Child of Destiny

Chapter 1659: Troubles

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Shin could only glare at Hanzo while the old spirit gave him a gloating look.

At the same time, Cloe and Alice also had their respective responses.

Alice froze all over due to the sudden address of Silvana. She was unable to respond after hearing the little dragon girl call her ʼMomʼ. Her mind went blank and lost the ability to think straight. She did not know what was happening.

Cloe, on the other hand, underwent a series of emotional rollercoasters. Her feelings went into an uphill and downhill track of emotions as a flood of thoughts flashed through her head. She was unable to think straight for quite a while before the expression on her face was constantly shifting between different emotions.

”SHIN KINGHAD!”

Shin felt a sudden shiver in his spine when he heard the growling that was echoing in the entire hall. He also felt that the surroundings seemed to have turned dark, seemingly telling the impending doom.

”Wait-… Cloe! Let me explain! It is not what you think it is! It is just a misunderstanding!” Shin tried his best to calm her down, especially when he was getting the illusion of a violent typhoon that was about to sweep the entire place.

”What have you done!” shouted Cloe, demanding an explanation.

Shinʼs Reaperʼs Retainer were just watching everything unfold with different expressions on their faces. Some of them had a worried look, others were full of amusement, while the rest could not help but sigh helplessly.

The Ronan looked left and right with a confused look on his face, unable to decide what to do. From the thoughts that he had inherited from his previous self, this situation was something that he could not be involved with as it was a quarrel between his Master and the Madam.

Silvana, the source of this disaster, on the other hand, innocently looked at the surroundings. It was as if she was not aware of the trouble that she had created. But she was more curious about her ʼMomʼ, so she kept on looking at Alice with a curious gaze.

Meanwhile, Alice remained frozen on her spot, unable to do anything. She was unable to think as her head was filled with the echoing word – Mom – inside.

...

After a while, Shin was forced to sit on his knees while explaining the entire situation to Cloe and Alice.

Of course, the entire situation did not end up just like that. He was first bombarded by a barrage of spells – both basic and advanced ones – from Cloe before he ended up in this situation.

Naturally, the spells did not kill him as Cloe avoided one-shotting him with her spells, but the pain that he suffered in the entire process was a whole other matter. She even healed him every time to make sure that he was ʼfineʼ.

This was no different from torture, especially when he was unable to fight back the entire time due to a silencing boundary that she had set up. It was a powerful Tier 3 Domain Skill that robbed him from using any kind of skills during the entire duration.

He was beaten up until Cloe had vented out all her frustrations. He also chose not to fight back until she calmed herself down.

Hanzo, Vladimir, and Grimrace were enjoying the entire show the whole time. They even got the perfect spot to watch along with the popcorn and soda that they had gotten from who knew where.

Blackie, Whitie, and Astaroth were unable to join or lend a hand as they knew that this was not a situation that they shouldnʼt involve themselves. All they could do was to pray for their liege to endure this tribulation well.

Ronan, on the other hand, remained silent and waited for the entire process to end while Solus held firmly on Silvana, preventing this little dragon girl from making the entire situation escalate even further.

…

”So, you are telling me that this little girl is from the green dragon egg that you and Alice have gotten from a certain quest. And when she hatches, she started calling you ʼDadʼ due to your mana that is infused to her during the hatching process?” asked Cloe, trying to clarify what Shin had explained.

She felt another urge to beat Shin up for another round after learning that Alice and this guy had gone doing a quest together when he still had not kept his word when he promised that he would quest with her first.

She did her best to suppress that urge, barely stopping herself, before continuing. ”Then, she remembered Aliceʼs mana signature, which she felt when she was still in the egg, and mistaken Alice as her Mom.”

Shin nodded his head repeatedly, not saying anything else. He was too afraid that he would say something wrong and pulled the trigger by accident once again. He was unwilling to commit another suicide attempt.

”Sigh~!” Cloe could only sigh helplessly in the situation. She massaged her temples, trying to calm herself down.

It took her a while before she recovered herself. ”I understand. Iʼm sorry. I guess it is a misunderstanding.”

Shin could finally heave a sigh of relief after hearing that. He then tried to change the subject so that he could finally escape this current predicament. ”Now that we are done here. How about we have the team meeting next and discuss our strategy against the Seven Seas Alliance?”

Cloe knew what he was planning but chose to overlook it. ”Alright. Letʼs call the others and have our team meeting.”

Shin then stood up and planned to leave. But before he could finally relax, he heard Silvanaʼs innocent voice once again. ”Thatʼs not right, Dad! You havenʼt played with me yet!”

Shinʼs face suddenly contorted when he heard her words. The two girls, Cloe and Alice, also could not help but pause after hearing the innocent tone of the little dragon girl as they were still not used to this situation.

