Few years later…
A battlemage rushed through the battle field, in his hand is a silver weapon that fans know by heart, Evil Annihilation. The wielder is of course, One Autumn Leaf, a god-level account that used to belong to Ye Xiu, then handed over to Sun Xiang. Now, the owner of the account is Qiu Fei, the disciple of Ye Xiu, current captain of Excellent Era.
The situation did not look good for Qiu Fei. He was forced to residual blood and is now trying to find a way to reverse the situation. He heard a sound coming from his east and One Autumn Leaf immediately made a sudden stop before taking a leap backward.
Just a second after, there was an explosion on the spot where One Autumn Leaf had been earlier. Dust flew everywhere and once it settled down, it revealed another god-level account, Desert Dust, belonging to team Tyranny.
[Announcer: Desert Dust's Eagle Stamp missed its mark! And now, One Autumn Leaf countered with a Dragon tooth! Followed with a Sky Strike and Double Stab! The bleed effect is triggered! One Autumn Leaf used Falling Flower Palm and Desert Dust is blown away! Maybe this is the opening that player Qiu Fei is looking for?!]
Following the announcer's voice, the crowd cheered excitedly. Desert Dust's health still have 30% left while One Autumn Leaf has less than 10%. If One Autumn Leaf won, then it would've been a great upset for team Tyranny.
Contrary to popular belief, Qiu Fei didn't continue attacking and instead, he once again ran from his opponent.
[Announcer: It looks like player Qiu Fei is still biding his time, or is he trying to waste time? This is after all, the final match and whoever wins will win the championship!]
Desert Dust finally recovered from the stun effect and stood up. "Damn it! Why don't you just die!" the player for Desert Dust couldn't help but feel irritated. Just from the combo, his health went down from 45% to 30% and is still slowly decreasing due to the bleeding effect.
One Autumn Leaf has long disappeared from the scene and Desert Dust have no choice but to go and search for the battlemage once again.
On the other hand, Qiu Fei finally had One Autumn Leaf to hide and lay in ambush. The audience could see this, but the player for Desert Dust couldn't. He continued to search for One Autumn Leaf and it might be due to his irritation earlier, he seemed to take an aggressive stance now.
[Announcer: Desert Dust is now approaching the area where One Autumn Leaf is currently laying in wait. Desert Dust best be careful, because during the time it took for him to reach this place, One Autumn Leaf's skills have all finished it's cool down. Not to mention, Desert Dust's health is now at 21%. A full combo might take away all his health…]
Qiu Fei was patient. 'Just a bit more,' he thought as he continued to watch Desert Dust. As soon as Desert Dust entered his range of attack, Qiu Fei's hand speed explodes.
He first casts Dragon Break the Ranks to close the distance between One Autumn Leaf and Desert Dust. At the same time, Desert Dust had also expected this move so he was prepared to counter with Empty-Handed Blade Block. If this counter succeeded, then Tyranny would win the championship.
How could Qiu Fei let that happen easily? So before the tip of his spear hits Desert Dust, he canceled the skill, rendering Desert Dust's Empty-Handed Blade Block useless. Then, he immediately executed Tyrant's Destruction, knocking Desert Dust up into the air.
[Announcer: What a move by One Autumn Leaf!! After baiting Desert Dust with Dragon Break the Ranks to force Desert Dust to use it's only counter skill, he canceled the skill at last minute only to use Tyrant's Destruction! For player Qiu Fei to execute this, his hand speed must have reached his upper limit! This should be his final stance!]
The announcer wasn't wrong. Qiu Fei is now 25 years old. For him to reach 400APM is already putting a strain on his hand. Now, his hand speed is actually reaching 500APM.
After the successful knock up, Qiu Fei quickly followed through with Hundred Dragon Meteor Strike, Double Stab, Draconic Crusher, Sky Strike, Dragon Tooth and finally, Falling Flower Palm. Between each skills, One Autumn Leaf would move towards Desert Dust's blind spot, creating the vanishing steps.
[Announcer: The combo forced Desert Dust into residual blood! Now he have 6% health left which is lower than One Autumn Leaf! The advantage Desert Dust have over One Autumn Leaf disappeared!]
