...…

The quarter-finals of the Shadow Ranking Cup was about to start but before it happened the matchups for the upcoming fights needed to be decided. And all of the quarter-finalists were currently gathered in a single place. They were standing on the stage in front of the in-game reporters.

Originally, the tournament organizers wanted to have a live audience for the draw lots of the matchups. But they immediately rejected the idea the moment they realized how famous these players were in the game.

Having a lot of audiences was quite good, but they were afraid that they couldn't handle the number of players who were going to attend. And if they limit the numbers of the attendees, they were afraid that the players who failed to attend were going to raise a revolt.

But there were still some things that didn't go as they planned. Their original plan was to set an interview window between the top 8 and the reporters. Unfortunately, none of the reporters were brave enough to raise the first question. And it was because of the very atmosphere looming around the whole venue.

Each of the Top 8 was an expert of their own. So, placing them in a single place was a very 'big brain' move since their 'battle intents' were going to resurface due to their hunger for battle. And due to that, the whole place was engulfed by a very intense pressure coming from their bodies.

And just like that, the whole venue became too quiet all the way until the host finally decided to start the drawing lots for the quarter-finals' matchups.

"Alright! Ladies and Gentlemen! Here is what we all are waiting for! We are finally going to know who among the top 8 are going to face each other!"

The host paused for a moment before explaining how this draw lots was going to work. "So~, here are the rules on how this drawing lot is going to work. Our top 8 is going to draw their respective numbers in the ballot that we have here," while pointing at the cube box in the middle front of the stage.

After that, he immediately continued. "The orders of the matches are going to be decided according to their numbers. And to make it simpler for us, the matches are going to be like this…"

"The players who were going to draw the numbers 1 and 2, are going to fight against each other. The same for the 3 and 4, and so on."

"This also means that we only have seven people who are going to draw their numbers and there is a sole player who will be given the last number that is not drawn."

Then he turned his head at the top 8 standing behind him before continuing. "As for how we are going to identify who is that sole player-…"

The host was still in the middle of talking when he was suddenly interrupted by 'Demon' who was standing at the rightmost side of the group.

While raising his hand a little, Demon suddenly said. "There is no need to waste everyone's time for that, I can just that spot; no problem."

The host was stunned for a moment as he didn't know how to reply. He first turned his head to the side to look for the event manager, asking for his opinion. And when he saw that the manager was signaling him to ask for the other participants opinion, he immediately nodded his head and intended to do so.

Unfortunately, he was unable to bring himself to do it because he saw that the other participants were looking at him very fiercely. It was as if they were saying that they would kill him if he wasted anymore of their time.

Feeling that pressure coming from their stares, the host couldn't help but break in a cold sweat. 'F*ck the manager's orders! Let's just go with what they want. I don't want to embarrass myself for getting beaten up in front of these cameras.'

After that, he immediately flashed a smile at them before saying. "Alright! Since everyone was seemingly agreeing with him, then let's go that way."

He ignored all of the event manager's warnings and immediately proceeded to the next part. "Ok, let's now go with the drawing lots. But first let's pick the one who is going first."

The moment those words left his mouth, all of the other participants simultaneously turned their heads at the left most part of the group where Shin was currently standing and lost in his thoughts.

'Tch! Can the extra person be me? I really don't want to stand in front,' these were the thoughts that were running inside Shin's head when he suddenly noticed that everyone was looking in his direction.

'F*ck! What is it now?' He swept his gaze at them, confused at what's going on.

This time, the host immediately realized what the other participants wanted to do. But instead of saying it too bluntly, he made it a little 'reasonable'. "But since our final spot is going to be reserved for Mister Demon here, how about you start with the other side to be 'fair'?"

At this point, the corner of Shin's mouth was starting to twitch uncontrollably the moment he heard his words. He was actually even tempted to punch this guy's face right now. And as if rubbing some salts on his wounds, the other participants 'seemed to agree' with the host's words unanimously.

Going with the flow, the host ignored what the event manager was saying and immediately said. "Oh~! Everyone seems to not have any problems with it! Let's immediately proceed at drawing the numbers then."

He then stopped talking and made a way for Shin and signaled him to proceed at drawing his numbers.

Seeing that, Shin seemed to really want to kill this host right now. But when he saw that the other participants were giving him a look that seemed to be urging him to pick his number immediately.

With a twitching smile behind his mask, Shin said in his mind. 'Just you wait! I'll make sure to destroy all of you later.'

After that, he proceeded to walk towards the drawing ballot to see what number was he going to draw. And without having any second thoughts, he quickly put his hand inside the hole and pulled it immediately after grabbing a sphere inside it.

After pulling the numbered sphere, Shin immediately took a quick look at the number written on it before extending his arm forward to show his number to everyone. What was written on it was the number '1', meaning he would be on the first spot and was going to fight first later along with whoever got the second spot.

Immediately after that, Shin walked towards the part of the stage designated for the first spot. And when he was done, Gairen who was previously beside him earlier quickly walked towards the ballot and drew his number with any hesitation; he got the seventh spot.

The process was repeated all the way until Owen who was standing beside Demon drew his spot.

The moment he saw his number, he couldn't help but grin very widely before showing his number; not on the camera a few distance in front of him, but to Shin who was standing alone in the spot designated for the first matchup of the quarter-finals. And the spot that he drew was the sphere that had the number '2' written on it.

Seeing that, Shin started grinning behind his mask. "So, it is a rematch from the get-go, huh? I have no problem with that."

After Owen drew his number, the host started talking once again. "Alright! Now that everyone is done drawing their numbers, our last and final slot will automatically go to Mister Demon here to complete our matchups for the quarter-finalist!"

From the looks of it, he really wanted to end this event as soon as possible since he really couldn't stand the very heavy atmosphere surrounding the whole stage anymore.

So, to wrap everything up, he immediately said the closing words. "Before we end all of this, let me tell all of you to stay tuned everyone! Because we are going to immediately have our very first match thirty minutes after we are done here!"

And as he climbed down the stage, he didn't forget to reintroduce the mashups that were about to come. "And once again! Ladies and Gentlemen, here are your matchups for the quarter-finals of the Shadow Ranking Cup."

At the same time, Shin and others saw the signals of the event manager to face each other while the photographers were taking some photos. Fortunately, they complied at him at this time and started facing their opponents.

Shin extended his right to Owen while saying. "Looks like you made it, huh?"

Seeing that, Owen started chuckling and grabbed Shin hand to shake it. "Why did you always steal the words that I wanted to say."

On the other side, Similar things were happening. Though, this particular pair was the only one that seemed to be friendly with each other.

Further back of the stage, the screen started showing the previous matches and iconic moves that the top 8 had while displaying the names for the respective matchups.

First Match:

-Collision of Rising Stars: The Nameless Swordsman vs The Dark Knight (Rematch)

Second Match:

-The Long-Awaited War of Kings: Silent Blade: 'Sword King' Sairen vs Unrivalled Sniper: 'Gun King' Roger

Third Match:

-Battle of the Dark Hoses: Demon vs Xena

Fourth Match:

-The Undying Rivalry: Innocent Nightmare: Gairen vs Midnight Devil: Raptor

...…