Child of Destiny

...…

Shin quickly gave chase of Pogo, who he sent flying into the air. He used strange movement techniques to catch up before leaping in the air and using the charges of 'Mondi's Jump' to reach the same level as his opponent.

The 'Primordial Lighting' surrounding his sword became more active as if it sensed that Shin was about to use a powerful move.

He was planning to use the seventh movement of the 'Jade Kirin Scripture' to finish off Pogo.

"Urgh!"

But before he could even execute the skill, his visions suddenly got a little blurry before a sudden headache assaulted him.

This disturbed his actions, making him pause a little and delaying his actions.

Pogo instantly noticed it and quickly took that opportunity to adjust his position in the air and assumed a battle-ready stance.

The headache quickly disappeared as it seemed to be temporary while his vision became clear once again briefly after.

"I guess I still can't use the Advanced Movements of the 'Jade Kirin Scripture' as smoothly as the basic and intermediate movements with my current strength," he mumbled after noticing that he was unable to control the flow of mana within his body earlier.

He could still use the sword technique, but it would require some time to prepare since he had to focus on the circulation of energy within his body while doing so. It was unlike the first six movements that he could use whenever he wanted.

Shin quickly shook it off since he knew that he only needed more practice at using the sword technique until the circulation of energy became second nature to him.

He then turned to Pogo, who was now already in the middle of descending toward the ground while clicking his tongue. "Tsk! What a lucky b*st*rd!"

…

In the meantime, the few people, who happened to arrive much earlier compared to the other experts, saw everything from a distance.

They were stunned speechless and in a state of bewilderment due to what they just witnessed. They still could not believe such movements were possible without the game, even though they had already witnessed a lot of them online.

Both Shin and Pogo had made them realize what it was to be a true expert of the game, and what the gods of the virtual reality game looked like.

The feeling of watching such battles through the screen and witnessing everything firsthand was a completely different experience.

You would only realize the difference in skill, strength, techniques, and mechanics once you had seen and experienced them for yourselves.

These people even doubted if they were playing the same game.

Those, who were weaker than the rest, even laughed at themselves thinking that they could join this event and 'hunt' such a target.

Most of them had already backed out of the mission, but none of them wanted to leave since they felt that this would be a crucial part of their gaming careers.

They might not get the rewards for capturing this mysterious expert fighting an old god, but they would still learn a lot by watching the battle firsthand.

…

Meanwhile, the big guilds and powerful organizations also understood this situation. They felt that it was a good opportunity to fish in troubled waters. They quickly issued a command and mobilized their forces toward the Shunkai Forest.

Some remained neutral and took the stance of 'continue watching' and 'observe until everything is clear' before making their move – these were usually the cautious forces that did not want to accidentally provoke a behemoth due to their careless actions.

But those greedy ones did not care about those and continued.

It was not until they encountered an awkward position. The higher-ups of these guilds and organizations received an anonymous message – or more like a warning.

They all received a simple photo – a photo of their elite groups, who were focusing on improving themselves and not caring about the political movements of their superiors until they were summoned.

Some received a message about their hidden farming maps, where rare and unique materials were being harvested regularly. They were controlling such regions to nurture their forces. It was also one of their sources of income.

There were also others, who received a photo of themselves with a text written on them – at least 100 deaths. That simple message was more than enough to tell them that a bounty would be placed and they would be assassinated until the said number was reached.

What was scarier about this was the photo was recently taken, which meant that their security had already been breached and they would be taken down at any given moment.

They could also try to salvage the situation by calling up the guards, but they knew the force behind the pictures – the Assassin Union, which was notoriously known for not failing any assassination assignment.

Moreover, these people needed to deal with them at least a hundred times. Other organizations would not be that persistent, but the Assassin Union could do it – and in a much faster way.

There were different kinds of threats sent to these people, but the messages told them a single thing – "Don't get involved or you will have to see the end of it." –

With such an obvious threat, these guilds could not do anything about it when the other side had already shown them their capabilities.

This might be a money-burning battle, but there was a certain force out there, who would dare to do such thing – the Hand of Midas.

If they tried to be persistent, then they would not only be clashing with such a force along with their allies, but they would also be losing the right to buy items from the trading firm or ask for their other services.

What was the Hand of Midas? It was not only the largest and wealthiest guild within the game but also the house of masters.

They not only had a variety of products that almost covered every need of the players, but they also housed most of the best lifestyle players of the game.

Contesting them from time to time was still fine, but provoking such force was a whole different matter.

Realizing this, the upper echelons of these guilds and organizations could not help but curse. "Just how is that guy for the Hand of Midas to go such lengths to protect him."

