Child of Destiny



...

Shin was pretty surprised at the battle prowess of these people from the Demonic Churches. They were very skilled, and their techniques were all high-level. He could tell at a single glance that they were all trained in advanced martial arts or mentalism techniques.

Even though they could not use the Reality Manifestation, their strength was not far from reaching it. However, they also needed more than a single push to reach that special state.

In exchange, they were able to bridge the gap between people with Reality Manifestation and them by using their Demonic Transformation. It was pretty much the same as what Justin and the rest of the Silent Night had done before.

They were still slightly inferior when compared to Godlike Players and Titled Rankers who could enter the Reality Manifestation or Hyperactive Immersion just like Shin and Diablo. But they were still much stronger than most of the players, particularly the regular rankers and mavericks.

Shin could tell that they might be some sort of special force within the Demonic Churches, given that they had that kind of strength.

At the same time, he also suspected that the demonic formation that was suppressing the powers of his Reaper's Retainers was the one that they used to assassinate the traitorous archbishop of the Church of the Sun and Moon – or at least the weaker version of it.

He could also feel the strong suppression of the formation, which was greatly restricting him. But it was not strong enough to totally hinder his movements, nor his overall battle capabilities.

"It may be because they are sort of people. This domain suppression formation is slightly inferior to the original one," he muttered before finally making his move.

His mission was to capture these people and not to kill them. This was why his Elemental Spirits were all holding back their strengths a little. He tasked them to incapacitate the opposing side so that he could use the prison prisms on them.

Shin had brought quite a lot of these prisms, knowing that he would be catching quite a lot of players. Capturing them was much better than killing them right away. Once they were captured and brought back to the church, they would not be able to leave that place unless they deleted their characters.

It was pretty much the same as a death sentence or an existence wipe.

They would lose all their progress up until now and they had to restart everything from the very beginning if they wanted to play the game once again.

He just hoped that they would choose a different path at that time.

Having that thought, Shin started to move. He walked out of the woods in a casual manner, seemingly showing the opposing group that he was completely unhindered by the formation that they had set up.

Of course, it was only an act. But it was more than enough to scare the other side and throw them into panic.

And sure enough, the moment the demonic players saw Shin walking toward them in a casual manner, they started to fear instinctively. Their heads were thrown in chaos and their movements started to show a lot of flaws.

"Damn! We are in deep shit right now," the team leader could only curse under his breath after seeing Shin.

A single glance at Shin was more than enough for the team leader to know that this was someone that they could not afford to provoke. At the very least, he was as strong as the commander of this operation, if not stronger.

He also discovered that the humanoid creatures that they were fighting were Elemental Spirits, which meant that this person possessed a Transcendent Class and Race. That alone was more than enough for him to realize the huge gap between them.

He wanted to relay this information to their commander. They had to warn them that such a monster was currently on their tail.

But before he could even open his message window – as if that monster was able to read his mind – the team leader found his vision being thrown into the darkness.

Shin appeared right in front of the team leader like a ghost. His left-hand thumb, which was pressing down at his sheathed sword, suddenly flicked forward, creating a clicking sound.

Click!

After that, the thumb pulled back and pressed down on the guard of the [Yamato] once again, locking it in place.

On the other hand, the team leader was stunned for a second before an excruciating pain suddenly assaulted him.

"Ahh!"

He just found out that his right arm was completely severed, and the black blood was gushing out from it.

He quickly let go of his shield and held the wound on his left shoulder. He then kneeled on the ground while enduring the pain that almost made him pass out.

Due to the recent update of the game, the pain receptors that the players had were also adjusted. The developers made it similar to an actual wound that the people would suffer in the real world.

It was to make the game more life-like and closer to reality.

However, the pain was still slightly adjusted to 40% realism at most since this could damage the brains of the players in the real world if it exceeded that mark. But that alone was more than enough for the players to whine in pain once they were seriously injured.

While the team leader was enduring the pain in his arms, Shin took out a prison prism and captured the demonic player with it.

After that, he casually threw the prism back into his inventory space before looking for his next target.

Due to their team leader being taken care of, the rest of the team was immediately thrown into chaos. Without someone leading them and giving instructions, they were having a hard time keeping up with the combined assault of Shin and his Elemental Spirits.

It did not take long for Shin to capture everyone and lock them in the prison prisms that he had brought. He must admit that they still put up a decent resistance despite losing their leader, but all of it was still useless in front of absolute power.

