Interstellar: Return of the Villain
Chapter 79: Group Match

Chapter 79: Group Match

"Too strong! They’re both incredible!"

"Who dares say my girl Lyra is just a pretty face? Who else can juggle two commands at once like that?"

"Everyone underestimated Lyra. Even after her win, people couldn’t believe it."

"Man, I wonder how much the people who bet on Lyra raked in?"

Morrison glanced at the money that just dropped into his account after the match, swallowing hard. It was nearly as much as their factory made in six months! They really cleaned out those sharks.

Meanwhile, the planning manager was a wreck. His legs felt like jelly, and his communicator was going off, but his hands shook too much to answer. He knew there was no avoiding this.

"If the team match this afternoon goes south, you know what’s coming."

"But boss, Cohen Whyte’s gonna be there! How am I supposed to..."

CLICK.

The call ended before he could finish. Bloodshot eyes, he turned toward the tech department like a madman. "This afternoon, keep all eyes on Zinnia and Lyra!"

At the NMA, three friends were grabbing lunch.

"Lyra, did they mess with your data again this morning?" Zinnia asked, cheeks puffed out with fish.

"Yeah."

"So, what’s the plan for this afternoon?" she mumbled, frowning. "They won’t touch Thierry, so we’re the ones at risk. How did you even win this morning?"

Lyra put down her fork, serious. "I need to talk to you both about something."

After hearing her out, the mood turned grim.

Zinnia blinked, then crammed the rest of the fish into her mouth. "Let’s just do it. The match is already rigged, so why drag it out?"

"No arguments here."

"Alright, it’s settled."

By Saturday, the number of people logging into the tournament hit a new high. Thanks to Lyra’s stellar performance in the morning, her team’s support rate shot up, though it still couldn’t match Team Rose’s popularity.

Thierry picked a humanoid heavy mecha, while Zinnia went with a flying one. Lyra stuck with Lizard from the individual finals, but she did swap her long staff for two short swords, and traded her light shield for a rare skill. The other team didn’t know this, but the audience sure did.

"Lyra gave up her only defense! Lizard’s a basic mecha—one good hit could wreck it."

The commentator pulled up the screen, showing both teams’ setups. "On Rose’s side, Grains is still flying, their team leader Robin picked the Thunderbeast mecha, and Caleb’s sticking with a humanoid one."

No one could figure out why Lyra made those changes; they could only guess she was going after the enemy’s flying mecha. Ditching her defense was risky, but no one was laughing at her. After her performance in the individual match, only fools would dare to.

The map chosen was a tropical forest. The tech lead glanced at the tweaked code and decided not to tell the planning manager—he talked too much anyway.

Robin frowned; something felt off. The thick tree canopy split the battlefield in two, making it tough to support each other between ground and air. ’How can the tech department mess up something so basic?’

"Grains, watch yourself."

"Relax, Robin. Their flyer is that black girl, and she’s been beaten before." The cocky young pilot shot his bird mecha up high.

With no clouds in sight, he quickly spotted the enemy through the trees.

"Got them!"

Grains fired his railgun and sped up to chase.

Zinnia saw him closing in, so she commanded a missile launch, but nothing happened.

Except for basic movement, all her attack commands were dead!

"Damn it!"

Zinnia slammed her console and had to focus on dodging.

Grains chased her down, leaving her in a tight spot.

The audience was on the edge of their seats, stomping in frustration. "What’s Zinnia doing? Just attack already!"

"Something’s wrong! Zinnia’s been trying to fire, but her mecha isn’t responding!"

The commentator didn’t have an answer but highlighted the map for the viewers. "Lyra’s on the way to help!"

Grains was so focused on chasing Zinnia that he didn’t notice the laser slicing through his wing from below.

"Grains, what’s happening?!" Caleb, ready to help from below, asked urgently.

"Not good." Grains locked eyes on Lizard now on his tail. "Lyra’s after me!"

Robin, racing to assist, made a quick call. "Forget the others, take down Thierry first!"

With two enemies in the air, that left only one on the ground. The split battlefield meant they needed to finish off Thierry before Grains was taken out.

It was a solid plan. Grains understood, but when he saw the two mechas closing in, he turned to run.

As Grains’ mecha suddenly dipped, he checked the satellite feed and was stunned—how did she catch up?!

Lizard was above him!

’Where is that black girl?’

"Lyra, I’m going to back up Thierry!" Zinnia shot off in a flash.

"Hold them off." Lizard whipped out its short swords and plunged them into Grains’ back.

Grains’ hair stood on end as the blade dangled over him. He flipped his mecha to shake her off. However, before he barely breathed a sigh of relief, he saw Lizard, now trailing fire, flying back up.

"What the heck hell?" Grains cursed and fired lasers, but Lizard dodged with ease, slicing off both of his wings.

With no wings, Grain’s mecha dropped, and a final laser shot sealed its fate in a fiery explosion.

"Grains is down." Caleb’s heart sank.

Robin, locked on Thierry in front of him, remained focused. "Stay sharp, I’m flanking from the left."

Robin moved swiftly through the forest, quickly trapping Thierry. Just as he was about to strike, Zinnia’s Flyer dove from the sky and slammed him into a tree.

"Take that! I’ll crush you!"

With no functional weapons, she resorted to ramming, all caution thrown to the wind.

Before Robin could recover from the shock, Lizard, jet-fueled and all, crashed down as well.

Caleb, finally catching up, couldn’t help admiring them. "Quite bold moves. They played the game without any defensive skills. What a miscalculation for us."

Lyra drew her short swords. "I’ll handle Robin; you take the other one."

The battle was practically over, especially since the map and mecha choices favored Lizard.

After a fierce fight, Lizard flipped and drove both swords into Robin’s cockpit. Meanwhile, Zinnia rammed into Caleb’s cockpit, ending him nearly as fast.

"Victory for Team Whatever!"

Sean and the others collapsed in front of the screen, completely drained.

"So tired!"

As for the planning manager, he seemed to lose all hope, collapsing to his knees. "It’s all over now..."