Chapter 174. They Shouted "Friendship" and "Bonds," Then Rushed In
The silent stands instantly turned boiling, and the ear-piercing cheers nearly blasted through the gym's roof.
Ever since Elysia joined Fantasyland Company, her daily blog posts had been full of Fantasyland topics, and quite a few were short clips of her pranking Old Thief Masato, which gradually earned her nicknames like "Fantasyland Bully" and "Fantasyland Poster Girl," with her popularity soaring along with them.
Now that they could see Elysia appear as the host, the audience was naturally full of delight.
"Everyone, did you enjoy the Legends' performance?"
She asked with a smile, and the response was even hotter cheers.
"Indeed, I was watching very intently just now too, and if the boss hadn't forced me to be the host, I might not have been able to resist rushing up to play with everyone~"
With a playful line, Elysia put on a mock-troubled shake of the head.
Standing below the stage, the cosplayers at the edges of the crowd also waved happily at the audience.
"Such a pity—though I'd love to chat more with everyone, the boss is already urging me~"
Pressing a hand over her in-ear monitor, she acted like she'd just received an order.
Very soon, a loud cry rang out from the stands.
"Down with Old Thief Masato!!"
"Down with Old Thief Masato!!"
"Down with Old Thief Masato!!"
At first it was just one or two echoing along, but before long the entire venue was ringing with the same chant, which made Elysia laugh to no end.
"Shh~ everyone, quiet down a little~"
Her voice seemed to have some kind of magic—clearly not very loud, yet it somehow made those rowdy spectators stop their noise.
She blinked at the audience and said with mock mystery, "Keep that sort of thing whispered under the table, okay? After all, Miss Pink Elf still needs the boss to pay her salary~"
The audience burst into laughter, and Elysia smoothly shifted gears.
"Then let's bring out today's competitors—please look forward to them~"
As her voice fell, a different, even hotter drumbeat kicked in.
Compared to earlier, it carried the rousing feel of warriors marching to war.
"Please welcome our first team: 'Follow Sirin's Stream, thanks, meow~'—by the way, is advertising like this really okay?"
Both on-site and in the livestream, the moment they heard that name the place turned into a sea of joy.
As the (totally not) official Fantasyland Company stream channel, Sirin was already an old acquaintance to these players.
Every day they reveled in calling her "Miss Pufferfish" and watching her adorably rage in helplessness.
"D-do we really have to go out first?"
Hearing the tidal roar outside, Kiana suddenly felt her legs go weak.
"M-Mei, could you give me a hand…"
"Mei?"
She whispered over her shoulder, but never got a response from Mei.
Puzzled, she turned around and found Mei stiff as a board, face blank, looking like her soul had floated who-knows-where.
"Mei, Mei!!"
She patted Mei's shoulder, and Mei snapped back at once, answering in a tense voice.
"Kiana, w-what is it?"
"...Nothing."
The pot shouldn't laugh at the kettle—Mei looked even worse off than she was.
"Stay behind me."
Sirin was actually on the verge of dying from nerves.
Her daily livestream pulled as many people as the on-site crowd if not more, but those were real people she had to face in person, not blobs of data through a screen.
But seeing how Kiana and Mei were, Sirin could only grit her teeth and take point.
As the first team on stage, she absolutely couldn't embarrass Xander.
"Let's go. Elysia-sis is calling us."
"Mm."
"Mm."
The three of them took deep breaths, lined up one behind another, and quick-stepped toward the stage.
As their figures gradually emerged from the players' tunnel, the central jumbotron began showing the team's info.
"Team Name: Follow Sirin's Stream, thanks, meow~"
"Captain: It's Sirin, Not a Pufferfish!"
"Member: Chizha Yuehai Yuyumao"
"Member: I Can Do Anything."
There were also their official photos attached.
Seeing three cute girls appear together, the cheers grew even hotter.
Kiana followed right on Sirin's heels, stepping out of the tunnel almost in lockstep.
The instant she crossed the threshold, she suddenly felt the world slow down, and the audience's excited shouts turned into a tangible tsunami that so easily drowned her solitary self, submerging her in a deep sea.
