Child of Destiny

...

Outside the Ancient Battlefield, Frozen City.

A few moments before Shin defeated Justin.

The battle between the two groups continued to escalate to a higher degree, clashing in multiple cases that caused further chaos within the city. The deadlock continued to be in that way until Black Hand finally decided to reveal their cards.

S.Tigris and Black Hand joined the battle, quickly shifting the tides of the battle towards their favor. And when they two revealed themselves, the expression of the opposing side quickly became solemn.

They even began looking for their final member, Rust, the Shadow Queen of the Silent Night Adventurer Team.

She was tasked to snipe down and assassinate the most important member of the opposing group which was why she was separated from the rest of them. She was to look for a good position to hide and find a good opportunity to strike.

They were expecting her to reveal herself when Justin took Shin with him toward the Ancient Battlefield. It was supposedly a perfect opportunity to assassinate someone since the other side was slightly stunned at that time.

But contrary to what they were expecting, she did not make her move up until now. Not even when they were in a dire state. There was no sign of her even when Alucard and Ara took down their two priests, throwing their formation into chaos.

Immortal also 'failed' to stop Faker at that time when the latter slipped through the defensive formation of his undead monsters.

Faker sprinted straight to Flouree at that time, trying to eliminate her as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Jia put herself in between them, sacrificing herself in order to save her captain.

Faker quickly retreated at that time since Immortal quickly made his move and tried to trap him within the formation.

In the meantime, Basion and Sabec were taken down by the combined forces of Ravier, Owen, and S.Tigris. They managed to put up a good fight before their fall, but that was all into it.

On the other side, Lighting Fist was suppressed by Ember and Seven while Alucard and Ara sniped him down from their positions. He could hold himself against the former two but he couldn't do anything when the two marksmen joined the fray.

It was at that moment when Jugo and Elise realized that there was something wrong. It might be a pill that was hard to swallow but they had to accept it – Rust had betrayed them for some unknown reason.

They could not believe it since she was one of the founding members of the Silent Night and went through thick and thin with them. They had been with them through life-and-death situations countless times, so they were not expecting her to betray them.

They could only ground their teeth when they thought about it, given their current predicament. And now that their allies were starting to die one after another, the only choice that they had right now was to retreat.

But given that Justin was still within the Ancient Battlefield, battling Shin, they could not just run away with just the two of them. There was also the contract that they had with Immortal.

While they were caught in a difficult dilemma, a particular notification from the system suddenly informed them of the unfortunate news – Justin was defeated. And given their understanding with their commander, they knew he had signed another death match with Shin, especially with the deep enmity that he had.

And sure enough, the notification that followed after it was Justin's account being permanently deleted.

With the rules of the game, he might be able to create a new account and start over again from the very beginning. But he also had to wait for an entire month before he could do it. It was the price of having their account deleted.

At that time, he already lagged further behind and was left in the dust by all of the leading players, especially the other Godlike Players.

Enrage, both Jugo and Elise could only blame all of this on Rust, who had betrayed them at the most important time, venting their anger. Unfortunately, they didn't know where she was right now.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

"What!?"

While their thoughts were currently distracted, a pair of blackened arrows suddenly struck them from behind, making them pause for a moment.

Lawless and Simba, who were currently fighting them at that time, quickly took that opportunity and stuck them down, and ended their lives. They didn't know where those arrows came from, but they would never miss such an opportunity slip away.

On the other hand, both Jugo and Elise knew whose arrows were those. They were very familiar with it since those arrows saved and assisted them in countless battles before.

They lowered their heads in extreme difficulty to get a clear look at the arrowheads and saw the spiraling metal with a pointed end. It was the signature arrow of Rust. They now became sure that she had betrayed them.

The two fell to the ground, signifying that their health bars were now emptied. But before their bodies turned into particles of light, the shadow underneath them suddenly expanded and shot up, turning into mantles that wrapped around them.

Immortal grinned even wider. It was the time that he was waiting for!

The two corpses were swallowed by shadow mantles and dragged to the ground. Everyone knew what it indicate, Immortal was planning to turn them into his special undead monsters.

It might not delete their characters, but it would consume some of their stats, damaging their foundation. And since it was Immortal who was executing the 'devouring' skill, the number of stats that they would lose was significantly higher. It was no different from making their accounts cripple.

