The Central Hall of the War God Temple.
This hall, which ordinarily saw almost no visitors, was now filling up with high-ranking members of various superpowers as the bell signaling the end of the Preliminary Battle echoed through the air.
In the span of just a few moments, over a third of the hall—large enough to fit half a football field—was packed with players, transforming the once-empty space into something approaching a crowd.
"The Preliminary Battle has only been going for less than ten minutes, and they've suddenly announced it's over? Did the rules change?"
"That shouldn't be possible. The rules were all confirmed before the competition started."
"But it ended in less than ten minutes? That's barely enough time to do anything in the Preliminary Battle at all…"
…
The various superpowers' leaders whispered among themselves, buzzing with curiosity over why the Preliminary Battle had concluded so abruptly.
Just as their confusion reached its peak, a massive teleportation magic circle materialized at the center of the hall. At the same time, a stone tablet rose from the floor.
The tablet's appearance instantly drew the attention of every superpower present—especially the nine that had sent external allies.
Names of guilds belonging to those nine superpowers began to gradually appear on the stone tablet, clearly intended to reveal how many of the one hundred qualifying spots each guild had secured.
"No way! The results are really coming out this soon?"
"I wonder which guild got the most external allies this time? If any of them secured more than twenty official spots, that would be a huge boost for the upcoming Guild Seat Competition."
"Based on earlier intel, the Miracle Guild has the best shot. They hired the Elf Enchantress, after all. She's the best at long-range ambushes and sneak attacks—taking out someone carrying a War God Token. Even the other five among the Six Masters of the Fire Dragon would have a hard time blocking her shots."
…
The assembled leaders speculated among themselves as the stone tablet slowly revealed its text, while the members of Frost Heaven Sword watched with mounting tension.
According to Frost Heaven Sword's internal intelligence, their overall strength in this seat competition ranked somewhere in the middle. Without enough external allies, they would almost certainly have no chance at securing one of the twelve provisional seats.
The seat competition was a territory control battle—the more powerful fighters, the better.
Once a guild captured a resource node, it received a Resource Emblem. Any player wearing that emblem would continue to earn guild contribution points as long as they remained within the node's activity range. This meant the emblem carriers had to be exceptionally strong.
Otherwise, they could easily be ambushed and killed by experts from other guilds, resulting in the loss of the emblem.
"Ten! We just need ten people!" Mu Xin murmured to herself, gazing at the stone tablet.
As for how many of their external allies would actually qualify, the Frost Heaven Sword contingent had essentially given up hope. Their only wish was that the number wouldn't drag them further behind.
"Ten? Dream on." Qianli Wuya, the Vice Guild Master of the Miracle Guild, overheard and let a cold smile curl at the corner of his lips. "Too bad you hired
"Wuya, you went too far this time. I told you before we left to have the Elf Enchantress coordinate with the other three guilds to take out Zero Wing, but instead you relayed orders to wipe out Zero Wing and then eliminate the rest of Frost Heaven Sword's external allies as well?" First Vice Guild Master Hun Duan Shifang shook his head disapprovingly. "If Frost Heaven Sword finds out about this, they're going to cause us no end of trouble down the line."
"Either way, we need to cut into the other guilds' external ally counts. If Frost Heaven Sword takes a few extra losses, it's no big deal. If they want to blame someone, they should blame themselves for going to Zero Wing for help," Qianli Wuya said dismissively.
He harbored a deep grudge against Zero Wing.
It was all because of Zero Wing that his standing within the guild had plummeted time and again. Now that he had a chance for revenge, there was no way he would let it slip.
Moreover, this time, it had been he who had personally convinced the guild to cooperate with the Sacred Heart's Hand and coordinate with the other three guilds to take action.
Meanwhile, in a quiet corner of the hall, Han Guang Shiying cast a sympathetic glance toward Mu Xin in the distance.