CHAPTER 708: CHANGES TO THE FINAL ROUND

--

"Welcome back to the preliminary rounds of the Heavenly Star’s Millennial Tournament, ladies and gentlemen. We are your hosts, Paul..."

"...and Lisa."

"And we’re 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.

"I’m 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!"

"That’s right, everybody, the final round is thus this simple. It’s a series of 1v1 matches to determine who’s 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 they’d 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 it’s 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 we’re to follow the original script, the ending is almost expected. All of you should be aware of this by now, right?"

"And while that’s indeed how it should be, you can’t deny that it’s a bit...well, boring. I mean, come on, this is the Millennial Tournament; it’s not allowed to be boring."

"So, to remedy that and add more, I guess you can say, ’flair’ in this final round, we decided to change things just a little bit."

"Dawnbringer won’t be participating in the regular 1v1 matches. Instead, he’ll go straight to the final stretch, putting him tentatively in 1st place."

"What’s 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, we’re 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, it’ll 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, Dawnbringer’s 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."

"How’s that for a twist?"

**

"No fucking way!"

"Is that allowed?"

"Dude! That’s insane."

"Why are y’all surprised? Dawnbringer’s an anomaly; of course they had to do something."

"I mean, yeah, but..."

"But nothing! He’s strong. Extremely strong. That’s the long and short of it. If I were in his shoes, I’d 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, I’d 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 it’s 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. They’re 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 he’s willing to play along, and to everybody’s surprise, Dawnbringer accepted.

It didn’t even take him a second to make a decision. He readily agreed, looking amused and a bit excited as he did so.

"Sounds fun, I’m 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 doesn’t 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 it’s because of the particular setting, or maybe it’s just the wind, but everybody was more inclined to think that it’s 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 can’t ignore.

Screw the gap! Fuck the organizers! They inwardly swore that they’d do their best to fight for a spot in the top 25 so that they can smack Dawnbringer’s 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 didn’t even need to think about it; he accepted immediately.

He could tell why they felt the need to do this. And honestly, the concept wasn’t too bad. Yes, he knew and completely understood the consequences of him losing, but he honestly didn’t care.

It just sounded too fun to pass, that’s why he agreed immediately. If others took his attitude the wrong way, well, that’s on them. And even if they did, so what? It’s not like that’s going to change anything.

Due to this arrangement, Cedric won’t 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.

"He’s got balls of steel; I respect it, truly."

"Tungsten balls, indeed."

"He’s got guts; I like that."

"Dude, he doesn’t 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, he’s strong and all, but he’ll be facing the top 25 of the entire Immortal League bracket, you know? Whoever those people ended up being, it’s almost certain that they won’t be nobodies."

"I’d agree with you if it weren’t for the fact that the gap between him and the tentative 2nd place wasn’t so immense."

"Ah, you’re right."

"Yeah, the gap was so wide that it’s not even funny."

"Of course it’s not funny! It’s devastating, especially for the 2nd place."

"The poor guy probably went into this competition thinking that he’d easily surf to the first place. And he would’ve, if Dawnbringer didn’t show up."

"And it’s not even close; that’s the worst part. Even if he were to be given a decade or so to catch up, the gap between him and Dawnbringer won’t 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.