Chapter 149: Reaching for the First Star
Sylvia Goldberg. Female, twenty years old. If you asked who the strongest fighting-game pro gamer in America was, her name would be the first one out of anyone's mouth, without question. Her name first appeared in public five years ago, at the amateur division of a certain fighting-game tournament.
It was a bracket tournament. The first round, the second, the quarterfinals, the semifinals, the finals… she won every single one with a perfect no-damage victory. Then, in the exhibition match, she faced a pro gamer and took both rounds in one-sided fashion. With those laughably unbelievable facts—now legend—the strongest fighting gamer, "Silvi," made her thunderous debut in this world.
Sylvia Goldberg, after that earth-shattering first appearance, was scouted on the spot by the major multi-pro-gaming team "Zodiac Cluster." Before even a year had passed, the fighting-game division "Star Rain"—which you could practically say was created just for her—was established. In the five years since, she has continued to build a brilliant record as the first star of pro gaming…
Rakuro: "Damn… What is she, a final boss?"
Towa: "She's less of a final boss and more of one of those super-strong characters who never loses once in the whole story."
Rakuro: "Ah… yeah, I can see that."
The kind of overpowered character who tramples death flags with ease, corners the final boss indirectly, and ends up devouring the protagonist's role entirely. And on top of that, that refined face and the friendly expression you could read even from a photo… this was the popular type of overpowered character. The type that triples the protagonist's score and wins first place in the popularity poll.
Kei: "The other three are strong in their own right, but if Sylvia Goldberg is a first-magnitude star, those guys are all second-magnitude at best… No, I'd have to say two-point-five. That's the kind of figure she is."
Rakuro: "And you said we had a shot at beating someone like that…?"
Towa: "I thought we were in safe hands since a pro gamer vouched for it, but now I feel like the boat wasn't just leaky—it was made of gravel."
Kei: "Well, sure, if this were a game that'd already been released, we'd have no chance. Yeah. I mean, I've fought her several times and only managed a draw once—lost every other time. But… in this particular case, there is a breakthrough."
Saying that, Katzo swiped on his tablet from the opponent team's face photos to a different page. What appeared on the touch panel was an official game site, adorned with flashy text.
Kei: "Galaxia Heroes: Chaos… worldwide simultaneous release this fall… Wait, this hasn't even come out yet."
Kei: "The live-demo exhibition team match for this game is what we're doing at the GGC the day after tomorrow."
Rakuro: "Seriously?"
Galaxia…? I'd seen that somewhere before… Ah.
Rakuro: "The publisher of those American comics you sent me to read."
Kei: "Exactly. The latest crossover title in the series, where you can play heroes and villains from across all Galaxia Comics titles. And it's probably the second-ever 'SLF-generation' title—Utopia Entertainment Software, the developer of Shangri-La Frontier, provided the tech."
Shangri-La Frontier… I hadn't expected to hear that name here. The mention of the game I was currently pouring the most passion into made me feel my expression harden under the gas mask. A fighting game title I'd thought had nothing to do with me suddenly felt like it had swelled in presence.
Kei: "This game uses the same tech as SLF—limited, but still. It's a title that stands alongside SLF, a game whose technology is generations ahead at an out-of-place-artifact level. An American company threw a stupid amount of money at it, co-developing it with UES—you could call it the American game industry's last-ditch play for revival. But the manufacturer's ambitions for resurgence don't matter here. What matters is that this game is practically a completely different beast from the previous Galaxia Heroes title, Galaxia Heroes: Burst."
Towa: "Ooooh, I seee… I think I'm starting to get what Katzo-kun's driving at. In short, for these silver-and-gold Americans, this is a totally brand-new game—but for us Japanese players, it's a game that's… similar to SLF. We hold the advantage of familiarity."
Kei: "Exactly. Both our team and theirs get their hands on Galaxia Heroes: Chaos starting today. They've only got two days to get used to the system, but we've got the advantage of all the hours we've already spent playing SLF right from the start. That is the one and only breakthrough that'll let us beat the strongest fighting gamer in America."
