Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

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"Unbelievable! He actually lost!"

Unbeknownst to Cedric and the fierce man, there was actually a live spectator of their battle.

His name is Steven, and he is a die-hard fan of Giant Axe Andrew—the fierce man that Cedric defeated. He's one of Andrew's most loyal fans and supporters, especially since Steven had been there since Andrew's very first match. Though Steven watched Andrew from a distance, he maintained a professional fan-to-idol relationship. They haven't even met in person after all this time.

As Andrew's fan, Steven was, of course, very biased. In his eyes, Andrew's domineering playstyle was very handsome. 'That's how a man should fight! 'He used to comment whenever he watched Andrew's matches. The fierce man's brutal efficiency and decisive actions were how combat specialists should act. Watching Andrew fight was often very cathartic to Steven, especially when he's up against some arrogant evolvers. He always loved it whenever Andrew crushed them with pure raw strength, so much so that they could never get back up.

In his free time, Steven will either watch Andrew's matches live as a spectator or watch replays. This is how he unwinds after a long day of work. He once dreamt of becoming like Andrew, but his talent was for the logistic side of things, not combat.

Coincidentally, he managed to catch Andrew's match just in time. He went in, expecting to see Andrew crushing his opponent as usual.

He especially pitied Cedric at first, lamenting how unlucky he was for his first match to be with Giant Axe Andrew of all people. Obviously, he knew that this Dawnbringer was a newly promoted guy to the Immortal League.

But to his absolute shock, the newbie that should've been crushed and defeated miserably by his idol, Giant Axe Andrew, not only matched the fierce man blow per blow, which not many people could do by the way, but also defeated him!

Steven would be so sad if he wasn't so surprised and dumbfounded. Because who the hell was this guy!?

'He comprehended the Great Law of Sword and Fire at the same time? And the ease at which he fuses both of them...holy! Who is he!? Some distant descendant of an ancient family or clan? Why have I never heard of him before? '

The match was incredible. Steven actually forgot that he was supposed to be eating as he watched because of how intense the match got. He even forgot to breathe a couple of times in between, not that it affected him that much, but still...

His mind practically exploded when he saw Giant Axe Andrew going all out. Throughout his history following the guy's career, the number of times he had seen Giant Axe Andrew going all out could be counted on one hand, and previously, he only got to see them in replays. Now that he saw it happening live, he promptly lost his mind because of the hype.

Steven got to see the real reason why he admired and idolized Giant Axe Andrew as a true combat specialist. The way how the world surrendered to his will was truly special. Seeing it live was truly a special kind of experience.

But just as he thought that the match was practically over, this Dawnbringer surprised both him and Giant Axe Andrew.

As much as he disliked to admit this, the scene of that titanic sword rising from out of nowhere was visually striking and very handsome. Steven had seen Sword Masters before, but none of them came even close to what this Dawnbringer showcased.

That, and the billowing golden flames around the gigantic sword, made it look divine. And when it descended upon Giant Axe Andrew, Steven's heart practically leapt to his throat.

Then, he watched as, for the first time, he saw Giant Axe Andrew struggle. He could only imagine just how heavy that sword was, on top of its sharpness and the pure heat it was radiating.

Steven even saw the earth beneath them disintegrating because of those golden flames.

He watched as his idol struggled greatly to complete his world-ending swing. He saw how he groaned in pain, his blood vessels rupturing due to the pressure, and how he refused to back down even at the last moment.

Yet even with all of that effort, he still failed. Giant Axe Andrew has truly met his match this time.

Dawnbringer only took another step forward to drive his sword even deeper, and all of Andrew's resistance was broken. Steven watched, horrified, as he saw the gigantic sword being driven into his idol's body.

Fortunately, the audience was spared from his gruesome death. Nevertheless, it was clear Giant Axe Andrew lost. And unlike his other losses, this one wasn't even close; that much was obvious.

