Chapter 398 Showdown!

The two powerhouses stood facing each other, silent.

They didn't move an inch until the barrier disappeared.

After a moment, Shiva was the first to speak, breaking the silence, "To meet you in the third match really messed up our plans."

"I don't care about things like tactical arrangements…" Gui Xiao replied, "But… after all, the opponent is [The Gods]. I can roughly guess the reason why the higher-ups arranged for me to appear early."

At this moment, there was no need for them to consider any information-related taboos in their conversation.

Because when Shiva stepped onto the stage, his, or rather, [The Gods]' "plan," was already evident.

Anyone could see that the intention behind [The Gods]' order of appearance was undoubtedly to "end the match within four rounds."

The idea behind this tactic was correct… as long as they could achieve a three-to-one score in the first four matches, then [Order]'s "General," Gui Xiao, might not even have the chance to appear before being eliminated.

Therefore, [The Gods] only considered the lineup combinations for the first four matches, and in the "General" position, they placed the weakest newcomer in the team, [Mahoraga].

According to their original plan… in the first two matches, they were about fifty percent confident in Ashura's match; while Vishnu and Garuda's tag team match had a seventy percent chance of success.

[The Gods]' analysis team believed that Ye Zhi and Barcode, one a support and the other a shooter, would definitely be placed in the tag team lineup. Moreover, the two weren't well-suited to pairing up, so they would definitely have to team up with someone else. In summary… [Order] had a high probability of sending Ye Zhi out in the first tag team match. At that time, as long as they used Vishnu's control ability and Garuda's speed to kill her first, the tag team match would be very stable.

Based on this calculation… they had a good chance of winning at least one of the two matches.

If they were lucky and won the first two matches, then when Shiva came on in the third match, as long as the person facing him wasn't Gui Xiao, [The Gods] might even be able to sweep [Order] three-to-zero.

Even if they were only averagely lucky and the first two matches resulted in a one-to-one tie… after Shiva won his match, they would still have a two-to-one lead. In the "Vice-General Battle," [The Gods] had the combination of [Brahma] and [Yama]; while [Order] had one of the "Drunk to Death" duo, paired with Ye Zhi or Barcode… this would still be an advantageous matchup.

However… as the saying goes, plans can't keep up with changes.

When Ashura won the first match, [The Gods]' behind-the-scenes team seemed to see the hope of a three-to-zero victory. They didn't expect the opponents' two old foxes to pull it back in the second match.

Of course, what surprised everyone the most was Gui Xiao's appearance in the "Adjutant Battle."

If Shiva's appearance officially exposed [The Gods]' battle plan, then Gui Xiao's appearance was a declaration – that [Order] had been on guard against [The Gods]' calculations long before the match.

It wasn't that [Order]'s team was much smarter than [The Gods], but… in order to avoid Gui Xiao's nearly unsolvable trump card and consider the overall strength of [Order], [The Gods] didn't have many strategies to choose from… It wasn't difficult to take precautions in advance.

The lineup that [Order] put out today was a lineup that could cope with both a "conventional approach" and a "fight for the top four."

"Heh…" After a few seconds, Shiva laughed, "Although it's outside the plan, now that things have come to this… I'm quite happy."

"Because… you can fight me?" Gui Xiao roughly understood the other party's feelings.

"That's right." Shiva said, "This battle… has made me…" As he spoke, he opened his arms, raised his eyes slightly, and said loudly, "And countless viewers… waited for too long." He paused for a second, took a deep breath, "Haa… As the boss of the studio, as the captain of the team, avoiding a fight with you is the right idea, but…" He couldn't help but laugh, "Hehe… As a professional… no… an ordinary player! To be able to fight you on this stage, just thinking about it makes me extremely excited…"

"Mm." At this moment, a few sparks of fighting spirit quietly ignited in Gui Xiao's eyes, and his rogue energy also came up, "Then…" As he spoke, a disdainful smile hung on the corner of his mouth, "Please do your best, use all your means… and then… without any regrets… be defeated by my hands."

