It didn't take long for the round of sixteen to start. The first match was already a highlight as Prime faced off against Evor4, the leader of Nestoros Gaming.
Those two even had some history together as Evor4 has publicly declared his admiration for Prime more than once.
But at some point Evor4 suddenly stopped, leading to rumours circulation constantly.
Some people speculated that those two had been together and quickly broken up again. Others said that Prime sent someone to beat up Evor4.
No matter the reason, since then those two didn't have much interaction. Now that they faced off against each other they only wore serious expressions. Evor4 knew that he couldn't lose this battle as the reputation of his guild was in the decline.
During the match Evor4 only had determination in his eyes. As a mage he did his best to constantly keep Prime at a distance. But Prime cleverly used the terrain to press her opponent into a corner.
Eventually Evor4 was forced into close combat. It all boiled down to a final showdown in which Evor4 managed to use his last bit of stance for a flash step while upholding his cast, which finally secured him the victory.
Prime's fans, including Cyclone and Balm, were understandably disappointed. This battle concluded Kings and Queen's run in the tournament. Their fans cheered loudly as a goodbye. Kings and Queens performed strongly in all three contests but couldn't actually secure a single title for themselves.
It was quite the letdown for the prestigious guild. But with the support of their fans they wouldn't despair and instead come back stronger. Prime especially felt like she had learned a lot watching the various classes and fighting styles.
Unfortunately, the tournament didn't stop just for Kings and Queens and quickly continued. In the next match Dragon of Time won against an assassin called Blankk, who surprisingly stemmed from an inconspicuous guild called Northern Light.
However, after making it this far in the tournament he was sure to receive countless tempting offers. It would be a surprising sign of loyalty if the man didn't change guilds afterwards.
Sadly, he was someone from the central star system, leaving all other guilds disappointed. The central star system had unearthed yet another monstrous talent while those outside remained empty handed.
Afterwards it was finally time for Silent Acacia to fight against Apollo. Throughout the fight Apollo maintained a perfect smile. As a hunter as well, he preferred a rather extreme path of maximizing damage within one attack.
Apollo used a few smaller skills to whittle away at Silent Acacia's HP and stance. During that phase of the fight Acacia tried his best to bring down Apollo but the man's movements were almost elusive, receiving almost no damage.
Finally, as Silent Acacia only had half of his HP left, Apollo unleashed a terrifyingly powerful arrow which drew a deep ravine in the ground. As the dust lifted there was no sign of Silent Acacia anywhere.
"He lost..."
Quickstep sighed, sadly staring at the arena floor. Just then Silent Acacia appeared next to her.
"Too powerful..."
"You did your best, babe."
Quickstep hugged her boyfriend, sharing the disappointment. Only as Silent Acacia recovered did she dare to joke around:
"And here I thought we would meet in semis, but you left me alone..."
"Well, as a good girlfriend it will be your duty to revenge your boyfriend."
"I swear upon my honour!"
The two looked at each other and smiled brightly. Silent Acacia could accept losing against Apollo. His comeback was largely successful. It was only a pity that TripleTurn was still in the tournament. Silent Acacia would have been happy if he could've advanced further than the members of TCTT.
Silent Acacia and Quickstep continued to joke around. They didn't even focus too much on the battle between Liam and Hydra, fully confident that their friend would win.
And this was exactly what happened. With a win against Hydra, Liam's fame only continued to grow. More and more people believed that he would be able to take the championship.
But Quickstep was a strong contender as well. Especially a while later when she managed to take down Conter, her chances grew strongly.
Soon, only the top eight remained.
Bleary Mirage. Quickstep. Apollo. Evor4. Dragon of Time. TripleTurn. ElfKing. Either Way.
Two players of Dream Avenue, three coming from the Big Five, one from Ouroboros, one from High Reign, and one from SenX.
These eight players stood out among billions with their names now known by everyone in the federation.
And yet only one of them could take the championship. Many people would rate the chances of Apollo and Bleary Mirage the highest. Thus, it was understandable that a shock ran through the entire federation as those two met in the first match of the next round.
And the shock only increased when Bleary Mirage won the match. And he even made it look easy!
All those arrows of Apollo which usually seemed as if they had heat seeking functions were easily evaded by Bleary Mirage. And once the two combatants were engaged in a melee, Apollo had almost no chance to fight back. His characteristic elusive movement failed in front of Bleary Mirage. It was almost as if Mirage knew all moves in advance.
When Liam reappeared among his friends after the fight, three identical exclamations reached him.
"You actually eliminated Apollo!"
However, the sentence was filled with three different emotions. Cyclone sounded sad and blaming. Silver Blade sounded astounded about the ease with which Liam won. And Silent Acacia sounded relieved and a bit thankful.
Liam was startled and only answered with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Sure."
"What sure? That's Apollo! You could've at least made it look difficult!", complained Cyclone, drawing laughter from those around her.
"To be honest, it was difficult even if it looked easy from the outside. Apollo is quite skilled. If he had access to flash step it would have been a real challenge."
Quickstep nodded, commenting:
"I fought him before. In my impression Apollo has always been the strongest. Facing him I have no confidence."
"True. Mirage might be the only one able to stop Apollo from becoming champion. Maybe we should take Mirage as our idol.", joked Balm.
"Of course. You should have done so long ago.", said Liam, causing everyone to laugh.
Throughout the conversation it was ironically Serena who didn't see Liam's win as something big. She only knew about Apollo from the few articles she read over the last few weeks. In her mind others were simply ignorant about her brother's skill, wrongfully regarding Apollo so highly.
Of course, nearly all the journalists throughout the federation would rip out their hair in frustration if they knew Serena's thoughts. If your brother is that great, he should have appeared sooner and let us know about it!
Right now, they were already setting up drafts reporting on the unbelievable match. Many even went further and contemplated what to write after Bleary Mirage achieved the championship.
Liam's victory brought a lot of pressure to his competitors but no one was ready to give up. If anything, they were only more motivated.
All the following matches were hard fought. The audience got to enjoy tense, head-to-head matches where all combatants showed absolute peak performance.
Eventually though only four people could advance, and they were Bleary Mirage, Quickstep, Evor4, and Dragon of Time.
Quickstep and Silent Acacia both were hit with a double joy as Quickstep won her match against ElfKing while their rival TripleTurn was eliminated by Evor4.
The matches of the final four were decided. Quickstep smiled wryly as she was up against Evor4, but she wouldn't hold back just because of this small favour.
First, however, it was Bleary Mirage against Dragon of Time. There was no surprise in the fight at all. Dragon of Time relied on his tricky spells, but Liam saw them coming far in advance. The match was completely one-sided leaving people to doubt Dragon of Time's skill.
Now people looked forward to the second match, hoping to see a thrilling fight.
Quickstep and Evor4 both were under a lot of pressure. Evor4 wanted to prove himself and uphold the reputation of his guild.
Quickstep on the other hand still had Silent Acacia's words ringing in her mind. All the time they joked about vying for second place. But the closer Quickstep got, the more the joke was about to turn into reality. Now she was only a single fight away from securing second place!
Both combatants were brimming with determination, making the fight truly spectacular. For a while it appeared that Evor4 held the upper hand. Quickstep's HP were running dangerously low.
However, the situation changed abruptly when Quickstep had finally produced enough storm. She used her ultimate skill to pressure Evor4, buying time to down a health portion.
Seeing Quickstep recover, Evor4 sighed inwardly. He didn't give up yet but from that point on Quickstep clearly dominated, her [Aspect of Storm] once again proving its power.
Finally Quickstep emerged victorious under incessant cheers from all around.