Chapter 399: President Kaiba
Cheng Tian, whose mind had reacted but whose hand had instinctively pressed the channel change button, quickly adjusted the screen back to the previous channel.
The screen was already enveloped in a dazzling white light.
When the light dissipated, a main road, which had been cleared of vehicles and pedestrians in advance, was now covered in a color scorched by high temperatures.
The source of this attack was a 'giant dragon' glowing with silver light, which, in theory, should not have appeared in a fighting tournament. But there was no doubt that this silver dragon was entirely dependent on the tall and slender man beside it, whose eyes were full of disdain.
Just as the World was to Cheng Tian, this silver giant dragon was also a familiar, a summoned creature.
"Alright... What's wrong with a free-for-all if it's still a fight?"
Cheng, whose widened eyes gradually returned to normal, muttered to himself as he stuffed a well-cooked chikuwa into his mouth.
Seto Kaiba, a MUGEN entry crossover character, originated from "JUMP Force". President Kaiba, who should have been a pure card gamer, gained the ability to summon his beloved cards in physical form in the free-for-all world, allowing him to fight in a Stand-user-like manner.
And this silver 'giant dragon', which was about the size of a small truck when its wings were spread, was President Kaiba's wife, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
Overpowered? Who knows. Cheng Tian only knew that the free-for-all game President Kaiba was in also featured characters like Son Goku, Vegeta, and Pegasus Seiya... In any case, the System would definitely make reasonable adjustments. Cheng Tian could reasonably assume that President Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragon, like the World, shared life with its summoner and was mentally linked.
He just didn't know if President Kaiba brought the God Card.
Sure enough, the ground, which should have been shattered by a single Burst Stream of Destruction from the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, began to self-repair as if it had built-in nanomachines. Neither Kaiba himself nor the bloodthirsty NPC spectators watching from afar found anything wrong with this.
It seemed that this King of Fighters '97 world had undergone special rule modifications for the sake of fighting.
Besides the scorched and recovering ground, the opponents were also charred all over; all three were enveloped in the dragon's breath.
Cheng Tian had seen this team before; it was the original seeded team, the "Monk Team", composed of three monks—
Chen Nian from "Goketsuji Ichizoku", Haohmaru from "Samurai Shodown", and Dhalsim from "Street Fighter".
These three monks, one might say, were none of them proper monks.
Chen Nian was a pure 'meat and wine' monk; though not a bad person, he had an intense obsession with alcohol, meat, and beautiful women.
Haohmaru, on the other hand, simply loved fighting and arguing; he was the one who accepted the fight with President Kaiba first.
Dhalsim, the Indian monk, was arguably the most proper, but he also had a wife and child. In the story, there was even a scene where his son urged his father to teleport home for curry.
As for why there was a conflict between the two sides... There was no particular reason. Kaiba simply happened to run into the Monk Team, and following the principle of proximity, with a bit of a desire to vent, Kaiba made his move.
In the live broadcast, President Kaiba, with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon hovering beside him, strode towards the charred monks. He seemed unguarded, yet extended his hand with an undeniable attitude.
"Hand it over."
Haohmaru, who had partially defended against the Burst Stream of Destruction with the combined force of Chen Nian's Qigong and Dhalsim's flames after a furious roar, first sighed, then handed over the invitation letter from his arms.
"Don't think you've won just like that; we'll get it back!"
As Haohmaru said, because the rule was that the team holding the invitation letter at the end of the countdown would be considered to have passed the preliminary round and entered the main tournament, even losing the invitation letter would not immediately result in elimination. This item could change hands countless times.
It was a bit like hot potato. Rationally speaking, waiting until the last moment to contend for it would be the most energy-efficient choice.
"Bring it on."
President Kaiba, after taking the invitation letter, merely left that one sentence and turned to walk away, not even sparing them a glance.
And here, Cheng Tian wanted to praise the organizers' mysterious sound-capturing ability, because Cheng Tian heard Kaiba murmur a prayer-like sentence as he turned away.
"Pharaoh, this time I will definitely make you..."
Kaiba's words were incomplete, and they were clearly not meant for the audience.
However, his murmur sparked a new line of thought in Cheng Tian's mind.
Players participate for main quests and rewards, local NPCs for tournament rankings and fighting strong opponents. So, these contestants from other worlds, thrown in due to MUGEN entries, should also have their own purposes.
For example, would President Kaiba participate in KOF '97 for a mere fighting tournament championship?
He just felt that the System might have promised these MUGEN players some additional conditions, such as allowing him to battle Atem once more.
With Kaiba's victory and departure, the channel's title also changed from "Monk Team" to "Kaiba Team". To the surprise of many, the team information indicated that the Kaiba Team consisted solely of Seto Kaiba.
This meant that Seto Kaiba's team had no substitutes; whether in the preliminaries or the main tournament, he would have to defeat all opponents by himself.
But after the overwhelming and powerful battle just now, most people who saw the live broadcast felt that this should be considered the "room of the strong" and not a misunderstanding of the situation.
Soon, the live broadcast switched to a replay of the previous battle. There were dedicated commentators responsible for frame-by-frame analysis and atmosphere building. The organizers, realizing that Kaiba's channel would undoubtedly have high viewership, decided to add more staff.
Because there was only one person, the invitation letter was certainly in Kaiba's hands. As the saying goes, two fists are no match for four hands. Many preliminary teams did not believe that Kaiba alone could hold out for 72 hours without faltering.
Next up was the endurance battle.
Continued to change the channel.
Similarly, as a seeded team, Cheng Tian's Aurororo Team was also on the live broadcast. However, because the analysis of their match against the Great Mighty God had already concluded, and Kaiba had just put on such a show, the current analysis focused on comparing Cheng Tian's Stand, the World, with Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
Of course, both Cheng Tian and Kaiba had only displayed a very rudimentary aspect of their Stand/familiar, so the analysis naturally remained superficial. However, the topic's discussion rate was certainly not low; there was even a call-in segment, which also served to listen to the audience's voices.
Under the guidance of the staff, Kaiba, after seeing the combat footage of Cheng Tian summoning his Stand, furrowed his brow slightly.
"Cheng... I seem to have heard that name somewhere."