Reincarnated Avatar; I got 2 SSS-Rank Unique Skills
Chapter 220: Rivalry [12]

Chapter 220: Rivalry [12]

---<VICTORY>---

[Echelon: 10 points]

[Phoenix Rising: 0 point]

"..."

"..."

".....!"

Stanford Bridge erupted.

Social media crashed.

The English Pro Alliance came to a standstill.

History was created.

For the first time in the history of the English Pro Alliance, a top 6 club lost a pro game with a 10-0 scoreline; a flawless victory, a brutal humiliation.

For the first time in the history of the English Pro Alliance, the reigning champion of the league and the Warstar RPG Champions League lost a game with a flawless 10-0 scoreline.

For the first time in the history of Warstar RPG Champions League-winning clubs, one of them lost a game with a flawless 10-0 scoreline.

For the first time in Phoenix Rising’s history as a club, they lost a game with a flawless 10-0 scoreline.

And for the first time in the history of the English Pro Alliance, a club managed to secure a flawless 10-0 victory against a top 6 club.

Phoenix Rising created history; Echelon also created history.

The reactions after the game was crazy, both right there in the stadium in Stanford Bridge and on social media.

After the game, Gabriel stood before the media in a post-game interview.

From the look on the rival captain’s face, the last place he wanted to be was here but there was nothing he could do. The media showed no mercy.

"Gabriel, your club just created history with Echelon. In just one night, so many records of the English Pro Alliance were broken".

Gabriel tried to keep a poker face as he stared at the reporter.

"Your team lost with a flawless 10-0 scoreline despite being the reigning champions of the Warstar RPG Champions League, how do you feel?"

Despite how prepared he was for it, as soon as he heard the question, Gabriel still scowled. "How I feel?" He chuckled, struggling to believe that he was asked such a question. "Well, I feel great, obviously, right?" He said sarcastically, looking at the reporter.

But then, he snapped. "Of course, I don’t feel great. I feel awful. Thousands of our fans were in Stanford Bridge on the night, and they watched their beloved club lose 10-0 to a city rival".

"They looked up to me, their captain to help their cause, but I failed," Gabriel took a deep breath. "For that, I’m sorry".

"It’s an unusual feeling for me too, but I promise that it won’t happen again. We’re a big club, and we have the mentality of a big club".

"Next time, we’ll win against Echelon".

"But you won’t meet them again". The reporter added.

Gabriel sharply looked at her. "We’ll meet in the playoffs".

"Talking of the playoffs, with this loss, you now trail Echelon by 7 points. And taking from past history, most clubs tend to experience a downtime period of poor performances after big psychologically impactful games like tonight".

"Do you think Phoenix Rising can still make the playoffs?"

"YES!" Gabriel said sharply.

The reporter looked at him. "Why?"

"Because we are Phoenix Rising".

Not just Gabriel, Phoenix Rising’s vice-captain was also harassed by the media as the reporters wanted to get juicy drama as the outcome of the humiliating defeat. He managed to hold himself though, replying to the questions mostly with grunts and head movements.

And then, time came for Echelon’s representatives to face the media. Noah as the captain was the one who represented his team.

"Captain, your team created history tonight. Maybe some believed you could win, but no one expected your team to complete a historic flawless 10-0 victory against the reigning champions, how did you do it?"

Noah grinned. "I told you we’ll get our revenge, right?"

Well, he did tell them, posting on his Warstar community account.

"As for how we won," he shrugged. "Just lots of training, preparation, analysis, and then most importantly execution".

The reporter stuttered. "Uhh... ok".

And then the interview came to an end, bringing the main event of the first day of matchday 26 to an end but the discussions and social media reaction did not come to an end. Rather, it only intensified.

While the banter and shock continued, the English Pro Alliance moved on.

That night, when Phoenix Rising’s team bus left Stanford Bridge finally to ferry its players home, excited Echelon fans gave them a memorable farewell.

The fans created a holographic projection of Lord Doom stomping down on a beaten and battered Paladin, Dain Ironvalor.

