Child of Destiny

There was not much of a surprise that happened in the latter stages of the match. The side of God’s Paradise still performed well and put up a good fight, but they still lost in the end.

The cause of their loss was the battle on the side where Alucard suppressed Sheryl and Berit. They did show everyone their real capabilities, but it was still far from being enough to match Alucard and his overpowered vampiric abilities.

This result was not because they were weaker, but due to Alucard’s great familiarity with these two, particularly their fighting style, they had lost quite miserably in a certain sense.

He had countered the two quite well while also fully utilizing all the strange abilities of his race.

After wrapping up the battle on his side, he swiftly joined Owen and Ithilien, who were still locked in an intense battle against Vulture.

Vulture had no choice but to give up, knowing that there was no way he would be able to win against these three.

Even if he burst with power like how War God Simba had done during their match against the Earners Mercenary Group, doing a stunning 1-vs-4 scenario, he doubted that he would be able to defeat these three.

*Ding*

System: Victory – Empyrean Talons!

…

“Whoa!”

“What an intense battle!”

“Is it truly intense, though!? It seems like Alucard is suppressing the opposing side one-sidedly.”

“Tsk! Tsk! What do you know!? What you are seeing is not everything there.”

“What do you mean?”

“This is just the first round. And what the Empyrean Talons was more than just one card. Having such crucial information, what do you think God’s Paradise will do next?”

“They might have lost now, and they can also lose the Team Competition later, but what do you think will happen after today’s match?”

“With everything they have on the table, the God’s Paradise will not go down that easily, especially when they have the home ground advantage next.”

…

While the audience was arguing with one another, Miss Bunny and David took advantage of this little break to rest.

They were preparing for the upcoming Team Competition, which would most likely be a huge banger, especially when the remaining members of each team were filled with all-star players.

They not only had to save as much energy as they could for commenting on the next round, but they also needed to prepare some materials for the analysis segment after the match.

This was going to be a huge collision between titans, so the pace of the match would greatly surpass the previous rounds.

…

In the meantime, the rest of the Empyrean Talons were already preparing for the next round.

“Finally! It is our turn!” said Arthur as he stood up and stretched his waist left and right. “I almost died of boredom sitting here. I can finally stretch my body all I want.”

“Just don’t drag us down later,” said Leonard, trying to provoke Arthur into a banter as usual. “I have no intention of carrying baggage right now.”

“Hah! Let’s see who the useless baggage will be later,” refuted Arthur with full aggressiveness.

“How about we decide it right now? There is no need to wait for the match-… let’s just have a round now. I’ll beat you right here and now!” said Leonard, cracking his neck left and right, producing a series of popping sounds.

Cloe rolled her eyes at the two and ignored them, knowing that they were only doing this to ease the atmosphere.

Even if they were in the lead, she knew that they had somewhat revealed their cards in exchange for these rounds that they had just won.

The little losses that they had suffered would not affect their mentality much, but they still damaged some of their surprise factor for the rematch fight two days later.

Alucard’s Vampiric Abilities were one of the cards that were revealed, which was quite obvious for everyone. But the Empyrean Talons knew that Ithilien’s true capabilities would most likely be noticed by Vulture after such intensive exchanges.

Akailu might have achieved a decent breakthrough for his style, further increasing his battle capabilities. But he would still need some time to fully digest all his gains from his battle against Cetus.

He still needed some time to grow his strength to a decent level. The time that they had in hand after this match was not enough for it.

They had sacrificed quite a lot just to earn this 3-point lead over their opponents, so they must win the upcoming Team Competition no matter what.

Even if she was confident with their current lineup, the opposing side was still someone that they could not underestimate.

After all, they were the defending champions of the United Cup for a reason.

She turned to Shin, who was still sitting with his eyes closed. He seemed to be meditating, somewhat doing a reboot and organizing all the information that they had about their opponents.

With a slight nod of her head, she turned to Alice, who happened to be looking at her as well.

There was a slight awkwardness between the two before they nodded and exchanged a smile with each other.

Given the aura that they two possessed, anyone could tell that they were currently in their peak form. There was also a slight resonance that came between them, which was caused by their experiences when studying the ancient runes within the sealed hall of the Forgotten Temple.

At the same time, there was also Diablo, who was in the same state as Shin. He was in the middle of meditation, which was a habit that he had picked up after studying under Professor Henry.

Benedict and the other seniors from the Research Department of the Magic Ace Academy had emphasized the importance of meditation in training, particularly for someone like him who had just started to enter the world of martial arts.

The air within the room was somewhat in a mixture of tenseness and ease due to their actions.

However, the rest of the team could sense that this was somewhat of a calm before the storm, especially after feeling the somewhat suffocating aura filling the air.

…

In the meantime, the side of God’s Paradise was also somewhat at the same level of tenseness.

Ashura stood up and turned toward the team before saying. “I guess this is it. It is that time game.”

“We have won the last season against the toughest lineup of the Titan Guild, which is much worse compared to our current situation. All we need to do is to continue doing what we do best, and the result will follow,” he added, trying to encourage everyone.

Susanoo chuckled in response. “That lineup is indeed hard to face. Facing all their higher-ups, who are all standing at the top of the Godly Ranking Lists of that time, is such a hellish experience.”

“God King Zeus, All-Father Odin, Thunder God Thor, God Trickster Loki, God of Destruction Shiva -… those guys together are already troublesome enough, so if we added the others in the mix-… the experience is truly terrible,” nodded Kallavan, completely agreeing with Susanoo.

He might be called the Combat King, who never backed off in the face of any adversity and never ran away from any battle, but there were still some experiences that he refused to remember.

Lia then added with a smile. “But we still won in the end, isn’t it?”

Dio, who kept his silence all this time, suddenly chimed in. “But the lineup of our current opponent will not lose to those guys either.”

Battle God Sickarius, Dragon God Siegfried, War God Simba, Gentle Goddess Arielle, Elemental Goddess Charlotte, and Shadow Dancer Diablo – this lineup was no way weaker than that lineup.

It might even be a bit stronger in some areas, especially when the mechanics in this game were on a whole different level. The ceiling of these mechanics, in particular, had far surpassed almost every other game that was released before.

“Regardless, we still have to face them with our full strength and fearlessly,” said Kallavan while bumping his fist together, which even resulted in a small and gentle shockwave that swept through everyone.

Picking up his sword, Susanoo half unsheathed it and looked at its blade before sheathing it back. A burning fighting spirit was also raging within his chest, wanting to step onto the stage as soon as possible.

Dio smirked a little before lifting his dark spear and resting it over his shoulder, similarly excited for this Team Competition.

Keir, the dark magician, kept silent until now. But there was a noticeable ignition of fighting spirit within his eyes that was somewhat hidden under the shades of his hood.

Lia nodded her head and smiled after seeing that the team’s confidence and morale were quite good.

Turning her head at Ashura, she could see that he was quite eager to step onto the battlefield and unable to suppress his hunger for battle any longer.

Noticing her gaze, Ashura gave her a reassuring smile before saying. “Don’t worry, I will be fine. I’m just excited to finally face the full strength of those guys in a Team Competition.”

…