There were also those forces that were comparable with the Hand of Midas Lifestyle Guild within the Saint Heaven Kingdom, but most of them took a neutral stance and did not want to get involved just like the 'Titan Guild' while the rest were busy dealing with their matters like the 'Wings Alliance,' who busy with their internal conflict, and the 'HeadHunter Guild', who need to focus on setting up a branch in the Sacred Light Kingdom.

Two of them even became a business partner of the Hand of Midas.

As for the Assassin Union, they had always had a close relationship with the Hand of Midas, so there was no need to question them.

Those guilds could only sigh and step back, refusing to take part in this 'event'.

As for the other forces that the Hand of Midas could not control such as the dark guilds like Blood Carnival, Shiella did not care about them since she believed could already handle the rest, especially when she was already watching his battle against Pogo.

"I have already done everything I can, so what are you going to do now my dear little brother," she mumbled as she glanced at the reports that were sent to her just now.

"The stance of the Supreme Temple and Martial Alliance will slightly change once Zero and Ashura voice out their opinion since they are the most influential."

"Zero will surely try to convince the faction once he becomes clear of Shin's identity while Ashura will have to do something to the Martial Alliance since he has already 'booked' and appointed with Shin."

"That will leave the Demonic Churches and Corrupted Cults alone once again. The dark guilds will not be able to do much since it is a faction quest. Those two factions will not let them get too much involved in this, so a clash between them is bound to happen."

She then turned his attention back to the live feed of the battle before continuing with a smile. "The stage is set, so let's see how you will deal with the rest and create your legend."

…

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Boom!

The battle continued and Pogo was already starting to realize that he would not be able to defeat Shin. He might not want to accept it, but it was already clear right in front of him.

At first, he might still be a little stronger than Shin in some of the aspects, but the latter had closed the gap with his persistence and amazing adaptability. Especially when Shin had chosen to close the gap while taking advantage of his superior speed and the 'Infinity Edge'.

Pogo might still be powerful and could defeat other experts on the same level or even suppress most of them with his fighting style. But his advantages had already been erased by Shin the moment they were engaged in a melee battle, which was his comfort.

What was crazier was his opponent who was continuously growing as the battle progressed, making Pogo more terrified.

Given his vast experience in playing the game, he had already seen quite a lot of 'monsters' and even fought quite a number of them, but this was his first time encountering someone who could make him scared of fighting.

The king of virtual games, Khing, might have been like that in the past. But Pogo had not felt it during their previous battle.

However, the huge gap in strength was still in there.

Pogo suspected that Khing was only toying with him at that time and refused to show his real capabilities as the other old gods were paying attention to them.

Regardless, Pogo felt that this current opponent that he had was similar to what Khing had done to them when he still reigned supreme in the virtual gaming world.

Thinking about all of these, Pogo finally became determined. He might not be able to defeat Shin, especially when the latter continued to grow if this battle lasted a little longer, but that did not mean that he would just surrender just like that.

Since he would lose anyway, why not gamble everything, and see what would happen next?

"I may not be able to defeat you, but I will make sure that you will also go down with me," said Pogo as he suddenly became crazier and started exchanging blows in a more aggressive matter.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Those words were clear to Shin, seemingly trying to tell him that they would be going down at the same time.

But Shin did not feel that it was something like using their final trump cards and clashing with the single yet destructive exchange.

Glancing at the surroundings, Shin immediately realized what Pogo meant by those words.

He would make sure that Shin would exhaust himself to the point that he would not be able to deal with the swarm of people charging at him later when he was exhausted.

With that, Shin knew that he had to choose whether he would continue exchanging blows with Pogo like this, with the same intensity, or just escape.

The other choice was also to let Pogo go so that he would save time and energy in such a battle.

But Shin was unwilling to do that since it was clear that he was already winning.

The most obvious choice in this situation was to distance himself and prepare for a showdown where they would use their most powerful attacks to take down each other. But even that would exhaust Shin to a certain extent.

There was also the choice of using all his strength and his other signature techniques to dispose of Pogo as soon as possible. But that would also expose his identity to everyone, which he had been delaying as much as possible.

Any choice was heading in the same direction and most of them were somewhat in his favor.

He could also rely on his Reapers if he wanted to deal with the army of players that would be swarming at him later. But their influence would be limited once the players realized that they were his summons.

These were elites and experts, so they would immediately realize what was going on and quickly use their 'Spirit Awe' to force his elemental spirits to be unsummoned.

But they could still buy him enough time.

Formulating a series of plans inside his head while covering as many scenarios as possible during the battle was quite bold. But Shin remained calm and continued to pressure Pogo with his aggressive attacks.

After a while, he was done with the backup plans. He then stared at Pogo as he finally decided. "Since it is already like this, ending this battle in the most satisfying way is the only option."

...