After this genuinely warm-hearted greeting, Happy and Heavenly Swords began their match.

This was Heavenly Swords' home game. Although they were a very distinctive team, just from the number of seats filled, it could seen that they weren't a particularly popular team right now. Even after one year in the Alliance, they weren't any better than Happy. In the end, strength was the most important thing in competition, and Heavenly Swords' strength was only about mid- to low-tier. Additionally, Heavenly Swords wasn't the only professional team in their home city. For many years now, City B was home to Tiny Herb, which was a team that was much more famous and had long established themselves as this city's symbol of Glory. Heavenly Swords was both a weaker and a later team, so it was very difficult for them to establish themselves here.

While they were preparing for this, they had billed themselves as a grassroots team, which made a lot of noise in game. But now everyone knew the truth. The only thing "grassroots" about Heavenly Swords was their strength. The five players were all from extremely rich families. Not a single hair on their heads was "grassroots."

Heavenly Swords wasn't too successful commercially, but no matter how senior or professional a Glory commentator was, they wouldn't casually try to judge the operations of a team like Heavenly Swords, which was formed by some people who played Glory themselves and invested their own money to form a team, even acquiring a stadium. Their beginnings were different, so it wasn't suitable to apply conventional logic to them.

But no matter what kind of background or what kind of business operations, when a team stood here, victory was everything. The players of both teams returned to their respective player areas, until only the first two players in the individual competition remained onstage.

Ye Xiu.

Sun Zheping.

"Not bad." Sun Zheping was very pleased with this matchup, and a fire ignited in his eyes.

He'd retired for many years, and then returned to this stage. This was all familiar to him, and yet foreign at the same time.

What was familiar was that, no matter what updates and upgrades there were, this was still Glory's battlefield, it was still the same 24 classes to slaughter.

What was foreign was that many people he had known in the past were no longer here. With every round of battle this season, all Sun Zheping saw were unfamiliar faces, including the people currently standing by his side. None of them were the Alliance of his memory, the teammates of his memory.

Characters as strong as iron, players like flowing water.

It's all in the past

This wasn't the first time this sigh had crossed Sun Zheping's mind. But now, in this moment, the one who stood before him on the battlefield - Ye Xiu!

Sun Zheping felt as though he were suddenly transported to those earliest seasons, with familiar people, familiar characters, familiar settings, familiar feelings.

"Let's begin!" Sun Zheping clenched his right hand into a fist, lifted it to his mouth, and blew inside.

In the past, this motion had been his habit, but many fans had now forgotten it. Even Sun Zheping himself hadn't revived this habit after his return. But now, after suddenly rediscovering this feeling of familiarity, this trademark motion naturally reappeared.

"Don't push yourself." Ye Xiu saw everything. He smiled, and entered the competitor booth.

The battle began.

Berserker Another Summer of Sleep, unspecialized Lord Grim, appeared at the two corners of the map.

When the map loaded, the audience was stunned.

This was Heavenly Swords' home game, they had the right to choose the map. For the individual battles, the maps were of course chosen by the battling player. And the map that Sun Zheping chose was the Arena, the map that was limited in size, with no obstacles or changing features. It was the same map that Ye Xiu had chosen in the match against Tyranny, when he completely defeated Zhang Jiale.

And now, Sun Zheping chose this same map to welcome Ye Xiu in a battle. Of course, he hadn't known beforehand that his opponent would be Ye Xiu, but the choice of this map still seemed like it was sending some message to Happy.

"What a"

Once they entered the map, Ye Xiu was about to send a message, but he'd only typed out two words before Sun Zheping's Another Summer of Sleep had already sprinted several steps forward, sending a Collapsing Mountain his way.

It was a very normal opening for a Berserker, but when Sun Zheping displayed this skill, something felt different about its momentum.

Why was that?

For someone like Ye Xiu, with many years of Glory experience, this wasn't enough to cause a doubt.

It was rhythm, Sun Zheping's rhythm, revealing this fierce and aggressive momentum. Ye Xiu had only typed two words before the light of the blade was already falling.

Ye Xiu could only switch his attention to controlling his character. Complain about the map choice? Sadly, Sun Zheping didn't give him this time.

When the Collapsing Mountain fell, Lord Grim had already rolled to the side. Without waiting, the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella opened to become a spear, slashing up with a Sky Strike. It seemed that this skill was a bit hasty, since Sky Strike had lesser priority than Collapsing Mountain. If these two skills met, Collapsing Mountain would shatter the Sky Strike.

But experienced Glory players could quickly realize that the timing of Lord Grim's Sky Strike was impeccable. It would hit the opponent exactly when Another Summer of Sleep's Collapsing Mountain hit the ground and ended, completely avoiding the system's determination of priority.

