The Tournament for each world is composed of several brackets.

For reference; In Niflheim, all the participants were separated into four brackets. After the winner has been decided in each bracket, the first part of the tournament will end, then the semi-finals will officially start.

The four players that have managed to win each bracket will have a PVP, a one-on-one battle to determine who will move up for the finals.

After the two remaining winners have been decided, they will go up for the finals and have a PVP one last time to compete for the title of, The World Champion.

After Yuki's first fight, he fought a lot of different opponents for the incoming rounds. He fought a lot of Demihumans and Heteromorphics, but he also meets some humanoid players in the rounds he has been through.

His battle between the Heteromorphics wasn't that hard of a fight since he's undoubtedly the strongest Heteromorphic Player.

For the Demihumans, some of them have put up a good fight against Yuki and managed to make him a tiny bit serious, but in the end, none of them had stood a chance no matter how hard they fought.

And as for the Humanoids, Yuki only faced seven of them. Four Humans, two Rainbow Eyes, and one Winged Human. Even though Yuki only meets seven of them, all of them gave Yuki a bit of a hard time, since all of them were maxed level Players and at least have a two-digit number as their Player Rank within the overall Player Ranking list.

During his fight with them, Yuki didn't take them lightly and fought them seriously from the very beginning since he saw that they all have an item that is ranging from Legendary to Divine class items.

But in the end, Yuki managed to defeat all of them without any problem. The only reason why Yuki had a hard time against all of them is that they're much harder to kill compared to the others. But when it comes to strength, for Yuki, they're not that threatening.

But unlike his fight with the others, he didn't manage to end the fight untouched. He still received a few hits and blows, but did he suffered from it? No, not at all. His HP regenerates much faster than the damage he accumulates.

But either way, it's not really a big deal since once the Players return to the Preparation room, all the amount of HP and MP that was used or had decreased during their last fight will return to its original amount so that no one will be at a disadvantage for the next upcoming fight.

The Item's and Equipment's durability too will also return to their original state once a Player reaches the Preparation room after the fight. But Items and Equipment that have been consumed or destroyed during the fight will be exceptional.

Anyway, Yuki won all the rounds in the bracket he belongs to and passes through all the levels much faster than anyone. His name keeps going up whenever he won a fight.

Many names of different players are also rising at the top, but the number of participants had dropped as they all reach the higher stages.

The number keeps decreasing until two names are the only one that's left at the very top of Niflheim's bracket, and one of the two names that are displayed is Yuki's IGN.

∆∆∆∆∆

*Swiiing*

*TINGG!*

Sounds of clashing metals are to be heard echoing across the Big white room arena.

Inside, one can see two Players fighting against each other at a very aggressive pace.

One of them is wearing fiery Black Armor and has a spear for a weapon while the other has a shining Golden Armor and holding a big Red Halberd.

Obviously, Yuki is the one with the Black Armor and the Golden one is his opponent.

"... Tch!"

*Swoosh*

Yuki right now is more serious than he ever was in all of the fights he has been through. Whenever he swings and thrusts his spear, it comes with an intent to finish the fight.

*Clang!*

"... You're so goddamn annoying!" The Golden Armor Player shouted as he blocked Yuki's attack then do a counter.

*Clangk!*

"... Oh, how strange. Because I feel the same thing too!" Yuki retorted as he blocked the counter-attack and throws back his own counter too.

*Clang!*

The whole fight so far is like a well, never-ending, orchestrated dance. Someone will throw an attack, the other one will block it then do a counter, then the counter will be blocked by the other then do a counter too, then it will be blocked again and then counter, then repeat. It's like this throughout the fight.

None of the two are trying to break the pattern since they know that they'll end up in the same situation anyway, so they just do this and wait for the other one to make a mistake.

One might question why they're just going head to head against each other and not using any Skill or Spell.

Well, it's all because of the sudden fight rule that had been implemented before the match had started.

|••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••|

! 𝗔𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 !

[ Rules ]

— For this round, the use of any kind of Spells and Skills are not allowed.

|••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••|

Yuki expected this kind of thing to happen because it's written within the Information and Rules, but still, it is too sudden.

Yuki did not think that this kind of Fight Rule will appear in the final stage of the Bracket. Not that it's a problem but if both of them agreed on one thing, it's very annoying.

Thanks to the Rule, this current fight that they're having is the longest fight they ever had on this Tournament.

But actually, Yuki can finish the fight if he manages to land a clean hit, but that's easier said than done. Yuki's opponent right now is a Player that's within the top 10 of the overall Player Ranking so he just can't have an easy fight like he always had.

It's the same situation for Yuki's opponent, but the only difference is, even if he lands a hit, the fight will still continue.

*Clang!*

*Clangk!*

*Clank!*

*Clang!*

...

