'The whole classification and power scaling needed to be revamped at the rate that the heightened generation is popping up....'
With one crisis averted, the executive is finally able to catch a breath and wipe up the lines of sweat built up alongside the crease over his forehead, 'the firing and blaming will come, don't you forget it!'
His threats lingered in the room with no one willing to carrying on the conversation. Then, the frozen image moved again, with the energy level slowly rising both in the chats as well as in the casters. Pethant Ouph has made his way into the sphere of earth, however.....something seemed off...
The fight continued, as the two glowing figures continued their dance at the center of the sphere. Sharp cuts from the winds generated upon impact are clearly felt by the shaking camera, bring a sense of urgency and danger into the shot. With every impact, the video shakes a little more.
No, this isn't dynamic camera work. Just a hand that's fucking unsteady.
The executive can feel the sweat building on his dome again, and he desperately scrolled towards the chat, hoping for them not to notice.
'WHAT IS THIS VIDEO QUALITY?'
'FFFFFFF'
'LOW REZ BULLSHIT'
'CAMERAMAN DIF'
Then, one message turned into ten, and then into a thousand. It wasn't long before the complaints about the quality of the videos completely overtook the chat, with Aggress and Goremaster trying to focus on the fights at hand still.
Then, an explosion went off at the center of the sphere as everything cracked wide open in an outburst of smoke and dust.
Then, the visuals cleared up again, and light began to shine over the battlefield with the sphere of earth crumbling down. Windy looked like she had been buried and crushed underneath layers of mud, but Earth Breaker's body is fully cut up too with blood streaming down the sides of her torsos. The fabric around her top is barely hanging on, and her side chest is exposed to the air with a few scratches alongside it.
'TILT THE FUCKING CAMERA!'
'THE ANGLE IS WEIRD!'
'Did they change a cameraman?'
'OF COURSE THEY DID, HE ALSO FORGOT TO ADJUST TO TRUE HORIZONTAL!'
So that was the uneasy feeling that the executive is feeling. The whole shot is tilted at two degrees to the side, which isn't too noticeable to most casual viewers. However, the voices of the fanatic view are only amplified in the chat, and soon most people noticed this cameraman mistake.
'So this is the infamous Discount at work...' murmur echoed in the conference room, and the executive simply tried to ignore all of the chatter, 'he is as bad as I thought...no...he is worse.....'
Almost wanting to crush his own teeth, he looked over towards the last holographic person sitting in the far corner of the table near the exit who returned to the meeting after a short absence. He is the same officer that went and picked up Pethant Ouph from the cafeteria.
'Sir, he should have already have started the stream.'
'Yes. Evidently.' The executive rubbed against the side of his temples and dragged his voice, 'is anyone else around?'
'If I may, Sir.' The officer said with a confused tone, 'I did saw someone else in the cameraman cafe watching the fight...'
'WHAT?!' The executive shot up from his seat before looking over with his piercing eyes, 'in the designated cafe for tier 2-4? Who else is there?'
'I don't recognize him, Sir.' The officer replied honestly, 'though he did appear to be fixing his camera.'
'Fixing the camera? In the cafeteria?!' The executive's eyes widened before looking over at the female officer in glasses sitting next to the young man who has just returned, 'check his identity, and also the latest reports from other missions. I want to know who that is.'
'Sir, are you saying...'
'All of the tier 2-4's have been sent away on other missions....and tier 5-6 don't have access...no tier 1's will go to the cafe, unless...'
'Sir! It is confirmed!' The female officer exclaimed, 'it is him! It is him! The.....the...'
She got so overly excited that she is starting to stutter, 'the spec....spectator....'
'Welcome him to the fight at once!' The executive ordered, pointing his finger at the young man who is still trying to understand the situation.
'Him? That unassuming guy?'
'YES...THE WORLD'S STRONGEST CAMERA MAN.'
Encircling around the battle with his suit and dodging the stray shots coming from both fighters in the battlefield, Pethant focuses all of his energy in trying to capture all of the details of the fights. Zooming from one detail to another, attempting to capture every single punch landed, kicks swung, wind gusts landed wide and the rock columns rose high.
Then, the escalation happened once again, and by his accounts, this would have been the escalation 2, the second stage of power-ups and usually the last resort for fighters at this level. However, if there is anything to be learned from the two fighters today, it is that they do not follow the usual rules of the power scale.
A result of the so-called heightened generation, heh? They are all the buzz nowadays. The special superhumans out of the many that walk around S city...The ones that will end up being the ones earning the big paycheck and shoving others down the slopes of the pyramid of profits and fame.
However, Pethant does not care for the fame or glory for power. He cared for the rush of combat, the excitement of betting everything on the line, the thrill of winning, the disappointments of losing, and the bonds he formed along the way. Back in his day, the fighters respected each other, and their powers were simpler.
