There are three parts to a game in Zerø, with different pointing systems, to see, compute and learn who wins the game.
First is, the 3 1v1s.
This is the opening act, or some calls it "dessert" because the sweetest victories are here, or simply put, the most simple way to win a bet.
Each win guarantees a point.
Second, is called Baton Pass.
This is a 3V3 Match, but the winner of the first match can continue to fight the next opponent, and when they lose, the next ally can go on stage.
Each win also guarantees a point.
Practically tag, but when you are out, the ally swaps in.
And the third one, is the special one.
There are a few things that changed in the past fifteen years of Zerø. There are times that the games end at the second game, that is why they created an infallible system that manages the game.
Let's say, for example, Group A versus Group B.
Group A, has won the first three 1V1s, and, by a sudden stroke of luck, one person beats three people on the Baton Pass.
This will already give them six points.
And in the past, the third game only amounts to 5 points, and so, they have to change it.
At least, they want to give the losing team hope to fight, and if they flip the game around, and win, they will be exalted like heroes.
And so, there are many times that the game managers changed it, until they arrived at the perfect scenario.
First, the third game will always be random.
Starting on the 9th year, they inplemented three game modes: Tower Rush, Dungeon Raid and the Classic 5v5.
Classic 5v5 only happens when the two teams have points each side, and a confrontation will be good for the viewers, and so they implement it.
Tower Rush, is another game mode, where the two teams will form groups to clear the tower, and one team must get higher than the other. This game mode is a time-attack, and the difficulty ups when they clear one floor.
The next one is Dungeon Raid. Simply put, this is to let the groups clear the dungeon, and maybe, create a way to clear the dungeons faster, and also, win the competition. This also has some added difficulties, and whoever finishes first, wins the game.
These games are what makes Zerø addictive and fun to play.
Seeing your idols make the impossible, possible; make something hard look easy and create new kinds of gameplays.
And this, is one of those moments.
As the hatch pods opened, two people emerged from it.
One, from the right side, with red and black as their theme, the owner of the account "Hiroki", Yoshiro Sora. A guy with toned body, an annoyed face, maybe due to losing, with a striking color of hair, which is blonde.
On the other side, is the owner of Juno, Julius Nova. What can be seen from him is a quiet guy, with an awkward attitude, and his thick eyebags, that looked like he did not sleep for months.
As they went towards the middle of the stage, they shook their hands and quietly got back to their seats, while the screens behind them show the last play of Juno.
The commentators are still hot about the play, and they are still pulling apart what has happened.
Turns out, this play was just application of the already existing macro skills in the game.
There are more skills other than the skills in the game. They are divided into three.
The game skills, also known as "skills" generally, are the skills acquired in the game. Fire Ball, Water Ball, and any skills that was registered by the game system, is called game skills.
Then, the Macro Skills, or the "game sense", also known as macro, are skills of individuals to push throught the current flow of things, and make it favorable to them. It is absolutely important as to how the game will turn out, and macro skills are something that others can do, and copy.
Micro skills, on the other hand, is the player's own ability, own understanding of the game, and own way of fighting. A few can copy it, but it is not that easy for the masses.
There is a skill in the game called "Shipping Gun", a skill used by many people to use the bullet's force to send someone to a certain spot, or throw them away.
This was a pretty much used over and over again, but when the 6th year came, two others were born that people started doing their own version.
The other one is the Stagnant Gun, which makes the opponent just be stuck in the air, eating bullets.
And the last one, is the Stepping Gun. This is because the player uses the recoil of their gun to perform small but making distance paces while riding the gun's recoil, hence the name Stepping Gun.
This was made to counter the melee classes against barging in like a truck, and just pummeling everyone to the ground, just like when Hiroki caught Juno on the the first half of the game.
But, Juno is a sniper, and snipers uses large amount of energies, and each shot can make them travel more distance than a normal gun.
This means, Juno created a new micro skill, Walking Gun, and when the two commentators accidentally named it, it stuck to the audiences, thus giving it the name.
But, that was it. Although Glory lost the first time, the second fight was absolutely something they can look forward to.
Because of the uproar created by Juno, the captain of Glory, Alex Cardner, stood up as he walked towards the stage.
It was a rule of the game that whoever loses will send their fighters first, so that the enemy can take the L, or make a momentum.
As Alex confidently walked towards the center, La Floras sent in a rookie that even the world did not see, and it is the first time they see this person.
"What's this? Look! Are they taunting Glory?" The commentator said as he cannot stop his mind from the bweilderment he is seeing.
"Oh my God! La Floras is trying to trample Glory today." The other commentator said, but Alex did not heed anything.
He shook the rookie's hand, and said a few words before going to his pod.