The Excellent Era fan cheered with the explosion of damage by One Autumn Leaf while Tyranny's fan is now becoming anxious.
[Announcer: Huh? What's this?! Desert Dust suddenly closed the distance Soaring Tiger and took One Autumn Leaf by surprise! One Autumn Leaf's health is down to 4% aaaaand its gone! Desert Dust sealed the kill with Emperor's Fist and cleared the remaining health of One Autumn Leaf! The winner for Season 16 of Glory is Tyranny!!]
"What just happened?! Shouldn't Desert Dust suffers stun effect?!"
"What is this?! Is Tyranny cheating?!"
"Who dares says Tyranny is cheating?! Don't you know Qiu Fei is already old? Maybe he just miscalculated!"
"Old? Compared to Tyranny's first captain who retired at the age of 33, our Qiu Fei is far from old, ah!"
The audience broke into disbelief and started to fight against each other. Seeing this, the management knew they need to remedy this so they replayed the match video in slow motion.
It started with One Autumn Leaf's Tyrant's Destruction, followed by series of combos. There was no mistakes, until they see Dragon Tooth missed its mark because Desert Dust a skill.
[Announcer: Cloud Body?! Such skills can also be used to dodge in midair?!]
Qiu Fei was also watching the video and when he sees it, he can't help but show a helpless smile and shook his head. With the video revealing the reason for Desert Dust's win, the fan no longer fought. Tyranny fan's rejoiced while Excellent Era fan's can only bite their lips and accepts their loss.
Qiu Fei sat on the player booth for a while longer, looking at both of his hands. They were both shaking and he just sighed. "I guess my time is now over…" he murmured with a sad smile.
He stood up and left the player booth to meet the player of Desert Dust. The player was young. In fact, Qiu Fei is more than a decade older than him.
"Good game. Tyranny is blessed to have you succeed Desert Dust," Qiu Fei said as he held out his hand for a handshake. "That Cloud Body at the end was really a good execution."
The player looked at Qiu Fei's hand and shook it. "It was just luck… I panicked and accidentally activated Cloud Body while trying to figure out how to escape…" he informed Qiu Fei.
"Luck is also part of one's skill. No matter what, it was still a good game. So raise your head up and go meet your fan. Congratulations on being the champions," Qiu Fei said before he left the stage.
At the post match interview, Qiu Fei went with his team mate. The reporter was asking how they felt to lose the championship after coming so close to getting it.
"Winning or losing is part of the game. Excellent Era may lose this season, but the same cannot be said for next season. Next season, Excellent Era will have more new player, and the team will experience new change. For one, One Autumn Leaf will be handed down to my successor," Qiu Fei answered.
This piece of news was like a bomb for the reporters that they began to ask Qiu Fei if he is going to retire.
"Yes. It is time for me to retire. My age can no longer keep up with the young ones. Don't worry, I may retire from the pro league but Excellent Era and One Autumn Leaf will continue to fight for the championship."
"But player Qiu Fei, there is rumors that Glory is planning on something…"
"I cannot comment on that. If there is nothing else, Excellent Era will take its leave now. There are still Tyranny to interview," Qiu Fei skillfully avoided the topic and left the table with his team.
When they left to the players preparation room, the member of Excellent Era team finally burst out into tears. It was one thing to lose the championship, but to lose their captain too at the same time was a huge blow to them. Although they knew it won't be long before their captain leave, they had always thought it wouldn't be in a few more years.
"Captain…" the launcher of Excellent Era called out to Qiu Fei. "Do you really have to leave?"
"En. When I leave, you be sure to work well with Zhou LinHao. The core of our play style has always been the cooperation between Launcher and Battlemage. I hope you two will bring the championship home to Excellent Era," Qiu Fei said as he pats the launcher's head.
"Yes, captain! I won't let you down!"
"Good. Now chin up! Just because I retire, doesn't mean I'm leaving Glory altogether. I will still be around," Qiu Fei informed them. "Just like my master, I'll go and enjoy Glory in game."
"Then will you tell us your trumpet account?"
"Hmm… No. I wouldn't want to distract you all from training. If you know, I have a feeling that all of you will jump into the game and forget your training," Qiu Fei replied. "Now, wipe those tears off those face. We'll go back home now."