Child of Destiny

Chapter 1680: The Mastermind (Part 2): Cruel yet Comforting

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It did not take that long for the Wild Brothers to crumble completely under the repeated pressure that Alucard was constantly giving them. They started to lose their confidence after suffering in the battle, especially when they had tried doing everything, yet they still failed to achieve any results.

Moyong Qi was the one who was suffering the most in this battle. Even if he still had a somewhat strong mind, he was still losing himself in front of such adversity, especially when he was constantly being targeted throughout the entire battle.

Losing against someone strong was fine, but being humiliated in such a manner where the opposing party was constantly targeting the weakness of every technique and strategy that he had.

He was not sure if it was the plan of the Empyrean Talons, but he was sure that they were targeting him on purpose.

In the end, even if he had showcased his true abilities, he was still being suppressed repeatedly as his style was completely countered by his opponents.

They were unable to find a way to break through the ʼdefenseʼ of the opposing side, so they could only ʼpassivelyʼ try looking for another way to win. However, given the current state of the battle. It seemed like an impossible task, their morale could not help but drop sharply.

Moyong Han had also noticed that his reliable big brother was struggling hard just to keep up with the face of their opposing side, which was something he had never seen before, especially when the three of them were working together.

What was even more demoralizing about their situation was even his second brother, Moyong Gui, seemed to have also lost his will to continue the battle.

”What-… what went wrong?” he could not help but ask himself this question as he was also starting to become affected by the mood of his two elder brothers.

While he was still struggling to accept the ʼoutcomeʼ of this battle, which was somewhat disappointing for their side, everything had already ended before he knew it.

Both Moyong Qi and Moyong Gui understood that it was useless to continue with the battle right now as it would only further wound their pride and affect their future mindset during a battle. If it indeed happened, then they would be nothing but a mere ʼcrippleʼ in the eyes of their organization and such.

They had to take a step back now before everything was too late. Even though the seed of psychological trauma was already planted in their hearts, it was not to the point that it could turn into a long-lasting poison that would slowly erode their minds.

Their youngest brother was still somewhat ʼpureʼ in this aspect, so he was not much affected by the psychological attack that their opponents had sent them.

”We give up!”

”We concede!”

The two said almost at the same time as if they had already planned this ahead of time.

Moyong Han was still trying to understand their current state, but his elder brothers had already decided that it was not worth continuing with their meaningless struggle.

”Ah!?”

He was still in a state of confusion when the system had already pulled his body and thrown him out of the battle arena alongside his brothers.

All the spectators watching this match were also somewhat caught off guard as they were still too immersed in the current state of the battle.

Regardless, they still broke into an uproar after seeing the huge words displayed right above the battle arena.

The result might be a little lackluster compared to what they had expected, where the Wild Brothers would come up with an amazing strategy for a comeback or use their strongest combination skills. Meanwhile, the opposing side would also try their best to stop the three from doing that or respond with a powerful move of their own.

But unfortunately, their fantasy was utterly shattered by reality.

The ending might be a little disappointing, but everyone enjoyed the process nevertheless. They had even witnessed some of the exchanges that they were expecting from top-notch experts of the game, so they were not that disappointed.

Those few highlights were more than enough to satiate their thirst for action, so they did not raise any complaints.

Aside from that, the next round would be even more interesting than this Team Battles had always been the main course for such events. On top of that, the main players for the next round would be the top combatants of each side, which would surely give everyone a satisfying battle.

With such a thought in mind, everyone had forgotten about the result of the group match, making the next match to be the real highlight of this event.

They were expecting an intense battle that would determine the true result of this match between the Seven Seas Alliance and the Empyrean Talons.

Would the Seven Seas Alliance regain their pride and reputation with such an amazing comeback?

Or-…

Would the Empyrean Talons put the final nail in the coffin and show everyone the huge difference between a seeded team and those who had struggled to climb from the previous rounds?

Whatever the result might be, all the live audience and online viewers were expecting an epic battle where everything was at stake!

”This is going to be an absolute banger!”

…

Unfortunately for these people, the main perpetrator of the devious plan had a different thought in mind.

