Semifinals (2)
The semifinals opened with the match between the United Kingdom and Japan.
Ten o'clock in the morning.
The entirety of South Korea's national team had gathered inside an enormous VIP room.
Since simply watching a match of this caliber was training in its own right, the team had decided to gather, watch the broadcast, and break it all down together!
"Whoa, the UK's roster is straight-up insane?"
"Japan's pretty crazy too, but honestly? Nobody can touch Britain."
"They didn't win three straight league titles for nothing, huh?"
Japan fought alongside the United States for the world's number two and three spots, but against the UK there was yet another enormous gulf.
And to grasp that gulf, all you had to do was look at the very top of each nation's roster.
1. World Rank 1 — Rachel Rose
2. World Rank 6 — Olivia Abernathy
3. World Rank 7 — Gareth Bale
Britain fielded not one but three single-digit rankers.
Three of the ten finest players on the planet!
And Japan, by comparison?
1. World Rank 2 — Yoshida Hikaru
2. World Rank 14 — Shirato Sakura
3. World Rank 30 — Takahashi Shusuke
The difference in weight class made itself felt already.
Shusuke in particular was someone they had crossed once before, in the exhibition match.
Our monster of a guild master flattened him, didn't he.
But then again, Japan is strong for exactly one reason.
Not so different from why Korea is strong, really.
That was simply the nature of a tournament.
Whatever the roster looked like...
...this was a format where it was enough for the single strongest player to carry the line.
And Japan had that man.
Yoshida Hikaru.
A prodigy of control.
A man famed far and wide for a peerless gift — understanding summons and worming into every gap they left open.
In the end, this fight comes down to how long Hikaru can hold.
More precisely: whether Hikaru could punch through Rachel — or not.
"Everybody grab an iced americano and enjoy the show!"
The player who had gone out to buy the coffee was Hwang Jiwoo.
Perhaps she felt guilty about not having played so much as a single match since the Battle Royale?
She was certainly being remarkably accommodating toward her guildmates.
"Whoa, where'd you even find these?"
"Tell me about it — it's hard to find anywhere in London that sells iced americanos."
"Thanks, I'll enjoy it."
Hwang Jiwoo flashed a bright smile as she watched the cups pass around.
"Every franchise has them. Oh — here! Guild Master, yours is the biggest!"
They were not, in fact, all identical.
For Baek Jinwoo alone, she had placed a special order: the big-big size.
"Me... why?"
"Obviously! You're our big boss!"
Was this endearing, then?
The moment the other guild members stole a glance at her, Jiwoo's face scrunched into a scowl.
"What! What now! I stood in line and bought these with my own money! If you've got complaints, go buy your own!"
Ah.
So she hadn't been accommodating at all. She'd been feisty.
Young as she was, the girl wore a prickly pout and said every last thing on her mind.
"N-no, it's nothing."
"We were just looking. What's the fuss?"
"No complaints here, sis!"
The guild members, cold sweat streaking down their backs, hastily turned away.
"Thanks."
Baek Jinwoo accepted his cup with a smile.
It seemed to be her own particular way of saying thank you, and honestly, the heart behind it was admirable.
"All right, all right — it's starting!"
"Who's up first?!"
Every guild member wore an expression of keen interest.
Baek Jinwoo likewise dragged his chair in close and turned his full attention to the screen.
As expected.
The match was white-hot.
And London's fever boiled right along with it.
"Olivia! Olivia!"
"Win it! Pound that upstart Hikaru into the dirt!"
"WAAAAAAAH!"
Even inside a VIP room with respectable soundproofing, the cheers from beyond the walls thundered loud enough to ring through the glass.
Both nations had led off with their lower-ranked players.
Not that "lower-ranked" meant much — even Korea's lower tier was stacked with top-rank-caliber players.
Everything, after all, was relative.
Several matches went by like that.
Then Olivia took the stage for Britain, and her solo rampage began.
The dark whips of her A-rank Judicator tore into the chests of Japan's rankers and blew their morale to smithereens.
Then she called her finisher.
Lightning Strike
JUDICATOR — FINISHER
KZZZZRAK!
When the Judicator's finisher, Lightning Strike, came crashing down, every summon on the field locked up mid-motion, electrocuted.
And in the same breath—
THWUK!
—the flying whip drove into a vital point and dropped the victim's HP straight to zero.
Olivia Abernathy is off on yet another win streak!
Incredible control! That Judicator looks to be a whole class above any I've ever seen!
The Judicator was a rather famous PVP-exclusive summon.
That was why it only surfaced in fits and starts even at the World League — and why it carried a monstrous price tag.
But the Judicator Olivia wielded was on a different plane entirely.
What runes she had socketed into it, nobody could say — it was fast, it was brutal...
...and her control of it was beyond category.
As expected, Japan is helpless before Olivia.
Is this truly going to be settled at the Olivia line?
The first match in history to end without Rachel ever taking the field?
The British broadcast desk was beside itself.
The players themselves were so overwhelmingly strong that everyone knew Britain would win regardless...
...but wouldn't a more dramatic victory make the national pride swell that much sweeter?
In other words, if Olivia swept the entire opposition, the world rankings would reshuffle the moment the league ended.
World Rank 1 — Rachel Rose.
World Rank 2 — Olivia Abernathy.
Something like that.
Britain was painting exactly that picture — but Japan wasn't about to sit still and let it happen.
Next up is Yoshida Hikaru!
One of the Five Emperors!
That's right! Japan's true final boss finally takes the stage!
Step, step.
One of the Five Emperors.
A Japanese man with a smoothly chiseled jawline walked out onto the stage.
Finally.
Baek Jinwoo's eyes lit up as he leaned in.
Big Bro Sugoi.
He had watched Hikaru on video plenty of times, but this was his first look at this year's Hikaru.
