609 A gathering of superstars 3 in 1

Naturally, the audience weren't just the only main characters here, as the cameras broadcasted via the various large screens present in the stadium panned across the VIP podium and the participant's viewing galleries from time to time. 

The was no lack of bigshots present in the VIP podium. If they were here to watch the match between Heavens' Fate and Stuart for the sake of cheering for the elites of the Federation, their attendance for today's match was solely for the purpose of observing the performance of Tianjing. All of them knew how popular and formidable Tianjing had become. However, their exact degree of strength was yet to be determined. Now, everyone's perception rests on this upcoming match.

The star mainstays of the various squadrons have all turned up in full force. S ranked squadrons like Seer, Torres, Bella, A and A+ ranked squadrons like Blazing Angels, Mammoth and Asuna Ocean Goddess were all present. Even Martial Ghost Divine Emperor, with the exception of Gui Hao, had arrived in full force.

Leading her squadron, Gui Xinying sat in a rather conspicuous location. There wasn't much of any nail-biting, tooth clenching expressions of pain on the faces of most of the Martial Ghost Divine Emperor squadron members. Due to the new shuffling of resources among the youths hailing from the Gui Family, these youths had obtained quite a substantial amount of resources allocated to them. With Gui Hao's overly independent behaviour and bombastic ego, he had dipped his hands into quite a bit of the resources originally allocated to them. It would be alright if that was all to it. However, not only did he have a short temper, he would flare out and beat people from time to time. On the contrary, Gui Xinying clearly was markedly different from him. Therefore, other than a few of Gui Hao's stanch subordinates, the majority of the members present didn't hold too much of a grudge against Tianjing, the perpetrator for their loss and the reshuffling of resources, though some level of uncomfortable was understandable.

Among the audience, there were many who were keeping a neutral stance for this match. Despite that, everyone was extremely curious to see exactly how black of a black horse this Tianjing really was.

Naturally, the Gui Family wasn't the biggest shots present in the viewing gallery.

Just like yesterday, the best seats within the viewing gallery were left for the 2 other semifinalists.

Heaven's Fate and Stuart.

After the end of yesterday's match, there were many obstinate Stuart fans that made declarations that their beloved squadron would never rest after their loss, and that they would definitely find ways to take revenge for their defeat.

However, from the looks of it now, Stuart did not do anything that actions that would warrant restlessness. In fact, Carolyn was currently engaging in a hushed conversation with Mo XIngchen while having a faint smile on her face, with them laughing merrily from time to time. Clearly, they appeared to be having a rather delightful conversation. One had to admit the formidable might of Carolyn from this display, as she had turned a disadvantage into an advantage of her own. Naturally, she had already made ample display of her talents and strength, with the potential might of her Heart's Sword giving her a high possibility of surpassing Mo Wen in the future, After all, Mo Wen was a year older than her, and a year at their age was exceedingly important towards the cultivation of a person's Spiritual Soul, not that he cared about it at all.

The rumours of Stuart's so-called narrowmindedness was defeated by this atmosphere hanging in the viewing gallery. Frankly speaking, despite being eliminated in yesterday's match, Stuart was still able to maintain an extremely high degree of sportsmanship in their behaviours and actions. Not only did they appear genial in front of the audience, they also seated themselves in the shoes of the average citizens while viewing this match. Clearly, there was no conclusion to be made from their actions.

Although such displays have incited slight disappointment in the hearts of fans that were thirsting for some action, the actions of the Stuart squadron, especially with Carolyn's magnanimous behaviour, had caused the more intelligent people among the audience to remove their gaze from yesterday's match and place them full on the upcoming one.

At this moment, some of the statistics of Tianjing and Grozny were being displayed on the big screens. With this, those among the audience who were incomparably worried about Barran's injuries were finally able to get an answer to their questions in the form of the name list of today's participants.

Barran's name had appeared on the namelist.

"Looks like there's no problem with Barran's recovery. 8 whole days of rest and adjustment is ample time for him to recover and adapt to his current form. I've heard that vice-captain Mario from the Blazing squadron had put in quite some effort to aid in this. Ha ha. I believe that the Tianjing squadron, and even Grozny, are extremely appreciative of this."

"That's right. To the honest and frank Grozny squadron, it is obviously not their style to take advantage of other people's difficulties. Using brute strength to subdue their opponents is a favourite activity for soldiers hailing from the northern regions."

