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Atlas World, Saint Heaven Kingdom

While Arthur was too 'busy' with the things on his side, Shin continued to battle on the tournament. And just like most of the audience were thinking about the outcome of the match, he smoothly defeated his opponents. And it was the same for his new opponents that came from the losers' bracket didn't even stand a chance.

With all of those wins, Shin finally reached the top eight and was now waiting for the quarter-finals to start.

Actually, he was also waiting for the drawing lots for the said quarter-finals. And it was going to be a live one and would be broadcasted on different platforms, which was something that he really didn't want to do. But since it was a 'protocol' for any tournament, he didn't have much choice but to attend the said event. Though, he actually knew that they were only doing that, for the ratings of the show.

But aside from this, Shin was actually looking forward to fighting his next opponent. Especially the other participants who were pretty much like him; a rising star of a kingdom.

One of them was a familiar face as he already fought that guy in the opening round of the tournament; the 'Dark Knight: Owen'. Their first encounter was a quite satisfying fight, so he was really looking forward to having a rematch against him to decide who was the stronger rising star.

The other contenders were just like most of the noticeable players participating in the Shadow Ranking Cup; they were previously Rankers from their respective games.

Two from these guys were the pair of rivals who were 'Innocent Nightmare: Gairen' and 'Midnight Devil: Raptor'. These two both had a thief-related class; one was a Twilight Dark Elf while the other was a Wolfkin Hunter. And even if the tournament organizers pulled an underhanded trick to make this battle come true, the audience would not mind it since most of them were anticipating this matchup.

Aside from this matchup that would decide the better thief, there was another battle that the audience were anticipating. And that was the battle between Kings of the previous game called «Nemesis Online». This game was a famous game that only focused on guns and swords. And these two contenders were crowned as the kings of the swords and guns.

One of them was named 'Sairen' who possessed the title of the 'Silent Blade'. He was a great swordsman who was known for having a strange style of swordsmanship. And just like his title implied he had a silent sword; each swing of his sword was silent which made his attacks hard to predict.

Martial-Artists and Mentalists were known for having a great advantage in battle even inside the game since they had sharp senses, especially their hearing. But if the incoming attack was something they couldn't hear, then they were going to have a hard time dodging or blocking it. This was one of the major reasons why 'Sairen' became the king of swords in the said game.

On the other hand, his major rival was not a weak one either. 'Unrivalled Sniper: Roger' was someone who was known for having a godly aiming ability. As long as he had the right gun for the current situation, he could hit his opponent no matter how far or near they were.

At the same time, Roger was also good at using the unusual way of fighting called the Gun-Fu. It was a special battle style based on the real world's Military Arts. With this style, he could battle any player with a melee class in a close-quarters combat.

Being known as the kings of their respective styles on «Nemesis Online», these two were meant to meet sooner or later. It was just a pity that they didn't get a chance to face each other before since the game started to lose its popularity when the other virtual games were released during its peak.

Naturally, the tournament organizers of the virtual world would choose the most trending games to feature for their tournaments. And due to that, the most anticipated fight between these two legendary players had never occurred.

Good thing, that this current Shadow Ranking Cup might make this dream match come true. And if this matchup really happened, then it was without a doubt that this battle would become one of the most highlighted battles of the tournament.

The next top contender was the sole player who had a magic-related class that entered the quarter-finals. At the same time, she was also the only female contestant that entered the top eight. And her name was 'Xena'.

Unlike the other participants, she was the only one that didn't have a title of her own. Due to that, she was the most underwhelming contestant among these top contenders.

But despite that being the case, now one dared to underestimate her. Because she was just like Shin; most of the opponents that she defeated were quite famous individuals. It was just her battles were not as flashy as our boy which made the audience not notice her battles much.

Even if she was not as popular as the other contestants, her skills were still something that Shin and the others needed to take note of. With this, she became the darkest horse of the tournament.

Whichever of them would be Shin's next opponent, he was sure that they were going to give him a very satisfying battle since all of them were strong on their own good.

But if Shin was going to choose, then he would rather fight the last contestant who was receiving the least amount of attention.

If there was someone who was acting low-key on this tournament, then this guy would be the one that would fit the bill.

This guy has a very unnoticeable presence that made him very hard to notice. And even if he managed to reach the quarter-finals, most of his fights were a hard fought one. His overall performance so far was too underwhelming.

'Xena' beat her opponents with a great margin during her previous battles which made her at least barely noticeable for the others. But this guy didn't show any kind of amazing feat since the start of the tournament; he didn't even achieve anything that was worth mentioning.

Even if he could be considered as a dark horse of the tournament, most of the people ignored his presence and didn't consider him as the main contender for the Championship. At least, he was not as 'dark' as Xena.

But it was completely different from Shin's point of view. If he was going to choose among them who was the most dangerous one that he would face, then he would choose this guy without having a slightest bit of doubt. This guy's low presence alone was a lot of threat from Shin's perspective.

Shin just felt a huge pity that this guy was not using a thief-related class. Given that this guy's presence was pretty much unnoticeable, then he would surely be a very deadly assassin if he happened to have a class under that thief category.

No one really knew what class this guy had since none of his opponents managed to see his basic details even with the help of their observation skills. Most of them suspected him to have a special item that could hide his identity just like the 'Nameless Swordsman'; and it was most likely the jade Japanese demon mask that he was wearing.

Aside from him wielding a spear and his name registered as 'Demon', there was actually nothing to know about him. And from the audiences' perspective, he was only using the most basic way to use the spear.

Thrust, stab, swing, slash and cut; those were the only things that he was showing in all of his previous fights and nothing else. And if he ever used a skill, then it was most likely based or imbued with those said basic moves.

But unlike everyone, Shin was still thinking that this 'Demon' guy was the strongest opponent that he might be going to face. And another reason for it was his battle style itself.

Despite having the most basic and dull movements, Shin could see some traces of 'One with the Spear' state of enlightenment in this guy's moves.

Arthur was already in this state when he was wielding a spear; and since Shin fought Arthur for a lot of time already, he could immediately tell that someone achieved the same stage of weapon enlightenment with just a single look.

And if this guy really had achieved the state of being 'One with the Spear', then he would surely be a very tough opponent to take.

Aside from this, there was another reason why Shin thought this guy was his most dangerous opponent. And it was the 'feeling of familiarity' that he was getting from this guy.

It was not the 'familiarity' of 'might knowing' someone, but a feeling that reminded Shin of a certain place; a place that he almost wanted to forget forever.

Given this, Shin couldn't help but squinted his eyes while looking at the battle videos of this 'Demon' guy. "Are you really someone that came from that place?"

He then paused for a moment as he stared coldly at the virtual screen in front of him. At the same time, a very cold aura was starting to seep out from his body. "If that was the case, then I can't wait to meet you in the battle arena."

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