Unfortunately, Sun Zheping was one of these experienced Glory Players. The Collapsing Mountain, about to hit the ground, was suddenly twisted to the side.

Such a small twist didn't change the time difference between these skills, but it allowed the shockwaves from Collapsing Mountain head closer toward Lord Grim

The skill had reached its ending sounds, and Ye Xiu noticed this change, but there was no time to change his controls.

Collapsing Mountain hit the ground, and in this moment the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella lifted up in a Sky Strike.

Hit!

Another Summer of Sleep was sent to the air, but at the same time, Lord Grim was blown back.

Lord Grim was unable to dodge the shockwaves of Collapsing Mountain.

This was just two low-level skills, but they encompassed such a rich, exciting confrontation, completed in a rise and fall. Those with weaker eyes, whose skills weren't high enough, didn't even notice the precise timing of the Sky Strike or the urgent adjustment of Collapsing Mountain. Those who just treated this as a direct clash of two skills were, as the saying went, burning a piano for fuel and cooking a crane for meat.

Boom!

At this moment, there was another explosion between the two characters as they were pushed away. Lord Grim, knocked away by the shockwaves of Collapsing Mountain, shifted his Myriad Manifestations Umbrella into gun form and sent an attack toward Another Summer of Sleep. But Another Summer of Sleep immediately used a Blade Master's Guard, parrying the fired bullets with his sword.

"Your reaction's not bad!" This time, Ye Xiu had time to type out a message. This was a change of skill that only an unspecialized could manage, but Sun Zheping still managed to react in time.

"Don't push yourself." Sun Zheping didn't care if the time wasn't exactly right, he just shoved Ye Xiu's exact words from before the match right back at him.

"Not at all." Ye Xiu still sent a reply. As soon as Lord Grim hit the ground after the shockwave, he lifted a cold light and swept toward Another Summer of Sleep.

Assassin skill, Shining Cut!

In an instant, the distance that seemed to be growing between the two characters was suddenly shrunk again. And in this moment, Another Summer of Sleep was still rolling on the ground, a Quick Recover after being hit by Sky Strike.

Destruction Slash!

As Another Summer of Sleep stood up, he unleashed this Destruction Slash.

The Berserker was a wild and aggressive class, and the skills of this classes often had one characteristic: high priority.

The sub-level 20 skills of an unspecialized had no way of competing with the priority of a Destruction Slash. Lord Grim's rushed approach with a Shining Cut seemed more like he was delivering himself into the jaws of a tiger.

The Destruction Slash, carrying the Berserker's intent to kill, surged toward Lord Grim.

But Lord Grim's body vibrated, and a strong aura seemed to envelop his body.

Reinforced Iron Bones!

Lord Grim used this Striker skill now, meaning that he intended to take this Destruction Slash head-on.

The damage of a Destruction Slash wasn't very high, as it was more of an effect-inducing attack. Targets hit by a Destruction Slash would have a large reduction in defense, this was the so-called "destruction." So, taking a Destruction Slash wasn't just sacrificing some health, it also meant that in the next five seconds, the character's defense would be reduced by up to 70%. Classes with naturally high defenses were especially affected by this skill, which was why it was called a nightmare for high-defense classes.

Lord Grim's equipment was a chaotic mess, with no bonus effects from class armor, and the defense granted was all over the place, not following the logic of a single level. And now that he activated Reinforced Iron Bones, which raised his defense not by percent but by points. This, plus the chaotic defense of the character Lord Grim himself, and then reduced 70%, the question of what his defense would ultimately be after all of that was a complicated calculation

The audience didn't need to calculate, because once this attack hit, they could directly see the changes of the character's stats. And the pro players? With their practiced calculation ability, they could instantly grasp the effect on Lord Grim's defense after a points increase and a percentage decrease.

The end result: 7% reduction.

7% decrease in defense, ten times less than 70%. The effect of this Destruction Slash was basically negated by this Reinforced Iron Bones. But the Reinforced Iron Bones wasn't as simple as just increasing defense. In the 20 seconds of Super Armor after activating this skill, it also guaranteed that the character could unleash unreasonably strong attacks.

The Destruction Slash slammed down.

Lord Grim's body swayed slightly, but under Super Armor, this swaying was basically the extent of the effect of Destruction Slash's priority.

Lord Grim swung his fists, which clenched the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella, already shifted into two tonfas.

Straight Punch, Knee Attack, Uppercut, Qi Bullet

The combo attack was already unleashed, landing like raindrops upon the body of Another Summer of Sleep. Lord Grim's strengthened state exuded an intense madness, hardly below that of a Berserker

That's right If he weren't like this, how could he have broken our Blood and Blossoms combination all by himself back then?

As he watched Another Summer of Sleep suffer this succession of attacks, Sun Zheping rediscovered another familiar feeling of days gone by.