Child of Destiny

...

As the battle between Alucard and Nacht progressed further, the clashes between them grew more intense, especially when they were starting to showcase more of their more advanced techniques.

Nacht was still the one who had the advantage in terms of speed and illusionary techniques, especially with a variety of footwork and stealth skills that he had under his arsenal.

But despite all of those, Alucard kept the invisible 'barrier' within the five to three-meter radius around him. Moreover, his rapier and gun kept on 'working' together to ward off all the advances that his opponent was making.

Even if Nacht had the help of his 'alive' clone, he was still unable to launch a proper hit against Alucard, who gave him a couple of injuries instead.

The damage that he had gotten during those exchanges might be a little shallow, but the blow that Alucard was dealing with was strong enough to affect the mentality of his opponent.

But these small advantages did not mean that Nacht was inferior to Alucard. It just happened that his style and class were being suppressed by Alucard's techniques and main profession.

Realizing that the battle was being dragged on a little longer, Alucard decided to show everyone a glimpse of his true power.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Forcing Nacht and his clone to retreat with a barrage of crimson bullets, Alucard suddenly increased his speed and created a decent distance between himself and his opponent.

Nacht sensed that there was something wrong, especially after feeling the ominousness filling the air.

He swiftly forced himself to chase after Alucard, who was steadily increasing the distance between him and his opponent, while constantly urging his clone to do the same.

Bang! Bang!

Swoosh! Swoosh!

With a powerful stomp onto the ground, the pair propelled themselves toward Alucard at insane speed, transforming into a pair of shadows that flew across the dark grassland.

But right before they reached the halfway mark between them and their target, Nacht was suddenly assaulted by a strong sense of dread, seemingly telling him that it was already impossible to prevent what was about to come.

Even his clone, who seemed to possess an extremely high AI and combat IQ, could not help but pause briefly due to the sudden killing intent that enveloped the entire grassland.

Nacht trusted his instincts as he ordered his clone to return and fuse with him. Since it was already too late to prevent Alucard from executing his killing move, Nacht decided to face it head-on to the best of his abilities.

Boom!

The aura surrounding him immediately propelled to an unimaginable level after the clone fused with his body, breaking through his current limit.

Taking advantage of the momentum and his newly enhanced state, Nacht held his daggers tightly as he threw another powerful stomp into the ground and sent himself flying toward Alucard.

Bang!

Swoosh!

He transformed into a flickering silhouette that turned into hundreds of shadows, filling the grassland with themselves.

They looked like an army of shadows that was launching themselves at their opponent, planning to annihilate his existence.

'Incomplete Heritage Skill (Weakened Version): Phantom Calamity'

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Seeing the incoming army of shadows, Alucard took away his magic pistol while keeping the rapier in hand.

He stood straight as he held the rapier vertically in front of his chest while his other hand was hidden behind him.

Closing his eyes, he summoned all the blood power within him, forming an invisible vortex in his surroundings.

This vortex slowly turned crimson as they converged behind him and formed an eerie yet also majestic pair of bloody wings.

'Vampire Primogenitor Blessing: Crimson Wings of Sovereignty'

When the pair of bat-like wings spread themselves, an intense and dreadful suppression suddenly filled the entire battlefield, affecting the movements of the incoming army of shadows.

Nacht could not help but pause his actions for a moment, trying to withstand the strong suppression that was pressing on him and the entire army. He must maintain his sharp mind and solid concentration to keep the skill active, preventing it from being forcefully canceled.

He was planning to continue his assault right after he regained his footing, but it was unfortunate that this brief pause was more than enough for Alucard to end this battle.

Swoosh!

Flapping his crimson batwings, Alucard suddenly propelled himself forward and launched a series of attacks at the entire army of shadows with his rapier.

'Vampire Racial Technique: Blood Art – Crimson Annihilation'

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Alucard transformed into a streak of light that flew in the air in a crisscrossing manner, cutting through everything in its path.

Shing!

When everything ended, Alucard's figure could be seen standing a few meters away from Nacht, who stood still on his spot.

The two maintained their respective postures for a couple of moments before a series of negative numbers appeared over the latter's head, signifying the terrifying damage that he had suffered from the previous exchange.

His health dropped rapidly as the stab wounds and deep cuts started to appear all over his body one after another. It did not stop until his health bar was completely emptied.

Nacht forcefully turned his as he asked. "Does that move belong to your strongest techniques?" – his body was already turning into a speck of lights at this point.

