Child of Destiny

Chapter 1689: A Clean Sweep

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In the meantime, before Shin and Leonard had made their coordinated moves, the side where Diablo and Florence were fighting was getting more and more heated as time went by.

The battle between two sides with opposite styles would only be decided by the skills of the respective players.

Diablo, who possessed extreme speed but was restricted by the environment, particularly by the water resistance underwater, was clearly in a disadvantageous situation. But his techniques and Ancient Shadow Powers greatly helped him in the battle.

In the meantime, Florence, as the Warrior Goddess, was a very skilled Godlike Player. She was even ranked seventh in the latest issue of the Godly Ranking List, so her skills were something that could not be underestimated even if her style of fighting was meant for a vanguard position.

She might be slow, but her steadiness in battle and tanky style of battle greatly countered Diabloʼs, especially when she had the advantage when it came to underwater battle given her racial traits.

The two sides were in a complete deadlock despite the intense exchanges that they were throwing at one another.

Diablo refrained from using any of his Shadow Equip Skills and just relied on the tricks that he had learned from fighting against the monsters of the Forgotten Sea.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Bang!

Florence had to admit that she would have most likely lost if they were fighting on land, especially after seeing how Diablo utilized that unique combat state that he had – his version of Hyperactive Simulation.

Moreover, she kept having a bad feeling whenever she saw that dangerous glint in Diabloʼs eyes. She felt that all the secrets she had in terms of fighting were slowly being disclosed by those cold eyes whenever they flickered with purple lights.

She had no idea about Diabloʼs unique skill – the Demon Eyes – but she somewhat had an idea of what those eyes were hiding given that she had also experienced fighting against other geniuses with similar abilities.

Arthur, widely known as Dragon God Seigfried within the virtual world, was one of them. Even if the effects of his special abilities were not as direct as Diabloʼs Demon Eyes and Shinʼs Battle Genius talent that could continuously evolve during the battle, his ability to adapt to situations and improve still surpassed most of the players of the game.

This was one of the reasons why Arthur was one of the current legendary players of the game.

Even if Florence was ranked fairly high in the Godly Ranking List, her talent was somewhat on the mediocre side, especially when compared to those absolute monsters of the game.

What made her what she is today was her extreme persistence, unbreakable will, and countless of time invested in hard work.

She was among the type of people with stubborn personality and would never give up once they put their minds to it.

Fortunately, her efforts had paid off, which was why she was standing at the peak of the virtual world at this moment.

She wanted to have an honest battle against someone like Diablo, who she found had a similar personality to her to some extent.

She had already fought with the likes of Leonard and Arthur in the previous competitive tournaments held by different gaming companies, so she was quite keen on judging someone, especially after fighting against them.

Diablo, on the other hand, realized that a highly ranked Godlike Player was truly not that simple. He regularly sparred with Shin, Leonard, and Arthur, who were among the peak of the Godlike Player. But since he was somewhat familiar with them, the pressure that they were giving him was somewhat reduced.

It was only at this moment that he realized that everyone with a fairly high ranking in any type of ranking list was worthy of their reputation.

He had never found the chance to execute his initial plan of doing a burst attack to eliminate Florence, who had a very sturdy and steady defensive stance. He had never found a clear opening other than those obvious baits that she had purposely opened to lure him in.

They were evenly matched, but Diabloʼs main purpose was to hold Florence until Shin and the others finished everything that they wanted to achieve from this match.

As they were fighting, a sudden disturbance forced the two to pause their actions, making them look over the commotion happening within the Trapping Formation.

Seeing what was happening, Florence could not help but curse under her breath. ”Tsk! Those idiots still use them in the end! As if it will change anything.”

Realizing that the situation was already out of hand, Florence could only sigh helplessly and was about to give up this battle.

But since it was already like this, she could only enjoy her battle against a worthy opponent. She was no longer concerned herself about breaking through the formation since it was already too late to save those guys, especially when Diablo was stalling for time.

”I guess I can finally focus on our battle then,” she said before exploding with power as she activated a couple of her buffs.

”Before those guys got killed by those two monsters, accompany with this dance for a bit,” she added as she took the initiative to attack this time.

Bang!

The seafloor where she stood exploded as she kicked it and sent a thick cloud of mud behind her.

Seeing that, Diablo, who had never underestimated an enemy, quickly adjusted his posture and prepared for an even more intense clash.

He would naturally not dare to confront the opposing side in a direct battle, so he quickly melded himself with the surroundings by using his stealth skills and the trick that Shin had taught him to further hide his tracks underwater.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Disregarding any thoughts about the ongoing battle between their respective teammates, the two decided to give their best in this battle while also hiding some of their greatest trump cards.

This confrontation between the two became the highlight of the team competition due to the intensity of their battle, especially when the battle on the other side of the battlefield was a little lackluster in comparison.

After all, the battle on that side was more of a one-sided beat down rather than a fight, especially after Shin and Leonard started working together.

It did not take that long before the match finally concluded. With Leonard finishing off Aliya and Naomi almost at the same time, Jorick and Helisung were unable to withstand the next series of coordinated attacks from Shin and Leonard.

They might have put up some resistance due to their respective state, but it did not take that long before Shin and Leonard finished them off.

On the other hand, the battle between Florence and Diablo was only getting more intense, which made Shin and the others somewhat reluctant to interfere.

But since Stella, the last member of the Seven Seas Alliance, was not thinking of leaving the summoning zone, it was concluded that she had already given up on the battle.

Taking the current situation into consideration, the system notified Florence, asking her if she still wanted to continue.

This made her regain her senses and remember what was going in. She first distanced herself away from Diablo before sweeping her gaze at the surroundings.

Realizing that it was finally time to end this match, Florence felt a little pity that she could not fight to her heartʼs content this time.

She looked at Diablo, who also stopped his actions, before saying. ”You are strong. I hope to see you again in the next Hegemon Cup. I am looking forward to how you will perform there.”

She had little hope about whether they would meet again in this tournament, especially after their performance.

She was sure that they would never have a chance to meet again despite the double-elimination format given how tough the entire bracket was. If they could not even win against the Empyrean Talons, then their chances of winning against the other top contenders would most likely be the same.

In response to her, Diablo just shrugged his shoulders. ”I donʼt think I will be participating in that one, though.”

Hearing his response, Florence looked at the people, who she was familiar with such as Leonard, Alice, and Cloe. Her questioning gaze seemed to be asking them what he meant by those words.

Leonard also shrugged his shoulders, leaving it to Cloe to answer. With a helpless sigh, the latter explained. ”Our Adventurer Team is quite free and easygoing. Things like requiring our members to have a quota when it comes to participating in any professional and official tournament are unnecessary.”

”We are not a club, after all,” she added, seemingly emphasizing something.

Florence seemed to have realized something before nodding her head. ”I understand. But it is a pity that such a decent rival will not compete in the most competitive stage.”

”Well, this is not the first time. There are plenty of apex experts with such a lowkey personality,” responded Leonard before quickly urging her to concede the match. ”Come on! Concede already! You will not be getting anything from extra exposure anyway.”

The corner of Florenceʼs mouth suddenly twitched when she heard those words, especially with his annoying tone.

She waved her hand as she conceded. ”Letʼs meet again some other time.”

With that, she was sent out of the battle arena as the system had finally announced the final results.

– ”Victory – Empyrean Talons!” –

– ”Final Result! Empyrean Talons 10:0!”

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