Raymond turned back towards Akira and his eyes were filled with nothing but gratitude and warmth. He took a deep breath and taking a hold of his emotions he said,

"Let's have faith in God now. We have done our best and I am just thankful to all of you for that. I couldn't have asked for more".

His teammates heard him speak and the whole booth started reverberating with nothing but warm feelings. Nobody spoke a word but they all slowly came forward and huddled together. They stood there all united and everyone's eyes were fixated on the scoreboard. It was a now and never scenario for them.

And then the screen flickered.

At third place - MetaFile - 79/100

Raymond closed his eyes as he was now too nervous to even look at the scoreboard. His heart was racing hard and he was unable to calm his nerves.

The screen flickered again.

At second place - Gamma Corp - 86/100

That was enough for the Delphie team members to go ecstatic. Even before Raymond could open his eyes he heard the shrill and high pitched cheer of Kirk and he felt Simon's arms around him.

Simon hugged him tight and said,

"We did it, Raymond. We did it!!!"

That was it. Those were the words that his ears were desperate to hear.

He knew that they had won.

He opened his eyes and saw the scoreboard getting updated.

At first place - Delphie - 92/100

He hugged Simon tight and just whispered,

"Thanks. Thanks for everything".

No one except him knew how much this victory meant for him. This victory had taken him closer to his dream. He was ecstatic but he knew that he needed to stay grounded as the next round was the final and the decider one.

He took a deep breath and then thanked his stars and turned back.

Akira was standing behind, away from the entire crowd that had circled around Raymond but her eyes were glistening with pride. His brother had hugged her tight as she was getting all emotional looking at the scoreboard. He looked at her and his eyes spoke his emotions that were present in his heart. She just looked at him and their eyes spoke their feelings. Gratitude, love, ecstasy, all of it.

The announcer had now arrived back at the podium and just then Vikram received a text,

"Venue number 2 is confirmed" - [Peter]

Vikram looked at his phone screen for a while and then sent a text to an unknown number.

He took a deep breath after sending the text. His hands trembled for a while contemplating if he went way out of the line, but then his eyes fell on the scoreboard again and he took a deep breath and relaxed.

Everything is fair in love and war and he was fighting for both.

"Ladies and gentlemen now we have our winner - Delphie. A huge round of applause for them".

"Now its time for the mega reveal for the third and final decider round. As the rounds have become neck to neck we have decided to revamp the third round. Hold your breath because it's going to be exciting as hell".

Raymond somehow didn't like the sound of it.

He turned back and looked at Mike and Akira. Mike just nodded his head to assure Raymond.

"Instead of having a local competition we are going Global. We will be having the final real VR round demo in the Amazons. All the transport charges and accommodation will be provided by the GCG council. So pack your bags and get set for the finale which will be held this Tuesday."

"All the best to team Delphie, Gamma Corp and MetaFile".

There was chaos all over in all the booths.

"Amazons !!! But aren't those forests pretty dangerous? Why are they risking so much for this competition?" Simon asked all worried.

"But what do they mean by VR round? We don't have any VR round in our game right?", Kirk asked all surprised.

"Yes, we do".

"We do?", Simon turned towards Raymond and asked him in surprise.

"Yeah", said Raymond and gave out a gentle smile.

"You are like a dark horse, my man. I don't know from where are you conjuring everything. You did all this on your own?", Simon asked.

"Not alone. I had some help", and saying that he looked towards Akira and smiled.

"But how do we play the VR round? We haven't practiced it. How are we going to participate? We don't have enough time to practice as well".

Akira laughed after hearing the questions of her teammates.

Raymond again took a deep breath and said,

"That also has been arranged".

"Really?", Kirk asked in surprise.

"So what now?", Simon asked.

"So we pack our stuff as of now and prepare for Tuesday". Then Raymond called MIke to the front and said,

"This is our ace flyer who is going to support us in the event".

"Akira's brother?", they all asked in surprise.

"No, my brother-in-law", Raymond said and smiled.