On the ranked ladder, best decks turned over constantly.
The Hikaru of the past and the Hikaru of today might as well have been two different beings.
Unless you held EX-rank summons like Baek Jinwoo, or S-ranks like Rachel, raising nothing but A-ranks meant raising them in endless numbers and assembling your deck to fit the matchup — that was the orthodox play.
So what did he bring this time?
Whoosh!
Hikaru extended his arm, and a summon appeared.
The commentary team pounced on it instantly.
The Tai Chi Girl! The A-rank Tai Chi Girl!
A tank, yes? A martial-artist summon built on China's Tai Chi!
Calling her just a tank is a bit reductive. More precisely, you'd call her a bruiser! The Tai Chi Girl Hikaru fields packs plenty of damage too!
Hoh.
Baek Jinwoo's eyes gleamed.
A wind-attribute Tai Chi Girl, hm.
Back in Battle of Summoners, he recalled, Sugoi had run that combo all the time.
Which means...
Baek Jinwoo called the next summon on the spot.
Wind Archer.
Yes, the next summon is the Wind Archer! A wind-attribute archer summon! Is he planning to paper his entire lineup in wind?
No — as if.
Baek Jinwoo smirked.
Neither the Tai Chi Girl nor the Wind Archer made for a true damage dealer.
They had exactly one job.
Herding.
To forcibly round up all five enemy summons into a single kill zone...
...you needed a fire-attribute summon with a high damage multiplier.
Wind. Fire.
How beautifully those two attributes married was something every Battle of Summoners veteran knew by heart.
And the finest fire-attribute summon he knew of was—
A Phoenix! It's a Phoenix!
Hikaru summons a Phoenix!
"What the hell?!"
Hong Ari shot to her feet. Never in her wildest dreams had she expected Hikaru to field the same species of summon she herself relied on.
"Watch closely."
Baek Jinwoo murmured, "We're about to broaden our education in how a Phoenix can be played."
Gulp.
Hong Ari swallowed hard.
And then—
KWA-GA-GA-GA-GA-GA!
The full-blown duel between Olivia and Hikaru erupted.
"Die!"
The instant Olivia shrieked it, the Judicator vomited forth its lightning.
KZZZZZZT!
A savage bolt of unmistakably high voltage came tearing toward the Tai Chi Girl.
"Kgh—!"
The Tai Chi Girl looked certain to slip aside with one light step — but the whip bent like a striking snake, and the blow connected after all.
SPLURT!
Blood burst forth.
In moments, the Tai Chi Girl was painted red.
And yet.
"HRAAAAH!"
The Tai Chi Girl, yin and yang churning in her two palms, dug in with a roar and weathered the attack.
She was shoved back all of two steps — but she did not fall.
At the same time.
THWIP!
The Wind Archer drew and loosed; an arrow of shapeless wind flew.
"Damn it."
Olivia's eyes went wide.
Countless hours of training had already mapped out this exact play — she had seen even this coming!
"Judicators!"
Olivia fielded three Judicators in all.
The two on standby kicked off the ground and charged forward together.
I cannot let that arrow through.
The Wind Archer's arrow unleashed a monstrous suction, dragging every body back to its landing point... but its weakness was plain as day.
The arrow itself carried a measly 1/1 HP!
Which meant...
...all she had to do was find the arrow itself and swat it out of the sky.
SHWEEEEE!
The instant the Judicator caught the arrow's killing edge and whipped its weapon, time slowed to a crawl for both players.
Monstrous concentration!
Just as the Judicator's lunging whip moved to neutralize the wind arrow, the arrow's trajectory twisted.
Hikaru's control.
Not on my watch!
Eyes blazing wide, Olivia clamped her weight down through her left foot.
The whip's arc bent to match.
Swish!
But the arrow curled right back onto its original line, matching her once more.
Unbelievable. That was a feint?
Olivia reeled.
She could wrap her head around a swordsman throwing a body feint — but an archer faking an arrow's flight path?
That was control of the very highest order — true mastery of the bow.
But Olivia still had one more Judicator.
Which was exactly why she'd held that whip in reserve, swinging it a deliberate half-beat late.
SHWEEEEE!
The rear Judicator's whip met the wind arrow head-on.
PWAK!
The arrow burst apart in a single stroke.
Got it!
Olivia screamed her triumph inside her own skull.
For the first time, she had stopped an attack from Hikaru himself — the man famous the world over for his control.
And the wind arrow burns through a full 70% of MP. A finisher among finishers.
That Wind Archer had outlived its usefulness.
And that meant?
This time... I might actually win!
Hunger flared in Olivia's eyes.
But.
WHIIIIIIIR!
It was at that very moment that a raging vortex began to spiral up in the heart of Olivia's formation.
"What—?"
Her head whipped around.
A second wind arrow was planted in the ground directly behind her.
"H-how?!"
There could be two wind arrows?
She stared at Hikaru with eyes blown wide as lanterns — and found him smirking, waving at her.
"Bye-bye, Olivia."
And beside him stood yet another Wind Archer.
That dirty son of a—!
He had brought two extra Wind Archers in case his first arrow got blocked!
SHWOOOMP!
The vortex surging up from the wind arrow began dragging all five of Olivia's summons inward.
And then, one after another—
"HRAAAAAAAH!"
The Tai Chi Girl drove her gust attack into the crush.
The final touch.
"KYURURURURURURU!"
The Phoenix breathed fire into the heart of it all.
FWOOM, FWOROOROOSH!
The pillar of flame — blistering to begin with — rode the wind attribute and swelled to insane size.
And naturally.
The HP of Olivia's summons drained away in vast, unbroken chunks.
One single move.
That one move of difference had cost her a staggering fortune!
As expected of Hikaru.