It was a sinister skill that was only available for the class that Immortal had, which was also the reason why most of the people, especially the Titled Rankers and Godlike Players, were wary of him.

This would not be considered as Immortal breaking the terms set out in their contract since those two were basically dead.

Flouree, who was the sole survivor of this battle aside from Immortal, quickly cast 'Blink' to get away. She distanced herself away from the latter, afraid that she would suffer the same fate as the others.

Unfortunately, she couldn't run away since she was still bound to the contract. All she could do right now was to take shelter under one of the ruined houses, hiding from the sight of Rust. She had seen what happened, so she knew that they had been betrayed.

As long as she was not shot to death by Rust, then she would be fine since Immortal could not harm her directly. The problem was whether she would be left alone by Simba and the others.

Fortunately, no one was paying attention to her right now since all of their eyes were now locked on Immortal.

They wanted to quickly eliminate him but before they could even make their moves, they noticed that there was something wrong with Immortal's body.

A hazy fog shrouded Immortal while his body continuously flickered like a broken image from a virtual projection.

Immortal swept his gaze at the surroundings before giving them a devious grin. "I must thank you for assisting me in acquiring such good samples. You can expect that I will remember this 'favor'."

It was at this moment when Zero and the rest realized that the Immortal standing in front of them was his real body.

"Crap! It is just a clone!" said Owen, voicing out the thoughts of everyone.

Swoosh!

It was at that time that Shin suddenly appeared, being transported by the same pillar of black light that took him earlier. Sweeping his gaze at the surrounding, he knew that the battle on this side was also over.

Then he looked at the flickering figure of Immortal and frowned deeply. He also figured out that this 'Immortal' was just a clone. 'It must be the same skill that he used during that time. Maybe an improved version since we didn't notice it up until now.'

Immortal was also attracted to Shin when he appeared. "It is a pity that I can get my hands on Justin's body. He will be a powerful undead."

"Let's see each other again at the final stage!" said Immortal with a laugh before his body exploded into a black mist.

Bang!

Left alone, Flouree did not know what she was going to do aside from escaping. The eyes of the others were also directed at her at this time, making her wear a solemn expression.

She quickly activated one of her life-saving skills, summoning an ice pyramid that confided her inside. It might have trapped her, but it could also protect her from any harm. She could not attack anyone from inside the ice pyramid but no one could also attack her.

"It's been a while."

It was at that moment that she heard a familiar voice behind her. It quickly made her head whip toward that direction. Then she saw the person who was the reason why she accepted the commission from Immortal.

"Siegfried," she muttered with a cold and heavy tone.

"Oh! What's this? An affair or something?" said Shin as he walked over before turning to Arthur. "An ex-girlfriend, perhaps?"

Hearing those words, both Arthur and Flouree turned their heads at him almost at the same time and refuted simultaneously.

"No!"

"Disgusting!"

Shin shrugged his shoulders, not saying anything but giving them a knowing look.

Flouree ignored Shin and turned her attention back to Arthur. "This is not the exact situation that I am expecting to meet you."

She then paused for a moment to take a deep breath before continuing. "You better be ready as I will make sure that you will pay for what you have done!"

She didn't wait for Arthur to reply as she quickly crushed a return scroll to teleport herself away from this place. She wanted to teach the latter a lesson right now, but given the current situation, it was clear that it was not the right time yet.

Immortal was no longer around and he was the first one to leave, so it would be fine for her to escape now without being punished for not abiding by the contract.

Arthur could only watch her turn into particles of light with a helpless look on his face. He then shook his head with a bitter smile.

Shin gave him a meaningful look before saying. "I like to hear about that girl and the excuses that you are going to make, but we are clearly not in the position to talk about it."

"Let's go! Immortal must be at the center of the city by now," he added as he turned around.

The others also cleared the battlefield, picking up the high-quality equipment that was dropped on the ground, and starting to move.

They were also curious about Arthur and Flouree's relationship, especially Cloe who could smell some gossip, but it could wait until later. They were aware of the plot that Immortal had, so they had to move as fast as they could.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Arthur took one final look at the empty cage of ice before shaking his head once again and following after the others.

...