Chick 284
by Cristae284
A breathless silence followed.
As the blinding light faded, the immense body of Demextria was seen slowly collapsing within its radiance.
At the same moment, thunderous cheers erupted from the coaching zone and the stands alike.
The commentators, every bit as excited, shouted amidst the frenzy.
“Match over! The match is over! Team Korea has done it! They’ve defeated Supreme Executor Demextria! Victory for Team Korea!!!”
The caster pounded the table, unable to contain his joy.
“This was truly… a match for the history books. Today’s Team Korea was really playing as a three-person squad! It looked like they were losing in phase three, but in the end, they took phase four! They showed the ferocity of a tiger pouncing on a lion’s heart!”
“I see things a bit differently—while you said it was a three-person squad, Hunter Gru’s drone played an absolutely decisive role. From support to an expertly timed boss steal, it was there whenever needed. And that final blow against Demextria! That was literally the game-changer that turned everything around.”
“The control when they stole Germany’s phase three boss was brilliant. Just thinking about it gives me chills.”
“I can’t even imagine how much effort it must have taken to control the drone like that, but perhaps it’s simply raw genius at work.”
“Oh! Right now, the face of today’s MVP, Hunter Gru, is on the screen. Making a relaxed peace sign—utterly adorable!”
On the giant stadium screen, Gru appeared, flashing a peace sign, with the words “MVP of the Day” written in bold underneath.
“Ha ha ha! Just so cute! A true national treasure!”
The analyst burst out laughing, jokingly calling her “the adorable treasure of Korea.”
“Yes, that cute Hunter is the MVP. Which means the drone contributed the highest participation in this match. Remarkable, considering her young age! Hunter On Gru!”
“Which is to say, this isn’t just a three-person squad—it’s virtually a five-person team… Wait a moment. We have breaking news coming from the coaching zone. Please stand by.”
The caster exchanged a few words through his headset, his eyes suddenly shining.
“Everyone, the drone’s ranking has been announced. Prepare yourselves.”
He drew out the moment, cheeks flushed with excitement.
The once-rowdy crowd held its breath, waiting on his next words.
“Ladies and gentlemen—Korea soars even higher…”
The caster, voice trembling with awe, shouted out with all his might.
“S+! That’s the highest grade in existence!! Korea has done it, everyone!”
“Waaaah!!!”
The analyst threw both hands in the air, embracing the caster with a feverish, beaming face.
“Once again, the whole world will lose its mind over this drone!”
“This means Hunter Fakeclaw now stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Amakusa Hunter!!!”
“Amazing! Fakeclaw!! Amazing! Korea!!”
An overwhelming cheer swept the stadium, and the chatroom froze, overloaded by the flood of messages.
Hunter TV Live Support
ON: Broadcasting
- Victory!!
- SSS!
- Holy sh*t, we did it~~~!!
- German team got wiped by a kindergartner, huh? Lol
- Serves them right, lol
- Wow, the rating’s just now posted
- Stop teasing and spit it out, man!!
- Sergey, love you! ❤❤
- ??
- ?
- S+?
- For real?
- wtf!!!!!
- Crazy, just crazy
- Waaaaaah!
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah—!”
The crowd erupted with frenzied cheers at the appearance of a homegrown S+.
Cries of “Fakeclaw!” and “Long live Korea!” filled the air, making the whole place buzz with excitement.
In the midst of all that passionate support—
At the entrance gates of the stadium, Yurian muttered about the noise, doing his best to hide his astonishment.
‘S+…’
That meant the absolute top tier among all gear in the world.
Whoever this Fakeclaw was, they had to be someone extraordinary.
The Kriteito Reactor, an S+ drone…
If Amakusa embodied a classic, orthodox approach to creation, Fakeclaw was more unconventional and modern.
It was innovation and execution like that of a child.
Gru appeared on the screen—MVP, tossed in celebration by the Korean team.
Deep in thought for an instant, Yurian turned his gaze there, then crossed his arms and stared out over the stands.
At the edge of his sight was a boy, roughly five or six years old.
The boy had a fat bird perched on his head and held a white baby rabbit in his arms.
He’d arrived following that fat bird’s trail while searching for a clue to Dominic’s whereabouts.
He suspected the platinum-haired girl would have it, but to his surprise, a child barely out of kindergarten had entered the exchange match.
Instead, the one with a baby bird on his head seemed to be a friend of that child.
‘What in the world did they do?’
Nothing seemed out of place for now, but Dominic was undeniably an SSS-grade monster—something utterly beyond the scope of childish games like this tournament.
Meaning that bird had to be a similar entity.
‘Could there be another monster like Dominic…?’
Yurian stopped himself as his thoughts began to spiral. There was no need to think any further.
His sole mission was to retrieve Dominic; that was all that mattered.
To do so—
[Activating skill ‘Spectrum Echo (SSS)’.]
-Trace and rewind the flow of former times or vestiges of past energy.
He activated the skill.
He would use the skill to track the traces of Dominic in the past. Then, using that fat bird as a medium, he would bring Dominic back.
If the bird was indeed a being no different from Dominic, so much the better.
He couldn’t bring Dominic from the past to the present with his own power, but with a suitable body to vessel Dominic, it would be possible.
Of course, the baby bird itself would cease to exist—but that was no concern of his.
Yurian fired the film of light swirling at his fingertips at the white baby bird.
But at that moment, the bird suddenly turned around.
“…?!”
Startled, Yurian stiffened as his eyes met those like the evening sky.
For an instant, a chilling sense of being crushed beneath overwhelming force ran down his spine.
‘Don’t tell me it’s noticed…?’
Even as he hesitated, the band of light unleashed from Yurian’s fingertips wrapped around the baby bird.
But then—
Whooosh!
It spun around and began hurtling back toward Yurian.
‘Ah!’
No time to dodge.
The bounced-back skill enveloped Yurian, and he squinted, blinded by the radiant film surrounding him.
There, unnoticed by all at the gate, Yurian’s figure was engulfed in light.
Moments later—
The light that wrapped him shrank into a tiny orb.
“Bit?!”
At last, as the radiance completely faded, Yurian’s form emerged, but something was different.
“…!”
So shocked that his mouth hung open in a diamond shape, Mephisto began to sweat profusely.
What now? I did it again…?
Mephisto fluttered over to the bewildered Yurian.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
Bailach turned to follow after Mephisto.
Circling the gates, Mephisto was sweating bullets.
Just now, that kid was clearly the boy who’d been searching for Dominic.
Something had come flying toward him through the boy, so he’d swatted it away—but he’d never expected this outcome.
Whimpering a bit, Mephisto grabbed Yurian by the scruff of the neck and took to the air. Whatever happened, this was entirely his responsibility.
Luckily or not, Yurian still seemed completely oblivious to what had just happened to him.
Good, if I can just get him to Gru and reset this before it gets worse…!
At that moment, as he followed Mephisto, Bailach asked offhandedly,
“What’s that thing?”
“Beee!”
Trying to answer with Yurian in his mouth, but dropping him, Mephisto quickly swooped back down and snatched Yurian by the scruff again.
“Why are you carrying a puppy all of a sudden?”
No wonder—the thing Mephisto was carrying was now a tiny, fluffy-furred puppy, barely big enough to fill your palm.
“Gyuu…?”
Lucifer, nestled in Bailach’s arms, tilted his head in puzzlement as well.
Meanwhile, the baby Maltese in Mephisto’s mouth—Yurian—couldn’t contain his outrage and started trembling, baring tiny teeth.
“Rrrrrrr—”