Everyone might be expecting an absolute cinematic battle between hegemons of the game, but Shin was thinking of ending it in an overwhelming manner, where the opposing side would never raise their head in public once again.

His plan might be a little overboard as the foundation of the Seven Seas Group, which was supporting the opposing team from behind, was quite solid.

After all, they were a true hegemon when it came to finance in the real world. They could rival huge corporations such as the Flying Dragon Corporation under the Levana Clan and Springfield Family if it was just in terms of influence and money.

Moreover, they had also some secret dealings with the underworld organizations, making it hard to measure their real depths.

Shin knew that this team that the Seven Seas Group had just put up was nothing but a mere front to hide their true colors.

It was just an insignificant project to support their moves later into the future. But Shin would not spare any effort just to stop them, especially after learning about their shady experiments.

He then turned toward the other players who would be representing them for the next round and asked. ”Is everyone ready?”

Cloe, who was sitting right side him, had already finished the preparations. There was no need to arrange as everyone had already been notified of their respective task.

She rolled her eyes at him as she complained a little. ”And now you have the time to ask about us? Tsk! I thought all you care is to plot something against those guys.”

Diablo looked at them weirdly as he always found their relationship somewhat weird. He knew that they were childhood friends, but he could sense that there was something more to it.

Regardless, he ignored everything else as he responded to Shin. ”My only job is to harass that particular target, right? I will not do anything else as per your arrangement.”

”Thatʼs right. We donʼt have to show too many of our cards in the first match anyway, so you should reserve your strength as much as you can,” nodded Shin and avoided Cloeʼs fierce glare.

”Yet you are telling me to go all-out aside from some of my hidden cards,” complained Leonard from the side.

Shin turned to him as he gave the latter a weird look beneath his mask. ”Everyone knows you anyway, so whatʼs the point in hiding your cards? Moreover, you are influenced by Arthur and upload quite a lot of battle clips on your channel regularly.”

”There is no point in hiding those cards that everyone has already seen, am I right?” he added with an exaggerated tone.

”Tsk! At least, it pays some extra income for me,” refuted Leonard.

Alice, on the other hand, remained silent on the side as she hesitated whether she should say something. She was still in an awkward relationship with Shin and Cloe after what happened earlier.

Even if they had somewhat thrown the issue at the back of their heads, Alice still felt somewhat uncomfortable with the situation. All she could think right now was the face of that cute little dragon girl.

Her mind somewhat wandered in some place and time that she would never dare to imagine before.

But whenever she looked at Shin and Cloe, she could only heave a helpless sigh as an uncomfortable feeling tried to squeeze inside her chest.

Meanwhile, the last member, who was chosen to be the sixth man for this round, stood still in a corner.

Samael, who was supposed to be not an official member of the team up until recently, was unable to calm his mind and heart.

Not only this would be his debut on the professional stage, but he did not how he would calm his mind. Moreover, the shoes that he needed to fill in this lineup were from Arthur and Owenʼs position, so the pressure on him was too heavy.

Seeing the pale face that Samael was making, Owen could not help but walk over and pat the latterʼs back. ”Whatʼs there to be too nervous about? It is not like you will mess up with those monsters supporting you on the stage.”

”But that is also the very reason why I am like this,” refuted Samael as he sighed helplessly. ”What if I am unable to fulfill my role in the team and mess up everything? What do I have to do?”

Hearing that, Owen could not help but grin as he asked. ”Do you want to hear something that will calm your mind?”

Samael did not say anything; he just repeatedly nodded his head.

Owen smirked as he continued. ”Just engrave this in your mind-…”

Samaelʼs expression was serious as he waited for advice from a senior in the field. He knew that he had to put it in his heart so that it could help him in the future.

But what he heard next made him stare blankly in the air.

”Do you see those guys? Do you know how much of a monster they are? Even our healer is a witch in her own right.”

”With them being on the same field and working together, do you think that you still have the chance to perform on the stage?”

”Kid, donʼt be too delusional. Your role for this match is nothing but a decoration.”

His words might be quite harsh in a sense but indeed helped Samael calm his nerves down.

Sometimes, reality was cruel, but it was also quite comforting in some ways. It just depended on how you looked at the situation.

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