"That brings to the question. Are you favouring the Grozny squadron over Tianjing for this match, brother Ruo?"

Now hailed as the emperor of predictions of this CHF, Ruo Zhi's prediction had been somewhat of a hot interest for many people. With a faint smile, he replied, "That's not the case. Frankly speaking, I'm personally more inclined towards Tianjing. After all, I'm also an All Mouthy King fan. Furthermore, everyone knows that when it comes to a life-or-death elimination situation, the final victors rests heavily on the captain VS captain duel. Clearly, everyone here is extremely interested in the possibility of Wang Zhong and Vladimir clashing head-on. In most situations, the squadron that wins the captain VS captain duel will clinch victory for the match. I believe that there's no one out there that have any reason to doubt the personal strength of All Mouthy King. Although captain Vladimir's extremely strong, I'm still inclined towards a 50:50 odds situation should a duel breakout."

"Ha ha. Victory being dependent on the captain VS captain duel appears to be the iron fast rule of the CHF. However, one cannot place too much emphasis on this. Although Tianjing's twin stars have surmounted all the difficulties they have encountered thus far, they have to deal with Grozny now! Furthermore, all of Grai's moves should have been researched through by Grozny. Frankly speaking, although he is extremely strong, he isn't on the same dazzling level as captain Wang Zhong. If he loses as in the vanguard duel, it's nigh impossible for Tianjing to bring this match into the group battle phase. Nevertheless, all in all, Tianjing still has some disadvantage going into this match."

Chen Yu'er proceeded to look through the provided information and statistics while continuing with her commentary. "These can be seen from the prediction polls for this match. From the polls conducted throughout the various military academies, Grozny squadron holds more than 50% of the votes. As for the internal polls between the participants and experts, I believe the odds are more than 70% for Grozny's victory. This is shared with the polls from some of the media outlets. The only exception to this is the one conducted on Skylink. That's a mysterious place, with a different polling result. In that poll, Tianjin has an 80% odds advantage over Grozny."

"Ha ha. After all, Skylink's the domain of our captain Wang Zhong, our All Mouthy King. From my latest checking, Tianjing's odds have now risen to 85%! That's basically unreasonable." Ruo Zhi took over with a chuckle. "There's too many brother King fans present over there. Such a result isn't astonishing at all, owing to successive miracles Tianjing has created over the past few matches!"

"That's right! In the end, a prediction is just a prediction. Everyone's waiting for the start of this match, waiting for the real victor to appear! I can see the enthusiastic expressions hanging on everyone's faces! The viewership numbers on the Skylink has already passed 2.4 million! What a terrifying number, even before the start of the match! And there's even the possibility of breaking yesterday's record! The stadium is already as packed as yesterday's match! The only thing that can be said, is that All Mouthy King is unmatched in his popularity on Skylink!"

"Okay! Ladies and Gentlemen, the match is about to start! Our head referee for today's match will be our chairwoman of the CHF organizing committee, Long Mei'er, who will now announce the participants for today's match! Let's give our hands together for our head referee, Long Mei'er!"

Upon the announcement, Long Mei'er had already stood up. Seeing her raise her hand, the propaganda clips playing across the various large screens, the rumbling, loud background music, as well as the berserk cheers and roars from the audience turned into silence in an instant, as countless fans looked emotionally towards her, as well as the Tianjing and Grozny namelist in her hands.

With a faint smile, Long Mei'er read out the first name of the list.

"Grozny Academy, Vladimir."

Vasilyevich was the first squadron to grace the stadium. Be it the overall or individual strength of its members, Vasilyevich clearly possessed the absolutely superior position in this match.

Taking the lead, Vladimir stepped onto the stage. The reputation of the Ice Prince was well known among every household of the Federation. His heaven-defying appearance was unlike the genial and pretty boy looks associated with the southerners, yet was filled with incomparable handsomeness. With his radiant skin and smile coupled with his explosive musculature, he gave people the impression of being the blessed son of the heavens!

A quick moment later, various statistics, as well as handsome images of Vladimir, appeared on the large screens.

Being one of the 5 upper families of the Federation that followed their inheritances from the golden era, Vasilyevich, Vladimir was the sole legal successor to the family. Unlike the other families where the strongest take all, Vladimir had an incomparable stable status and position within the Vasilyevich family, so much so that his status would not even shake should he make any mistakes. This was something that was decided since his birth! He was born to become the next ruler of the northern regions! Outstanding genes coupled with outstanding authority as well as his frightening talent had shaped him into a real king!

