Child of Destiny

The victory of the Empyrean Talons over the Hien Workshop did not cause too much commotion, as it was something that many had expected. After all, the former had an overpowered lineup filled with superstars.

But what made everyone shock was the almost one-sided victory that the Empyrean Talons had achieved.

The 9.5 to 0.5 score might not be perfect, but this result was still overwhelming enough to tell everyone that the matchup was still too unbalanced.

It also told everyone that the true might of the Empyrean Talons was still far from what they were expecting. They all thought that this match would force this super team to reveal more of their cards. But they discovered that it was far from enough.

All it took was a devious plan from the Devil Strategist and everything had turned for the worse.

What happened at the Group Battle was still vivid in everyone’s eyes, making them feel pity for the members of the Hien Workshop, who took on that round.

The torturous experience that the group had experienced during that time was ‘traumatic’ enough even for the audience watching the battle.

But setting everything aside, the Empyrean Talons were still as scary as their current standings in the leaderboards had projected.

They were still at the number spot while being ahead of the other teams by quite a few points.

However, the God’s Paradise and Pandemonium Troupe were still chasing closely behind with a gap of 3 to 5 points respectively.

With this score, the Empyrean Talons had already secured a firm spot in the top eight of this tournament. Whether they would remain as the first seed or not would be dependent on how dominating they could be at the rematch with the Hien Workshop in the next two days.

…

All the trends in different online platforms, particularly the official forums, were all about the results and the performances of the individuals and teams for this round.

But while everyone was discussing the results of the recent matches of the knockout rounds, the main protagonists of those topics were already busy with their respective business.

The Empyrean Talons had already returned to the game and were doing their respective quests and training arrangements. Some of them felt like sparring with one another due to the enlightenment that they had gained from the previous rounds, so they went to the Forgotten Temple and looked for a place to be their main venue.

Shin also went back to the independent dungeon to finish his quest. But after a few considerations, he had decided not to directly look for the Evil Being sealed within the dungeon and went to clear all the monsters’ nests within it for a hundred percent clear rate.

Now that he could communicate with the Brilliant Flames to a certain degree, he wanted to become more familiar with it by spending more time in the dungeon while also eradicating all the monsters present in the process.

He could also try looking for some hidden conditions or secret bosses within the dungeon, so it would be better not to level anything unturned.

Based on his estimate, it would take him at least an entire week before he could fully clear the dungeon.

Fortunately, there was no time limit to clear the dungeon and the quest, so he still had plenty of time to clear everything.

This could also mean that Shin would not acquire the [Ring of the Brilliant Sun] for a while, but he felt that he would get more rewards this way, slow and steady.

Aside from exploring the dungeon and hunting the Drakons within it, Shin regularly logged out of the game to do his morning training in the real world while also discussing with the rest of the Empyrean Talons about their recent performances and their next strategy for their rematch with the Hien Workshop.

Since it was their home advantage this time, the rules were theirs.

…

After two days, it was time for the rematch.

A lot of people had gathered their friends to watch the matches for this round. They were all excited as the matches would surely be at the highest level given the importance of this round.

For those at the upper bracket, it was a chance to directly proceed to the play-off rounds as top seeds. The result of their matches would determine their final standing in the leaderboards, which would also tell everyone which seed they would be placed into.

Meanwhile, it was the last chance for those at the lower bracket, since if their points were not enough to surpass their opponents for this round, then they would most likely have to say goodbye to their journey in this season of United Cup.

The chosen featured match for this round was obviously those from the lower brackets, as the battles between those teams would be bloody. After all, it was a do-or-die battle for them.

These battles had more significance compared to those in the upper bracket, especially when those teams that were competing for the higher seed in that bracket were not directly fighting against one another.

This made the officials and organizers of the tournament choose the most intense matchup at the lower bracket. If the competing teams also had a decent following or fans, then it would be a great bonus for them.

…

In the meantime, while everyone was gathering toward the channel that they wanted to support, a piece of news suddenly shook the entire tournament.

The Empyrean Talons had applied for a special competition format a day prior, which was also approved by the tournament officials.

The special format that the Empyrean Talons had chosen this time was an all-out Team Competition, where both teams would have to battle it out in a single match to decide the winner of the battle.

Special formats were usually used by powerful teams when they were confident that they could crush their opponents in a single team battle.

The point system in these formats was quite tricky and a little different from what the usual format had.

Usually, the point system was determined by the results of the three rounds of the match, which were the Single Matches, Group Battle, and Team Competition that had 2 (individual point), 3 points, and 5 points, respectively, with a total of 10 points.

But in the special formats, the point system was determined by what kind of battle format that the said team had chosen.

The most common formats were the all-out team competitions, which were similar to the regular team competitions but with a larger number of members sent on the field to represent their team.

In this format, the point system was determined by the number of members remaining standing at the end of the match.

In the first few minutes of the match, a single member was equivalent to 1 point. But this system had a limit of 5 maximum points while the remaining five points would be given to the winning team once they had wiped out the opposing side.

This would then have a total of 10 points at the end of the match.

But this result was only applicable for the perfect win, which meant that the winning team should not have any casualties during the battle.

If the opposing team had killed at least a single member of the opposing side, then that point would be subtracted from the maximum points (10), which would make the final result a 9 to 1 score.

If the said team then managed to kill 5 players from the opposing side before getting wiped out, then the other side could only get a total of 5 points regardless of the number of their kills.

This would end in a draw.

But in case both teams were wiped out at the end of the match, then the two teams would receive an equal amount of points, which was 5 points each and would have the same result as the previous case, a tie.

It was somewhat of a high-risk, high-reward gamble.

This was the reason why most of the team did not choose this format, especially if the opposing side had an equal strength. It was better to proceed with the regular format of the tournament, which was very steady when ‘farming’ points.

It was also the reason why this was only applicable when they were against a much weaker team.

This was why most of the people could not figure out why the Empyrean Talons had chosen this format, especially when they could secure the top spot in the leaderboards if they continued with how the tournament was supposed to play.

Moreover, the opposing side had top-notch and highly experienced veterans on their team, which could lead to serious accidents.

The Empyrean Talons couldn’t have underestimated the lineup of the Hien Workshop, especially after seeing the abilities of their star players in the previous rounds.

If the old veterans were together, then the consequence would be serious even if the lineup of the Empyrean Talons was filled with superstars.

The people were very confused about this decision.

As for the effects of this piece of information on the live broadcast and ticket selling for the live audience application, only the tournament organizers would know how devastating it was.

All the audience from the different channels had ‘migrated’ to the official website of the Empyrean Talons, logging in to the live broadcast of the team only because all the tickets were already sold out in just a couple of minutes.

Whether it was intentional or not, only those at the Empyrean Talons could tell.

Regardless, the tournament organizers felt like crying after seeing the hundreds of millions of viewers flooding the live channel of the Empyrean Talons, almost causing the website to crash due to the unstoppable number of players logging in.

Moreover, it was still counting.

Fortunately, Shin and Arthur decided to invest some of their team’s earnings in their official website, allowing it to undergo a series of upgrades.

It even surpassed most of the streaming platforms by a large margin due to the funds that they had placed into it.

Miss Bunny, who was waiting to get live, could not help but feel a little excited after seeing the continuous increase in viewers of their channel.

This was not the play-offs yet, but the viewership of their channel had already broken a series of records.

“How I love you guys! I don’t have to do any marketing strategy since you guys have already done it yourselves!” she mumbled to herself, further proving that her decision to accept Arthur’s and Shin’s offers was the best decision she had made in her entire life!

“Furthermore, you guys have already made yourselves a brand!”

……