The Champion of Fighters (1)
“Have you heard the news? His Majesty the Emperor is holding a fighting-game tournament!”
“I heard as well. They say masters from all across the Empire will gather to determine who is the strongest.”
News that Champion of Fighters, the so-called ‘World's Greatest Fighting Game Tournament,’ would be held spread throughout the Empire.
At first, despite all the excitement surrounding it, there wasn't actually much enthusiasm for participating.
There was a simple reason for that.
High-ranking nobles had no desire to enter a tournament like this only to embarrass themselves, while those of lower status had difficulty participating for practical reasons.
But once the rewards for winning became known, everything changed.
“An enormous cash prize, an honorary title, and knights or martial artists will even be given a chance to join the Imperial Guard?”
The rewards were extravagant enough to be called unprecedented.
For nobles, it was an opportunity to gain honor.
For commoners, it was a chance to change their lives.
On top of that, the imperial household added one more condition, as though determined to make the tournament irresistible.
“That is not all. They say the winner will be given the opportunity to meet the mysterious Princess Celestina!”
“Wait, is she not His Highness the Crown Prince's younger sister?”
“Indeed. Rumors say she is a peerless beauty. To be granted the opportunity to meet someone like her… What an incredible honor.”
A chance for a private audience with an imperial princess who had never shown her face publicly before.
Of course, it literally meant nothing beyond a private meeting.
But in an age still filled with romantic ideals of chivalry, that alone was enough for countless men to risk their lives.
Who knew?
Perhaps if the princess met the ‘strongest’ man, she might fall in love with him at first sight.
Of course, there was no realistic possibility that the winner would actually end up with the princess……
But romance had never cared much about what was possible.
“I have to participate! I am quite skilled at fighting games myself!”
“Then you will need to enter the regional qualifiers first.”
“Hmm? What are those?”
“You did not know? To participate, you must be officially recognized as the representative of a region or organization. Commoners like us cannot represent organizations like the Knight Order, so we have to aim for a regional position.”
The tournament wasn't something just anyone could enter.
Only representatives of regions and organizations designated by the imperial household could participate as competitors.
“Kenny, son of the miller! We are counting on you! The honor of our territory rests upon your shoulders!”
“Do you not mean your honor, my lord? And please call me Kenny of the Wave.”
“Quiet! In any case, you have to win! If you do, our territory could be selected as the next tournament host, and I would gain honor as well!”
As a result, the regional qualifiers were fiercely competitive.
Anyone known for their skill in a territory, village, or city entered, often with sponsorship from the local lord or castellan.
“Our Merchant Company should aim for victory as well.”
“But do we have anyone skilled enough?”
“Then we hire a professional martial artist. I hear there is an expert at a tavern in one of the alleyways!”
Wealthy merchants also began hiring martial artists like mercenaries, all in pursuit of honor and prize money.
“A Swordmaster from the Knight Order entered the tournament? Our modernized forces cannot lose to them!”
“We have already held our own selection tournament and chosen a representative. Sergeant Guile of the 11th Regiment is quite skilled.”
Before long, the modernized forces and the Knight Order were snarling at each other.
And it wasn't only those two old rivals.
Nobles everywhere joined the fierce competition, each representing their own region or affiliation.
I was the one who had started the fire, but even I had to admit it was burning astonishingly hot.
“I'm really glad our Development Department doesn't have to worry about any of this. At least we don't have to get involved in that dogfight.”
“What are you talking about? We have already submitted our application. You will be participating as our representative.”
“……?”
Apparently, I wasn't going to escape the flames either.
“What are you talking about, Department Head? Why would I enter a tournament like that?”
“You were the one who proposed it to His Majesty, and now you call it ‘a tournament like that’? Tsk, tsk. Regardless, we have to participate.”
“Why?”
“Because those Magic Tower bastards piss me off!”
Ah.
This guy got destroyed.
Apparently, he'd played a match against one of the Magic Tower elders recently.
“That is not what happened! That bastard fought dirty and did nothing but spam energy blasts! Just what you would expect from a filthy mage!”
“We're mages too, you know.”
“Anyway! We have to defeat the Magic Tower's representative! And you are the only person in our Development Department who can do it!”
“Hmm, that may be true… Ah, what about Selen?”
Come to think of it, Selen was quite good at fighting games too.
We'd been visiting arcades together fairly often lately, and from the few times I'd watched her play, her skill was anything but ordinary.
It would be nice if she could enter instead of me……
“She belongs to the Intelligence Department, so she cannot. You already know that.”
“Ah, right… Come to think of it, will the Intelligence Department participate too?”
“They may. But they certainly will not openly announce themselves as the Intelligence Department.”
Fair enough.
The Intelligence Department was an organization that didn't reveal its true presence.
Anyway, it seemed there was no avoiding my participation.
I needed to maintain a good relationship with the department head for business reasons, and if I backed out here, it would affect the Development Department's morale.
But truthfully, I didn't dislike the idea all that much.
I'd secretly wanted to participate anyway.
When it came to fighting games, I had a fairly strong competitive streak myself.
“What the hell. Let's aim for the championship.”
“Oh! You intend to win the whole thing? Well, you are a man too. You want to see Princess Celestina, do you not?”
“That isn't why.”
To be honest, I was a little curious.
Everyone said she was an incredible beauty, so I did wonder what she looked like.
What if, contrary to the rumors, she was actually ugly?
Well, there was nothing wrong with a princess being a little ugly.
“In any case, I will be cheering for you! For the Development Department!”
And so, I joined the dogfight myself.
Some time later, the regional qualifiers ended, and the main tournament opened in the imperial capital.
