Vanguard of the Eternal Night

translator: xiin

editors: bear & celtic

Survival Mode + Volcanic Map = Bloody Slaughter Arena

The entire match ended in under five minutes and gave everyone a huge thrill.

Both teams switched constantly between attacking and defending, and it was difficult to determine victory or defeat. It was an abnormally intense fight right from the start with everyone fighting for their lives, and the ultimate conclusion was revealed only at the very end. Lord Four finally managed to flip the tables with critical HP levels, completely broke limits, and obtained victory in a 1vs2 situation!

The audience hadn't even dared to blink as they watched, and were both delighted and satisfied. They were still immersed in Tyron's stunning final performance and wanted more even after the match was over.

.

The score was now 2:0, and the winner had been determined.

Although Heaven's Inquiry lost, they felt like it had been a very satisfying match!

They had done their best and had held nothing back. They had performed at their peak several times during the matches and didn't blame themselves despite their loss. Instead, they raised their heads proudly towards the cheering audience.

Headed by their captain, they went to where Seven Kills was standing and shook hands with their opponents one by one, occasionally even exchanging a brief comment or two.

The two commanders and captains exchanged hugs, and Heaven's Inquiry's captain said, "Congratulations on winning the championship! But don't slack off - we'll fight again during next year's competition!"

Seven Kills' captain replied, "We graciously look forward to entertaining you again."

.

Countless fireworks burst out both on stage and behind the scenes.

The A-League Team Competition's final match reached its conclusion, and soft background music began to play, slowly transforming into the A-League's grand theme song during the host's excited and passionate speech.

As was customary, the audience stood up and gave them an enthusiastic round of applause.

The public screen spontaneously filled up with countless comments congratulating the champions on their victory. There were even some self-organized groups that sang the Seven Kills Team' theme song, as well as those who used waving neon glow sticks to form Seven Kills' team emblem.

Amidst the thunderous applause, singing, and cheering, Heaven's Inquiry was smiling as they returned backstage while the winner Seven Kills remained on stage, waiting for the special guest to come up.

The special guest for this year was an e-sports veteran who had retired three years ago. He was also the competitor who had represented the Earth District and gone the furthest in the A-League's Regional Competition.

When Seven Kills' captain received the trophy from his hands, he was so excited that tears filled his eyes. The pride he felt in his chest could only be expressed by kissing the trophy fiercely, and his front teeth even left a dental print on the pure gold cup!

And then, the captain trotted across the stage, so excited that even the host was unable to stop him as he went all the way up to the coach and pushed the trophy into his arms. He then gave the coach a hard kiss, "Thank you, coach!"

The coach was in shock.

Everyone except for Tyron was equally excited, and the gazes they used to look at the captain was like the amiable gaze a father would use towards his mentally handicapped son as they pounded their own chests and demanded, "Me too, me too!" They also wanted to touch the trophy!

But the captain's brain was currently full of nothing but joy and excitement!

One by one, he gave each of his teammates a bear hug and a kiss!

…… When he finally stood in front of Tyron, the latter held up a hand, patted him on the head, and then firmly pushed him away.

.

The captain was still cheerful as he accepted the host’s microphone and turned to the audience, “I want to thank the coach for all his hard work!”

He turned to the coach and said, “Thank you to our support. The second game was really hard on you!”

Coach: “???”

The captain then turned to their support and said, “Thank you to everyone in the audience who loves us, we love you too!”

Support and audience members: "???"

He turned to their tank and held his face between his hands, sobbing as he said, "Thank you to our parents who have always been supporting and encouraging us…. Wuwuwu! Mom! We're champions!"

The tank was very nervous, "Captain, calm down a bit, captain! I'm a man!"

The captain then let him go and turned his head towards Tyron, "Okay, dad! Thank you, dad!"

Tyron: "…"

The captain really became incoherent when he was excited. The audience was about to keel over from laughter, and spoke up on the public screen one after another: "Hahahahaha, the only one he didn't address wrong was 'dad'!" "Good son! Lord Four didn't look out for you in vain!" "Dad, bring me to win the championship, too!"

.

Everyone on the scene gathered together to form a sea of joy.

The host came forward to ask the captain a few more questions, such as why they had decided to protect Lord Four during the second game, how they had arranged some key releases of their ultimate moves, their main line-up, strategy, and a few other tactical questions.

The atmosphere was very warm and enthusiastic, and every time the captain offered up an answer, the audience below would call out, "How amazing! Ahhhh!" "Strength and wisdom work together hand in hand!"

The host then asked the players a few questions.

When she finally walked over to Lord Four, she was extremely apprehensive inside. Her palms were covered in sweat as she asked nervously, "Lord Four, it's now time for your question!"

Everyone was nervous, fearing that this noble and distant War God would continue to ignore their mortal selves.

But Lord Four didn't seem to show much of a reaction, and the host hurriedly asked, "May we know what your Game ID is?"

Tyron thought about it for a second.

The host immediately became anxious, "Lord Four, you can't refuse to answer! The anonymity rule is valid until the championship, which is why you could keep the number '419'. But you're already the champions now, and can no longer remain anonymous!"

Tyron made a sound of acknowledgement and then displayed his name card.

A name box appeared in the empty air beside him. It contained his Game ID: Odin.

