Chapter Ninety-Five: The First to Be Eliminated

Gong Hou and Lin Yang, one ahead and one behind, blocked the Storm Team less than two hundred meters from the farm. Before them stood Lin Yang, dressed in ordinary combat attire, but at this moment, she seemed a valiant maiden, the sword in her hand gleaming with a cold, formidable light.

“Flash Sword, Force God, do you really think the two of you can stop us?” Falcon spoke up, his first direct confrontation with the Misfortune Squad. Although their Storm Team had clearly been at a disadvantage in the initial exchanges, he felt no fear, convinced that he alone could take down the Misfortune Squad.

“We’re not here to stop you. We’re here to wipe you out completely,” Xie Liu’s voice echoed from afar. He swooped through the air, spinning above the group’s heads before landing to the right of the Storm Team, turning slowly to observe their shock and confusion.

“Wipe us out?” Falcon burst into laughter, as if he’d heard the world’s most ridiculous joke. “Just you? The lamest squad?” Falcon would never forget that the Misfortune Squad’s official combat rating in the city was only a fifth of his own, who ranked second to last. They were, by all accounts, the worst—so bad it defied belief.

“Though we outrank you by just one, you’re special. You’re so bad you shouldn’t even belong to a direct squad,” Falcon taunted, drawing his sword. “I thought you’d hide away, at least avoid landing last place, but now it seems you’re tired of living.”

“Storm Team Captain Falcon, classified as brawn without brains. Over.” Xu Xiong appeared atop the farmhouse roof, speaking in a careless tone that made Falcon stomp in rage.

“I’ll kill you all!” Falcon exploded, wind whipping around his hand. Clearly, he intended to use his power; in this confined space, few could match his destructive force.

“Let’s begin,” Xie Liu’s deep voice rang out. Lin Yang nodded in agreement, her whole form dissolving into the void as if ink washed away, then reappearing above Falcon, her lightsaber humming as she slashed at his neck.

“You dare approach the captain!” Rattlesnake barked, swinging at Lin Yang in midair. Lin Yang suddenly felt a surge of chill, abandoning the attack and teleporting three meters back. She watched as the space she’d just occupied twisted, followed by a violent explosion and a rush of air.

“Particle Collapse.” Rattlesnake grinned, palm upturned to reveal a tiny black light. “As long as there’s matter, I can detonate it.”

Lin Yang’s nimble figure landed, but before she could catch her breath, she leapt again to evade another explosion beneath her feet. No longer graceful, she rolled across the ground and scrambled up, disheveled.

“Xu Xiong, cover Lin Yang!” Xie Liu shouted mentally to Xu Xiong on the rooftop. Xu Xiong nodded and fired an orange electromagnetic cannon directly at Falcon and his crew. But Albatross stepped forward, touched the air, and even Xie Liu, over ten meters away, felt a violent tremor. To everyone’s surprise, Xu Xiong’s blast shattered into fragments.

“Unlimited Overdrive?” Xie Liu guessed the man’s ability—control of vibration, rapidly oscillating the air nearby to create supersonic shockwaves that detonated Xu Xiong’s cannon.

Monkey shrieked, clutching his head—Li Shizhu’s psychic attack still ongoing. For now, Li Shizhu held the advantage, even maintaining the psychic link with Xie Liu and the others while battling.

“Tiger Roar, protect Parrot and Monkey. I’ll hold them off.” Falcon, surrounded by Xie Liu and his team, stepped forward, opened his arms, and closed his eyes as if in prayer.

“Endless winds, heed my command.” As Falcon’s words fell, wind rose around him; he stood like the Emperor of the Wind, a storm raging from his center.

“You’ll never understand the gap between you and a super-strong opponent!” Falcon sneered, palm up, the wind gathering into a visible sphere, slicing and reshaping before him. His mastery over wind had reached its peak. “Take this!”

Falcon hurled the wind, forming blades that slashed at Xie Liu. Xie Liu, surprised, drew his sword, but barely reacted before it shattered with a mournful cry. He felt a chill, dodging sideways as the wind blade skimmed his chest, nearly slicing him in two.

Xie Liu sprang back, dodging three wind blades in quick succession, then drew his silver Desert Eagle and fired three shots at Falcon. Falcon turned sharply toward him, but all three bullets stopped midair, halted by the wind, unable to move forward.

A level-nine powerhouse—Xie Liu finally understood their terrifying strength. They were the city’s top combatants, for level-ten superhumans were rare; the not-so-small number of level-nines made them the backbone of the superhuman community.

There were over a thousand level-nine combatants in the city—each a precious asset, their might deterring external threats and internal unrest. Today, Xie Liu faced that power directly.

“Gong Hou, can you beat him?” Xie Liu asked, breathless after dodging the wind blades. Gong Hou had just knocked Tiger Roar aside and shook his head at Xie Liu’s question. “Not likely. I’ve only just reached level nine, and as a common air-user, I can’t match him head-on.”

“Then I’ll buy you time. Can you get close and attack him with an air bow?”

“I’m not sure, but I can try.” Gong Hou replied. Xie Liu acknowledged, dropped his broken sword, and swiftly pulled a sniper rifle from his backpack as he ran.

“Deadeye, I know it’s you,” Falcon growled at Xie Liu, “this time, you must die.” Clearly, he was still angry over Xie Liu’s earlier tricks. Wind gathered above him, forming blades directed at Xie Liu, who dodged and bounced his way through the attacks, though barely.

After evading several attacks from Rattlesnake, Lin Yang vanished from sight, finally appearing dozens of meters above. She frowned, watching the winds below gather, mist forming near the ground. Falcon’s power was formidable, and his attacks grew stronger with time.

