“Get ready, 5…4…3…2…1. Match, start!”
The moment Elrisa signaled for the match to start, every team immediately goes into full swing. They were given five minutes to set up their strategy before it starts, and now they wanted to implement it right away.
After all, in a team battle, how each team member uses their power to the best to contribute to the team is the key to winning. The arena is around 2000 meters square. It wasn’t that big, but it wasn’t small either. So there’s plenty of room to maneuver and execute their strategy.
As for the team that is facing Giovanni, they are waiting for Giovanni to make his move first. That is because the strategy that their team use is 4-1. With four facing Giovanni and the other one trying to rescue the hostage from Giovanni’s base.
The one thing that they need to remember is that there will be four Giovanni team members that are free to do anything since they only have one trying to do the mission.
When the match started, Giovanni doesn’t seem to do anything as he just stands there. What’s making the opponent confused is the movement of his teammates that stand guard at their base. They don’t seem to be moving or having any intention to do anything.
“Captain, this is weird. Why they aren’t making any move?”
“I think they are waiting for us to come to them so that we will have 5v5. They know that with Giovanni on their team, there is no way they will lose frontal confrontation.”
“What you said makes sense, captain. So, what should we do?”
“Although we know that it was a bait, we still need to jump in anyway. We can’t possibly be having a staring competition for twenty minutes.”
That being said, Giovanni’s opponent immediately dashed off in arrow formation, trying to attack his team simultaneously. However, Giovanni’s team is prepared as this is something that they have predicted before.
Giovanni’s opposition prepared their attack as their arms are covered in various elements. On the other hand, Giovanni’s team still doesn’t show any movement.
“Look at that, are they looking down on their opponent? Even if Giovanni has an S-rank speed, isn’t this too much?”
Jhonny, who watched the match, let out what’s on his mind as everyone thinks the same. Max, however, notices something. There’s something weird with Giovanni. While his four team members are unfazed, his expression is too stiff. So Max looked even closer and noticed that he doesn’t even blink.
“There’s something wrong.”
Just when the two teams are going to clash against each other, a loud beeping sound can be heard.
*Beeeeeep*
“Giovanni’s team, win.”
“Eh, what happened?”
Giovanni’s opponent left flabbergasted. They haven’t even started the battle. So how can they be declared as the loser?
“Captain, what happened?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t even started fighting yet.”
“Wait, captain, look over there.”
The direction which his team member pointed is on Giovanni that is standing still from earlier. However, it slowly crumbles and broken to pieces, and it was then revealed that it wasn’t even the real Giovanni that is standing there. Instead, it was a statue made of mud that looked lifelike and similar to Giovanni.
As the statue crumbled down, everyone immediately looking for the location of the real Giovanni. Finally, they can spot Giovanni, standing behind his four teammates, holding the opponent’s hostage and safely secured it to their own base.
Giovanni’s opponent finally realized what had just occurred. While they are trying to attack Giovanni’s team, Giovanni managed to sneak past them and brought the hostage back. They are all tricked by the statue and what’s more terrifying is Giovanni’s speed that makes the opponent doesn’t notice a thing.
Giovanni’s team has become the winner and safely passed to the next round just one minute into the match. While everyone didn’t notice anything, Max realized that something is wrong but doesn’t know what. Only after the match end, he knows that this is the real potential of someone with S-rank speed.
“I think everyone is confused, so while we’re waiting for the other team to finish up their battle, the screen of arena one will be playing a replay of what happened earlier in slow motion.”
Now, everyone’s attention is on the screen where Giovanni’s team is on the focus. When Elrisa announced for the match to start, Giovanni’s teammate doesn’t seem to be moving. Still, one of them immediately channeled his earth elemental ability and created a mud statue in front of Giovanni. The process happened as if it was natural, and the real Giovanni is hidden behind the mud statue.
After that, a light seemed to be flashing in a blink of an eye, and Giovanni already appeared at the south edge of the arena without the opposition team noticing it. Then, when the opposition team hesitated and finally decided to move forward, Giovanni’s body flashed once again. But, this time, he already appeared at the opposition base and grabbed the hostage.
The next thing is pretty easy since Giovanni just needs to return to the base since the opponent doesn’t even realize their hostage has been taken. Never in their wildest dream, they imagine that Giovanni, that they wanted to fight 4v1 is already has the upper hand against them.
Everybody knows the outcome of this match as Giovanni flashed past the enemy team and arrived back at his base. It seemed so easy for Giovanni, but everyone who watched it in slow motion knows that he did many things in that few seconds. From moving out of the enemy’s line of sight to return even faster than the opposition. Even if he decided to have a head-on battle, they all know that Giovanni will win the match.
Giovanni’s enemy that watched the replay in slow motion realized how foolish they are. But, more importantly, Giovanni could do it isn’t only because of his strength alone. They are all tricked by the mud statue that is executed flawlessly by Giovanni’s teammate.
If Giovanni is a solitary person that doesn’t want to cooperate with his teammate, he could still win it easily. However, seeing how he is willing to use his teammate's ability to secure a sure win makes him even scarier.
It shows that Giovanni doesn’t only have muscle, but he also has brains. He is decisive, calculative, cooperative, and has the strength to back it up. Truly the star of the match just now, and there is a reason why he is the favorite to win the hot newcomer award.