Her vision dimmed for a moment, her ears rang in a piercing buzz, and countless crimson gazes fixed on her.
All at once she felt she could no longer breathe—about to drown in this boundless ocean.
She didn't know how she made it onto the stage.
When she came back to herself, she found Elysia-sis smiling beside her, lips moving a few times before passing the mic to her mouth.
"..."
Her eyes went to Elysia-sis, then past her to the audience behind.
Up on stage, she could finally make out that "deep sea" from moments ago—faces sitting in their seats looking at her curiously, countless eyes fixed on her without malice, brimming only with joy and curiosity.
Oddly, her fear vanished.
Her body relaxed, she returned to her usual self, scratched her head a little sheepishly, and said, "What did you say again, Elysia-sis? I didn't catch that."
Elysia was speechless for a beat.
Even she was briefly thrown off by that play.
She kept a straight face and said coldly, "Oh? You dare tune me out while I'm talking? Your bonus this month is gone!"
"Eh? N-no, please don't, Elysia-sis, I was wrong, don't dock my bonus, I can do anything!!"
The audience burst into laughter as if watching a manzai routine.
[lol, elaborate on "can do anything."]
[She's pretty funny.]
[If I recall, she's Sirin's twin sister and also a voice actor at Fantasyland, and this time she voices Lifeline.]
[So Lifeline is voiced by this girl? Sounds pretty nice~]
Soon, after Kiana had openly bribed Miss Pink Elf and won back her bonus, Elysia turned the mic to the last of the three.
"Mei, does your team have a specific goal for this tournament?"
"Goal? That would be the championship."
Kiana's earlier "rolling around" had indirectly diluted Mei's nerves, making it easy for her to answer Elysia's question now.
"Wow, as expected of Mei—so fitting for such a domineering name~"
After a sweet line, Elysia faced the audience again.
"By the way, a quick intro—Mei is the assistant to the General Manager at Fantasyland Company~"
A chorus of astonishment rose from below, marveling at how young Mei was.
"So remember, players: if you make her unhappy, she might physically perma-ban your accounts!"
"I would never do that!!"
Mei laughed in exasperation and hurriedly protested.
"Saying you won't do it, not that you can't, hmm? My, how powerful you are, Miss Mei."
Unable to do anything about this mischievous Miss Pink Elf, Mei could only grit her teeth when Elysia scampered off, then follow Sirin to sit at their team's stations.
The stage had two tiers, each with ten seats, each seat fitting three players.
Sirin's squad naturally took the far-edge spot on the front row.
No one expected the very first team to bring so much entertainment, and the audience looked forward to the following teams even more.
Soon, famous singers and film stars took turns, along with mega-influencers with tens of millions—even over a hundred million—followers on social platforms, well-known directors, authors, and voice actors.
Anti-Entropy, Schicksal, and even Shencheng Tech joined the fun as well, each sending one team.
From Schicksal came Theresa, Cecilia, and Siegfried—one on either side of Cecilia, which made for quite the awkward vibe.
At Shencheng Tech, the lead was Kevin.
With a rare chance to "play on paid time," he looked genuinely happy.
As for Anti-Entropy—now that was outrageous.
When the audience saw Welt Yang, Tesla, and Einstein walk out from the players' entrance, every single one of them went wide-eyed.
Bro, seriously.jpg
You're for real?
Anti-Entropy's Sovereign, and Anti-Entropy's only two Chief Scientists.
For a moment the audience wondered if they were dreaming.
Even after their interviews ended and they took their seats, the crowd still looked stunned—especially Anti-Entropy employees in attendance.
Seeing their Sovereign cheerfully show up to play games gave everything a surreal feeling.
Speaking of which, Otto and Kallen had originally wanted to come too, but because of Theresa's situation, some parts of her treatment plan needed adjusting, so they had no choice but to sit this one out.
That left Kallen a bit dejected, and she complained for a long time on the phone to Xander, that likely future son-in-law.
Anti-Entropy's three big names sat at Seat 19, and soon it was the twentieth team's turn—the last team.
"My, my—who could possibly be coming out right after Mr. Welt Yang? It's sooo hard to guess."