Both of them are just stuck in a loophole and do the same thing again and again for the next couple of minutes... None of them are planning to give up and keep going at each other vigorously.

No one's planning to let anything get through their defenses, or at least that's the image they want to show.

But... One of them is still destined to make a slight mistake.

"... Ah sh*t!" Yuki said as he seemingly tripped while doing an attack.

Finally! The moment has come when one of them made a wrong move and fell out within the pattern...

"... HA! Finally!"

Yuki made a slight mistake and the Golden Armor Guy didn't miss this opportunity to do a possible lethal attack.

He immediately raised his Halberd and swung it hard towards Yuki's neck.

Yuki just got tripped and extremely open for all sorts of attacks and due to his awkward stance, blocking the Golden Armor Guy's attack is not possible. Yuki will surely get hit.

*Swoosh*

Or so it seems.

"... Sike!" Yuki, for some reason, suddenly regained his balance then dodge the incoming attack by leaning backward.

"... WHAT!?"

Now, the Golden Armor Guy's whole body, who just made an attack, is the one who's so open now.

"... How the turned have tables." Not wanting to miss the chance, Yuki, while still in the same position, had thrust his spear on the Golden Armor Guy's head with full force.

The Golden Armor Guy tried to block the attack with his hand, probably a desperate move, but it did nothing as the spear continued to slash and pass through the Golden Armor's defense and still reach and penetrate through his head.

*SWIKSHH!*

Thankfully, this game doesn't have any realistic effect or this scene will be extremely gruesome. The Golden Armor guy's head was skewered by Yuki's spear, completely erasing his face, one of his hands too has been destroyed.

"... GG." Yuki said as he knows that his attack just finished off this fight.

And just as he expected, Yuki's name has been announced as the winner right after that.

"... F*ck. I'm so close already at the semis man~ Goddamit. I didn't know why I fall for such a cheap bait. Aah~ F*ck my life." Said the Golden Armor guy in frustration.

"... It's cheap. That's why." Yuki said towards the Golden Armor guy, adding more fuel to the fire.

"... Haa~? You f*cking sh— "The Golden Armor guy was about to retort but he didn't manage to finish as the next thing he knew, he's already at the preparation room while a big screen that says... [ You Lost ] is in front of him. Which frustrates him even more.

"... AAARRRRHHHHH!"

While on the other hand, Yuki is just madly laughing.

Yuki was also teleported back to the preparation room. After he got back, a bunch of notifications had assaulted him from his console too.

"... Finally, it feels like forever." Yuki said before he opened up his console to check the new notifications.

[ You are the winner for the 3rd Bracket ]

[ You will now move up for the Semi-Finals ]

[ +5 ]

Yuki read it all and what he saw was nothing but all Congratulations on winning the whole bracket and his next fight will be in the semi-finals. Nothing new.

*Sigh*

Yuki sighed deeply as he closes all the window panels and walks towards the lone chair in the room.

"... Let's see." Yuki sits on the chair while bringing up his Status window. After looking at his Status Window, for some reason, Yuki sighed deeply again.

"... I wonder if I could keep this up without using a large amount of MP. *Sigh* I doubt that, but I hope that it wouldn't be that much."

In the previous matches, Yuki doesn't hesitate to use spells and waste MP, because once he got back in the preparation room, he'll have them back anyway. But in the next upcoming rounds, both for the Semis and Finals, that won't happen anymore.

All HP and MP that had lost during the fights won't be given back any longer. Yeah, only two fights are remaining, but in those two rounds, Yuki will face the same Players that won their brackets as well. In short, they're strong. Yuki is much stronger, but he knows that can't just Spear his way through. That he'll end up fighting the edgy way.

But that's what worries him the most. Is how much he could potentially lose just to win the fight.

"... Haa~ Whatever."

Yuki decided to stop thinking about problems as he opens up his Console again. He decided to look for his friends' IGNs within the bracket. It took Yuki some time because some of them joined in another Worlds, but he still manages to find them, and there he saw that all of them... failed.

".. Hahaha, weaktards."

A few minutes after that, all four players that managed to win each bracket have finally been announced publicly. Yuki saw his name rising in another bracket, but this time the bracket was small and only four names were there.

Yuki clicked the listed Names on the bracket to look for Informations and there, he saw that all he's up against are nothing but Humanoids.

".. Oh well, so much for a world that is full of Heteromophics."

He looks at the ceiling again for a couple of minutes before he heard the timer again. He looks at the timer and saw that it's time for the Semi-finals already.

*Sigh*

He stands up from the chair and pulls out his spear. He watches the timer as it reached down to zero.

[ 6 ]

[ 5 ]

.....

".. *Sigh* Here we go again."

[ 1 ]

[ 0 ]

*TIIIINNGG!*

The moment that it reaches down to zero, he suddenly disappeared into the preparation room.... again.