Child of Destiny

...

There was a ten-minute break between rounds to give the live audience and online viewers enough time to adjust their mood and prepare for the next round.

It was also to let the competing sides adjust their plans and approach to battle. The lineup could no longer be changed as the lists were already sent before the match could even start, but making some modifications to their original plans would still give the combatants of both sides to prepare for the most unexpected development during the battle.

This was what the Seven Seas Alliance needed as their original plan of ’giving up’ the first two matches with one point each had ’failed’.

Seeing the Empyrean Talons had sent their ’less powerful’ members for the first two matches and still won regardless, the Seven Seas Alliance understood that they were currently in deep trouble, especially when the opposing side now had more Godlike Players or Maverick Gods to dispatch on the next two rounds.

Losing two points was not important. It was the fact that they failed to ’waste’ the ’strength’ of their opponents in the previous two matches that put them in such a predicament.

"Unexpectedly, they have sent those two to be their first combatants, so I understand that you guys have been caught off guard."

"But I must say, I am very disappointed with your performances, especially you – Himura. You are only facing such a rookie, yet you have lost in such an ugly manner. I am starting to doubt if you are still worth nurturing."

"Am I only wasting my resources on you? Should I just invest in our rookies instead? At least they are still promising despite lacking in experience."

Everyone in the waiting lounge of the Seven Seas Alliance was currently keeping their heads low as the person projected by the huge virtual screen before they continued his sermon. None of them dared to talk back as they were aware of their current development.

After complaining about Himura, that person turned his attention to Vendetta and nodded. "An old veteran is still a veteran after all. Even if you have lost, you still manage to gather enough information about the combat state of that guy."

"I just saw the data, and it is quite intriguing. Such a piece of clue is worth researching for," he added before continuing with a solemn. "But I seem to have remembered that I forbid you to do anything that I don’t permit on the battlefield, so why did you just concede right now?"

"I know that you have gotten your main objective already, but isn’t continuing and winning that round is not impossible?"

He narrowed his eyes as he sharply said. "If I am not convinced by your reason, then don’t blame me for not being polite."

Despite the pressure, Vendetta remained unfazed and looked at the screen with firm eyes. "President, I must remind you that my contract is different from these guys. I am only asked to do my task and complete the necessary instructions, but I can’t be forced to do anything against my morals."

There was a silent staredown between the two for quite a while before that person started laughing. "Look at my memory! I must have forgotten about that. I see, I see! It seems like I am overreacting a little bit. I hope you understand."

Vendetta was about to nod his head when the other side continued. "But I must remind you as well about what I have."

"I only like you because of your competence and talent in training those youngsters in our camp. But don’t push my patience and kindness a little too hard as I will get very-… very disappointed."

"If that happens, then you may lose that ’thing’ completely and never see ’it’ ever again," he continued before turning to the three people lined up in the corner of the room.

"I hope that you three will give me a good performance. I don’t want to waste any more resources on useless projects."

He then swept his gaze at everyone within the room as he sharply continued. "All of you are supposed to have decent talent, so you better not show me a poor performance, or else I may as well disband this Club Project altogether and focus my investments on the more promising ones."

"I may not be lacking in terms of wealth, but I dislike wasting them on useless things."

Beep~!

After saying those words, he immediately ended the call, not caring about the feelings of the members of the team. In his eyes, this project was only meant to gather more information for their more important project.

So long as this ’team’ had met all the conditions that he had set before building it, he did not care about anything as his secretary would deal with the rest.

But if they had lost their purpose, then he would not think twice to throw them away like a piece of useless junk.

Seeing that the mood within the room, the secretary of the president, who kept silent up until now, suddenly injected. "Don’t put too much thought into it. All of you are familiar with our president’s temper. He never like suffering a loss, much less facing a disappointment, so I hope you guys understand."

She paused for a moment before proceeding to re-discuss their plan for the next round. She looked at the Wild Brothers as she began to explain. "Our information remains accurate. Dragon God Siegfried remains missing up until now."

"We may have not access to looking at the lineup of the other side, but it is positive that Siegfried is not included in it."

She nodded her head as she continued. "We may have been caught off guard by the earlier changes, but the same can’t happen for this round."