Quite a few bigshots present in the VIP podium were here due to their great interest in the future king of the northern region. Although he was at present just a future "feudal lord", with his scope of influence being weaker than Carolyn's, he trumps her with his incomparable firm and unshakable position in Federation. Naturally, the powerful might of his family was also one of the biggest reasons being the dread and high regard shown to him.

"King of the northern regions! King of the northern regions!"

Ho Ho Ho Ho~~~

At this moment, the brother King fans in the audience remained largely silent, with most of them engaging in whispered discussions among one another. However, incomparably loud howling sounds suddenly erupted from the viewing gallery situated in the northern section!

Although the roars from the northerners were united as one, it wasn't quite like the loud chants that came from the cheering squads that came to support Martial Ghost Divine Emperor. Nevertheless, there wasn't any of the mechanical stiffness in their emotional filled berserk roars! Roars that penetrated right into one's soul! Roars that was filled with might, so powerful that it would reverberate throughout the world!

This sudden eruption of roars almost scared the shit out of those weaker-hearted people in the audience.

"Noriba, Pomo, De Gea, Leninski!"

The main force of Vasilyevich followed closely behind Vladimir, with each of their appearances being followed up by those terrifying roars. The cheers have already past the level of support, so much so that it made people feel as though there were innumerable wild beasts roaring and howling at them. Despite it being a single viewing gallery with 30-40 thousand people seated in them, they appeared to create a level of commotion equivalent to over 200 thousand people, causing the tens of thousands of Brother King fans to turn pale in shock!

Frankly speaking, this was just like the northern regions.

Many brother King fans proceeded to look at each other in shock, as all of them had always felt that they, being brother King fans, were the most craziest of fans out there, something that they pride themselves rather highly for. However, compared to the northerners, the word crazy cannot be tossed around casually, as their raging hormones were capable of causing one to question their lives in an instant.

"I really don't know the bottom line of how strong Vasilyevich's lineup is this year. We might be able to get a glimpse of it today. Let's see how Tianjing reacts to this."

"Indeed,Grozny's very strong. If they chose an appropriate strategy, it's possible for them to sweep Tianjing in complete victory."

The majority of the stars from the various eliminated squadrons present in the participant viewing galleries maintained their stance towards this match. This included the people who had lost to Tianjing, like Bobo Torres, Alasi and Brooks. Despite having good impressions of Tianjing, the majority of them did not look favourably on them winning this match. Nevertheless, this wasn't a firm prediction, as firstly, there's no absolutes in combat. 2ndly, they were going along with the majority. Despite that, there was one voice that was clearly distinct from the rest.

"I still feel that Tianjing will win." the one making this claim was Papada, saying those words with a tone that indicated his unwavering stance, as though everything he said was something obvious to everyone.

"Ha ha. Those words are subjective, captain Papada. I feel that…"

Before the reply could finish, it was immediately severed.

"Let's wait and see." the reply that came back wasn't only from Papada, but from Oli, who sat beside him. In fact, the rest of the Blazing Angels squadron members all had stanch expressions present on their faces. "This is the will of god!"

Everyone was instantly stunned by their replies. Having conversations with god fanatics would definitely result in an undelightful experience. Could it be that those people from the Blazing Angels have discovered some secret about Tianjing? Or perhaps, there's really no need to have conversations with god fanatics?

Nevertheless, it was at this moment that Tianjing graced the stadium.

"Tianjing squadron, Wang Zhong!"

In the past, people might not treat those star-level figures like Dicaprio and All Mouthy King, who have risen from a commoner status with sufficient regard. However, they were now being promoted with no restraint at all!

Unlike other people, the large screens instantly started playing the clips from All Mouthy King's path into the CHF, as well as the glorious path that had gained tremendous popularity among the masses within a short few days!

Being the greatest black horse of this CHF, as well as being the expert with the greatest hope of challenging Mo Wen for the number one Casted Soul Stage soldier under the heavens, All Mouthy King had already left being countless legendary tales throughout his short history in the Federation.

Be it the feeling of grievance from being "frightened" earlier, or just purely due to the pounding coming from the hearts of those brother King fans, the entire stadium erupted into maddened roars the instant Wang Zhong appeared in the stadium. Countless berserk fans shouted and cheered to the top of their lungs, using the loudest voice they could muster to show their support for their idol!