Hearing Elysia's deliberately fawning tone, the audience laughed again.
Very soon, someone shouted, "Old Thief Masato!"
"Old Thief Masato!"
"Old Thief Masato!!"
The chant snapped together at once, and everyone in the venue—plus players outside who didn't draw tickets—started calling out the name of Fantasyland's founder.
"Ahem. It seems everyone is very clever. Without further ado, please welcome our final team!!!"
As her words fell, even the entrance BGM switched.
Amid the hottest cheers of the night, Xander Masato was the first to stride out of the player tunnel with a smile.
Behind him, Bronya and Kaguya also came out, smiling along.
The big screen showed the player info.
"Team Name: Titanfall"
"Captain: Jack Cooper"
"Member: Captain Tai Lastimosa"
"Member: Major Anderson"
The obviously unusual team name and the three players' IDs felt a bit pointed, but soon the audience's attention was entirely drawn to the man standing center stage.
"Good evening, everyone~"
Once on stage, Xander Masato immediately reversed roles, took the mic from Elysia's hand, and shoved the host aside.
He waved at the audience, and they unleashed their excitement without restraint.
What's so great about looking at women?
One Old Thief Masato beats them all!
With a slight bow to the audience, Xander Masato smiled and said, "I'm very happy that you like the games we make, and I truly hope these games bring joy to your lives."
"The results Apex Legends achieved this time honestly caught me a bit off guard. I'm no good at fancy words, so I'll just give each of you twenty loot boxes. Log in after the tournament ends to claim them. Once again, thank you all for supporting Fantasyland's games."
He knew well that a long string of thanks was useless.
Better to hand out some goodies.
"I love you, Old Thief Masato!!!"
"Sorry, I still prefer girls."
With a grin, Xander Masato passed the mic to Bronya and Kaguya.
As senior staff at Fantasyland, the players were naturally familiar with both.
And the looks, the figures, plus the competence—countless people envied Xander Masato to no end.
On the internet they often "held tribunals," and there was constant speculation about who the future "boss lady" would be.
Xander Masato felt those guessing were too shallow.
Why not choose all of them?
After a couple lines of thanks, Bronya and Kaguya followed his lead by adding ten more loot boxes each for everyone—forty boxes in total for all players.
Such generosity brought another wave of cheers.
Soon, Xander Masato took his seat with Bronya and Kaguya, and with that, all twenty teams (sixty players) were in place.
Staff rolled a table and an opaque box onto the stage and set them beside host Elysia.
"Hah, the mic is finally back in my hands. When the boss took it just now, Miss Pink Elf could only fume in silence~"
After a small joke to warm things up, Elysia continued.
"Alright, cutting to the chase—everyone should already be familiar with today's format. The modes for the first three games will be drawn from this opaque box. Watch closely—I absolutely won't cheat by picking modes that are bad for the boss just to laugh at him. I would never have such thoughts!"
Wearing a very serious little face, Elysia spoke with great conviction.
The broadcast director smartly switched the big screen to the camera at Xander Masato's seat.
Seeing his "toothache" expression, the crowd cracked up.
Very soon, Elysia reached into the box, and after a few seconds pulled out a little slip of paper.
"Let's see… Storm Point—Melee Only?"
Her eyes lit up, and she raised the slip with a heh-heh grin.
"The first match is decided—Melee Only, map Storm Point. No guns or ammo attachments will spawn on the ground, only Shield Batteries, Grenades, and Syringes. Players will enjoy a hearty brawl. Miss Pink Elf can't wait."
"Elysia-sis wouldn't really cheat, right?"
Hearing "Melee Only," Xander Masato frowned a little.
That was absolutely one of the worst formats for him.
"Who knows?"
Bronya flexed her fingers and twisted her body to warm up.
"Just have fun."
Kaguya didn't mind.
As long as she could play with her husband, she didn't care about winning or losing.
"True enough. It's only an exhibition."
The game began.
Bronya locked in Octane in an instant.
Xander Masato chose Pathfinder.
Kaguya thought for a moment, then took Lifeline for support.
In a fistfight match, looting didn't mean much.
