Chapter 788: Watersphere League Layout

“It’s fairly simple,” Muriel began to explain. “Because of the sheer number of Watersphere teams spread out across the known universe, it would be impossible to have one single league for them all and so the leagues coincide with the sectors they are part of.

For example, the Sector Seven league or the Sector Five league. Then, depending on how many teams are in that specific sector, there might be a need to have more than one league, and the leagues themselves have a ranking structure.

The exact number of teams and leagues varies from sector to sector because of a multitude of reasons, and because of this, the requirements needed to move to a higher league also fluctuate, but let’s use Sector Fifteen that we’re currently in as an example.

For a team to move up from a lower league in Sector Fifteen, they either need to place within the top three for automatic promotion or reach the finals of a playoff featuring teams that finished fourth through ninth in the league. The same rule applies for getting relegated in that the bottom three automatically get relegated while the next six battle it out in a playoff to try and stay up, with the losing two going down.

This structure means that there are always fresh teams moving up and down each season, giving fresh blood to each of the leagues.

Each sector then has its own competitions that allow teams from different leagues to play each other throughout the season, further spicing things up; however, I won’t talk about them as it would take too long.

The aim of every team is to reach their sector's top league and become sector champions; doing so allows them to participate in the Sector Sphere tournament where the top teams from each sector compete to find the best club team in the universe.”

“Ok, if the Sector Sphere is where the best team in the universe is determined, what’s the Universal Cup?” Adam asked as he remembered Lorelie telling him in the past that Muriel had led her team to victory in the Universal Cup.

“The Sector Sphere determines the best club team each season; the Universal Cup is something that’s held every few years and is played to determine the best sector,” Muriel explained.

Every few years, the best players are chosen to form a sector team, so for example I played for and captained the Sector Fifteen team in the past. These teams then compete against each other at the Universal Cup. As a side note, a player can only play for the sector team their home planet is based in, unlike in normal teams where you can go play anywhere.”

“So it’s like soccer,” Adam replied.

“Your would be grandmother would say it’s like football,” Emma chuckled, causing Adam to roll his eyes and say. “Let’s not even start that argument.

Anyway, the Sector Sphere is kind of like the Champions League while the Universal Cup is like the World Cup.”

“I’m guessing this soccer… or football is a sport on Earth?” Muriel asked.

Yup,” Adam nodded just as Lorelie excitedly said, “Ohh, it’s starting.”

The match officials, followed by the two teams, each wearing different coloured kits, emerged from one of the tunnels while the referee carried the ball under one arm. As they reached the edge of the water, the two teams separated and proceeded to circle around opposite sides of the water while the officials remained near the tunnel they had emerged from.

As the official moved his hand towards a console at the edge of the water which was used to form the sphere, he suddenly froze and seemed to think of something before looking in the direction of the VIP box where they were all situated, giving Adam a sense of deja vu.

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“Diva Lorelie, would you do us the honour of forming the sphere?” The official asked, causing the crowd to cheer in support of the official's request while the players looked up expectantly.

“Again, seriously?” Adam asked. “Wait, can you even form the sphere on this planet?”

Lorelie smiled before saying, I can. “My race has control over all ocean water to a certain extent; however, my control on other planets is not as my own.”

“We saw an example back on Earth,” Rowena pointed out. “Remember what she did back on Earth and how she managed to summon all those creatures to us.”

“Ohh,” Adam said in realisation while Lorelie approached a console embedded into the balcony and pressed it before saying, “It would be my great honour to form the sphere for these young and promising Watersphere players. I hope that you all allow us to witness a wonderful match today.”

As she finished speaking, the crowd once again went wild while the players looked as if their competitive spirits had been ignited.

Soon after, the entire stadium quieted down as they waited, and a moment later Lorelie spread her arms wide before she started to hum a tune that started off softly before getting louder and louder.

As the volume increased, the water started to churn before it began to coalesce into one giant ball of water that started to float in the air. As Lorelie kept increasing the volume of her song, the ball of water began to shrink until, all of a sudden, her pitch reached its highest note before causing the ball of water to explode outwards.

The explosion pushed the air away from the centre so that everyone in the dome was struck by a powerful gust of wind that made them rock backwards slightly or pushed them into their seats. Afterwards, a perfect sphere of water floated in the centre of the arena.

“Wow, incredible,” Emma murmured as she stared at the sphere with wide eyes.

“So cool,” Tephe remarked.

“I never get tired of seeing that,” Muriel remarked as the players and officials dived into the sphere while the crowd cheered.

“Can’t you do that?” Adam asked in surprise.

“Heavens no,” Muriel replied. “Only a limited number of races in the universe, such as the Merinmians and Sirinians, can. Did you think all aquatic races could do such a thing?”

“I guess,” Adam nodded.

“He can’t really be blamed for thinking that way,” Rowena chuckled. “Lorelie is one of the first individuals from another race he ever met, let alone the first aquatic race.”

“Yeah, she warped his idea of aquatic races,” Aphrodite laughed.

“Excuse me, I did no such thing,” Lorelie retorted as she sat down with a pout.

Adam chuckled at her reaction before turning back to Muriel and asking, “How does your race form the sphere then?”

“The head official usually activates an energy field that encases the water in a spherical shape,” Muriel explained.

“Is that safe?” Emma asked. “I mean, the players have to dive through the energy field to get into the sphere.”

“It's fine, it’s only a low-level energy field, so no harm comes to them,” Muriel answered.

“Though I wouldn’t recommend you try Emma; your body still hasn’t been upgraded, so the energy could potentially harm you,” Erkath added.

Emma smiled and shook her head while saying, “I have no intention of trying; I was just curious.”

“Ohh, they're starting, they're starting,” Tephe said excitedly as the referee released the ball and the match began.

***

Down in the parking lot of the Aquatics Dome, a submersible surfaced out of the water and approached one of the docking spaces before parking up and allowing the group of six bounty hunters to climb out.

“Fidget, hack into the surveillance system and keep an eye on them before catching up with us; the rest of you with me,” The female boss said before leading the way towards a nearby elevator.

“Remember that Mureil’s VIP box is on the second VIP level, boss,” Fidget called out as he began to use his uniband to hack into the dome's surveillance system.

“I’m aware,” The boss replied before stepping into the elevator with the other five and pressing the appropriate button on the elevator's holographic keypad.

“Weapons on stun until we locate the targets; we don’t want any backlash from killing the security personnel,” The boss instructed.

“Not as it matters; with this promotion, we’ll be able to move to a planet that offers higher-level contracts,” Another of the group stated.

“Quiet down, Sprig; we’re almost there,” The boss instructed just before the elevator doors opened.

Just outside the elevator doors, two security personnel turned after hearing the sound of the elevator's arrival, only to be hit in the chest with stun shots before they collapsed to the floor unconscious.

“The targets are in the seventh VIP box; remember the plan,” The boss instructed. “We toss in the stun balls and knock them all unconscious before rushing in and killing the targets, after which we evacuate.”

***

[ALERT.] Spector suddenly announced, attracting the attention of the group that was watching the game, which had just started.