At the same time, the second team leader was also somewhat panicking due to the sudden development. He had to lead his team to fight against Blackie and Grimrace, who were constantly harassing them.

They were able to put up a good fight against the two Elemental Spirits, but they were quickly put at a disadvantage when the rest of the group joined in.

Blackie and Grimrace were already troublesome to deal with since they could hide in the darkness due to their respective stealth skills.

If not for the suppression of the demonic formation, then they would most likely get slaughtered by those two Elemental Spirits. And since the Blackie and Grimrace were currently holding back due to the instruction Shin had given them, none of them got killed.

But the pain that they were suffering was much worse than what the team leader of the first team had suffered earlier.

With Grimrace's manner, it was impossible for his victims to get it easy. He was practically torturing his targets whenever he caught them.

Fortunately, Shin was able to save them from being crazy by putting them inside the prison prism. For the sake of their sanity, Shin purposely captured those victims of Grimrace first before they really became insane.

After clearing up the battlefield, Shin was planning to destroy the demonic formation. He was not sure about it, but he got a feeling that he could get something if he collected all the metal rods that were keeping the formation active.

He was about to give an order to his Elementa Spirits when something unexpected happened.

A powerful pressure suddenly descended on the group, making them frown and assume a battle-ready stance.

But before they could even do anything, the four elemental spirits accompanying Shin suddenly disappeared as they were forcefully unsummoned.

Shin was completely taken aback by this unexpected development. And before he could even respond to what was happening, an intense bloodlust suddenly appeared from behind.

Sensing it, Shin suddenly took a large step forward while turning around. At the same time, he also grabbed the sheathed [Yamato] and pulled it out.

Clang!

Metal sparks flew in the air as his sword collided against a dagger when it was halfway out from its sheath.

It was at that moment that Shin was finally able to see the appearance of his assailant.

The one who ambushed him was a demonic player with a pair of horns curving up from their forehead. They also had a pair of bat-like wings and a long reptilian tail on their back. Their skin was covered with obsidian scales with a rhombus shape that were protecting their body.

Their demonic eyes had crimson pupils while the supposedly white part of those eyes was completely black, making them look hideous and horrifying. Their sharp teeth and pointed canines were also making them look more terrifying.

There was also a black miasma coming out from their bodies, creating an unknown pressure surrounding them.

Upon closer inspection, Shin could tell that it was coming from the corrupted mana from the surroundings. The mana being corroded by the demonic formation was being transferred to this person.

The hood of the cloak hanging over Shin's head was slightly blown by the wind produced by the collision. It made the shade hiding his face somewhat clear away, giving the demonic player a better look at Shin.

The demonic player might not be able to see the real appearance of Shin due to the mask that the latter was wearing. But at the very least, he could recognize that unique mask since it was one of the signature items of the famous 'Nameless Swordsman', one of Shin's personas inside the game.

"So, it turns out the famous 'Battle God' is actually on our tail. No wonder two teams are not enough to stop you," said the demonic player while retreating away from Shin.

"I know that there is a reason why the commander asks me to stay behind. But isn't this way beyond my pay rate? I should be thankful that destroying the demonic formation is too complicated, or else I will be running away right now," he added as he played with his daggers and tossed them in the air.

Shin looked at this particular demonic player full of caution. From what he could feel, this player was much stronger than the previous ones that he just fought.

He was at least as strong as the other members of the Silent Night when joined the Demonic Church. It might even be as strong as Justin in his strongest demonic form and ancient battlefield due to the demonic formation cast in the surroundings.

From what he could tell, this demonic form was also much more complete than what Justin used to have during their last battle, so Shin could guess that this was a real demonic player with a pretty high standing within the Demonic Church.

A veteran demonic player who was very familiar with the demonic powers that they had. And the special traits that they had both in their respective classes and races.

"If this guy is already this strong, then how much stronger this so-called commander can be?" he muttered to himself while warily glaring at his opponent.

"What are you thinking? Aren't we supposed to fight to death right now?" asked the demonic player with a provoking tone. "Well, it will work well for him since I can buy more time if you continue to stay like that."

He paused for a moment to lick the surface of his dagger before continuing. "But it will be much better if we play a little. I want to see how strong the so-called Battle God of the famous Empyrean Talons is."

"Shall we get this started already?" he said before walking toward Shin in a leisurely manner.

...…