Alucard flipped his wrist and twirled his rapier before sheathing it. He then turned around as he thought for a moment.

Grinning somewhat deviously, he suddenly answered. "Far from it."

Hearing that answer, Nacht could not help but smile bitterly as he mocked himself. "I see. It seems like the new is about to replace the old."

But he later raised his head as a decisive look washed over his face. "But that does not mean that I will give up that easily. Let's meet again some other time."

Swoosh!

Not long after, his body dissipated in the air completely alongside the announcement from the system.

*Ding*

"Second Match Result – Victory to Alucard, the Sanguine King!"

…

"Whoa!"

"That is intense!"

"Right! It may not be as flashy as the ending of the previous match, but it is still equally stunning, nevertheless!"

"Especially the final moves that the two have showcased in the last moment!"

"Tsk! It looks like the Blood Arts of Alucard is as broken as the rumors say."

"It may even be an underestimation as what he just shown us is a single technique. Given the nature of his race, it is not impossible to have a variety of them under his arsenal."

"You can't be sure either. It may be his strongest move for all we know."

"But you can't also deny that it is powerful. Others will not risk underestimating his skills when facing him in the future."

It took quite a while before the people reacted to the result of the match. It might be because of the strong impact of the previous match, which was why everyone was able to quickly regain their composure.

But they still started arguing among themselves as they gave their respective opinions about the previous matches.

Since there was a short break between the First Round and the Second Round, the live audience and online viewers seized this opportunity to argue with one another, relieving their slight boredom and calming themselves after watching the two consecutive battles filled with intensity.

David and Miss Bunny had also taken this opportunity to discuss the previous battle as much as they could before slightly comparing it with the first match.

At the same time, they also played a guessing game along with their audience to build a certain connection with them.

The guessing game was about the lineups that the two teams would be sending respectively.

Given the previous performances of the two teams, the two tried to guess the players that would be representing the two teams in the Group Battle.

Just like everyone else, the Hien Workshop had chosen a standard 3-vs-3 for the Group Battle, which somewhat game everyone their strategy.

With the data that everyone had in their hands, they could guess that the Hien Workshop would most likely go with the standard composition, which had a strong tank, a powerful damage dealer, and decently skilled support.

After all, their team members covered almost all the roles fitted in all kinds of situations. They had also a pair of solid tanks in their team. They could just send one for the Group Battle while the other was saved for the Team Competition.

Taking a look at the strategy that the Empyrean Talons had used in the previous round, everyone felt that they would proceed with the same strategy, especially when Shin and Leonard were strong enough to hold the frontline in the team competition.

Adding Cloe's top-notch supporting abilities, it would not be hard for them to win the match with the same pattern and lineup.

It was unless Arthur was present, which was another solid frontline for the Empyrean Talons.

But it was known that Arthur was currently absent from the lineup due to special reasons, which the Empyrean Talons had admitted during the previous interview after their first match with the Seven Seas Alliance.

It seemed like they were not trying to hide this information from everyone and even using it as a weapon against those who were planning to take advantage of the intel.

It did not take long before the next match started.

The system also showed the lineup of the respective teams for the Group Battle, making everyone look at it excitedly as they wanted to see who had 'won' the guessing game.

There was nothing strange with the lineup that the Hien Workshop had sent. It was the same standardized team composition that they had used in their previous match.

But when everyone looked at the names of the players who would be representing the Empyrean Talons, they could not help but stare blankly at them for quite a while because they found them strange.

"What the heck!?"

"Are they madmen? What is the meaning of this?"

"Quick! Pinch me! I am dreaming, right!?"

Everyone could not believe what they were seeing.

On the other hand, David was slamming his hand on the table while laughing so hard that he could not talk straight. "Devil Strategist! That guy is truly a devil. What a devious plan he has!"

– "Second Round: Group Battle (3-vs-3) – Hien Workshop versus Empyrean Talons" –

Hien Workshop Lineup:

'Grinding King' Heavenly Shield (Maverick God)

'Swordmaster of Light' White Silver (Peak Titled Ranker)

'Sacred Priestess' Pia (Peak Titled Ranker)

Empyrean Talons Lineup:

'Herald of Chaos' Chaotic Luck (Unusual Maverick Ranker)

'Beastmaster' Akailu (Peak Titled Ranker)

Huahua (Rookie Player)

...…