Child of Destiny

The first two matches were quite intense in their own right, making the live audience and online viewers very satisfied.

They might not be big collisions between absolute gods of the game, but they had a charm of their own that made everyone enjoy the battle more than they had expected.

Because of this, everyone highly anticipated the upcoming Group Battle, especially when it was a 3-vs-3 format. Regardless of their thoughts, this battle should be much more intense compared to the previous two matches, particularly when the remaining members from the lineup of the two teams were full of superstars.

*Ding*

Not long after, the system had finally announced the start of the next round, the Group Battle, making everyone crazy once again.

“It is here! It’s here!”

“Here it comes! I wonder who the representatives of the two teams this time will be?”

“I think it will be another intense battle!”

“You bet!? It is already obvious, don’t you think!?”

“You don’t have to say it either.

…

System: United Cup Grand Finals – Empyrean Talons (Home) vs God’s Paradise (Away)!

System: Round 2, Group Battle!

Representatives:

Empyrean Talons:

Sanguin King Alucard (Maverick God)

Dark Knight Owen (Peak Titled Ranker, rivaling Gods)

Archer Queen Ithilien (Peak Titled Ranker)

God’s Paradise:

Shield God Berit (Godlike Player)

Storm Bullet Sheryl (Maverick Player)

Scavenger King Vulture (Maverick God)

…

Just like the previous matches of the Empyrean Talons and God’s Paradise, the former had gotten the shorter end of the stick with their ‘less’ powerful members, while the latter always possessed a better lineup and higher quality of combatants over everyone.

But only the foolish ones would think that this would be a one-sided victory for God’s Paradise, given the history of the Empyrean Talons. This was not their first time having the less favorable side in the matchup, but they repeatedly proved that it was not always the case.

The previous battle between Chaotic Luck and Mandos was the perfect example of it. There was also the long battle history of the Empyrean Talons, where they repeatedly broke the expectations of everyone and proved their strength to the virtual world.

Regardless of how it looked, no one would guarantee that their side would lose the match.

As for God’s Paradise, it was already a given that they were powerful. Just the fact that they were the current defending champions was more than enough to tell everyone that they were not to be trifled with.

Their reputation as the current defending champions was not just an empty title.

Even if Ashura was defeated quite brutally in the previous match against the Empyrean Talon, everyone just thought that it was just an exception since the Evil God was an anomaly himself.

He might be absurdly strong, but it would not have any meaning if he were not representing the Empyrean Talons in this match.

After all, Shin had already announced before the grand finals started that Evil God would not be able to join them due to certain circumstances.

No one believed it at first, thinking that it was just a trick to catch God’s Paradise off guard in the competition.

But after putting everything into consideration, people also accepted that it might not be the case. After all, there was no reason for the Empyrean Talons to lie about it. The individual power of each member of the team, as well as the overall strength of the team itself, was more than enough to put them on the same level as their opposition.

Others thought that it was just a hype that the Empyrean Talons that was trying to raise, while some people believed that it was just a ‘handicap’ that the team had purposely set since it would be a one-sided battle once the Evil God took the stage.

This ignited quite a huge commotion online, particularly with the supporters and haters of both sides.

Regardless, the match continued, ignoring the arguments that were circulating online.

…

The map that the side of the Empyrean Talons had chosen this time was quite a standard one. It did not have any special features or unique terrains.

The Forest Park.

This was the map that Owen and Alucard had decided to use after careful consideration.

Ithilien was an elven archer, so it was quite a waste not to utilize her features to their advantage. The Elven Race was a race that was closest to nature, so their familiarity with the forest and other types of environment was the highest.

To use all the racial traits that Ithilien possessed to their highest potential, they had to choose a map that was the most comfortable for her.

Forest-type maps were the best choice for this.

Owen and Alucard did not care about the map choice that much since they could fight in any kind of terrain and environment.

Given their respective race and class, they did have some maps that could greatly amplify their respective strengths. However, they only needed the key factors from such maps and chose something that could be shared among the three of them.

Alucard only needed the setting to be held at night, particularly with the presence of a full moon, while Owen could fight in all kinds of terrains since Sacred Neanderthals were natural warriors.

The other reason that they had chosen this Forest Park Map was because of Ithilien’s great familiarity with it, particularly the overall structure of the map, as well as its unique terrains.

She knew this map better than anyone else. It was like the back of her hand, making it no different from home for her.

She had been training on this map since she started playing virtual games, so this map was like her backyard to her.

Owen, as her close partner, was also very familiar with the map, so it was quite an obvious choice for them.

Moreover, they had also done some modifications to some of the parts of the map, making it different from the regular ones that the players used in the Divine Arena.

It might be a regular map on the surface, but those with sharp eyes and great experience could tell that this was not the regular Forest Park Map that everyone was familiar with.

…

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Right after being summoned on the map, Sheryl and the other two from God’s Paradise swiftly scanned their surroundings, getting familiar with it as soon as they could.

“Forest Park? Aren’t they underestimating us a little too much? Do they think that we will not get familiar with such a regular map on the Divine Arena?” mumbled Vulture after sweeping his eyes on the surroundings.

“I don’t think that it is that simple,” Berit frowned deeply as he looked at the surroundings a little closer.

Unfortunately, he could not find any strange features or any other suspicious points about this map.

Meanwhile, Sheryl ignored everything else and looked at the sky.

The night was deep, and there was the huge and round moon hanging high up in the sky above them. It was illuminating the silent night, yet also giving a strange pressure to those who were staring straight at it.

Realizing her silence, the other two could not help but turn to her and see her staring silently at the sky, particularly the beautiful moon hanging over there.

“What’s wrong, Sheryl?” asked Berit, unable to help himself from turning his head to the sky and looking at it as well.

Vulture frowned deeply as well before turning his head toward the moon alongside them.

The other two were initially quite confused and unable to figure out what was wrong with her. But the longer they stared at the moon, the clearer their eyes became.

It was also at this moment that they saw a silhouette standing high up there!

Their eyes contracted a little as they saw a humanoid silhouette standing at the center of the moon alongside a pair of huge batwings on its back.

They did not have to guess who it was, as there could only be a single person who could possess such features from their opponents.

Sanguine King Alucard!

“Is he finally going to show his true powers on this round?” mumbled Vulture solemnly as he also stared at the silhouette in the sky.

Among all the people that their team had repeatedly warned them to be careful of, the Monster Trio were the most dangerous among them all, while Chaotic Luck was the oddest member that they were unable to figure out even up until now.

As for Diablo and Alucard, these two were the ones who possessed the most mysterious air among all the members of the Empyrean Talons.

Diablo was the previous Commander of the Sweepers of the Pandemonium Descendants, so his strength and power remained a mystery for everyone.

As for Alucard, it was his identity that piqued the interest of all the people within the circles of the gods of the game.

But because of this mysterious identity, most people had overlooked the true strength of this person. It was clear that he was a Vampire Noble, yet he rarely showed everyone his true capabilities, which was also repeatedly overshadowed by his mysterious background.

Seeing that Alucard was currently standing high up in the sky and acting in such a way, the trio from the God’s Paradise suspected that this guy was finally willing to show everyone what he was truly capable of.

“Get ready,” mumbled Sheryl solemnly before adding. “It looks like we have to show all our cards in this battle as well.”

……