Volume 2 Episode 20

Practical Zone Stadium.

Two hours before the Round of 16 Battle Royale Broadcast Premiere.

"What's up guys, it's me, J-Rod here. Listen guys, I'm standing here in front of the stadium hosting the Drakon Academy Annual School Tournament, and I've been personally invited by the Head of the Tournament Committee himself to livestream the whole event. That's right guys, I've been personally invited by the infamous warrior, Tyrone 'Spear' Wells himself! So hit that like and smash that subscribe button if you want me to do a video with 'The Spear'. Guys, if this video gets 100k likes, I'll legit try to do a video with him. So don't forget to like guys, and don't forget to buy the merch as well, the link is in the description…"

"Who the f**k thought it was a good idea to include this s**tshow? Why did you approve of this Tyrone?" 

Tyrone Wells and Matt Perry were looking at the annoying kid making a MeTube video livestream. The teenager, Jaxson, better known as 'J-Rod' by his fanbase which mainly consisted of nine year old children, was a massive MeTuber who did prank videos and challenge videos. Both Tyrone and Matt were irritated with the attitude of the noisy youth who always had to shout at the camera for some reason.

"I didn't approve of this. The whole board had taken a vote in deciding to make him host the show. Most of our viewers from MeTube are in the age range of his audience, and he seems to be really popular amongst the kids these days."

"Really? This is what kids are into these days? What the hell?" Matt still had a hard time believing Tyrone's words, and as he looked at the teenager trying to make a fool of himself live, he couldn't help but shake his head. 

Matt Perry was a former veteran warrior who fought alongside Tyrone, and had been invited by him to watch the tournament. Both of them had been watching the 'show' put on by Jaxson right in front of the entrance for a while now, feeling perplexed.

'And why does he keep saying 'guys' so much?'

Tyrone who also found the whole thing to be really dumb, sighed. It appeared that he too was confused with the current generations interests. 

"Well, kids these days do have a short attention span, so I guess there's only so much you can do to entertain them."

"Yeah but still…" Both the veterans looked at each other and sighed once again and left the scene, as J-Rod's loud voice could be heard from behind them.

"So check this out guys, today's match is a battle royale. That's right guys, it's going to be a live battle royale like the ones we played on stream before and it's going to be super fun. Yo guys, check out today's contestants, and comment down who you guys think is going to win, alright? I've got my money on Lin Hamill guys, the dude's from the Hamill family and he's sponsored by the Lindon family. That's like two large families backing him up, so clearly he has something up his sleeve. But anyways, comment down below and the top rated comment will get a special gift from me, okay guys? I'll stream again when the competition starts, so I'll catch you guys later. Peace out!"

With a light dab, Jaxson stopped his stream and asked the cameraman, "Is it over?"

The cameraman looked at the application to make sure and confirmed by nodding his head.

"God f**king dammit, this is tiring!" Jaxson, who was smiling into the camera until a second ago, suddenly started cursing. He looked nothing like the online persona he put on just moments before. He seemed tired from doing the role. If Tyrone and Matt were still there, they would've been completely taken aback by the sudden shift in attitude. After sitting down for a while and drinking some energy drinks, he picked up his smartphone and started calling.

"Hello Mr. Jaxson." the person one the other side answered. If Lin was here he would've instantly recognised the person on the other end. It was the voice of Eric Lindon, the head of the Lindon family. 

"Hello to you as well. Well, as per your request, me and my crew will be doing the broadcasting of the tournament on MeTube. How are things on your end?"

"Haha.. don't worry about that now, I have it all under control for now. The whole television broadcasting department is under my supervision. I have total control of what the audience sees. So rest assured that if push comes to shove, our little Lin can freely use his dual powers as he wishes. As a matter of fact, I've already called him to inform him about it." Eric Lindon answered the question calmly while munching on some snacks. From the looks of it, he had complete control of what to show and what not to, even the broadcasts of other social media networks like Twitcher.

'How much media control does this guy have?' Jaxson really wanted to ask that question, but he resisted his urge. The Lindon family has a very wide network of connections like any other influential family. Asking for that sort of information was most definitely going to get him killed. Jaxson definitely didn't want to end up disappearing from the face of the earth one day. He came into contact with the London Family a while ago when he was approached by them agreeing to help him regarding a loan application that he hadn't gotten the seal of approval from the bank. He had been involved with them ever since, working under their orders for shady jobs related to MeTube. He had already given up on trying to escape their grasp, having learned that everyone who has tried before all ended up going missing. After talking with Mr. Lindon for a while, he hung up the phone and looked up at the sky. He really didn't want to do any of these shady jobs. It was making him sick. But he had already fallen into the blackhole with no hope of returning. 

He then took out another phone. Unlike the smartphone he took out to call Mr. Lindon, this was a burner phone. He dialled a number on it and it started ringing.

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"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the round of sixteen competitions of the Evantel Tournament! This year's round of sixteen will be a battle royale competition, in which all the remaining participants shall be placed in the Kito Jungle all alone in different parts. They shall be forced to fend for themselves to take on each other using any tactics they wish. The last remaining eight of the participants shall head to the next round, the quarterfinals. And all of this couldn't have been possible without our grand sponsor today, Portmine, a battle royale game that you too could be a part of. The game only one of the many products of the massive Lindon Corporation, who were also kind enough to sponsor one of the contestants today, Mr. Lin Hamill of the Hamill Family. So stay tuned viewers, as the competition will start in a few minutes."

The announcer finished reading his lines as the crowd who gathered in the stadium to watch the live broadcast started making noises.

"Well, this Lindon family issue is getting bigger and bigger everyday. I've got to put an end to this as soon as I can."

Lin, who saw the announcement, could only sigh at the blunt statements made by the Lindon family. He knew it was their way of threatening him. They were slowly making people suspicious of the fact that two of the most powerful families were working together, causing an air of mystery around them. Sooner or later, information will leak. This was essentially a warning from them to speed up the process. 

 "I wish I could take care of the issue, but for now, let's focus on the tournament."

He told himself, and the car carrying him suddenly stopped. He had finally reached his destination: the northern parts of the Kito Jungle. He got out of the car and the driver took off, leaving him alone. He looked around, trying to get the sense of his surroundings.

As per the rules provided, you had to move to the centre of the jungle as time moved, just like in a battle royale game. He activated his GPS system, and a holographic window popped up from his watch, showing the map and the circle that indicated where the contestants are allowed to be in. The circle would get smaller as time goes by, indicating the contestants to move to the centre. If the contestant is out of the circle at any point in time, he or she shall be considered to have been disqualified. The game shall continue until there are only eight people left.

"Well then." Lin closed the window after reading through the rules once again and looked forward.

"Let's get started."