"A main tank remains to be the most important in team battle, especially in the highest level of competition. I refuse to believe that they will be sending Owen in this round when they only have a single experienced tank in their team at the moment."

"On the other hand, our side has more than enough tanks, so this is not a problem for our team. This is where our advantage lies, so I hope that the three of you utilize it to the fullest."

"Even if they send more than one Godlike Player from their ranks, you still have a decent chance of winning, especially when you are quite experienced in this area."

She stopped here for a moment as her gaze turned sharp. "I hope that you will bring victory for this round!"

…

In the meantime, on the side of the Empyrean Talons, Shin and the others were currently gathered, but not having a serious meeting unlike those from the Seven Seas Alliance.

They were more relaxed not because they were underestimating their opponent. It was because of their confidence in their training – as a team and individual.

Even if they knew that the representatives of the opposing side for the next round were quite powerful and had a more solid reputation than veterans of Himura and Vendetta’s level, they were confident that their lineup shouldn’t lose against them.

The Wild Brothers might be powerful and quite well-known within the virtual world, even including their achievements in defeating multiple groups of powerful individuals in every game that they had participated in.

They were even famous for fighting multiple Godlike Players and won. However, those Godlike Players did not rank that high in the ranking lists issued by the Mystery Pavillion, much less getting involved in the ’official’ and ’private’ Godly Ranking List.

They even got pursued by the forces of a Powerhouse Guild from a certain game, escaping their formation unscratched and not losing a member during their escape.

What made them very famous was their battle formations that they honed both inside the game and in the real world. They were battle formations famous for combining their strength into one and fighting against the ’current’.

Due to their powerful battle formations, many thought that they were from a prestigious Martial Arts Family.

But even until today, no one was able to uncover their real background. It was until everyone learned that the Seven Seas Group had reached their arms into them and taken the brothers under their wings that the people came into a sudden ’realization’.

But regardless of the rumors, no one was able to prove those ’theories’ and such, especially when the Wild Brothers and the Seven Seas Group had never revealed anything to the public.

Regardless of their strength, reputation, or background, the Empyrean Talons were completely unbothered.

Setting aside everything else, their representative for the next round could be considered as an overkill.

Leonard looked at the three people getting ready for the next round before shaking his head. "Are you sure about this, Shin Bro? I think this is a little overboard even until now."

Shin chuckled as he heard those words and refuted them. "Even if we want to change it now, it will be impossible. We have already submitted their names earlier at the lineup before the entire match starts. There is no backing down now."

Leonard turned his eyes back to those three for another time before shaking his head once again. "I know that we have been friends for a long time now, but I still can’t bring myself to believe that I have such a devious brother."

Shin grinned as he heard that ’compliment’. "Isn’t it more than enough to have a friend like me rather than being enemies?"

Leonard paused for a moment as he heard those words before started laughing. "You are right! I rather be your friend than an enemy."

At the same time, Cloe looked at the three people standing before her and seriously instructed. "I will not say anything more as you are experienced enough to handle such a battle. But I just want to say one thing-..."

"Ahem! Ahem!" she cleared her throat for a moment before continuing. "You can end the battle as soon as you can, but never show too much of your cards. Akailu was a little impulsive, so we understand him. But you guys are different, so I hope you guys will be mindful of your moves."

Owen smiled smugly as he tapped his chest with full confidence. "Don’t worry, Commander. This is just a piece of cake. I have met those three multiple times from other games before, so am quite familiar with them."

Bang!

His head was then smacked by Ithilien’s bow as she nagged. "And you almost lost your life against them as well!" Find exclusive content at NovelBin.Côm

"I still survive in the end, right? That is what counts!" he refuted while rubbing the back of his head.

In the meantime, Alucard, who was the third representative for this round, shook his head. "You two can deal with the younger brothers and leave the big brother to me."

Cloe nodded as she agreed. "Just like what Shin has said, their battle formations are quite powerful and tricky to deal with when the three of them are together, but it will easily crumble once one of them leaves the formation or even get separated within a certain distance."

Not long after, the sound of the system notifying them about the start of the next match rang within the room, signifying that the three representatives were about to be sent to the battle arena.

– "Second Round: Group Competition (Three vs Three) – Empyrean Talons vs Seven Seas Alliance!" –

...…