God's Avatar

November 10, five-o'clock in the afternoon, there was a fine drizzle in Shanghai. The area outside Shanghai’s Pudong Football Stadium was filled with people holding banners and LED signs printed with the e-sports team's logo. They were currently lining up in an orderly fashion to enter the arena, and every person’s face was filled with excitement and anticipation. The rain didn’t seem to affect them all. Today, the finals for AEON S10 World Championship Series were being held here. The two teams participating, competing for the finals were the Surrender@20 team from the Philippines’ Pro Philippines Gaming League and the DPX team from China’s LPL division. The team who emerged victorious here will receive the Worlds’ trophy, symbolizing that whoever gets it is the strongest team in the world. Since the DPX team has the home ground advantage, just from the cursory glance around, one could see that nearly all the merchandise the fans were holding was printed with the DPX team logo. A bus pulled to a stop at the right side of the stadium, and a crimson mushed S20 logo was printed on the body of the gleaming black bus. Seeing that, the security quickly stood up to do their jobs, blocking all the media and fans who wanted to rush up and crowd around the bus door. The door of the bus suddenly opened slowly, and S20’s members disembarked from the bus one-by-one, smiling as they waved or nodded amidst the fan’s screams. When the last member got off the bus, the surrounding screams clear grew even louder, and the fans waved their LED signs even more energetically. But those are not the Chinese fans but fans from all around the world. The Chinese crowds began huddling in one spot and saying “boo” as they walked on the red carpet perfectly laid on the floor. Despite the rain, the supporters of the Philippines representative roared together and began chanting “S20! S20! S20!” Proudly at their adversary. Outside of the stadium turned immediately into an arena where fans from opposing sides began fighting, cheering their favorite teams. The chanting sounds grew even more as if they were battling who's the loudest fans wins. But amidst the cheering crowds, the fans of the Philippines team representative gathered on either side of the red carpet where each individual player from the team got to have a chance of seeing the players personally. With many people, it was hard to prevent accidents from occurring. A sign with an S20 written on it suddenly fell to the ground, followed closely by a girl’s shriek and the sound of security yelling at her to stop. The girl said anxiously, “Sorry, sorry...someone pushed me just now, I’m really sorry. Can you help me pick up the LED sign? Please.” “I’ll help you pick it up but I’ll need you to step back a little bit, a little bit.” Right after the security guard said that someone bent down and picked up the sign before handing it over. The man who picked it up was wearing a gray and red uniform with a printed logo of S20 on his right chest. His hair was a little casually messy, and if you looked closely, you could see that there was an impression left behind at the corner of his slender and narrow eye from sleeping while leaning against something. Below that was a tall and straight nose and thin lips were slightly pursed. The girl looked at him for a few seconds, dazed, before she looked down at the LED sign he was handing over. His hands were extremely thin. His fingers were long and slender and his joints weren’t rough like ordinary males were. His fingertips were thin and his fingernails were clean and tidy. This was expected by the pro player. The girl was still amazed by his beautiful hands. “Uhm...miss? Your sign.” The man said simply. The girl blankly accepted the sign, “Thank you…” The man gave a tiny nod before he turned around and walked into the competition arena. The girl only absent-mindedly collected her thoughts after the image of the man’s back had completely disappeared. She tightly hugged her sign before suddenly spinning around and grabbing the clothing of her next friend next to her. She screamed excitedly “That was Manuel! The God of all Destroyer Class! Manuel! Manuel nodded at me and talked to me! And he even touched my sign! Ahhh I will never wash this sign!” Backstage in the break room, everyone in the S20 evidently looked much more relaxed. They were fifteen gaming rigs ready for their personal use where they can practice, mock battle, or even browse the web. The captain of the S20, Ethan, sat down in a chair and took out a mirror to examine the hairstyle that he had messed up with for a long time before leaving. “That fangirl of yours is loud, it was too powerful. I believe that she can cheer up the teams even if she’s the only one who attends in this venue.” The team’s manager and coach smacked his head firmly with his notebook. “How shameful, is that what you think to the fans of our team?” “I’m sorry!” He ducked his head, preparing if the coach were to hit him again with his notebook. The coach then turned to look at Matthew, or Lockheed, who had just sat down. Matthew held his phone in his left hand and was scrolling down the screen. His right hand was propped against the armrest of the chair, and he was currently lightly curling and uncurling his fingers. Half an hour before the competition began, the coach started to give everyone pre-match guidance. At the very end, the coach glanced at Matthew again and abruptly called him out. “Lockheed, you remember everything I told you, right?” The person who was called out took half a second to respond, “Oh…of course, I remember. I won’t make the same mistake as before.” “You should be.” He warned, his tone can somewhat be explicitly cited as “Threatening!”