In panic, Shin swiftly waved his hand and retracted all his Elemental Spirit Companions, sending them back to the Reaperʼs Realm, before another disaster befell him.

The temper that Cloe was barely able to suppress almost erupted once again at that time. Fortunately, Shin was fast enough to send everyone back before the situation turned for the worst once again.

***

Within the virtual space of the Seven Seas Alliance, the top combatants of the team that would be representing them in the upcoming knockout rounds of the United Cup were currently having a very serious meeting.

”And that is everything that we have gathered about all the members of the Empyrean Talons,” said a woman, who was wearing a professional attire that is usually used by office workers in certain companies in the real world.

She was a secretary of the young president of the Seven Seas Group, who was assigned to the operations within the game.

She might not be a skilled player, but she was a great analyst and strategist when it came to these kinds of situations.

Just now, she had discussed all the backgrounds of the Empyrean Talonsʼ members as well as their overall strengths and possible weaknesses.

”The competition will be following the same format for this knockout rounds. The entire match will be divided into three rounds.”

”The first round is two Single Matches, where we will send a single representative on each match and will earn us a point per match. As we have discussed, it is best to give up this round since it is impossible even for our top combatant to win against their top combatants.”

”They have too many people who are skilled at one-on-one matches namely the Battle God Sickarius, War God Simba, and Dragon God Seigfried. There are also that mysterious Shadow Dancer Diablo, the Vampire Alucard, and the Dark Knight Owen.”

”The first three are a real problem while the other three are equally troublesome. It is pointless to spend too much effort for this round.”

She then paused for a moment to look at everyone before continuing. ”Instead, it is more ideal for us to put more of our focus on the next two rounds.”

”The second round, the Group Round, can be chosen in different formats depending on the team with the ʼhome groundʼ advantage. It can either be a two-vs-two match or a three-vs-three match, depending on what we want.”

”It can also be a three-man match with a one-vs-one format. It is round when each team will send three representatives, who will be battling in three consecutive one-on-one matches. A member will replace their teammate after losing or continue to battle the other side until there is no longer a member to represent either side.”

”The team with the remaining representative standing on the stage will be the winner.”

”This round will earn us a total of three points,” she added before proceeding. ”Even if it is still quite challenging, we will have a better chance on this round since the ones who have already participated in the previous round of Single Matches.”

She took another pause to let everyone process her words before continuing. ”As for the third and final round-… it is a straight up Team Match with 5 members on the field and 1 person as a substitute.”

”You can swap one of your members any time you want so long as you have access to the summoning formation within the field. But if one of the five field members died during the battle, then the sixth man will be automatically summoned on the field to join the others.”

”This match will earn us a total of five points if we win, which will have a huge impact on the entire match. After all, our accumulated points will be carried over to the ʼawayʼ match two days later.”

”At the same time, the members who have already joined the previous two rounds will be unable to join the Team Battle, which will further limit the members and team composition available to both teams.”

She then looked at everyone as she continued. ”As you can see, it is the best for us to give up the first round and solely focus on the next two rounds.”

”I know that everyone here is confident in themselves and has their pride, but we must admit that it will be disadvantageous to us if we insist on matching them in the Single Matches when they have those Godlike Monsters in their ranks.”

The entire team remained silent as they were unable to refute her words. After all, she was only stating facts, which was something that they would not be able to deny.

The secretary nodded her head as she continued. ”But donʼt worry. Even if we are at a slight disadvantage individually, the same canʼt be said for our team capabilities. Moreover, they are just a newly built team, so their teamwork shouldnʼt be that solid yet.”

”They are bound to have holes in their team capabilities, which we will be taking advantage of. Moreover, we have the home advantage first as the ʼunderdogsʼ in this match. We can catch them off guard with our strategy.”

The screen behind her suddenly changed as it projected the familiar oceanic region. ”We can use the ʼterrainʼ that we are most familiar with. We are the Seven Seas Alliance, so we will be the kings when it comes to underwater combat!”

”Since we will be giving up the Single Mathes, we will not be using this stage for those matches. The same can be said for the Group Round since it is somewhat of a one-on-one match. But if we will choose the two-vs-two or three-vs-three group battle, then we can just leave the decision for the combatants representing us on the stage.”

”But when it comes to the Team Battle, we will be choosing this underwater stage that we are familiar with. This is where we regularly train our forces, so we will be at an absolute advantage.”

”I believe that even if they will be having a hard time fighting us under the sea in this round, especially when their top combatants will be banned in the battle once they join the previous two rounds.”

”Moreover, their marksmen will be greatly restricted when fighting underwater. It does not matter if they have those top snipers or archers; they are practically useless underwater.”

”The Team Battle will be our key to victory!” she shouted, seemingly finishing a great speech that would boost their morale.

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