Now, the two snobs are beating the shit out of each other for literal views. How pathetic.
Pethant thought as he continued to film the fight from ten meters away, moving just enough to avoid crucial attacks on his body, but never caring for the screams of his armor or his loud breathing. He wanted to capture the final clashes of the battle.
Finding the perfect angle from atop a small rock column created by Earth Breaker herself, Pethant prepared himself for the final escalation of the fight. He caught the sight of a dashing blur in the corner of his eyes, but he simply blinked it off before zooming into the details.
Oops....that's a bit too close, as he focused on the bare breasts of Earth Breaker for just a moment too long before pulling out.
'My family depends on my victory, and that's what I will bring them!' Earth Breaker declared before she dropped into a horse stance and charged up a final attack. Windy is doing the same, and she waited until Earth Breaker to finish before starting.
'And my partner said she will propose to me after my win, so I apologize to your family in advance. I will donate the change to you after though!'
Then, she launched herself into the air before diving down with a kick that splits the clouds above and earth below. At the same time, Earth Breaker shoved her best foot forward, as axes manifested into the ground before it swung down and chopped at the kick of wind. The two ultimate attacks clashed as the two fighters yelled out with full intent, a spark of light flashed immediately followed by a low rumble, a snap and an explosion.
The earth underneath where the battle took place was shattered with the pair of them at the epicenter and cracks rapidly formed and expanded outwards before the dust are ejected from the immense pressure experienced by the segments in between cracks being bumped into each other.
Being in the center of the fight, Pethant is at the exact midline of the clash when the explosion happened. However, he didn't move an inch at all and filmed absolutely every detail with shaking hands. The two fighters in front of him are strong, but not strong enough to break him.
The fight is over with the axes of the earth was shattered into millions of pieces before it rained down on the winner of the fight. However, neither party appeared to have been in a good state after. With three flashing lights from the corner of Pethant's interface, it is indicated that his role is complete, and his feed can now be cut off.
Finishing the filming session, Pethant took off the camera attached to the heavy suits of armor and carried it alongside him as a portal is opened beside him. Teams of medic are also dropped through portals placed near the fights.
'Well...well done...The processing will begin right now...' The officer that greeted him seemed mortified, and perhaps it is due to his impeccable performance with the camera. Pethant nodded proudly and stepped through the portal, returning to the cafeteria. As he took a seat and picked up his unfinished sandwich, the other guy in the room also took a seat back down.
Pethant looked over, and it appeared the camera is still broken.
'Are you sure you don't want to switch to the later generation?' Pethant asked, still on the high from the success of his mission.
'I like the way things look with this.' The guy responded without looking away from the broken camera even for a second.
'Suits you.'
This promotional fight ended just like any other arranged professional fights, as Windy finally made her way into the tier 3 for the superhumans and Earth Breaker staying in tier 4. Time moved on as normal in the city of superhumans, and it wasn't long before the full VOD and the edited version of the fight is posted online while being overlaid with the casting audio.
Pethant also received full payment for the first time. Throughout his career as a cameraman, he was given the nickname of the Discount for the fact that the low-quality footage he has always captured in smaller missions not being up to par, and that his pay is always discounted as a result of it.
However, the full pay that he has received now is only proof that things have changed and things are on an upswing trajectory.
'Now, a celebratory bowl of rice and veggies!'
Turning on the holograms on the dinner table at his home, he popped open a bottle of pop and started playing the edited version of the fights. As a cameraman, as much as he hated editing, it's still a good practice to review the footage he has collected.
After the introduction and logos, and video immediately kicked off with the early actions in the fight, as filmed by the now-deceased cameraman Joy. Then, it was smoothly cut over to his own shots upon his entrance into the sphere of the earth...and then...
The sphere was burst open before an encircling shot of the two fighters clashing was cut in. The dynamic camera zoomed in and out across the actions, narrowly avoiding being hit by the wind blades generated by Windy, or the crushing earth columns by Earth Breaker.
What is this angle? What is this glow? What is this CONTRAST?!
This doesn't look like Pethant's own footage at all!
The rice cools, and the pop tasted bitter.
What is this? Pethant looked around the room looking for the answers that are never going to be there. How?!
Is...is there another cameraman there? And the cameraman's association just went behind his back like this?! But.....
Then the final clash arrived, and the shot was much much closer than where Pethant was standing. In fact, it's a perspective shot next to Windy as she looked down onto the ax and kicked it into pieces. The explosion was bright and clear with a slow-motion edit, and then a smooth transition of the camera turned towards the victor with a fist raised up high in the air.
'Brought to you by SPFL, Joy, and Pethant of the cameraman's Association! See you next time!'
The closing title stung like a needle, and Pethant was lost in the hurricane of emotions, mostly confusion.
Just who was that?