Chapter 273: Starlord. (2/2)
With his appearance, the DreamNet server array was immediately in danger of overheating from the strain. Their backups kicked in to mitigate some of the insane response DreamNet users were throwing their way.
Could they be blamed? Who could have imagined the Four Divine Monarchs would be facing the uncontested master of mecha pilots, a man who had vanished for a decade?
Now their true enemy was revealed. Starlord, God among gods.
Now the truth was revealed, with the Monarchs facing five exceptional God-ranked pilots, led by a living legend. Mo Xiao’s determination made far more sense now. Even a thirty percent chance of victory seemed generous.
Not even thirty percent! The Knave’s pompous threats were disregarded by many in the audience, but their hearts sank with the appearance of Deimos. Few doubted the clown now. Now, ten percent seemed like a fair estimate.
Still others had suspected this fight would be dull. While the Star Alliance was good, the Monarchs were an unstoppable force to be reckoned with. The challengers weren’t strong enough to compete. But with their leader revealed, no one could underestimate the Star Alliance. They were terrifying.
Anyone who was capable of landing their name on Sanctuary’s combat prowess top ten lists was a hero for mecha pilots. Reality was a different matter, considering the addition of Disciplines, but here they stood on the shoulders of humanity, elevated as celebrities.
Those who achieved such high status were rarely encountered in DreamNet. Any news of one of them appearing was a source of great excitement and gossip among fans. This was taken to insane degrees with Deimos, who no one had heard hide nor tail of for ten years.
The Star Alliance had chosen their name well. Indeed, this was a team of superstars, where only the greatest were summoned. All five of them boasted a top twenty ranking on the charts.
Of the Monarchs, Prometheus was third 3. Zeus was ninth, Hades seventeenth, and Poseidon nineteenth. However, as a team their totals were far less impressive, not to mention they were short a man.
Until this moment, no one has been able to upset Deimos’s one on five record. As the Knave might say, legends are legends. For those in the audience, the Starlord’s appearance was already worth the price of admission.
Once again the number of subscribed users surged. The number jumped to five hundred million in no time at all 4
Lan Jue turned his head to face Hua Li and Chu Cheng. The look in their eyes said more than words could ever express. Never in a million years had they anticipated facing Deimos.
“Mr. Deimos, thank you very much for agreeing to participate.” Mo Xiao stood at the man’s side. Her voice was full of respectful deference. Even though she herself was a god-ranked pilot, this man was the best of his generation, possibly the best to ever have lived. The Starlord was an idol to innumerable pilots, and deserved the respect that entailed.
Deimos responded with a laugh. His warm, magnetic voice flowed from the mask. “And a very hearty thank you to our beautiful hostess.”
As Mo Xiao spoke, her hand pressed against the swell of her chest. “You know, my heart is racing. When I was little you were my hero. If you would have asked me then, I would never have believed one day I’d be sharing the stage with you in DreamNet.”
This earned another chuckle from the man. “Indeed! I’m quite old now, and this will probably be my last appearance in DreamNet as a combatant. After today, I will be announcing my retirement. The future of Sanctuary will be absent the Starlord. I will be submitting my demands that my name be stricken from the records so that the younger generation can have their shot.”
“You’re retiring?” she asked in surprise. “Why did you choose to return for this fight, and as their leader? Unless I’m mistaken, this should be your first time in this position.”
Deimos huffed. “No one is strong forever. Just as life wanes as we near the winter of our days, the same is said of mecha pilots.”
Mo Xiao nodded. “I really must know, why did you choose this fight to come back after such a long hiatus, especially as team leader? Unless I’m mistaken, this is your first time taking on the role.”
“When I chose to fade out ten years ago, it was because I felt that DreamNet had no further need for me.” Deimos began. “I was also too old to represent it like I had. As everyone knows, controlling a mecha sets quite a strain on the body. This is just as true for the simulations as it is for the real thing. As I am now, I’m perhaps only a third or fourth of where I was during my peak. Already I find it difficult to remain in DreamNet for very long. As for why I’m here, there are two reasons. The first is to bid farewell to my fans and friends. The second, is so that I can see what constitutes excellence in today’s world. I’m here to see just how powerful the new generation is.”
1. A phrase used for ancient emperors.
2. Naming note: The name TJSS has given him is 月空, literally translated as ‘Moon Void’. Interesting as that is, it doesn’t fit the epicness of this guy. Unable to find a closer equivalent, I decided to name him after one of the many moons that dot our solar system. I settled on Deimos, which is the name of both the Greek God of Terror (due to his terrifying prestige on the battlefield, and keeping with the Greek naming theme) and a moon for Mars
3. In the previous chapter they claimed he was first. After double checking, the list names were the same, so it was likely just a mistake by the author. This number should be his actual ranking.
4. Potentially confusing. Chinese numbers are weird in and of themselves – to the point where my assistant teachers and I would have to argue and write out any numbers we were trying to teach kids. The reason for this is because they don’t go in to the ‘ten-‘ whatevers, like ten thousand. Instead they call that 一万, or ‘one ten thousands’. So one hundred thousand would be ‘ten ten thousands’. One billion, you can imagine, gets tougher. To compound the issue there are VIP fees you can pay to get a special video feed, which he’ll occasionally delineate separate from total viewership. So for clarities’ sake, there are one hundred billion people from all the alliances watching the show. Five hundred million of them are payed in to the VIP stream. I think. It did say more than that before, so who knows really. A lot, is what we’re trying to get at.