Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking-Chapter 708: Changes to the Final Round
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"Welcome back to the preliminary rounds of the Heavenly Starโs Millennial Tournament, ladies and gentlemen. We are your hosts, Paul..."
"...and Lisa." ๐๐ซ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐.๐๐ ๐ฆ
"And weโre happy to announce that the final round of the preliminaries will begin shortly!"
This announcement was then followed by a chorus of loud and boisterous music.
"Iโm sure that all of you are excited to know what the final round has in store for our participants, so without any further ado, here it is!"
"Versus!"
"Thatโs right, everybody, the final round is thus this simple. Itโs a series of 1v1 matches to determine whoโs truly on top."
"The overall goal was simple: win as many matches as you can. The more matches you win, the better your overall ranking for this event will be."
"Since this round happens in the virtual world, our participants can go all out. No need to be afraid of accidentally killing anybody since theyโd be revived in the next minute anyway."
"To keep things relatively fair, all the participants will be healed and restored to their peak state after every match. The battlefield will also be cleansed and repaired of any lingering damages."
"The matchmaking will be random, but itโs also set so that no participant will have to face the same opponent twice. Each participant will have to fight everyone in the same group as them...save for one."
"Indeed, ladies and gentlemen, we have an outlier this time."
"In lieu of his overwhelming dominance during the past two rounds, our dear participant, Dawnbringer, will be exempted from the general 1v1 matches."
"And before any of you start raging and cursing us, allow us to explain."
"I mean, we all saw he performed, right? If weโre to follow the original script, the ending is almost expected. All of you should be aware of this by now, right?"
"And while thatโs indeed how it should be, you canโt deny that itโs a bit...well, boring. I mean, come on, this is the Millennial Tournament; itโs not allowed to be boring."
"So, to remedy that and add more, I guess you can say, โflairโ in this final round, we decided to change things just a little bit."
"Dawnbringer wonโt be participating in the regular 1v1 matches. Instead, heโll go straight to the final stretch, putting him tentatively in 1st place."
"Whatโs the catch, you ask? Well, after everybody else has completed their 1v1 matches, the top 25 will directly face Dawnbringer in the final match."
"Mind you, weโre not talking about the top 25 in the same group as him. Dawnbringer will face the top 25 of the Immortal League based on the final results."
"Yes, itโll be 1 against 25. For the top 25 to win, they only need to kill Dawnbringer using whatever means necessary. If Dawnbringer wants to win, on the other hand, he needs to kill every single one of them."
"If Dawnbringer wins, well, no surprises, the 1st place is his for this round, and maybe the entire preliminaries. But if the top 25 wins, Dawnbringerโs score for this round will be at zero, meaning that his final results will only be calculated based on his performance in the first and second rounds."
"Howโs that for a twist?"
**
"No fucking way!"
"Is that allowed?"
"Dude! Thatโs insane."
"Why are yโall surprised? Dawnbringerโs an anomaly; of course they had to do something."
"I mean, yeah, but..."
"But nothing! Heโs strong. Extremely strong. Thatโs the long and short of it. If I were in his shoes, Iโd feel really special right now. I mean, come on! Forcing the organizers to bend their rules because of his absurd strength? If that were me, Iโd brag about it for the rest of my life!"
The twist took everybody by surprise. Most people understood why it needed to happen, while others feel that itโs too unfair for Dawnbringer.
However, the ones that truly felt the most complicated about this were none other than the participants in the same group as him.
The exception made for Dawnbringer was like a loud and resounding slap on their faces, calling them weak and pathetic while spitting in their faces. And while the shame burned them from within, they were helpless to change anything. Theyโre not stupid; they know that Dawnbringer was strong, absurdly so. Facing him in a 1v1 was suicide.
If he could indifferently slaughter monsters that are two and a half realms of life evolution above him, then he could easily kill any single one of them in the blink of an eye. None of them would even be able to make him feel threatened.
But before anybody could think too much, the hosts revealed another piece of important information that shocked all of them.
They showed a short clip of the hosts personally reaching out to Dawnbringer. They revealed their plans to him and asked him if heโs willing to play along, and to everybodyโs surprise, Dawnbringer accepted.
It didnโt even take him a second to make a decision. He readily agreed, looking amused and a bit excited as he did so.
"Sounds fun, Iโm in."
Those were his exact words. And just to prove a point, the hosts emphasized the consequences of him losing. But Dawnbringer looked completely unbothered by it, stating his firm agreement to their arrangement.
That behavior of his could be interpreted in two ways; first is that he simply doesnโt care about the final results and truly just wanted to have fun. Or two, he never believed that he would lose even in this unfair setting. Like the concept of him being defeated was an impossibility in the first place.
Maybe itโs because of the particular setting, or maybe itโs just the wind, but everybody was more inclined to think that itโs the latter rather than the former.
And to the other participants, not just in the same group as he was but across the Immortal League bracket, this was a provocation that they simply canโt ignore.
Screw the gap! Fuck the organizers! They inwardly swore that theyโd do their best to fight for a spot in the top 25 so that they can smack Dawnbringerโs face to take his arrogance down a peg or two.
With thoughts like this, the air was electrified all of a sudden. The tension rose, and the anticipation was almost unbearable.
This sudden change was visible not just to hosts and organizers but also to the audience. Their unified desire to face and defeat the final boss of the preliminaries was burning brightly.
Riding this momentum, Paul and Lisa announced the start of the 3rd and final round of the preliminaries.
As everybody got transported to their respective battlefields and began their series of 1v1 matches, Cedric remained behind, still wearing an amused smile on his face.
Yes, he did do all of that. He was indeed surprised when the hosts contacted him and proposed this twist to him. After hearing what they had to say, he didnโt even need to think about it; he accepted immediately.
He could tell why they felt the need to do this. And honestly, the concept wasnโt too bad. Yes, he knew and completely understood the consequences of him losing, but he honestly didnโt care.
It just sounded too fun to pass, thatโs why he agreed immediately. If others took his attitude the wrong way, well, thatโs on them. And even if they did, so what? Itโs not like thatโs going to change anything.
Due to this arrangement, Cedric wonโt be sent there until the final stretch. So, he could only laze around here and watch the matches as he pleased.
Unbeknownst to him, the audience could see his leisurely attitude.
"Heโs got balls of steel; I respect it, truly."
"Tungsten balls, indeed."
"Heโs got guts; I like that."
"Dude, he doesnโt even look bothered or nervous. I wish I could be as confident and as leisurely as he is."
"Is he honestly not worried? Like, not even a little bit?"
"Should he be? With his strength level?"
"I mean, okay, heโs strong and all, but heโll be facing the top 25 of the entire Immortal League bracket, you know? Whoever those people ended up being, itโs almost certain that they wonโt be nobodies."
"Iโd agree with you if it werenโt for the fact that the gap between him and the tentative 2nd place wasnโt so immense."
"Ah, youโre right."
"Yeah, the gap was so wide that itโs not even funny."
"Of course itโs not funny! Itโs devastating, especially for the 2nd place."
"The poor guy probably went into this competition thinking that heโd easily surf to the first place. And he wouldโve, if Dawnbringer didnโt show up."
"And itโs not even close; thatโs the worst part. Even if he were to be given a decade or so to catch up, the gap between him and Dawnbringer wonโt be bridged that easily."
"Oh, that poor thing. I hope he can preserve some of his confidence after this; otherwise, this will be the end for him."
The audience discussed everything as they pleased, completely uncaring of whoever heard them.
As they did so, the 1v1 matches continued happening. And hosts were dutifully choosing the highlights to display to the audience.