This time, they had the last laugh.

And so they would enjoy it. They would celebrate.

...

The next day...

Cyber Squad vs Scarlet Rose.

It was dubbed the clash of the two OGs. After all, at the very inception of the English Pro Alliance, Cyber Squad and Scarlet Rose were one of the first two clubs to establish themselves as top clubs in England.

The OGs of London and English Warstar welcomed one of their oldest rivals to their stadium in London.

After the epic game yesterday between Echelon and Phoenix Rising, including the repercussions it had in the title race and on Phoenix Rising’s reputation, expectations for matchday 26 rose to a new high.

After all, fans of the English Pro Alliance who didn’t watch the clash yesterday were still regretting it. Watching it after it already happened, and watching it while it happened were entirely different things. The tension could not be replicated after the outcome of the game was already concluded.

This element of tension and uncertainty was what drove ticket sales for the epic clash between the two OGs to an entirely new high.

This time, fans didn’t want their friends and family to tell them about the outcome. They wanted to watch it and witness it for themselves.

While the English Pro Alliance bubbled with excitement and anticipation, it had an effect on the competing clubs.

Due to all the publication and exposure, Cyber Squad and Scarlet Rose were suddenly cautious. They wanted to prevent a similar situation from happening to them, the last thing they wanted was to suffer the same humiliation as their rival. Most especially now after all the publicity.

At the same time as they were cautious, still, they believed; they wanted to win and believed they could do it.

Earlier in the season during the first leg of this league clash, Caster led his team to Leeds at the Crimson Arena where they almost stunned Scarlet Rose with a similar flawless 10-0 defeat like Echelon just did at Phoenix Rising’s expense.

That game established a few facts; that Cyber Squad was back this season but most importantly, the fact that Caster was back at his best.

This was why traveling to London to visit the Cyber Dome, one of the most intimidating stadiums in England, Scarlet Rose employed a conservative strategy.

Jonathan was always the conservative guy. He didn’t even think about getting revenge, since experience already taught him of how damaging it could be if you didn’t have the needed firepower to claim revenge.

Jonathan was not confident in defeating Caster in a classic 1v1 battle in the individual battle round, and Chris could not too, so Scarlet Rose employed the same strategy as Phoenix Rising, but they took it to even greater heights.

Instead of testing the waters first like Dain Ironvalor did by going all out against Lord Doom to see if he could win, Scarlet Rose rejected the possibility from the onset and started with a heavily influenced Jonathan strategy.

Scarlet Rose played conservatively from the onset.

They invested very little in the individual battle round and the 3 vs 3 battle rush, allowing Cyber Squad to sweep their way to an easy 5-0 scoreline just like the first leg scoreline while conserving the energy and freshness of their best players.

And then, just like in the first leg game in Leeds in Scarlet Rose’s Crimson Arena, Scarlet Rose exploded in the last half of the game.

They erupted in the team battle, showing their full power.

Caster was aware of it, he knew their plans, he was prepared for it and yet he could not stop it. He was not God Noah who forcibly led his team to defeat Phoenix Rising at their own game, Caster struggled.

Jonathan didn’t even need to employ a complicated strategy, since they were fresh, his strategy was to simply separate every single Avatar in the arena into isolated 1v1 duels.

They were fresher, so their chances of winning were higher.

With Jonathan and Chris both leading their Paladins to spearhead the battle line, wreaking havoc, Cyber Squad faltered.

And for the first time this season, Chris got the upperhand over Caster as Crimson Saint’s blade slayed Stinger of War after an epic battle in the group stage.

As soon as the first Cyber Squad death happened, it was quickly followed by the second, and then the third.

By then, the battle was already long gone out of Cyber Squad’s grasp.

Cyber Squad got their fair share of kills, but against a fully rested and energetic Scarlet Rose team, they could not win.

---<VICTORY>---

[Cyber Squad: 5 points]

[Scarlet Rose: 5 points]

For the second time this season, both clubs played to a draw, sharing the spoils.

And finally, the last epic clash of matchday 26.