If this continued, the Misfortune Squad would be wiped out by Falcon alone. “A level-nine powerhouse…” Lin Yang sighed, “none of them are simple characters.” She reversed her lightsaber, turned in midair, and plummeted from the sky.

Gong Hou smashed a stone wall to pieces and looked up, watching Lin Yang fall like a meteor. He nodded and continued pummeling his opponent.

Xie Liu rolled along the ground, dodging Falcon and Rattlesnake’s attacks, then saw Lin Yang descending from above. “Lin Yang’s realized it—you have to attack from above.”

Falcon’s wind was too strong; not even Gong Hou could break through his shield head-on. The only weakness was above Falcon’s head, which Lin Yang had spotted and aimed for.

Falcon clearly noticed Lin Yang’s move. “Albatross, defend above!” he shouted.

Albatross nodded, standing beside Falcon, high-frequency vibrations radiating outward, layering above their heads. Lin Yang’s descent was halted, and she was blown away like a kite cut from its string.

“The opponent’s ability is spatial movement. Keep him at a distance, use high-frequency sound waves to disrupt his teleportation precision!” Monkey stood, pointing to a distant grove. “I sense their psychic user over there.”

“Good, hold on a little longer. Once I deal with these guys, I’ll help you get revenge. This time, the Misfortune Squad will be wiped out…” Falcon’s words were cut short by a small object.

“Huh?” Falcon and the others stared in confusion at a small item tossed nearby—a palm-sized thing glowing blue.

“Damn, who threw a plasma grenade?” Falcon cursed. The blue light locked onto its target, pierced his wind shield, and flew straight toward him.

“No!” Falcon’s roar was drowned by the blue plasma. He never expected to be taken out by a tiny grenade. Ye Ling rolled out of the grass, scrambling madly. Shortly after the fight began, Lin Yang had teleported her nearby. With no combat ability, she’d stayed hidden, serving as a real groundhog. Whether the enemy was careless or simply distracted by Lin Yang and the others, they’d moved close by while fighting.

Seizing the opportunity, Ye Ling used a directional system to lock onto Falcon and threw the grenade, which surprisingly penetrated his wind shield and landed nearby. Had she not been so nervous, she could have tossed it right beneath his feet.

No one expected this scene. Falcon reacted quickly, compressing the wind to block the plasma, but even so, he was scorched by the heat, screaming as the wind exploded, blades shattering the ground.

In that moment, the wind fell into chaos.

“Now!” Xie Liu shouted, whipped out his sniper rifle, and fired without aiming. Albatross tried to block with high-frequency waves but was a step too slow. The level-three bullet cut through the air, grazing his neck and jaw, tearing off a chunk of flesh. He collapsed, clutching his throat.

“I’ll kill you all!” Falcon, enraged by Albatross’s fall, ignored the burning pain on his face. The rampaging wind exploded from him, his sole focus now to destroy his foes.

But Xu Xiong moved atop the roof, transforming into a bolt of lightning, flying from the farmhouse to the battlefield. Blue electric currents wrapped his palms as he charged, launching a bolt that pierced Falcon’s wind shield and chest.

“Go!” Xu Xiong’s hands crackled with endless electricity as he landed, skimming across the ground straight toward the Storm Team.

“Protect the captain!” Monkey, still suppressed by Li Shizhu’s psychic attack, tried to command others to help, but Lin Yang suddenly descended from above, her lightsaber piercing his chest.

“No…” Monkey’s eyes widened. “Impossible…” He stared at the deep red blade protruding from his chest, disbelief etched on his face. As Lin Yang withdrew the blade, he collapsed.

Echoes of the earlier scene filled his mind—the squad entering the tournament together. “Didn’t we agree? To fight to the end and bring home a good ranking…” Monkey closed his eyes in frustration, the last thing he saw was Tiger Roar smashed away by Gong Hou, chest caved in.

He also saw Xie Liu charging in, Cobra and Parrot falling to his sword.

And finally, the captain’s anguished roar…

…

“The seventeenth place goes to Storm Team.” Outside the arena, the panoramic screen displayed the battle. For the first time, the tournament erupted in cheers. No one expected that within an hour of the opening, two teams would gamble everything in a fierce battle.

Most importantly, the seemingly stronger Storm Team was wiped out while the opposing Misfortune Squad remained unscathed—the entire squad annihilated in a head-on fight!

For the first time, the Misfortune Squad, an unknown group, appeared before the public. At that moment, people realized Misfortune was not as weak as they’d thought. Force God at level nine, Flash Sword at level eight, at least a level-six Electric Fox, an unknown-level psychic, and a physical mutant whose strength rivaled a level-seven—though few in number, Misfortune was truly an elite squad.

…

On the battlefield.

Xie Liu watched his teammates clear the field and saw Ye Ling running back from the edge, clutching her head. The victory owed not only to their own strength but critically to Ye Ling’s plasma grenade. Thinking of this, Xie Liu gave Ye Ling a thumbs-up.

“Our first battle—Misfortune Squad’s first victory to make a name for ourselves.” Xie Liu looked into the distance, sensing something amiss. The wind there was also in turmoil; after Falcon’s death, it seemed to search for them along unnatural paths.

Xie Liu knew who it was. To control the wind so precisely from such distance, only one person in the city could do it.

Captain of the Godslayer Squad—Wind God Oda Nobunaga!

“I know you can sense our location, perhaps even hear our conversation,” Xie Liu murmured, “Maybe you don’t care, since you stand atop this world, while I am just a worm beneath your notice. But…”

Xie Liu raised his middle finger toward that direction. “Wait for us at the summit of this world. We’re coming for you!”