Child of Destiny

...…

For the entire week of preparations, Shin and the rest of the Empyrean Talons did some intense training in order to prepare for the upcoming Grand Finals of the United Cup.

Shin had also managed to invite Lawless and the rest of the Slayers Adventurer Team to play some scrimmage with them despite the busy schedule that the group had to prepare for the upcoming update.

The battle played quite well, which also propelled the overall performance of the team to a whole other level.

In terms of individual strength, the Empyrean Talons had such an overwhelming advantage since they had more players at the god-level within the game.

However, their scores were not that overwhelming since Lawless, Faker, and Pantheon had a fair share of wins over the key members of the Empyrean Talons. These three truly lived up to their respective reputations.

In the meantime, both of these had a fair share of wins and losses in terms of team competition. Even if the Empyrean Talons used their strongest lineup for the team battle, the Slayers Adventurer Team still had ways to deal with them with their solid and seamless teamwork and synergy.

The members of the Slayers had been together for a much longer time than the Empyrean Talons, so their coordination was more mature in comparison. They had also found some holes in the defenses of the Empyrean Talons, which they repeatedly used as a means to break through.

There was nothing to say about the teamwork of the Monster Trio and Cloe. So long as these four were together on the field, it was almost impossible to defeat the team.

Even if Lawless and the others had also and equally strong players and seamless teamwork, these four would always find a way to deal with them and escape any predicament.

The team battles were quite intense, but the Empyrean Talons had a slight advantage in this area.

On the other hand, if these four were broken and did not play as a group, the rest of the Empyrean Talons would be struggling to hold themselves against Lawless and the others.

This was what Shin wanted to focus on in the training, wanting to fix the weaknesses of the team when the key members were not on the field.

There was no need to question the strength of the team if Shin, Arthur, Leonard, and Cloe were together on the field. Their strength was already obvious to see, while their synergy and understanding of each other had already transcended the simple friendship.

Even if Owen, Diablo, and Alucard were quite powerful in their respective positions, they were still unable to fully showcase their true strengths in team battles. Their teamwork with the rest of the team was quite good, but it still did not reach a transcendent level like Shin and the others.

The team's teamwork was a little better compared to before, which was already reaching quite a high level. They even far surpassed most of the teams within the tournament, even surpassing those that had been together for quite a long time.

However, their confidence crumbled before the Slayers Adventurer Team. All the holes in their formation and the slight gaps they made during the battle were repeatedly being exploited by the latter group, crushing them in the battle.

The battle was too one-sided when Shin and the others were not on the team. This lowered the morale of the team a little, which was bad since the grand finals were just right around the corner.

…

"Are you sure about this? It looks like having an opposite effect rather than what you wanted," asked Lawless during the break.

Shin just chuckled after hearing those concerns before asking. "It's fine. I know what I am doing. What do you think about them?"

Having a team's training was good, but inviting a third party to see their process and help them train would also help them grow stronger, since they could pinpoint the things that they could not see within the team.

Lawless did not immediately respond as he thought seriously for a moment before answering. "I think they do have a lot of potential – both as a team and as an individual expert."

"As individuals-… or even as duos, I must admit that all of them were top-notch talents," he paused for a moment to point at Owen, Diablo, and Alucard. "Particularly those three who were already at the level of being a high-ranking god of the game."

"Owen has already become mature as a top-notch tank and could even rival Siegfried and Pantheon in terms of this role. He just falls a little short when we talk about his 'identity' as a tank."

"If we talk about him as an individual player, then there is no need to question his abilities. He can already match most of the top godlike players and maverick gods out there. But as a team's tank, he is still not sure which path to take. He is too confused about how he will proceed further."

"Even if he somewhat has the idea where he is going, he still lacks the right direction on how to get there. He is too focused on trying to synergize with the team rather than letting his style naturally adjust with the others and slowly resonate with them."

"He is trying his best for the team, which makes him unconsciously lead to the current mess that he is in."

"In this area, Hayden in our team is slightly better than him. At least, this Immovable Mountain knows how to place his strength properly in a team battle rather than fixating on the regular 'tank' role that everyone knows."

Shin nodded after hearing the assessment. "His teamwork with Ithilien is actually perfect, rivaling even Brother Ravier and Sister Ember of your team. Those two just don't know how to convert their synergy into the team's strength."

"The duo of the Winter Demon and Flame Witch is no joke. Even those powerful gods in old and new generations will have to think twice before provoking them," said Lawless before continuing. "But I must admit that the teamwork of Owen and Ithilien does have the potential to reach that level."

"Especially when their class composition is much better for team battle – a knight and an archer," he added before continuing. "Putting him under Pantheon is such a good move."

He then gave Shin with full complaint as he continued. "Tsk! Aren't you taking advantage of us a little too much? You even know how to utilize this guy's strength even after just seeing him once!"

"Aren't we paying for these lessons and training sessions? We have paid you enough in exchange for your time," said Shin while rolling his eyes.

"I feel like we are losing so much in this 'deal'," glared Lawless before pointing in another direction. "Look at how our Team's Vice Commander treats your team's assassin/thief!"

"Diablo is already a good player of his role, yet you are so greedy that you want him to learn under Faker! You even insisted on a one-on-one instruction between the two!"

Hearing such complaints, Shin just smirked. "Just as I have said. We are paying you fairly. You are the ones who have agreed and offered such an exchange. It is not my fault that I am smart enough to milk you guys for as much as we can."

Lawless gritted his teeth as he continued. "Smart my *ss! More like Shameless!"

"Thanks for the compliment, Big Brother," Shin chuckled, ignoring the main point.

They bickered with one another for quite a while before proceeding with the topic.

"There is no need to say anything about Alucard. He is already good as it is. The only issue with him is that so-called 'pride' that he has. He will do his job well so long as it is ordered, but will do whatever if there is no command passed on him," said Lawless with a sigh.

"Take that incident with Sniper God Aiming for example. This guy insisted on competing with the guy in terms of gunfighting techniques rather than utilizing all his cards."

"It is fine to hide as many trump cards as possible, but it is pointless not to use them at all," sighed Lawless, further complaining. "He has such a huge advantage due to his dual style as well as the Vampire Abilities that he possesses, but he rarely uses them at all."

Shin thought for a moment, seemingly thinking of something, before sighing. "I also don't know what's wrong with this guy. But I can at least guess that it has something to do with the 'Gun King' and 'Sword King' issue."

"All we can do is wait patiently for him to open up and willingly tell us his story. Until then, there is not much we can do about him," Shin shook his head.

Lawless nodded as he started commenting about the other members of the team.

Samael and Akailu were training a few tricks from Pantheon and Hayden, learning the ropes about the tank and sub-tank roles.

Archimedes and Daulla were learning how to utilize their overall abilities to synergize well with the team from Morgan, Ravier, and Ember.

There was not much of a problem with Chaotic Luck and Huahua, as what they lacked was tactics and experience to apply them in battle. They could just learn it from Cloe and Shin.

Alice might also have some issues with teamwork, but it was not much of a problem, as all she needed was to play with the team more for more experience.

...…