a fractured mountaintop with floating islands, cascading waterfalls, and unstable platforms, but Germany never made it.
At the end of the game, America's bench exploded.
This time, they had a coach too.
Coach Rami was in tears. Fans from LA to Boston screamed through their screens. In the booth, Dallas Rayne grinned into the camera.
"Next stop, semis. You better be ready, China".