Chapter 179 - Lilly's Children!
Annoyed by the deafening noises, Felix rubbed his ear while standing up. He looked at Olivia, who was clapping her hands innocently and sighed.
"Little Oli, stay behind me during our first battle alright?" He warned her, "Fighting for real is not the same as in the elders' UVR rooms. So stick by me until you get used to it."
Though Felix said so, he knew that Olivia would probably never get used to the feeling of seeing others get harmed or harming them by herself.
He didn't doubt for a second that she would actually go heal up their opponents if one of them was in critical condition.
She was already doing so during the practice fights, and the elders were tired of scolding her for it.
"Don' be silly! How can the healer stay in one place?" She gave him a thumbs up with a confident grin and said, "Don't worry, I know what I am doing."
"I doubt it." He smiled wryly and said to the rest of his team, "Prepare yourselves, we are going next in ten minutes."
Felix didn't need to remind them, as they were already doing their parts to relax their nerves over the upcoming battle. Sarah and Johnson were meditating, taking deep breaths in and out, while Noah was merely staring at the sky absent-mindedly.
Meanwhile, the four commoners, Lexie, Isabella, Dale, and finally Nathan, were conversing with Kenny with such unexpected familiarity that they could be confused for lost friends.
Heck, Kenny had only 12 hours to get into their clique and make them feel comfortable beside him. The way he spoke, moved and acted didn't have a single ounce of pride and superiority of being heir to a business empire.
No wonder all cousins called him the hundred-faced Kenny. He could make those around him unwittingly drop their guard by changing his personality to compliment theirs.
After seeing that no one was nervous, not even Olivia, Felix nodded his head in satisfaction. He didn't want to be the captain since he needed to be responsible for them, especially when the elders and instructors weren't allowed to be near the resting area.
But, it seemed like everyone was managing themselves properly without getting him worked up.
...
After ten minutes, the arena was cleaned yet again. Though, that long duration between battles wasn't for exactly so, but for TV Ads!
There was no way in hell the organization would let such a freebie go by them. The tournament was being spectated live by a hundred million viewers at the least.
The stream wasn't broadcasted only in America but actually worldwide. The majority of countries were tuning in to watch.
After all, when compared to the rest of the national team battles, which were happening in most countries, The USA tournament, the Chinees tournament, and finally the European tournaments, were the popular ones.
Right now, the only national tournaments left were the USA and some small countries. As for the rest? they already finished 15 days earlier and picked the teams they were going to send to represent them.
This meant Felix's upcoming battle was actually having more viewership than his two games combined in the SG!
This was one of the reasons Felix thought that his teammates might get nervous in the battle and force his hand to make unnecessary moves.
Thankfully, they seemed unbothered.
"Will the two teams please step up in the arena!" The host requested while pointing his microphone at The Maxwell's and Lauders' resting area.
"Let's go."
Indifferent, Felix walked towards the arena first while following behind him were the expressionless Noah, the cheerful Olivia, the hundred-faced Kenny, and the rest.
Cheers mixed with some boos rained on them as well as on the other team, who was walking on the opposite side of the arena.
While the Maxwells were wearing black and red outfits, the Lauders were wearing a white sports outfit stripped with black lines all over it.
Yet, unlike the Maxwells, who weren't using any brand besides their family's, the Lauders had numerous brands planted on their outfits.
All of them were cosmetic brands that belonged to the family!
The Lauder family were known internationally for their cosmetic products, which were sold in approximately 150 countries and territories under brand names including Estée Lauder, Aramis, Series, Origins, Tommy La Mer, Bobbi Brown...and many more!
Their wealth was in the tens of billions, almost surpassing the Maxwells. However, when it come to the bloodliners, they only had a pitiful 4 awakened juniors.
Thankfully, they barely met the requirement to keep their team's name instead of merging with a commoner team like the other three families.
After the host made an introduction to both families' businesses and praising them to the sky, he requested from both teams to get into their battle formation.
...
"Formation A! Spread out!" An elegant tall blonde girl clapped her hand once, and the juniors, who were near her, all went to their positions without letting out a single sound.