……

Whoa, the audience was thrilled.

The comments on the public screen were excited, and also a little poignant:

"Hahahahaha I've liked male god for three months, and I finally know his ID!!!"

"War God! War God Odin!"

"The empty space on the War God pillow can finally be filled in, wuwuwuwu, but when will I be able to fill in the face! bursting out into tears.jpg"

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After asking the players a few more questions about the game, the host allowed them to withdraw.

After playing two thrilling games, the players were actually exhausted. They were only able to hold on by borrowing strength from the joy of winning the championship and were practically bouncing as they jumped down from the stage.

Before stepping down, Tyron looked back at the audience.

Everyone in the audience became very excited due to his actions. There were a series of shrill screams "Yeahhhhhh!" as they tried to catch his attention--Although they didn't know who their male god was turning his head back to look at, perhaps he might notice them too!!

But in fact, Tyron was looking for Little Vic.

And he'd found him in the instant he looked back.

It seemed as though god's hand pulled the hazy obstructions away and allowed his eyes to rest on him in that instant. The colors of everything else in his field of vision suddenly faded away.

Victor had always been watching him, and only him.

He had always considered everyone and everything to be beneath his notice, but now he was turning his head back for Victor alone.

.

Tyron went backstage. Seven Kills' team members were all packed together in a huddle around the trophy.

The team members were ecstatic and were talking about having a rare get together in the real world to have hot pot or something that evening.

They jumped up and down excitedly while they chatted, rather like a group of hairy monkeys as they let out roars of joy from time to time, plucking at each other's clothing and wrestling playfully together.

It had been a long time since the tournament started, and this was the most relaxing moment. The joy of being able to lift up the trophy in the limelight made them laugh uncontrollably and feel extremely proud at the same time--they were qualified to be on top of the whole world right now!

Tyron could understand their happiness: That was the joy and pride from obtaining glory that would naturally spring up in people who had been walking in the light ever since they were born.

"Congratulations. I have something to do tonight, so I won't attend." Tyron said, "Have a pleasant time in the real world."

The team members were usually very respectful towards Lord Four, and there was even a bit of fear and worship in their attitudes, like young children when they were faced with adults who had already achieved success and fame.

But who would remember what timidity was at this moment?!

They gathered around Tyron and laughed foolishly as they said, "War God! Give me an autograph!"

"Lord Four, can you write a message! I've wanted to ask you for a long time! In the future, I'll gain so much respect when I tell people that I won the same championship trophy as the War God!"

So, Tyron wrote messages for them one by one.

Some of them were normal, while others were rather unique.

Among them, their support actually asked him to write, "Wife, be good. Go to bed early so that you can get up early, and study hard."

"……"

Tyron looked very suspiciously at the 1.81 meter, rough and burly man who was their support player.

The man was a little bashful as he said, "My little sister is a little mischievous, but she likes you the most. Ever since you joined our team, she's been pestering me to get your autograph for a long time…"

Tyron's pen nib rested on the pink notebook for five full seconds before he finally overcame the psychological barrier and stiffly wrote out the sentence--He automatically omitted the word 'wife'.

Tyron: "…"

He didn't know why, but the master assassin actually felt as though something precious had been broken after he wrote the message…

--Was he eventually going to become a part of this group of unprincipled interstellar people?

……

No, he'd rather continue being an old antique.

.

While the players were already playing around, the coach was still being interviewed by the media on stage.

A reporter who had reached the late stages of curiosity cancer had already been thwarted for half a month, and his face was red and purple from frustration as he came up to ask, "Excuse me! Coach Qian! What exactly is 'Lord Four's tactics'!"

The coach lovingly caressed the trophy on the table, and laughed happily as he said, "Ah, Lord Four's tactics, didn't I tell you last time? It's to let Lord Four go on stage, and then wait for the opponents to withdraw on their own…"

"Pa!"

There was a loud noise. The reporter placed a watermelon on the table then didn't say another word as he pushed up his sleeves, raised his hand, and quickly chopped the watermelon into two halves!

The watermelon broke apart with a crack.

Bright red juice splashed everywhere!

The coach was also scared to the point where his composure cracked, "Wait! Dear reporter, if there's something you want to say, we can talk about it! I'm in! I'm all for it!"

"Lord Four's tactics is to give him the freedom to act, wuwuwuwu…" The coach cried, "Lord Four's reaction speed, resilience, and strategic planning ability far exceeds anyone else's ability to give on the spot commands or pre-game tactical set-ups. I usually just… just provide a tactical strategy for the other five people and then let Lord Four loose to… destroy the opposing team."

All the reporters' expressions froze a little from shock.

Although cases like these were extremely rare, it wasn't without precedent… right? So it turned out that Lord Four fell within the category of players that completely didn't require any command. It was very reasonable and logical and didn't seem surprising at all no matter how they thought about it.

…… But it still gave them a scare when they were suddenly told that this was the case!

After the reporters recovered from their shock, they quickly bowed their heads and immediately started taking down notes.

A reporter abruptly rushed over and waved his hands in excitement. After attracting everyone's attention, he cried out, "Big news! Lord Four's been blocked outside! It appears that a blood related younger sister has shown up with breaking news!"

xiin: that moment when Little Vic and Lord Four's gazes met… I WASN'T READY!!!