Go on the Stage! Knight!

The weather was unforgiving, and the air conditioning backstage was weak. All kinds of cosmetics covered the skins of the cosplayers, stifling their skins, causing them to perspire more, and ruining their makeup. If not for the makeup artists following them around, their faces would have been ruined before they could even go on stage. Groups that made it to the finals would not make such a low-level mistake. After the competition, the makeup artists would only use professional makeup removers to remove the participants' makeup.

"Hehe~! If they don't come, it'll be to my advantage. The home ground of the Sinister Evil Mage. Heavens, it's too good. I can even imagine the eyeballs of the audience bursting out of their sockets. Wakaka. I'm simply too evil." An evil mage wearing a black hooded cloak grinned viciously as he gestured with the bone staff in his hand. Fortunately, this was backstage. Otherwise, if it were in public, this scene would definitely make children cry.

This villain cosplayer immediately attracted disdain from everyone around him. Villain cosplayers were basically cannon fodder to showcase the strength of the heroes, and they would suffer defeat after being arrogant. This was almost an iron-clad rule. Very few villains prevailed at the end. It had to be consistent with the masses' value that justice would prevail over evil.

"Hey! Elder Sister Fei, my dear princess, I finally got through to your phone. You're still using iPhone 4, that rotten old phone with its broken signal. We're all frantic here. It's about to be our turn soon. Ah, Lin Mo is with you? Great, that kid's phone is turned off. What the hell, you two are too ridiculous. Come quick! We're waiting for you two! Okay, okay, okay, thirty minutes. All right, I'll speak to the organizer and ask them to push our turn back," the tauren yelled angrily into the phone.

After hanging up, he finally let out a long sigh of relief and wiped his sweat as he said to the dwarf, evil mage, and makeup artist, "All right, I finally managed to get in touch with them. Elder Sister Fei overslept and met Lin Mo on her way here. They'll arrive in half an hour. Ah, I can finally relax."

The makeup artist shrieked as soon as he wiped it off. "Ding Tuo, you jerk, you messed up the makeup again. I'll turn you into a barbarian if you do it again." The makeup artist's shrill shriek nearly scared the wits out of Ding Tuo, the tauren character. That high-pitched frequency was comparable to a kraken's soul-hunting sound.

"God of War Group, are you all here yet? You're up next!" the backstage director shouted, following the new lineup schedule. He called out the name of the leader, but the leader was late.

"They're coming! Almost here!" Ding Tuo and the rest were counting down the seconds. They confirmed a minute ago that Qi Fei and Lin Mo just arrived at the doors of the main venue.

"Ding Tuo, Qian Jie, Xi Mingshan, Elder Sister Chen Ying, we're here!" A beautiful magical girl in blue magician robes holding a delicate, slender staff dragged in a man in black armor with a strong knight presence. Cling clang cling clang. The sound from the steel boots hitting the floor attracted the attention of everyone backstage. They looked at the black-armored knight in awe. Whoa, this prop had weight. This guy really spent a lot of money on it.

"Aiyo! We've finally arrived. It's all Lin Mo's fault. I don't know where he obtained this new outfit. It's as heavy as it's huge. We couldn't squeeze him into the taxi, so I had to call a small pickup to bring him over." The blue-robed magical girl lithely skipped to the front of the tauren, dwarf, and evil mage.

"Shit! Lin Mo, you're too cool!" The eyes of the tauren, Ding Tuo, grew as big as a copper bell. He sized him up several times and sucked in. "Worth it, so worth it. It's worth it to be a few minutes late just for this."

"Where did you get this getup? Is it real?" The dwarf touched the black armor subconsciously. The cold, gleaming metal and its strange texture made him roar in his heart. This isn't real, this isn't real! His costume was like shit in comparison!

Everyone present was amazed by the black armor costume. It covered his entire body from head to toe, revealing only the pair of bright, dazzling eyes. The gorgeous and flamboyant armor exuded a fierce aura. The human-sized sword on his back and the half-tattered scarlet cloak made him seem as though he was a battle-hardened veteran who had just come from the battlefield. His steady movements hinted at his murderous intent.

