Jing Yuan's squad was far from the only group on the offensive.
Across the shrinking perimeter, Topaz's corporate fleet and several veteran strike teams swept through the surrounding waters, knocking out stragglers while advancing toward the map's center.
A few players tried hugging the storm's outer ring, hoping to slip into the safe zone unseen. Yet they had badly underestimated the closing speed of the tempest. Sluggish swimming speeds and exhausted mounts left them swallowed by the howling squall, triggering instant eliminations.
The harsh closing circle took a heavy toll on numbers and team strength.
By the time the storm wall locked into place, only six squads had broken through into the eye: the Astral Express crew, Topaz's team, Jing Yuan's disguised squad, and three other survivor alliances.
Nobody rushed to strike. The survivors pulled into the shadows of the reefs and coral shelves, quietly waiting for the altar to rise. In a tight space like this, firing the first shot was simply an invitation for third parties to clean up the pieces.
As the storm wall crept closer, the other three teams lost their patience. Grouping together, they launched a two-pronged assault, targeting Jing Yuan's group and the Astral Express.
They went after Jing Yuan assuming his squad was merely an unranked group of lucky casuals who had floated into the finals by pure chance. Jing Yuan's low-profile disguise had worked a little too well.
As for targeting the Express, the reasoning was straightforward: global chat networks had already linked the mysterious heist team to the missing Heart of the Ocean.
Yet picking a fight with the Trailblazers proved to be a fatal miscalculation. The Express roster featured Welt, a Masters tournament standout, alongside March 7th, a recognized Contest finalist.
Within the crew, March's pure battling mechanics were near the lower end, sitting just above Pom-Pom's. The rest of the team, having trained under Welt's guidance, fought with sharp, disciplined instincts. Even Stelle, despite being relatively new to the game, held her own alongside March.
The attackers were dismantled in minutes, sent packing before they could establish a foothold.
Jing Yuan's side handled their skirmish with equal ease. Even without the General stepping in to fight directly, his quiet positioning calls and tactical reads allowed Yanqing and the other Xianzhou players to sweep their adversaries aside without breaking a sweat.
Seeing both targets swat away their attackers like flies, the final unaligned team gave up all thoughts of an open assault, choosing to lay low and fish for scraps from the shadows.
Topaz, however, had no intention of leaving a wild card on her flank. She ordered an immediate purge.
Her squad wiped them out cleanly, though the engagement cost her two teammates. Her corporate roster was an improvised alliance lacking seasoned battle tacticians, making minor casualties inevitable in close-quarters trades.
Even so, Topaz still held the numerical high ground, keeping her confidence high.
With the minor factions cleared, the center settled into a tense, three-way standoff.
As for the scattered solo players hiding along the distant reefs, none of the three primary factions bothered hunting them down.
Legendary anomalies like Jing Yuan, who possessed masterclass command while hiding under a generic profile, were exceedingly rare. True skill rarely stayed hidden on a leaderboard, as high-performing squads had already proven their worth over the preceding rounds.
Guinaifen, Fu Xuan, and Sushang had confirmed their absence from the event beforehand, meaning no other hidden giants were lurking in the shallows.
The eye of the storm finished contracting, locking the boundary in place.
Right at the center, the seabed rumbled as an ancient stone altar broke the surface of the water, rising into the open air. At its peak sat a carved recess sized to hold the Heart of the Ocean.
"Move according to plan," Welt murmured, adjusting his glasses.
The Express crew didn't waste a heartbeat.
March's Slowking wrapped the team in a soft glow, teleporting them onto the altar platform. March reached into her pack, setting the Heart of the Ocean firmly into the stone recess.
A brilliant pillar of blue light shot skyward, and an illuminated sixty-second countdown appeared above the altar for every player to see.
The moment the numbers began ticking down, Jing Yuan and Topaz acted as one, launching a pincer offensive against the Astral Express.
These were real Trainers on the field, not predictable game encounters. Each player could field only one active companion at a time. The game had no single-player buffs to let one creature face down an entire squad alone.
No matter how refined Welt's techniques were, holding ground against a dozen focused attacks was an impossible task. The team's defensive lines buckled under the crossfire.
"Fall back!" Welt called out.
Slowking triggered Teleport the second the command left his lips, whisking the crew out of the kill zone.
Neither Topaz nor Jing Yuan wasted stamina chasing the retreating Trailblazers. Yanqing darted forward, scooping the jewel from the pedestal, and the field reset into another tense standoff.
"Salamence, Draco Meteor!"
"Dragonite, Dragon Rush!"
From high above Topaz's rear flank, Welt, Himeko, and Pom-Pom struck back.
They opened with heavy power moves, clearly pre-buffed by preparatory setup techniques to maximize their impact.
Neither Jing Yuan nor Topaz was surprised by the sudden flank; anticipating ambush angles was second nature to both leaders.
Yet with Topaz's backline thrown into disarray, Jing Yuan saw no reason to let the opening slip by. He signaled his squad to press forward, joining the Express in an assault on Topaz's formation.
"Hold the line!" Topaz called out, trying to stabilize her ranks.
Before her frontline could pivot, a sharp battle cry echoed from behind Jing Yuan's Xianzhou squad.
"Gyarados, Hyper Beam!"
"Slowking, Future Sight!"
"Blastoise, Hydro Pump!"
Dan Heng, March, and Stelle struck like a hammer against Jing Yuan's rear.
March had cast Future Sight minutes before the clash, letting the psychic energy drift across the arena until the delayed blast struck with pinpoint timing.
The Xianzhou team managed to parry the water and energy beams, but the unblockable shockwave of Future Sight broke straight through their guard, instantly knocking out one of their squad members.
The three Trailblazers didn't linger for a brawl; they dumped their burst damage and scattered across the reef.
"Trying to stir the waters?" Jing Yuan chuckled, his golden eyes narrowing with amused interest. "Let us see who controls the current."
This brand of chaotic skirmishing was child's play for a general used to moving millions of soldiers. With a few calm instructions, he adjusted his team's perimeter, shutting down the Express crew's hit-and-run angles.
He never entertained the thought of formalizing an alliance with Topaz.
Without foundational trust, an ad-hoc pact was a liability. The Express squad carried high-mobility Psychic options; the moment an ally stepped out of position, the Trailblazers would pounce on the opening to wipe them out.
Holding his own ground and countering each shift as it arrived was vastly safer.
Had he possessed a reliable lieutenant like Fu Xuan or an aggressive vanguard like Guinaifen, he could have launched a feint to force the Express out into the open.
Topaz, despite having capable coordinators on her side, lacked the seasoned combat reflexes to counter the Express's guerrilla tactics.
Recognizing that Jing Yuan's disciplined squad posed the far greater long-term danger, Welt shifted his sights entirely, redirecting his fire toward the Xianzhou team.
Under the shifting crossfire, Topaz's fleet was steadily picked apart until she was left standing as the sole survivor of her unit.
Jing Yuan's group paid a heavy price as well. With both factions chipping away at his perimeter, only Jing Yuan and Yanqing remained on the board.
The Astral Express did not escape unscathed.
Pom-Pom and Himeko were knocked out in the chaotic mid-field trades, while Stelle was eliminated after a split-second positioning mistake left her partner too far away to shield her from Yanqing's swift flank.
With players and partners linked by sudden-death rules, a single clean strike was enough to trigger an exit.
As the smoke settled over the reef, only three Trailblazers remained: Welt, March 7th, and Dan Heng.
The competition had entered its final act.
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