Child of Destiny

Zero laid himself on the ground, fully exhausted and completely powerless. He was currently looking at the ceiling of the training ground while reflecting on himself.

He replayed the previous battle inside his head countless times already yet he couldn’t find the right way to win the fight. No matter how much hard he assessed his performance and study the battle style of his opponent, he never found a path that could lead him to victory.

What was worse in it was the fact that he got destroyed by the Frost Goddess completely. He didn’t even manage to land a single hit at her despite revealing all of his cards.

This might be an unofficial match, but his ego couldn’t help but become hurt a little.

”To think that those people are this strong? I wonder how powerful is ’that guy’. He used to hold the number one spot after all,” muttered Zero to himself as he tried to imagine the strength of the previous number one player before him.

While he was still trying to reflect on himself, Shiella suddenly walked over himself before saying. ”If you are that curious, then go challenge him yourself. He just makes a comeback recently, so don’t you think this is your best chance to experience his strength yourself?”

”A battle between the previous and the current number one, anyone will love to witness such a dream-like battle. Unfortunately, I doubt that you will stand a chance against him with your current level,” she added, striking Zero where it could hurt him.

Zero quickly picked himself up from the ground and stood before asking. ”How strong is he currently? You used to be his fiercest rival, so you should be familiar with his strength.”

Shiella thought for a couple of moments before replying. ”I doubt that he is my match given that he just entered this game. Levels, skills, equipment, and a lot more – I am way ahead of him when it comes to all of these, so I am pretty confident that I am currently more powerful than him.”

”But if he managed to regain his previous strength, then even if you gather the current top 5 in the Godlike Ranking List and you gang up on him, I doubt that you guys will stand a chance against that bastard.”

”He is that powerful,” she added to emphasize her point.

Zero was stunned when he heard those words. He couldn’t believe that the person who was crowned as the King of Games was that powerful.

It was before his battle against Shiella, then he would confidently refute her words. But after experiencing the might of the Frost Goddess firsthand, then he had no other choice but to believe her assessment.

He then unconsciously clenched his fists as his eyes showed signs of intense fighting spirit. And when Shiella saw the expression that he was making, she couldn’t help but grin a little before saying. ”It is good that you feel that way. But if you didn’t grow stronger than the current you, then even catching the edge of his clothes is going to be impossible. Much less, putting up a proper fight.”

”I understand,” answered Zero while nodding his head.

After that, Shiella suddenly turned around and walked towards the exit of the training ground while saying. ”Then stop dillydallying. We need to hurry if want to avoid those scouts spying on you.”

Zero looked at her with a confused expression before asking. ”Huh? Where are we going?”

Sheila continued to walk away and answered without looking back. ”I heard that you are looking for those rascals-… I mean, Empyrean Talons. I know where they are, so just follow my lead.”

”I also happen to have some business with a certain rascal in their group. And since I am going to be busy for the next couple of days, I need to settle my business with him as soon as possible, now that I have some free time. I can’t afford to deal with him when things get hectic again.”

’How dare he ’scheme’ behind my back! Now, I am at disadvantage in our next deal! All of my preparations are gone to waste! Urrg!’ she thought while gritter her teeth.

In the meantime, Zero stared at her back for a couple of moments before shrugging his shoulder and following after her.

But not long after, Shiella came into a sudden halt before turning around. ”Oh! Before I forgot. I need to tell you something. I recorded our match earlier and planning to post it on the official site of the game after it got edited.”

Zero suddenly flinched when he heard those words before staring at her with a weird expression on his face.

Being able to understand what Zero was currently thinking, Shiella couldn’t help but smirk before saying. ”Don’t worry, I am not planning to show them the entire fight. I will only take a couple of parts in the entire thing where we are properly exchanging attacks.”

”And I hired a professional, so there is nothing to worry about. I can assure you that the final product will only make us good and show our best, nothing else. Not even the result will be shown.”

Zero knew that Shiella did that out of respect for his current standing within the game. But despite that being the case, he still couldn’t help himself but feel a little unpleasant.

Regardless, he still couldn’t do anything about it since he was the loser of the match, so he just put his thought at the back of his head and silently nodded his head.

On the other hand, Shiella felt a little impressed with Zero for holding himself. If it was other people, then they were most likely throwing an outburst about it already. ’This kid’s mentality is not that bad.’

”Alright, let’s go,” she said before resuming to walk towards the exit.

********

In the meantime, the players residing within the Saint Heaven Kingdom went crazy once again. This particular place was always been lively since a particular individual appeared.

Most of the players who were lurking around the online forums were already tired of seeing the news about that player. After all, almost all of the hot topics regarding this Kingdom involved that person.

Fortunately, the news that was currently circulating in the online forums was not about him. Instead, it was about a person who currently held the top spot on the Godlike Ranking List, the Sword God Zero.

In the eyes of many players, Zero was currently the brightest star in the sky that they could look up to. And since he was always acting alone and sneaky, it was pretty hard to know his movements.

If not for the particular player that was always following around him, most of the people would not know what he was doing.

Because of the mysterious air surrounding him, players were tended to seek anything about him, it was making them curious about what he was up to. And due to that, any news about Zero would bound to get a lot of attention.

Just recently, there was a player within Holy City who managed to spot the Sword God. And from the photo that had been taken, it seemed that he just arrived in the kingdom since he was walking out of the teleportation hall.

  Seeing that, the players within the Kingdom couldn’t help but become excited. Since he was the current ’number one player’, people were bound to think that something big was about to happen wherever he went.

The players were keeping an eye on this news the moment it appeared in the online forums. Some of the crazy players even logged in the game just to see the legend in person. Unfortunately, none of them were successful.

Not long after, another post appeared, saying that Zero appeared in the Maple Cloud City at the border of the Saint Heaven Kingdom.

The players immediately started moving and headed towards the said location. But immediately after the post was posted, another one suddenly appeared and reported that the Sword God met the Frost Goddess.

It was a challenge!

The players were sure of it since Zero was notorious for challenging any strong player that he encountered. And their suspicion immediately became a fact when the two suddenly disappeared.

Everyone felt a little anxious yet also excited when they heard that news. They were sure that yet another legendary battle video was going to be released soon.

They patiently waited for the clip to be posted. Some of them even had their hands full of sweat due to their anxiousness while the others were keeping an on the forums and unwilling to remove their eyes from it as they kept on refreshing the page.

After who knew how long, someone finally answered their call and posted the battle video not only on the official website of the game but also on other online platforms as well.

When they saw the familiar bunny logo at the start of the video, everyone knew that this was going to be worth watching. And just like what they were expecting, what they saw blew up their minds.

....…