"God of War Group! Report on stage in one minute!" the backstage staff called out based on the program lineup.

The emcee on stage started announcing.

"All right, let's do it according to the rehearsal." Qi Fei, the magical girl in the blue robe, stretched her hand out. The others gathered around her and put their hands over hers. The 'Lin Mo' in black armor seemed to be still out of sorts, so he was pulled in by the others to place his hand above the rest.

"We are the champions!" they shouted in unison and then ran to the entrance of the huge stage.

The black-armored knight was still. He had yet to digest everything that he saw and heard. He had yet to recover from being chauffeured by a huge iron box to this scary place with so many people. There seemed to be some familiar things here such as orcs, swordsmen, and mages, but there were more strange people whose occupation he could not discern among these people.

He could not understand what these people were doing. He only figured out that this magical girl, whose level he could not seem to tell, seemed to have gotten the wrong person and dragged him all the way here. He did feel a sense of familiarity toward her and passively followed them around even though he did not know what they were doing.

This cosplay competition was of the highest caliber in history. Only the best of the best could reach the finals, and all the groups had unique skills. Sound and light stage effects and even gunpowder and special equipment appeared on stage one after another. They were no longer just imitating the characters' appearances and movements but also brought a sense of fantasy special effects.

"Let's invite the God of War Group on stage!" the emcee announced after sending the previous cosplay group away.

"Graar!" Ding Tuo was nearly two meters tall and had silicone muscles, super-thick thighs and arms, and a pair of long horns with a bronze helmet. He timed his charge onstage with his double-edged battle-ax with the roaring sound effect, surprising the audience.

Everyone immediately cheered. The carefully arranged cosplay, makeup, materials, and props were almost comparable to those in Hollywood movies. This makeup alone took Chen Ying, the makeup artist, more than three hours. Moreover, his movements were specially designed by martial arts masters through acquaintances.

Right on the heels of the tauren, a dwarf holding a super-large musket appeared. He was also waving the hammer hanging behind him, eliciting cheers. Bang! The musket sprayed smoke with its dull sound. It was actually a high-quality replica of a musket, not just a stage prop. The dwarf whistled proudly as he replaced a paper-shell gunpowder package and opened fire again, attracting a second wave of cheers. The digital cameras under the stage flashed, desperately murdering the remaining space on the memory card and its battery.

The 'God of War Group's' sophisticated props accounted for a large portion of why they could reach the finals, in addition to the accurate characterizations and perfect makeup.

The beautiful magical girl in blue robes and a beautiful crystal crown skipped in next. She waved the magic staff in her hand, and the gem on the staff head immediately lit up, leaving a circle of light in the audience's retinas. At the same time, the gems adorned on the blue robe lit up and covered her with a mysterious magical aura. More heated screams from the young, old, men, and women intertwined.

"As expected of the God of War Group. These props probably took a lot of effort!" A One Piece cosplayer clicked his tongue, stunned.

The judges behind the scoring table smiled. These well-conceived props really added a lot of points for them.

The background sound changed suddenly. A faint sinister and strange tone grew louder. Evil laughter and the murmuring of an owl arrived as black smoke spurted out from the entrance of the stage. A rickety figure appeared. The dancing will-o'-the-wisp on his wretched bone staff made the stage eerier in an instant. It was the evil mage. His costume would definitely be able to scare the living daylights out of people in a quiet alley at night. However, it was the exact opposite here, and his appearance was met with welcoming cheers.

On the left and right entrances of the stage, two different camps appeared. The tauren, dwarf, and evil mage were the villains. Long-range attacks, close combat, and magic skills were all in place. The beautiful magical girl stood at the opposing side, seemingly about to bump head-on alone. It was not proportionate.

After waiting for a while, the beautiful magical girl did not hear the cheers from the audience for the next character to appear on stage. She bit her lip and turned her head suspiciously toward the stage entrance. What entered her vision was the black-armored knight standing stupidly at the entrance when he was supposed to join her side.