But, hidden within his eyes is menac. Too bad that the rookie will be the target.
As they entered the arena, Alex's Character, Bright, entered the room.
Bright's class is a Qi Master, but not just a Qi Master, his affiliation is the Demonic Faction, which is neither orthodox nor unorthodox.
This shows the talent he has, for he has he highest stats by far, obtaining an Epic Class at level 15, of course, by the help of a backer.
But that's not all. Bright, was known for his gauntlets: Sirius and Solar - the brightest star in the evening, and the brightest in the morning.
Both gauntlets are of Black Weapons, and was the signature equipment of Bright. Paired with the Black Tier boots, Flash, he is a tiger with wings.
As soon as the rookie entered, the face of everyone began to contort.
What they sent this time, is not an assassin or a mage, but a healer. This time, the crowd went wild and started throwing boos towards La Floras, but they did not care.
In truth, they can't fight bright in a straight manner, and so, they just took the lose, and maybe, get something out of it later.
As the representative of the losing team, Bright has the right to choose the map, yet he just spun the wheel, and when it stopped, it stopped on the most basic arena, the Platform Map.
This was just a plain, 1v1 map, which they can battle it out fast.
As the countdown started, the characters loaded into the map.
[3]
[2]
[1]
BOOM!
VICTORY!
And then, the crowd went silent.
OSKO! One Second KO!
Without a lot to say, the commentators' jaws just dropped and they were silent.
"What was that? Did you see it?"
As they played the replay, they only see Bright's fist killing the healer in one move, and then it ends. The fist was still stuck on the healer's chest, and that was it. No drama, no anything.
As the pods opened, the two, walked again towards the middle of the stage, shook their hands, and went back to their seats.
It was then that it happened.
"WOAAAAAAAHH!" Cheering, shouting, and surprised people started to make noise.
"AND THE CROWD GOES WILD! CAPTAIN BRIGHT AMAZES US FOR THE FIRST ONE SECOND KO OF THE YEAR."
"Against a healer at that, that can cast revive on themselves, but Captain Bright just overpowers them."
"I guess La Floras' way of embarrassing him backfired to them."
"Yes, and it created some momentum towards Glory this time."
"What an absolute beast."
As the commentators continued on their banter, another person walked up from La Floras.
This time, it was a girl that wears a pink dress under her varsity jacket, which is blue and gold.
"Woaaaaah! Jenri is up to the stage. What can we expect from her this time."
"Listen to that brother, they lover her!" As he said that, the crowd started to shout and praise Jenri.
At the same time, another woman walked up from Glory's side.
"Oh God, please tell me this isn't the end of the world."
"This game looks like the grand finals to me."
"Can the other teams just please resign and let this be the final match?"
The commentators funny lines roused the crowd even more.
Even the ones who watches the televisions were on the edges of their seats, not trying to miss anythings at all.
The woman who went against Jenri is her past duo, the woman who taught Jenri the game, but jumped on to the rival team, Karin.
As they shook hands, Jessica Dan, the owner of Jenri, smiled politely, while sizing io her former comrade, Angelica Rindo. As they walked to their pods, Jessica looked at Angelica one last time, before closing the pod, but all she saw was that her pod was already closed.
Jessica sighed and logged on.
As soon as she did, she was surprised to see that the character Angelica was using is not the character she used when they played before.
But, Jenri has to step forward, even if Karin is already gone.
Elcie, formerly known as Karin, is now playing a character that was not known to the public, Devourer.
This class is a merge between the support type Buffer Class, plus the attack type Mage class.
This makes it one of the many unknown classes, but Jenri decided to fight her old comrade.
Jenri, a summoner, is also a master of her class. Although she is weak, compared to the other level 100 players, her summons are the ones that benefits in her upgrades.
This time, her signature summon, Krizlee, appeared on the field.
Krizlee is a brown bear, with tuxedo, and is a furry.
As she did that, Elcie did something unexpected.
She ran towards Krizlee, and jumped on it's back. With that, something unexplainable appeared from Elcie's hand.
"SPECIAL SKILL: SOUL EATER!"
She shouted as a big mouth appeared and "ate" Krizlee.
Suddenly, Krizlee, who stood mightily, crumbled and became dust.
"WHAT? SHE'S THAT POWERFUL?"
The commentator, screamed his lung out as he saw the development.
But, that's not all.
"Frosty! Lava! Electro!" Jenri shouted.
"SOUL SHACKLE!" Elcie shouted back, and all Jenri's summon stopped, completely.
As Jenri saw that, fear streak across her face.
"How? How can you do that?"
With a swing of her arm, Elcie punched Jenri which sent her flying through the ground of the stage.
"Feels good." Elcie said.