I had proudly qualified for the finals as well.
***
There had actually been one problem when preparing the tournament.
Which fighting game would we use?
“Should we use ‘Fighter of Street’ or ‘King of Iron Fist’?”
“Wouldn't 3D be better than 2D? 3D has more depth.”
“What are you talking about? A 3D fighter barely even has jumping or projectiles!”
“Oh, please. 2D fighters do not even have sidestepping, and throw breaks are far too simple.”
“You know nothing about fighting games!”
Fighting games could broadly be divided into two categories.
2D fighting games and 3D fighting games.
‘Fighter of Street’ represented the former, while ‘King of Iron Fist’ represented the latter.
Their biggest difference was exactly what the names suggested—2D versus 3D—but there were even more important distinctions in the details.
In 2D fighting games, there was no sidestepping, while jumping was practical enough to be incorporated into attacks and combos.
In contrast, 3D fighting games had developed in a direction where jumping became far less important.
2D fighting games were also famous for ranged attacks represented by projectiles, flashy techniques, and finishing moves.
3D fighting games, meanwhile, developed in a more stylish yet realistic direction.
There were plenty of other differences involving recovery techniques, wake-up offense and defense, and so on.
It wasn't that either 2D or 3D was inherently better.
They simply had different styles of gameplay.
“So choosing only one would be unfair.”
The two were roughly equal in popularity, so choosing only one wouldn't be equitable.
That was why I decided to use both.
Each match would consist of three rounds.
Rounds one and two would use ‘King of Iron Fist’ and ‘Fighter of Street’ once each.
The third round would be decided by a coin toss.
That meant luck would play a role.
Whoever got the game they were more familiar with in the third round would have an advantage.
“Honestly, it'd be better to hold separate tournaments for each one… but with the imperial household organizing this, asking them to hastily create another tournament would be a bit much.”
The emperor obviously wouldn't want to spend extra money on something unnecessary, so this format made sense.
Besides, since the same rules had been used from the qualifiers onward, every participant had been equally subjected to luck.
More importantly, someone skilled at both types of fighting games possessed a much greater advantage.
So if you didn't like it, you could just get good at both.
People even used that factor when predicting the winner.
“Who do you think will win this time?”
“The most likely candidates are Paul, the Swordmaster from the Knight Order, and Darsin, the battle mage from the Magic Tower. But their styles are complete opposites.”
“Exactly. Paul is completely suited to King of Iron Fist, while Darsin specializes in projectile characters, so Fighter of Street favors him. It may all come down to the coin toss.”
There were two favorites most people expected to win.
Paul, who had supposedly gained enlightenment through fighting games and become a Swordmaster.
Coincidentally, even his main character was the one famous for Deathfist.
Then there was Darsin, an up-and-coming mage who had incorporated fighting styles into magic and founded a school of battle magic.
For some reason, his name sounded like he'd be good at breathing fire.
You might expect him to choose a similar kind of character because of that, but apparently, he was simply good with projectile characters in general.
Both of them were so skilled that even I, with plenty of fighting-game experience, wasn't confident I could beat them in a fair match.
Because those two weren't ordinary veteran players.
They were super-hardcore veterans who had actually achieved enlightenment through games.
I might have been pretty good at fighting games in my previous life, but I couldn't guarantee victory against monsters who literally became stronger in real life just from playing them.
“At least my first opponent being Paul is better, I suppose.”
According to the bracket, I would encounter Paul before Darsin.
Of the two, Paul was the one I had a better chance against.
Paul was fairly weak at Fighter of Street.
Since I was reasonably competent at both King of Iron Fist and Fighter of Street, I had a decent chance if Fighter of Street came up for the third match.
“Competitors, enter!”
A short while later, Paul and I entered the arena constructed in the plaza of the imperial capital.
Artifacts connected to both game consoles projected enormous illusions above the arena, allowing the match to be broadcast live.
“It is an honor to compete against you, Lord Maxwell.”
“The honor is mine, Sir Paul. I heard you became a Swordmaster through my game?”
“Indeed. Your game was truly remarkable. Through the principles embedded within the fighting game, I was able to awaken the ‘Dialogue of Swords.’”
Dialogue of Swords?
Did I even put a sword character into King of Iron Fist?
I don't think I included that collaboration character……
And it doesn't seem like he played Yoshimitsu either.
“That makes me even more curious about your skill. You must surely be a powerful opponent, so I shall fight with everything I have.”
“H-Haha… Let's both do our best.”
I gave an awkward smile at his enthusiasm, shook his hand, and headed toward my seat.
“First match! King of Iron Fist! Both competitors, please prepare immediately!”
The first game was King of Iron Fist.
Naturally, the second would be Fighter of Street.
If I managed to take a point in the first match, the second game favored me, so I would have a high chance of taking the first two points and winning outright.
But defeating Paul in King of Iron Fist wouldn't be easy.
He showed weakness in Fighter of Street, but in King of Iron Fist, he was an absolute monster.
“My, Baron Ian is unlucky. To think he would face Sir Paul of all people.”
“Indeed. Baron Ian is skilled too, but even so, defeating Sir Paul in King of Iron Fist will be difficult.”
The spectators seemed to expect me to lose as well.
But I had one move prepared.
“Hmm? What is the Baron doing?”
“I have no idea. Why is he doing that on the character-select screen?”
Click-click- click-click-
I paused for roughly one second over several characters in a predetermined sequence, then pressed Start and P almost simultaneously.
To everyone else, it probably looked like meaningless button inputs.
But if you successfully entered this hidden command……
BEEP-
『The weak shall perish.』
An Easter egg appeared.
The very first Easter egg I'd hidden inside the game.