"Wang Zhong! Captain Wang Zhong!"

"Oh my god! My King…"

"All Mouthy King! Ahhhhh!"

Endless waves of shouts and roars rang out, instantly suppressing any cheers coming from the Vasilyevich supporters. Despite coming from women, and laymen, as well as the countless brother King fans, present in the stadium, causing the sounds to be less radiant that those muscular men from the northern regions, they possessed far superior numbers, causing the chants to have a surround sound effect. Furthermore, the shrieks from the women sounded like the repeated squeals from dolphins, gaining in strength as they reverberated throughout the stadium. Despite people fainting as a result of their overboard shouting and being needed to be carried over the heads of the audience to medical care, the countless berserk supporters cheering for Tianjing has totally suppressed the madness unleashed by the Vasilyevich fans!

Faint smiles appeared on many of the VIPs present upon seeing this scene. Frankly speaking, Wang Zhong possessed the absolute lowest status within Tianjing, which was also the squadrons with the lowest status among the 4 semi finalist squadrons. Despite that, he was also the person they were most interested in watching!

To the bigshots who wielded true power, people like Carolyn, Mo Wen or Vladimir were of no interest to them, despite how strong or talented they were. Regardless of their achievements, everything would just be an additional label for them.

However, it was entirely different for Wang Zhong. Frankly speaking, the fame and reputation of the so-called All Mouthy king did not once enter the considerations even once for those VIPs. To them, making another legend like All Mouthy King was as easy as a simple verbal command. This was also the reason why the Federation, as well as people from the aristocratic families like Carolyn, did not place any regard in Wang Zhong at the very beginning. Only those commoners with their superficial knowledge of the world would take someone like All Mouthy King and his existence its face value.

The true reason behind their interest in him stemmed from Wang Zhong's match against Martial Ghost Divine Emperor, where he had unleashed the combination subwoofer cannon and combination runic handprints!

Anyone with the slightest bit of knowledge about the runic system in the Federation would be able to see how massive these creations were! If these moves could be used by the masses, not only would it be able to shape an era, it would absolutely be able to change the course of history!

A mighty, powerful technique! One that anyone could learn!

Wang Zhong, with his massive potential, as well as his clean and untainted background makes him appear as an extremely tempting sheep in their eyes. With the Assassin Family being of no concern to them, who wouldn't want to lure such succulent meat over to their side?

The eyes of those VIPs lit up as they glared at Wang Zhong. In fact, the Parliament had started to change their strategies for the future. The recent slew of failures had come as a rude awakening for them. From the aspect of strength, Dicaprio was totally incapable of being their flag bearer, so Wang Zhong appeared to be a pretty good choice to replace him.

Naturally, everyone was in tacit agreement with each other that these matters weren't to be mentioned out loud.

"Ha ha. He really is able to cause those commoners to go so crazy over him. Looks like the younger generation is going to overtake us some time. I really want to have an opportunity to get to know him personally." 

"Old Karl, you shouldn't give such a level of respect even if you anxious to meet him, right? Are you trying to drive a wedge between us elders? Ha ha!"

"What awful words are you using? All of us are just putting in effort for the Federation and her citizens, right? I believe that the elders will not mind."

The old elder replied with a faint smile, though his eyes sparkled with the tranquil gleam of intelligence.

The various great families have been busily trying to pull squadrons like the Asuna Ocean Goddess and Mammoth over to their side, something which the Parliament was all too aware of. Although they weren't very happy with it, they truly had no proper way to deal with this matter. On one hand,the path towards power within the Parliament was rather established, and thus was impossible to change just due to the worsening struggle against the aristocratic families. On the other hand, the Parliament could also be considered to be a type of nobility, with internal conflicts and struggles taking place all the time.

As of now, the various powerhouse squadrons ranked around the level of Tianjing have yet to give their replies, as after all, the CHF was still ongoing. On the other hand, there was Copperfield using their proximity to Tianjing to gain an exceedingly good relationship with them. In fact, the old Potter had already set up shop in Tianjing.

The eyes of the old bigshots lit up like torches as they continued to observe the other mainstays of the Tianjing squadron appear in the stadium.

"Scarlet, Grai, Barran, Emily!"