. “You choked too hard last game and I won’t tolerate your troll and loud behavior during the game.” “Okay,” Matthew can only raise his both hands as if he was surrendering to the cops Ethan swept a glance at Lockheed. After the coach finished saying everything, Ethan stood up and said. “Going to the bathroom.” As the water rushed over his hands, it brought a bone-chilling coldness with it. “Ethan, can you carry the team to the championship?” Hearing that voice, he lifted his head and looked through the mirror at the coach standing behind him. A few seconds later, Ethan turned off the tap and drew some paper towels to dry his hands. Calmly, he met the coach’s gaze. “This is our fourth finals appearance at worlds and we held three championship trophies. I will not let the streak end.” Ethan said firmly. As the captain of the team he is exceptionally talented and genius! He is hailed as the battle god of AEON. His class is Gladiator, no one can put a fight with him in one versus one. The only one who has the chance to defeat him is the nemesis class of his class. The Supreme Mage: Lockheed. His little brother. ______ Youtube and other streaming platforms began streaming the Worlds Championship S10! The total number of viewers from around the world reached over ninety-eight million, solidly occupying all network sports channels. Every player of AEON is anticipating this match. The live chats are flooded with a single comment spammed obviously by unyielding fans: “DPX must win!”; “Break the Streak”; “Dethrone the Gods!”. Twenty minutes later, the grand opening event happened fluidly on the stage. GGI characters from the game started performing on the stage as if they were fighting, a huge computer-generated dragon gliding over the stadium, and dancers showcasing their hip-hop styles as they went along vibing with the official theme song of the Worlds 2020 Championship. Ten minutes after, the two teams finally went on stage to prepare for the match. So what the hell are they playing? Here’s the problem, you want to watch worlds. But you have no idea what it is. Let’s start in the game. AEON, a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game is the game they were playing that gathered around 115 million players from all around the world. Worlds is the AEON league championship between the best pro teams in the world. These teams face each other during a month-long tournament. The two winners of that tournament go on to the championship. That’s one of the most people watch. Let’s talk about how to play the game: Each team is made up of eight players, each playing a unique class. Matches take place on the game’s map, a map is rolled, each has a different environment and playstyles. Adjusting to the terrains, geography, and topography of the game is a must. The winning condition depends on what type of match is selected in the roll. It could be Respawn mode; Capture mode; Captain’s mode. I digress, now that you have a gist of the game let’s start the battle. Eight players from either team logged-in the game and rolled for a map. ---- The battle almost took five hours but it was never felt by the audience instead they let out a loud roar reverberating around the stadium. The audience has an omniscient view thanks to the big LED screen on the stage. The score was 2:2 whoever wins this battle will take the World’s trophy. From the close-up view, they can see the exhausted players. Beads of sweat trickled down in their faces despite the chilly temperature of the venue. Each player struck their keyboards and brandished their mouse as if they were fighting an all-out war. From the viewer's perspective, no one seems to understand what was going on since most of the screen was taken up by the large AOE skills of individual players. But they can see who’s winning, it was displayed on the top side of the LED screen. It was a respawn mode. Meaning you can fight as long as you want until you reach a certain score: 100. Each player who kills can obtain a score of 5. The score of both teams is tied; 95:95. Meaning the first team to kill a player wins the world championships. “I will be defeated one day by the next generation. But not today!” Ethan immediately struck his keyboards and went up against three players. It was a dumb attack! Fans of the S20 began commenting on the live chat: “What the f*CK is he doing?”; “Is he throwing the game?”; “Please don’t let the Chinese take your crown!” Each fans of the S20 began mouthing prayers hoping that Ethan won’t sell the game. To them it looked like throwing but to Ethan, it is a certain victory move. Among the three players, one of them is low-health. One struck of the sword is certain death. He rushed at that player despite the hail of mage skills and archer skills from above. “It’s time to end this!” Ethan yelled and casted [ Line Drive ] skill. A fast skill of Sword Master, a prerequisite class, it dashes in front of the enemy in an instant, slicing those in the trail. The screen flashed with a bright light and the opponent fell to the ground in a spray of blood. A delighted smile rose in their cheeks, the screen immediately prompted an announcement: “World Championship Season 10, Team S20!” It was over. Everything had come to an end. In the broadcast, a commenter was shouting these results with all of his might despite the fact that he is Chinese. Well, it doesn’t matter to him anymore since both teams gave them an intense back-to-back battle. “We won! We won again!” “We won!!!” The moment the word flashed onscreen, everyone in S20’s player area leaped to their feet. They were once again the champion! They once again defended their throne. They once again conquered as Gods! A moment later, while indulging in their victory. The Stadium which is in full capacity let out a roar once more as if it was their last breath. There were surprised exclamations, there were emotional sighs. Countless