Five juniors stood next to each other at the frontline, while the other four made a square formation around their captain, putting her in the center.
It seemed like their captain was either a support or a ranger to have that many defensive measures made for her.
Simultaneously, the Maxwells spread out in a basic known formation. Noah, Nathan, and dale were standing at the front, while Olivia, Lexie, and Felix were right behind them.
Lexie and Olivia were the only supportive bloodliners on the team. Olivia was more like a healer while Lexie acted like a buffer, giving out shields, protections, haste buffs, and such. though, she had only one ability.
The reason Felix was standing with them was to act as their bodyguard. As long as he was with them, they would not lose a single hair strand.
On the other hand, Sarah and Isabella were situated only a couple of meters behind Felix. They were the only elemental rangers in the team besides Felix.
This left Johnson and Kenny. Both of them were actually standing away from the team, each in a different direction!
Based on the elements they had, they were obviously going to act as assassins, aiming at the backlines of the Lauders!
The moment Amelia, the captain of the Lauder family, saw those two's positions, her expression hardened. She knew that having one assassin was already bliss for any team, don't even mention two!
What's even worse was the fact she had absolutely no ability to counter their sneak attacks, or even spot them beforehand. Her team also lacked such a means.
"Berry, switch your position and stand behind us." Amelia ordered one of the five front-liners in a calm manner.,
"Alright." Berry immediately left his spot and stood one meter behind the square formation, protecting their back.
"Whatever you do, Stop those two assassins from reaching me." She gave him a cold glance, sending chills down his spine. He knew that Amelia does not tolerate two things, not abiding by her orders, or failing them.
Thus, if he wanted to avoid getting punished by her, he needed to bring his A-game. They might be cousins, but their family's hierarchy wasn't the same as the Maxwells.
In the Lauders, a successful junior could order seniors of the family who were beneath him in achievement and merits.
And Amelia was the top dog in the family, succeeding in both business and integration. Hence, her orders in the team were more like unquestionable laws.
Unlike Amelia's serious expression, Felix was standing between Olivia and Lexie with his hands in his jackets' pockets, totally disinterested in reading too much in his opponent's formation.
"Just like we practiced." Felix yawned as he said, "I will back you up whenever you land in trouble, so don't worry about getting heavily wounded or dying. So just go all out."
Everyone nodded their heads at his proclamation.
From what they saw in their daily practice, Felix was without a doubt one of the strongest bloodliners in the competition. Thus, they knew he wasn't talking air, but meant every word.
"You can start planting little Oli." Felix looked at the countdown on the large screen and saw that only 20 seconds were left before the host give them the go single.
"Okay!" The moment Olivia received his permission, she went to Noah and the other two front-liners.
After seeing her behind their backs, they all crouched in front of her.
A bit saddened, Olivia snapped three petals from her yellow Lilly flower and put them on top of their heads.
She then placed both of her hands on top of Noah's scalp and used her passive ability called *Lilly's Children*
Promptly, green particles started to emit from her palms into the petal, making it glow with a greenish light.
The yellow petal started to feed on her elemental energy and transform from a petal into the same version of Olivia's lily flower!
They were identical in everything except for the size, as the one on top of Noah's head was noticeably smaller.
After finishing with Noah, she repeated the same sequence with the other two.
Seconds later, the three boys all stood up with a newly grown yellow flower on top of their heads.
Noah was expressionless as always, not affected in the slighted by his new embarrassing look.
However, the same couldn't be said about the other two, as their cheeks and ears were about to emit smoke from shame.
They truly began to regret being chosen in this team!
Hhahahaha!
Well, their reaction was totally understandable, as everyone was either laughing their asses off at them or trying their best to hold it.
The host, the viewers, their opponents, even Felix, and the rest of the team!
No one was taking them seriously except for Olivia, who had her hands placed on her h.i.p.s with a gratified smile.
"I will heal you the moment you get scratched!" Olivia pumped her fist encouragement as she said with a cute smile, "Fighting!"
"Let the battle begin!" The Host wiped his redded eyes while announcing out loud, trying to save those boys from this public embarrassment.