The cheering and roaring of the audience reached its peak upon the arrival of all 5 mainstays of the Tianjing squadrons. Nevertheless, it couldn't match the moment when both captains walked forwards to shake hands. Be it the Tianjing or Grozny fans, their combined cheering and roaring instantly sent the atmosphere within the Dimensional Arena Stadium to unprecedented heights!

Tianjing VS Vasilyevich! The match had officially started!

The noisy dim startly to slowly decline as both squadrons took their places in their respective preparatory areas.

Naturally, this was just a decline in volume, and not a drop in excitement levels. At this moment, countless people started to continue their discussions of the possible strategies that both squadrons would employ, with the focus being the vanguards they would send out.

According to Tianjing's previous matches, Grai seemed to be the uncontested choice for their vanguard. If Vasilyevich was gunning to remove Wang Zhong from the equation, their best choice would be to send Vladimir as their vanguard to squeeze Grai out from this match, of which the latter would not be able to deal against.

Naturally, it was extremely possible for Tianjing to have thought of this possibility and pull of a counter to it in the form of any of their other mainstays. If that happens, Vasilyevich might be at a disadvantage.

"There's a possibility for Vladimir to go up first. Taking All Mouthy King's level of confidence into consideration, it's extremely unlikely for him to change the strategy he had employed for the previous matches."

"Tsk. Do you really think Wang Zhong's that stupid?"

"I feel that Noriba's the most likely person to be sent up. Being an offensive-type heavy soldier while not lacking in the defence aspect, it will be advantageous for him to deal with Grai. I estimate the advantage to be a 60% chance of him winning. Furthermore, if Tianjing gives up the first duel, sending Noriba up wouldn't pose too much of a loss for Grozny."

"That's not possible. Grozny still requires Noriba to secure their fort. It will be extremely disadvantageous for them if Noriba is taken out of the equation with a dud. After all, Vladimir might not be able to secure a victory against Wang Zhong."

"Both captains definitely have put in thought for strategies and counter-strategies! I believe that a double dud has the highest possibility of happening!'

Unlike the incessant droning of whispers coming from the stadium there appeared to be no intense discussions happening among the 2 squadrons. Be it Wang Zhong or Vladimir, both of them appeared to have absolute control over their respective squadrons. They were both extremely clear of how important the choice of their vanguard was. Before their choices were announced, the 2 captains were already exchanging faint smiles from opposite ends, clearly indicative of their understanding towards the 2 vanguards being sent up.

"Who do you think Wang Zhong's going to send up, big sis Carolyn?" asked Mo Xingchen as she looked towards Carolyn. "I heard that you really understand captain Wang Zhong, big sis."

Carolyn replied with a faint smile, showing her understanding of what this lass before her was actually meaning.

Frankly speaking, Mo Xingchen was an existence at the peak of all the various great aristocratic families. Usually, she would not participate in the get-together parties between members of the aristocratic families, as well as representing the Mo Family in front of the public's eyes. However, there was no one out there that would dare to doubt her status and position within the Mo Family. Even Carolyn, with her status and position within the Stuart Family and the Federation, would only stand on equal footing as this little girl before here.

Before Wang Zhong's match against the Zhao Family, the disturbance that was instigated by Zhao Zimo had revealed the ambiguous relationship between Carolyn and Wang Zhong. Due to the Stuart Family using its power, rumours about it were immediately squashed. However, Wang Zhong's victory over Martial Ghost Divine Emperor coupled with his creation of the runic handprints had seemingly caused Stuart to develop other thoughts.

At this moment, the Stuart Family no longer continued to control public opinion over this matter. In fact, there were even 2 to 3 of her family elders that were intentionally hyping this matter, as well as fabricating even more exaggerated claims into it. This caused the entire federation to know about the love story between All Mouthy King and Carolyn. The unique statuses of the 2, with Carolyn's goddess-like status among the Federation's citizens, coupled with the rather high impression and reception they had towards her, caused their stories to become even more well liked. Naturally, all of these circulations and exaggerations were done with a certain limit to them, as all of it stemmed from Wang Zhong's admiration of Carolyn.

However, these rumours were only limited to the commoners. With the Mo Family's terrifyingly good information network, the truth would never evade them of they really wanted to find out about the truth between Wang Zhong and Carolyn.

Mo Xingchen clearly knew about the intricate details. However, why was she still purposefully bring it out to tease her?