Chapter 445: Random Death, an essential part of the MUGEN tournament.
As President Kaiba displayed the last lot in his hand, the list of the top 16 matches was fully projected onto the big screen.
"First Match — O RIRIRI Team VS Psycho Soldier Team"
"Second Match — Female Fighters Team VS Scarlet Devil Mansion Team"
"Third Match — Tough! Invincible! Strongest! Team (formerly Kaiba Team) VS Demon Team"
"Fourth Match — Fatal Fury Team VS Howard Special Team"
"Fifth Match — Neon Team VS Hell Band"
"Sixth Match — Art of Fighting Team VS Meow Meow Team (formerly Cat Spirit Team)"
"Seventh Match — Yagami Team VS 996 Team"
"Eighth Match — Ikari Team VS Long Long Long Team (formerly Drunkard Team)"
The 16-to-8 elimination round was scheduled to conclude in two days, with the first to fourth matches tomorrow, and the fifth to eighth matches the day after.
If the matches proceeded quickly, the schedule might be condensed to maintain the pace of the tournament.
After all, it was a Super Power Fighting Tournament; the probability of both sides emerging unscathed from a match was too low. Some buffer time was still needed, and completing all matches in one go was simply unrealistic... nor did it align with the organizers' profit-making objectives.
But no matter what, Cheng Tian's team was scheduled to compete tomorrow, and Cheng, who was mandated to be the first to start each round, would step onto the main arena even before everyone else.
"...Honestly, whether in reality or in this space, this is the first time in my life I've received this level of attention."
Irene said with some emotion.
To say she wasn't nervous would be a pure lie; Irene couldn't even guarantee how much of her usual skill she could display in the arena.
Many actions that people could perform perfectly during private training might not be flawlessly replicated when observed by a crowd in the arena, which raises a question mark. The technical skill difference between many young and veteran players isn't significant, but the experience of maintaining a calm mindset in major tournaments plays a crucial role at critical moments.
"Just imagine all the spectators are eggplants and potatoes."
Cheng, whose stress resistance was abnormally high, offered an important instruction.
"Easier said than done ~"
Irene first rolled her eyes at Cheng Tian, then paused before flicking the simple material in her hand, which was about the Psycho Soldier Team.
"An old man, a kid, and a world-class idol. I didn't expect this old geezer to be their master."
"Actually, I'd really like to see the Psycho Soldier Team go up against that renamed Long Long Long Team. It would be interesting if those three drunkards met Chin Gentsai, that old drunkard."
Just imagining the scene made Cheng Tian want to laugh out loud.
It's worth noting that while the three members of the Three Dragons Team all originated from Jackie Chan, each of them actually incorporated elements from multiple works.
Billy Lee from Double Dragon was a one-to-one recreation of Wong Fei-hung from "Drunken Master."
Hong Fu from Fatal Fury was a mix of Wong Fei-hung from "Drunken Master" and Chan Ka-kui from "Police Story."
Lei Wulong from Tekken had a more pronounced Chan Ka-kui element, but his moves also contained elements of Drunken Fist.
And Chin Gentsai from the Psycho Soldier Team, his design prototype was an almost one-to-one replica of Su Hua Zi from "Drunken Master." If these three dragons were to face their alternate-dimension counterpart's "master," they would most likely push and shove, telling others to go forward while they themselves ran away.
Unfortunately, it was highly unlikely that this scene would be witnessed.
"By the way... do you have some kind of relationship with that world-class idol? Her gaze towards you seems... strange?"
Relying on her feminine intuition, Irene accurately caught Athena's fleeting glance at Cheng Tian when the draws were announced.
But the content within that glance was quite rich, complex, in any case.
"I actually have some clue about this."
Cheng Tian couldn't help but chuckle when this was mentioned.
"The source of this world-class idol's psychic powers actually comes from an ancestor, a deity also named Athena, which is a typical psychic bloodline inheritance.
And as a goddess bloodline inheritor, she naturally carries the 'goddess' tag attribute. You should understand now, right ~"
As someone who had personally participated in and witnessed two consecutive goddess statue toppling incidents, Irene's face immediately showed an expression of sudden realization upon Cheng Tian's explanation.
But the smile on her face couldn't hide the inner 'motherf***er'.
Theoretically, "hate" can often be directly equated with "love," making it the most dangerous emotion!
The most stable relationship is a relationship of "nothingness"; if other emotions are mixed in, it's very easy for things to go awry.
And in fact, the twin goddesses "tricked" back into space by Cheng had already proven this conjecture with facts!
It was fine if Cheng Tian didn't explain, but his explanation actually made Irene's guard go up completely.
Coincidentally, Sie Kensou, who also gained his ancestor's psychic powers through bloodline inheritance, had already fallen into similar wild thoughts.
Kensou, who is often depicted as quite carnivorous in various fan works, remained an extremely pure cherry boy here.
And as someone who had the advantage of proximity, Sie Kensou wasn't doing so well.
He neither had the courage to truly confess to his beloved goddess Athena nor was he willing to try the 'distance makes the heart grow fonder' approach.
Especially among the large number of fan letters addressed to Athena, there were also many letters from male fans requesting, ordering, or threatening him to stay away from the goddess. This truly made the already emotionally shy bun even more timid.
But timidity doesn't mean dullness. For several days, Sie Kensou had clearly noticed Athena Asamiya's focused attention on Cheng.
Although he had been swamped with various matters in recent days, whenever he had free time and turned on the TV, Athena would inevitably also turn on the audition live broadcast channel.
Sie Kensou, who was right beside her, was very certain that Athena spent more time on the O RIRIRI Team's channel and even had her agent monitor the situation and report back at any time!
At the same time, she frequently displayed a series of unusual expressions like wide eyes, nail-biting, and furrowed brows, which were never seen in her daily demeanor.
In all these years, it was the first time he had seen Athena, who was always gentle and kind to everyone, show such a rich range of expressions for a single person.
Sie Kensou didn't even dare to ask more, because he would only get a perfunctory answer like "This team is quite special."
Worry visibly enveloped the cherry boy from head to toe.
Chin Gentsai, who also saw all of this, took sips of wine and puffs of smoke, observing the state of the two children from an elder's perspective.
This was something no one could interfere with; it was a trial belonging solely to the young people.
The old man had already sensed before the match that his two young charges were about to be embroiled in trouble, but he hadn't expected it to be this kind of unexpected trouble... Amidst the various complex emotions between the two sides, a peaceful night passed, and all contestants had almost adjusted to their full state, welcoming the moment the main tournament began.
Discarding all formalities, the opening was extremely concise and direct, immediately transitioning to the main matches!
"Both teams! Please take the stage! And decide your vanguard, mid-guard, and general!"
As the host announced, the three members of the O RIRIRI Team and the Psycho Soldier Team simultaneously arrived at the center of the ring, one on the left and one on the right.
In the end, only Cheng Tian and Athena Asamiya remained on the stage.
"I now announce! The King of Fighters KOF '97 Tournament! First battle, vanguard match!"
"O RIRIRI Team vanguard! Aoko! Facing!"
"Psycho Soldier Team vanguard! Athena Asamiya!"
"Match! Start!"