Shi Lang returned to his team and had a hearty meal. Later when he went back to his room, he found OB-One watching a few videos of the battles on the holo-screen in front of him. The young man asked, “What are you doing? OB-One.”

The bot replied, “Sire, I found that you were analyzing the battles in the competition to get a better understanding of the potential opponents. However, a significant number of teams gave in to mental pressure. While some met graceful opponents like you, some were dealt a cruel hand.”

Shi Lang nodded and when he looked at the reports, he found that the people were so vicious, that they left their opponents in form of mangled corpses. He wished that he met with these people and then he could get rid of the scourge.

It was not that Shi Lang was suddenly feeling like a savior of justice, but he was being emotional. The other party facing them represented the will and courage of an entire civilization, so they deserved respect, and he, who thought one should treat others the way they wished to be treated, was indignant.

He calmed down and sat on his bed. He said, “We have one hundred and twenty-five teams left. If we divide it by two then the further division will not fit, so I have a wild hunt that in the next round they will do something different.”

OB-One nodded and said, “I accessed the old records and this is what I discovered, Sire.”

He manipulated the screen and the details came out. Shi Lang leaned forward to read with ease and he found that his hunch was correct. He called his team and informed the people quickly. The purpose was to stay ready in case the historical data was correct.

After a brief meeting and strategy planning, the Terrans went back to their rooms and immersed themselves in meditation. They needed to be at their peaks if they were to get out of what they expected to happen tomorrow. None of them was able to calm down in the true sense.

The next morning, the people got up, cleaned themselves, and then they met in the corridor before heading to the mess hall together. After a light breakfast, they moved to the gathering hall. A lot of murmurs were audible today, James said, “Boss, look there.”

The man pointed with his chin and Shi Lang lined up his gaze and found a screen levitating in the void, it said, ‘five-way fight’

Shi Lang sighed and said, “Looks like we are in for a round of battle royale.”

The team nodded and the mood grew solemn. Just as the rest of the people were talking, El made an appearance on her levitating disc and said, “Hello friends, today we have a slight twist in the game. Today you all will be pitted against not one, not two, but four teams at the same time. The rules are the same like the past, but since there are more teams to fight with, the time limit is upped.

You will have two hours and thirty minutes to deal with the round. There are other rules to prevent you all from dampening the spirits, no team can collectively stay stationary. A displacement of seven meters is necessary.”

Shi Lang whispered, “She is talking as if we are some clowns for her entertainment, ‘dampening spirits’, why not try and swap places.”

During this whole time, his eyes were locked on El, but he did not radiate any emotion or thought in his mind, thus the latter was unable to detect it. This was their true skill, even when expressing his annoyance, the emotions were in check.

Jane smiled and said, “Calm down, why bother over it? Did you not say once that the world is filled with twisted people? Think of her as one of those people.”

Shi Lang nodded and the gathering progressed, after half an hour of chatter, the rules were summarized as: People cannot use poison or bio-chemical weapons. The team with the highest number of people alive will win in the end.

The federal team was aware of these rules, and they were not shocked. They have made sufficient strategies to face these rules. They were exactly similar to the ones in the past. In the end, they were all allotted a number of arenas where they will meet their opponents and enemies.

Shi Lang and the rest of the frontal force moved to the dressing room, picked up their gear, and put it on. Shi Lang was wearing a red suit with black streaks while the rest of the team wore a black suit with red streaks.

They carried their phaser guns in front of them while the spirit weapons were tied to their backs. The fighting will be quick, and distance will be a quick factor in this battle. The tech team and the administrators came to see them off, and they all spoke in unison, “Godspeed.”

The frontal forces replied with a simple nod. They all walked away, watching their backs, Jane asked, “You know, the people in the tech teams all over the federal army do not like this greeting. I have always wondered why.”

The people nodded when a slightly older man spoke up, “There is a legend. It is said that when the federal army had just been founded, the president asked them to go and capture mars as soon as possible. The Fleet general replied that they will do things at the fastest speed possible.

The fleets departed and they established a firm base on mars within three months. The president was overjoyed and said that the speed of the military was the speed of god, and even though they faced a lot of danger, they all were safe.

The tech team was that god, if not for their guidance, the military blokes might still be stuck at terra-forming stages. However, the credit was hogged over by them, and the Tech-Mech rift was created. Thus, the tech teams do not like this greeting.”

The rest of the people nodded in understanding. They have learned something new today.

…

Shi Lang and the frontal team were headed to a chopper that took them to the so-called arena number twenty. The battles today were to be played in twenty-five locations designated as arenas. Each one of these arenas was as big as twenty kilometers. However, the environment was random.

The chopper took them above the bustling city, and after a couple of hours, they reached their destination. A member of the galactic council staff, let’s call him minion, for the time being, said, “You can dive.”

Shi Lang and the rest did not even ask him anything and they all dived. The team noticed that the communicator had turned green, this meant that the battle had begun.

Ryan said in the dive, while they were still in dive, “Boss, tango, two o’clock.”

The rest of the team turned their bodies in the void and located the team. Shi Lang said, “Use the front thrusters now, delay the fall. Then move over to line up with them. The battle has begun, we take them now.”

The people were surprised but they did not hesitate and the command was executed. The front thrusters on the suits of the ten people went off together, and the counter-thrust lasted for more than two seconds, this delayed their falls. The next thing they did shock a lot of people keeping an eye on this competition.

They all angled their bodies to move in the void and quickly lined up above the tangoes spotted. Shi Lang did not take out the gun, but a curved karambit knife, and dived after locking on to a target.

The rest of the team also followed him and they locked on to the ten people below. Shi Lang said, “Stun.”

This was the command, meaning they will only stun the enemy and not kill them. Their knives were laced with a paralyzing agent. The team below sensed that something was wrong, and just as they managed to turn their bodies around, they found red and black shadows coming at them.

However, this discovery gave them no advantage and they were dealt with in a blink. Shi Lang and the rest just touched the blunt side of their knives against the people, and they could tell the attack was a success from their panicking expressions.

Shi Lang was still kind enough to scan their suits with his visor and pull the chute cord on the back. The dive raid was a success, and after a few moments when the federal team landed, they rolled on the ground and quickly ran into the woods.

…

While the team finished attacking, they did not know that outside, the part of the galaxy that was paying attention to their match erupted in chaos. The representative of the losing side accused the federation of breaking the rules to which, Shashi replied, “The battle started the moment they all jumped out of those choppers. Not everyone in the galaxy is ignorant about the swift changes.”

That was right, the battle had begun.