As soon as his voice fell, a strong energy field bloomed around him and Shiva at the same time, looking like two tornadoes soaring into the sky from afar.

In an instant, the two rapidly expanding energy vortexes collided in the air, and the splashing energy turbulence surged and scattered in all directions, leaving large pits everywhere, like artillery bombardment.

In this first wave of qi clash, the two seemed to be evenly matched. Shiva felt that the "greeting" was almost over, so he raised his arms high and slowly spread them to the sides of his body; as he made this movement, the eight stone discs of the *Tianwu Shaluo* (Heavenly Dance Hourglass) also appeared one by one above his head and shoulders along the trajectory of his palms.

"One minute…" As Shiva said this, he grabbed with one hand and pulled out his legendary weapon, *Xiuwu Canxiao* (Rusted Mist Twilight), from his bag, "If you can still stand in one minute, I'll admit defeat!"

Ping ping ping ping ping ping——

As Shiva's arrogant words came out, six of the stone discs behind him shattered in an instant.

At this moment, he activated the Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Space, and Moon effects of the *Tianwu Shaluo* at the same time, and he rushed towards Gui Xiao at an incredible speed.

Shiva knew very well that this battle… had to be a quick decision.

If he gave Gui Xiao time to summon all of his one doppelganger, two shikigami, and three thought beasts, Shiva wouldn't be able to withstand it even with three heads and six arms.

Therefore, Shiva released this "one minute" declaration very domineeringly… For him, one minute was more than enough to use all his killing moves and methods.

First of all, the ordinary attacks of the *Tianwu Shaluo* couldn't break Gui Xiao's defense at all. It was useless to keep the stone discs, so it was better to open all the effects that could be opened in one breath, anyway, the duration of those abilities was not very long.

Secondly, there was nothing to hide about *Xiuwu Canxiao*. This weapon was originally something used to fight desperately in close combat. When was he going to use it if not now?

In addition, his Soul Intent [Eye of Destruction] and the effect of the "Destruction" stone disc were also ready at any time. As soon as he had the opportunity, he would release it at Gui Xiao's head or heart. Once it hit, it would be an instant kill.

"Hmph…" Seeing the opponent's attack, Gui Xiao finally showed his grimace.

It was this expression, and the wild, fiery red hair, that left an indelible nightmare in the hearts of countless players.

"One minute, huh…" As Gui Xiao muttered these four words, several effects of the *Tianwu Shaluo* had already taken effect on him…

Earth Effect – [Pure Land], cleared his own skill and equipment bonuses (lasts one minute).

Water Effect – [Absolution], inflicted a mental erosion that ignored physical defense on him. Within thirty seconds, according to his fear response, a certain percentage of his health would be lost every second (the minimum was no less than 1%).

Fire Effect – [Karma Fire], a "sure hit" fire attribute attack that ignores attribute defense, and has both physical and mental double damage. The power depends on the user's spirit art proficiency level (Shiva's spirit art proficiency is undoubtedly S-grade).

Wind Effect – [Wind Scythe], summoned the Pinaka Trident, and flew straight towards Gui Xiao's chest; this attack was accompanied by lightning attribute, and the power depended on the user's combat proficiency (Shiva's combat proficiency was also S-grade).

In addition, there were two effects that acted on Shiva himself, namely:

Space Effect – [Air Control], gave Shiva the ability to fly freely for one minute.

Moon Effect – [Moon Prism], covered Shiva's body with a layer of Moon Prism Light Cover, immune to all physical or energy attacks within ten seconds; attacks with "extremely strong" power can penetrate the Moon Prism Light Cover, but only cause 50% damage.

In other words… even if Gui Xiao survived the first wave of four consecutive effects, he would still have to face Shiva, who had the ability to fly and was in a semi-invincible state.

"Just this level of attack…" A second later, when Gui Xiao said the second half of this sentence, he had already lost his skill and equipment bonuses, and [Absolution] and [Karma Fire] had both hit him. But even in this state, he raised his right hand and grabbed it, and still steadily caught the Pinaka Trident that was rushing towards him like thunder, "... one minute may not be enough, right?"