From Pencilgon's guess and Katzo's answer, I had a rough grasp of the picture. In short: in this game, which repurposed Shangri-La Frontier's technology, the mere fact of having played Shangri-La Frontier could serve as an advantage in itself. And since Shangri-La Frontier was currently only available in Japan, that advantage was something the other side couldn't possibly have.
Rakuro: "So that's why it's us."
Kei: "I figured my friends who made it through the Wethermon fight with me wouldn't be lacking as substitutes for pro gamers."
With that, Katzo—no, pro gamer Uomi Kei—gave us a fearless grin and spoke again.
Kei: "Right then, let's get straight to it. Let's start planning how we're gonna take down Star Rain—and Sylvia Goldberg."
Kei: "………That said, Sylvia's fighting style is actually really simple to explain."
Rakuro: "How so?"
Kei: "It's you, Sunraku."
…What? Me? And stop pointing at people.
Confused at suddenly being singled out, I tilted my head. Katzo then explained Sylvia's battle style, putting it in the simplest possible terms.
Kei: "A high-mobility attacker whose tension and player skill are directly linked… Sunraku, her playstyle is almost exactly the same as yours."
Rakuro: "………Huh."
Kei: "Her signature main character—the one you could practically call synonymous with her—is Metius. I guarantee you she'll be using that character in the team match the day after tomorrow."
Saying that, Katzo selected a hero from the character introduction screen on the official site—and what a flashy hero it was. A predominantly white suit with gold armor guarding the vitals, a full-face mask fitted with a distinctive pentagram-shaped visor. It almost looked like a star was stuck to his face.
The name was Metius. If I remembered right, his backstory was something like: an unremarkable salaryman granted the power of a shooting star by the transcendent cosmic entity "Galaxeus," who then rises to face the conspiracies lurking in the world and threats from outer space. The moment he received that power, his abs split and the shadows on his face deepened, turning him into a handsome guy almost at the level of a different person—I'd laughed when I read that part in the comic. But in American comics, where the power-equals-muscles equation is the baseline, that's probably a common trope.
Kei: "The problem is figuring out what spot Sylvia's gonna take…"
Towa: "Right—if she's serious about going for the win, she might come out as the vanguard. But since this is a live demo, she'll need to put on a bit of a show, so she might come last."
Rakuro: "Well, the safest bet is probably anchor, right? More importantly, what kind of playstyles do the other muscle monsters have?"
From Katzo's tone, it was clear there was some kind of history between him and this Sylvia someone-or-other. That being the case, their side definitely wanted a fight with Katzo too. Our job was to deliver this pro-gamer-sama to America's strongest player while keeping him fresh. Which meant the ones me, Pencilgon, and Megumi needed to prepare for weren't Sylvia What's-her-name's Metius, but the other three players.
Kei: "I'll send you data on that later. The full-dive system in your room should have Galaxia Heroes: Chaos installed on its hardware, so I want you to play it today—just enough to get a feel for it. I'm planning to start the serious strategy meeting tomorrow."
Rakuro: "Huh… By the way, are the servers for this Galaxia Heroes whatever already up?"
Kei: "The servers for this hotel and the venue are already set up. But they've deliberately configured it so the Star Rain team staying at this hotel and our Nitro Squad data won't match against each other."
Wait, the opposing team was staying at this hotel too? Well, these were people who probably made as much as pro athletes. And if it was the team at the top of the US, they were probably in a suite or something.
Rakuro: "I see… So the four of us can face off against each other, then."
I muttered that, deliberately loud enough for her to hear, and shot a glance through the gas mask at her—at Megumi.
I get it. I know. You're doubting whether a blatantly suspicious younger guy who reeks of weirdness and a famous—but questionably skilled—charismatic model can really be assets. That doubt is perfectly reasonable. I'm not offended by being underestimated. But even if it's just for one day, if we're going to team up, we need to interact properly. And Katzo and Pencilgon understood that too.
Towa: "So, including Megumi-chan, about what time should we all log in?"
Kei: "Ten o'clock, factoring everything in—seems like a clean start."
Megumi: "I was planning to log in around then too."
Rakuro: "…You could've just said 'let's fight at ten' without all that roundabout maneuvering."
Wrong. This is basic stuff, Katzo-san. Deliberately being antagonistic like this gets people fired up, right?