Child of Destiny

It was the time for the next round of the United Cup. On this day, four out of the thirty-two teams would have to say goodbye on the competition while another four teams would directly head to the top eight, qualifying for the quarterfinals as seeded teams.

As for the rest of the teams, they would wrestle their way to occupy the remaining four slots in an intense knockout stage.

This time, the Empyrean Talons were not chosen to be the featured matchup despite having a very competitive match due to their powerful opponent, the Hien Workshop.

Even if they were now favorites in the tournament, there were still others who were in a similar situation. Moreover, the opponents of those teams were also equally powerful.

The featured matchup of this round was the match between the Slayers Adventurer Team and the Purple Crows Adventurer Team, which could be considered as an old rivalry due to the veteran members of each team.

The hype of this match far surpassed the rest based on the estimate of the organizers. The only problem that they would be facing was the commentators who would be hosting the match.

Their best choices such as Miss Bunny and Khing (David) were committed to cover the matches of Empyrean Talons.

Due to these two online personalities having huge influence within the virtual world, alongside the total fans of the Empyrean Talons, the tournament organizers were worried that the audience would choose this matchup instead.

But they could not be too biased with the Empyrean Talons as it could cause them negative impacts in the long run. It would make their official website of the game a broadcast channel for the team.

This concern of the tournament organizers did not go unfounded as the number of viewers flooding the official page of the Empyrean Talons was steadily growing. The rate of the increasing audience was so sharp that the displayed numbers were flickering nonstop.

The opening song of the special program had just started, yet the number of online viewers had already reached millions.

When the Miss Bunny appeared alongside David, the chat box was already flooded with messages full of nonsense and spam of emojis. There were barely a few who were voicing their thoughts about the match or showing their excitement.

“Hello, hello! What a good day for all of us! Here we are for another match of our beloved team!” greeted Miss Bunny as she smiled beautifully at the camera, making those watching online feel their chest being shot by cupid.

Both males and females alike loved her, which made the effect of her killer smile even more deadly.

Seemingly aware of this, David suddenly ‘joined’ and teased her a little. “Did you know that you are killing our viewers with that smile? Especially the boys. What are you going to do if our rating drops?”

Miss Bunny chuckled as she played along. “It can’t be that bad, right?”

The two chatted with the online viewers while waiting for the match to start. They read some messages from their audience and reacted with some memes that were circulating online about the previous match that the Empyrean Talon had against the Seven Seas Alliance.

They had also voiced out their thoughts about the ‘strategy’ of the Seven Seas Alliance, where they had given up fighting the Empyrean Talons in an away match and voluntarily headed to the lower bracket.

After that, they discussed their thoughts on today’s match and trying to guess the possible strategies that each team would use against each other.

It did not take that long before the system had announced the start of the match, making the live audience and online viewers cheer like crazy.

Especially so when they saw the first representatives that each team had sent for the Single Matches.

– “United Cup: Knockout Stage – Hien Workshop (Home) versus Empyrean Talons (Away)” –

“First Round: Single Match – ‘Wizard King’ Julius (Maverick God) versus ‘Dancer of the Shadows’ Diablo (Maverick God)”

…

Boom!

The audiencestand in the live venue shook violently due to the uproar that everyone made after seeing the matchup while the channel of the broadcast was immediately flooded with strings of emojis, reflecting the emotions of everyone.

This was a very intense matchup right off the bat!

Diablo was just a powerhouse that was recently making his name within the circle. He was quite known in the circle of the experts of the game, particularly at the ranks of godly experts.

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Due to him being a commander of the Sweepers previously when he was still at the Pandemonium Descendants, the Godlike Players and Maverick Gods of all top forces were keeping an eye on him.

He was also being targeted by these forces during that time as they wanted the information that he had about the Pandemonium Descendants, particular those belonged to their strongest force – the Troupe Members.

The top guilds and powerful organizations of the virtual world had lost track after Zero had given up his chase.

Then these top forces had learned that Diablo had joined the Empyrean Talons, further heightening their wariness against the said adventurer team, which was already filled of monsters.

He then further established his name after showcasing his assassination prowess during the incident in the Divinity City, when the Empyrean Talons had made their move against the plot that Blood Carnival and other dark guilds and underworld organizations.

Then, his combat ability was further showcased during his battle against Florence, the Warrior Goddess, in the previous match.

Warrior Goddess Florence was a very strong powerhouse within the game, especially when ranked as seventh place within the Godly Ranking List.

His insane speed was just one of the factors that made the people acknowledge his strength. The other one was his ability to control the shadows, hence he had earned his current nickname.

Due to this name being too famous, the system had judged him as a highly graded Maverick God that could contend against Apex Gods of the game, without losing his footing.

Even if he had only participated in a single official match, the system had acknowledged the judgement of the public and had given him the title of ‘Dancer of the Shadows’.

Everyone thought that the Empyrean Talons would be saving him for the later stages of the match, just like what they had done previously. But from the look of it, the team seemed to be planning to go all-out from the very beginning.

But what made this first match even more interesting was his current opponent.

Wizard King Julius was a very powerful mage within the circle, who had stabilized his name solidly. He might not have joined any official tournament in his career, but his strength was something that could not be underestimated.

He had built up his fame in a very steady manner, defeating multiple opponents in his wake and winning a number of wars under the banner of the Hien Workshop.

His playstyle was so unique that not many could match him in terms of magic competition. His special techniques, where he could link a series of spells to create an even more advanced spell, were so iconic that he became a legend in the games that he had played previously.

He was quite old for being a thirty-year-old player, but he was still in his prime.

Age did not matter in this kind of competitive game, so long as you were powerful enough to compete.

Moreover, being thirty was still very young in this age. He was just a ‘little’ older when compared to these talented and young players playing the game.

But that did not mean that he was weaker to any of them. Age might be a disadvantage when it came to certain things, but it could also be an advantage for multiple areas.

Experience was a powerful weapon – very deadly even – especially for veterans of certain areas.

This so-called disadvantage was his main weapon when facing younger opponents, who were still too green in his eyes.

Adding his extra advantage for having the home ground in this match, his chances of winning this match was not that low.

…

Seeing this mature man with handsome features in his mage outfit, Miss Bunny could not help but give a compliment. “Sir Julius is still as dashing as ever. It feels like he is getting more handsome the older he gets.”

Chuckled David as he teased her. “Don’t expose yourself. You are basically revealing to all boys out there your preference.”

Miss Bunny did not mind his teasing as she even played along. “Well, who will not like someone like Sir Julius? I have a chance to have him as a guest in my previous shows, and he is quite a gentleman.”

But they did not linger too much in this topic as they quickly focused on the main issue in this match.

“I am sure that Senior Julius will use this opportunity to show us that he is still in a very competitive age,” commented David as he recalled how he fought against this senior in one of the games he had previously played.

“It looks like Diablo will also experience how a true veteran fights,” he added, not hiding his anticipation on this battle.

“A rising star and an ‘old’ veteran! This is going to be a very interesting match!” said Miss Bunny as she watched the two combatants immediately make their move right after the system signaled start of the match.

……