The moment the dropship took off, Xander Masato, as jumpmaster, immediately dove.
Noticing the multicolored contrails behind them, he sucked in a cold breath.
"That many people?"
"Rotate?" Kaguya suggested.
"Deserting in the very first round would be too embarrassing," Xander Masato quipped helplessly.
"Enough talk. We're about to land and fight."
Right as Bronya finished speaking, nearly twenty people landed in the same spot.
The brawl began.
Packed tight like zombies swinging at each other, the crowd went blood-red in seconds—people so eager they looked ready to punch their own teammates.
Seeing the chaos, Xander Masato tried joining the fray, and ten seconds later he was down to a sliver of health and fled in a panic with a Grappling Hook.
"Bronya, Kaguya, I'll heal up fir—..."
Mid-sentence as he popped a small battery, his voice stuck.
Seeing the two next to him with hands off their keyboards, and their portraits turned green in the lower left, he fell silent.
"Ahem. Too many people. We got hammered to death by random fists."
"M-myself as well."
Both were a bit embarrassed, laughing awkwardly.
"..."
With a sigh, Xander Masato grabbed a vehicle and sped away from the trouble spot.
"I'll hit the nearby POI for some Grenades and meds first, then see if I can try to get you back up soon."
He'd also kept the support feature that could craft respawn banners.
Driving over, he soon reached a few small houses nearby.
Spotting several Supply Bins already cracked open in the screen corner, Bronya promptly warned him.
"Someone's been here. Be careful."
"Got it. I'm listening for audio. I'll take a peek—worst case, I run. Pathfinder escapes pretty easily."
Elsewhere, Sirin huddled in a house with Kiana and Mei.
"Kiana, Mei, listen—there were a lot of people dropping at the spot next to us. Any second now, somebody with low health will run out and might head straight here. We'll camp this outermost house and give them a big surprise."
"Brilliant. Sirin, you're actually pretty smart."
"Hmph. Who do you take me for!"
Mei smiled too and crouched in the corner with them.
Just then, the sound of a car rolled in, and Sirin hushed her voice in excitement.
"They're here!"
Exactly as Sirin predicted, they could easily see through the window that a Pathfinder got out of the car and headed straight for their house.
"Don't rush. Wait for my signal!"
Seeing Kiana already itching to move, Sirin quickly reminded her in earnest.
Watching Pathfinder close in, Sirin did the math in her head, then called out.
"Three, two, one—now!!"
The instant Pathfinder opened the door, Sirin shouted.
Sirin, Kiana, and Mei hit Sprint + Jump almost simultaneously and lunged at the Pathfinder in the doorway.
At that moment, the broadcast director cut to Xander Masato's POV.
On the biggest screen in the arena, everyone saw Xander Masato open the door as Pathfinder—and instantly, three characters leapt in from three directions in near-perfect sync, three fists landing almost at the same time.
Thanks to the excellent physics engine, Pathfinder flew backward, and his health hit zero midair with a ding—turning into a Death Box while soaring.
He sailed more than ten meters before hitting the ground, even bouncing twice before stopping.
"Chizha Yuehai Yuyumao [Melee] knocked down Jack Cooper."
"Chizha Yuehai Yuyumao [Bleed Out] eliminated Jack Cooper."
"Huh?"
His baffled look went live on the screen, and everyone completely lost it, laughing until their stomachs hurt.
Getting ambushed wasn't the point—that scene was just too much.
Three people, as if stamped from the same mold, bursting out from three directions at once.
The livestream chat flooded.
[Old Thief Masato: Things were too hectic. All I heard was something about villages… family… and then I was airborne.]
[Old Thief Masato: They were shouting "friendship" and "bonds," and then they just charged me and sent me flying with one punch.]
[First time I cracked today—didn't think the very first round would be this entertaining. As expected of Old Thief Masato.]
[Pufferfish, you did great. You did great!!!]
[lol]
Even Bronya was pounding the table with laughter.
Kaguya covered her mouth, clearly struggling not to laugh.
By the end, even Xander Masato couldn't hold it in.
Thinking back to the scene, he started laughing himself.
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