spotlights had been waiting for this moment. The moment that Ethan appeared outside of his competitor booth, all focused upon his body. The stadium is filled with cheers, shouts, applause, for although this was their away game. S20 fans carried enough passion and enthusiasm. When Ethan walked out of the booth, all of this reached a peak. The stadium shone its lights, S20’s fans cheered for him, DPX’s fans delivered their applause as well. The four substitute players of S20 who were watching the game with their team manager and the coach immediately rushed to the scene to not miss the spotlight. All members of S20 high-fived and hugged each other. Some were crying, some laughing, but at this moment, no matter how much someone loses their composure, they would be forgiven. Nothing was too embarrassing. “Congratulations!” In the end, as the losers, they shook hands with S20, gave them their well-wishes, and then left. They were the host of this place, but they were not the stars at this moment. After DPX left, the preparations for the award ceremony were complete, with an award stage set up right in the center of the stadium floor. One by one, S20’s players walked onto the stage. The CEO of BLOCK Games, the company that created the game, was led onstage, his face shining in joy. “Incredible, truly incredible! The fight of the Gods is incredible!” The CEO gave all the S20 players such praises as he presented the championship rings, the symbol of the championship, to each person. Twelve players, twelve championship rings. And then, the championship trophy was finally delivered onstage as well. It represented the whole, belonging to the whole team, and just now, under the engraving of “Season 10” and the team name “Surrender@20” had been added. “The Season 10 championship goes to...To team Surrender@ 20!!” This was their fourth championship! A team that was made by a group of high-ranking players in the Philippines are now in their peak. Everyone gazes were fixed upon this scene, bearing witness to this fourth, and also first, champion’s crowning. The trophy. The gleaming golden trophy, symbolizing the greatest team in AEON, was finally given to them. They have now added it to their collection. They carried the 38 kilograms trophy up in the air proudly as if this was their home stadium. After the award ceremony, S20 soon retreated backstage. A post-match press conference was conducted backstage. The players of S20 share their thoughts and joy in that game and after that they left the stadium, entering their buses on their way back to their hotel. Back at the hotel, the players of the S20 are joyously swaying left and right. They entered the elevator, and into the hallway, and walked all the way to the end of the corridor. Located here was a spacious gaming room; at the entrance, digital display screens almost completely covered the walls. On either side of the wall located a line ready to use high-end computers. “Let’s raid one dungeon and sleep.” Ethan commanded the team, everyone immediately took their seats, put on their headphones, and logged-in the game.” Twelve members entered the game and entered an instance dungeon where raid dungeons are located. Here ten dungeons leading to ten different raid bosses can be seen. But instead of ten dungeons, they saw eleven and it was giving off a dazzling golden light. They immediately noticed the difference in the golden dungeon. Every one of them knew that a normal dungeon color must be pitch black. Ethan fished his smartphone in his pocket and promptly searched: AEON Homepage and tapped the: Patch Notes. On the designated page, he skimmed and read the patch notes at light speed. He furrowed his eyebrows, there’s nothing in this patch notes that describe a golden dungeon. “Hmm,” He rapped his finger on the table, he is very curious about this dungeon. He immediately calibrated the position of the headphone’s mic and commanded. “Everyone, gear yourself up, we are entering the dungeon!” “Understood!” They all complied with his orders and entered the golden dungeon. And in an instant, everyone felt goosebumps tingling their skin. There is something peculiar happening around them. Everyone seems to be motionless as if the time stopped. They tried to ascertain what was happening but it was no use. They weren’t able to move due to something that’s rendering them immobile. Their body froze literally in time, they can only feel their five senses. Anxiety and fear rose up as they felt they were in a hopeless and helpless situation. They wanted to cry, shout, move, yell but there is really nothing. Until everything turned instantly bright moments after. They found themselves surrounded by big trees! The grass beneath them. Everyone was dazed at this sudden turn of events. They were just in their gaming room and now they are in the forest? Utterly ridiculous phenomena befall them. “What’s happening?” Ethan was first to speak and touched his body to know if he is okay. They were now able to move their body, they swayed their hands in astonishment. They experienced a real nightmare earlier and were now swaying their hands to make sure they are not immobile. But that was not the end. Ethan looked at his arm and saw that he was wearing dazzling armored gloves. He immediately noticed the gloves. To the best of his recollection, these are the gloves that his avatar was wearing. [Level 100 Divine Item: End Dream Gloves ] those are the words. He looked around and saw that they are people around him. He doesn’t know them but he still counted them. “...Ten...eleven! Eleven people!” There are eleven people around him, twelve including him. And they looked now very familiar to him. He locked his gaze to all the people around him instantaneously. There is no doubt, those are the avatar of his teammates in the Game AEON.