Recovering from the memories of that thrilling match, Steven released a tense breath.

"If I recall correctly, today was also Great Axe Clan's centennial gathering. As the clan's most promising descendant, Giant Axe Andrew must've been the focus of attention, and this match must've been seen by everybody from the clan."

"That means his entire clan saw how he lost against Dawnbringer. Damn! What a mess! I hope this doesn't cause too much problem for my idol, especially now that the millennial tournament's about to occur!"

The Great Axe Clan was one of the most respected ancient clans in the Dark Star Domain. Alongside of them were the Rainbow Phoenix Clan, who took the nine-colored divine phoenix as their clan totem. The Iron Fist Clan, which specializes in martial arts. The Ethereal Cloud Clan, specializing in illusions and mysticism. And finally, the Mysterio Imperial Family.

Obviously, to these clans, their reputation was almost as important as their life. They're strict with their descendants and even stricter with outsiders.

Rumors said that, despite being groomed as the next Great Axe Clan's Patriarch, Giant Axe Andrew couldn't care less. It's even said that he sees his own clan as a bothersome shackle he couldn't get rid of.

But these were all just rumors. Nobody has ever dared to actually confirm this because it's definitely a can of worms.

"They shouldn't trouble him that much, right? I mean, if they're all watching that match live, they'd see that Giant Axe actually treated his opponent seriously. He even went all out! It's just that his opponent was way stronger than he was, that's all! It's normal for him to be defeated! They shouldn't be so delusional to demand too much from him just like that, right?"

Steven scratched his head. He doesn't even know why he was so bothered by this. This may have something to do with his own struggles with his family and their expectations. Because of the reputation of the Great Axe Clan, he immediately assumed that the clan would have some unreasonable expectations of their people just for the sake of keeping face, something that is, unfortunately, very common amongst big clans like them.

"Ah! Whatever! It has nothing to do with me. Besides, Giant Axe Andrew is strong. I believe that this won't affect him that much. He's experienced worse, anyway!"

Steven firmly believes that his idol will be just fine. This is part of a series from My Virtual Library Empire (M|V|L1EMPYR).

Now that he somewhat let go of his worries about his idol's personal life, his attention inevitably returned to the culprit behind all of this.

'Dawnbringer. Who in the world are you? '

Steven was drawing blanks. He's pretty much sure that Dawnbringer has never made an appearance prior to this. He might even be completely new to the Virtual Universe.

He could guess this much because Steven was a private investigator working for the Dark Star Domain's Space Marine Branch. He's like a spy or a glorified stalker. His duty was to know who goes in and out of the Dark Star Domain.

As anyone would expect, his workload was immense. The pile of documents accumulating on his virtual desk never went down; it's even stacking higher instead. It's especially stressful given how he's paid by the work he's done, rather than the time he's spent inside his office.

He had dreamt of strangling his boss so many times that he'd lost count. Watching Giant Axe Andrew's matches was one of the ways he could release his pent-up aggressions, preventing him from actually choking his superior to death.

As a glorified stalker, Steven should be one of the very first people to know when such a fierce person like this appears. And even though the Virtual Universe promises customer confidentiality, there are loopholes around it that people like Steven could exploit to get what they want.

But even after leveraging this, Steven remains empty-handed. He couldn't find any relevant information about this Dawnbringer, not even aclue he could use to potentially crack down on his real-world identity.

Obviously, he couldn't have imagined that the person he's trying to investigate turns out to be a Scarlet VIP of the Golden Bangle Bank. Had he known, he would've stopped immediately and apologized profusely.

Fortunately, the staff who detected his probing only flagged his attempts and haven't sent anybody to punish him just yet. But if Steven becomes a little too curious, it wouldn't be too late to give him a slight reminder.

Anyways, Steven doesn't know of this yet.

What he does know is that Dawnbringer queued up for another match. And since Giant Axe Andrew was offline, he might as well watch Dawnbringer while he's at it.