Child of Destiny

The rest of the battle was no longer filled with much suspense, as Samael ultimately lost to Black Soul.

Black Soul took full advantage of his extensive combat experience and familiarity with the surrounding terrain to overwhelm Samael, who was barely able to regain control of the battle.

Although Samael defended himself well and continued putting up a respectable fight, he was never able to reclaim the initiative.

Black Soul constantly harassed him with repeated ambushes, slipping in and out of stealth and attacking from different angles without giving Samael any opportunity to establish a rhythm of his own.

Even though Samael had plenty of experience fighting against assassins and thieves like Shin and Diablo—both of whom were clearly much stronger than Black Soul—he still couldn’t completely bridge the gap between himself and his opponent.

In the end, Samael was defeated.

He slowly walked back toward Shin and the others with a dejected expression.

When he finally stood before Shin, he could only lower his head, his eyes filled with self-blame.

”I’m sorry, Big Brother Sickarius,” he said in a voice so low that it was almost inaudible.

Shin merely chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. ”It’s fine. You actually put up a much better fight than we expected.”

”What matters is whether you learned something from it.” He paused for a moment before looking directly at the rookie Paladin. ”Did you learn anything?”

Samael slowly raised his head and met Shin’s gaze.

He remained silent for a moment as he recalled the battle with Black Soul.

He remembered the overwhelming pressure he had felt throughout the fight. It was completely different from the pressure he experienced during his training sessions with the members of the Empyrean Talons.

This pressure was unfamiliar and extremely heavy.

And as Black Soul continuously ambushed him from the shadows, that pressure had gradually become more suffocating.

Only now did Samael fully understand why.

The tempo of the battle had never truly belonged to him.

At the beginning, when he managed to mark Black Soul with Glimmer Mark, he had gained a brief advantage.

He could track his opponent, respond to his movements, and pressure the assassin instead of constantly defending himself.

For those brief moments, Samael had felt as though he was finally controlling the battlefield.

But the moment Black Soul regained his stealth, everything changed.

The control he had over the tempo disappeared. And once that happened, he also lost the overall initiative.

From there, one problem after another began to pile up.

He was constantly reacting instead of acting. He was also forced to burn through his Skills simply to survive instead of using them to create opportunities.

His opponent dictated where the battle went while he was left struggling to keep up.

The more pressure he received, the more difficult it became to make the correct decisions.

Samael finally understood that this was the true reason he had struggled so much.

It wasn’t simply because Black Soul was stronger. It was also not because his opponent possessed better Skills.

It wasn’t even because Black Soul had more experience fighting in the Sandspine Waste.

There was something else—something fundamental.

During the battle, Samael had experienced an overwhelming sense of powerlessness.

No matter how many Skills he used or how strong his defenses were, he couldn’t break free from the rhythm his opponent had established.

That realization made him understand something important.

Strength and abilities alone were not enough to win a battle. Strategies and strength were certainly necessary, but they were only part of the equation.

Environmental awareness mattered, as well as understanding the battlefield. And most of all, controlling the tempo also mattered.

Knowing when to attack, when to defend, when to retreat, and when to force the opponent into reacting mattered just as much.

Samael had already learned some of these concepts during the battles he had experienced before.

However, he had never truly understood how important they were. Much less had he learned how to use them to his advantage in the middle of an intense fight.

This battle had taught him far more than he initially realized.

Combined with everything he had experienced during the siege of the fortress, Samael felt as though he was slowly approaching the beginning of an entirely new path.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t had enough time to fully process these thoughts during the battle.

Now that Shin had asked him the question, however, something suddenly clicked inside his mind.

His eyes gradually became clearer.

Samael straightened his posture and firmly nodded. ”Yes! I learned a lot!”

Seeing the light in Samael’s eyes, Shin nodded in satisfaction and patted him on the shoulder. ”Good!”

He didn’t say anything more.

Samael had already recognized his own weakness and understood what he was currently lacking compared to the true experts of the game.

At that moment, Owen suddenly stepped forward. ”Watch me, kid!”

He confidently patted his chest with his fist before adding smugly, ”Let me show you how a true expert fights.”

”You’d better win this one, or you’ll be a laughingstock for quite a while,” Shin chuckled as he watched Owen stride confidently toward the center of the battlefield.

Owen ignored the remark and continued walking.

...

Meanwhile, the opposing side wasn’t feeling particularly optimistic despite winning the first round.

”Tsk! Tsk! Why do I feel like I’ve lost instead of winning?” Black Soul clicked his tongue as he voiced the thought that had been bothering him.

Crimson Soul shook his head. ”That’s because you made your opponent grow instead.”

He paused for a moment before raising his head and looking toward Samael in the distance. ”Becoming your opponent’s whetstone has never been a pleasant experience.”

Black Soul couldn’t help but nod before sighing. ”I guess the bitter taste makes it hard to swallow.”

Bang!

At the same time, Heartless Dream suddenly stood up from the nearby boulder. ”I guess I’ll have to try a little harder this round.”

Seeing that Owen was already making his way toward the center of the battlefield, Crimson Soul suddenly asked, ”Are you planning to use that Legendary weapon for this competition?”

”It’s not like I have any other choice, right?” Heartless Dream replied.

He paused for a moment while looking at Owen. ”To think that the rookie knight who once made such a huge impact in the previous games would rise this far... Life sure is unpredictable.”

”Tsk! Tsk! The Dark Knight...” Crimson Soul clicked his tongue softly, seemingly reminiscing about the past. ”That moniker used to be a title thrown around by beginners because a certain knight kept carrying them through dungeon runs.”

He chuckled before continuing. ”He was always a headache for the major guilds back then because he’d constantly disrupt their dungeon records by gathering random parties and challenging their best times.”

”Who would have thought that the same rookie would eventually stand before us as an equal?”

Heartless Dream couldn’t help but laugh. ”Maybe it’s just because we’re getting old.”

It was a rare moment of self-deprecation from the usually battle-hungry man.

Crimson Soul smiled faintly before continuing. ”He’s almost certainly going to participate in the upcoming Hegemon Cup.”

”So it’s better for us to gather as much information about him as possible. That information will be especially valuable for the talents we’re preparing for the Title Tournament.”

Heartless Dream nodded. ”Then that gives me even more reason to use that Legendary weapon.”

”If I’m going to fight him, I might as well increase my chances of winning.”

With that, he began walking toward the center of the canyon while simultaneously swapping out his usual battle hammer for another weapon.

Swoosh!

The new hammer possessed a much larger head and a significantly longer metal shaft, making the already massive weapon appear even heavier than before.

Its design was far more intimidating than the hammer he had been carrying earlier.

The head was forged from a dark metal with an almost black luster, its surface swallowing the surrounding light rather than reflecting it.

Both of its broad, flattened striking heads were covered in intricate crimson runes that seemed to have been carved directly into the metal.

Faint red light pulsed through those runes in a slow, rhythmic pattern, almost like the beating of a monstrous heart.

With every pulse, a sinister aura spread from the hammer, causing the surrounding mana to tremble faintly.

The crimson runes became particularly vivid around the edges of the two flat heads, where countless complicated markings intertwined with one another before disappearing beneath the dark metal.

Occasionally, wisps of crimson energy seeped from the runes like smoke, lingering around the hammer before being drawn back into its surface.

Even without being swung, the weapon gave off an oppressive presence that made it feel as though it had been forged for nothing but destruction.

Heartless Dream casually rested the enormous hammer over his shoulder.

BOOM!

The sheer weight of the weapon caused the ground beneath his feet to sink slightly and made the crimson runes pulse once more.

For a brief moment, the entire battlefield seemed to grow colder.

......