Declaration of War at the Tournament
“If I went all out, it wouldn't even be a contest, so I'll put a limit on myself. As you all know, I can ignore the system and use all sorts of skills, but…”
Ryu Hwi's greatest strength was that he could freely use skills and items from any game labyrinth whatsoever.
“This time, I'll use exactly one skill. All the others are sealed. That's a fair enough handicap, don't you think?”
He had just declared that he would throw away that advantage.
And he wasn't lying. He genuinely intended to use nothing except Intuition.
Ryu Hwi had deliberately scraped at the gamers' pride like sandpaper. Flaunt your contempt this openly, and any gamer confident in their abilities was bound to see red.
“You little—!!”
Sure enough, the Mad Dog Bisque was on the verge of exploding with fury.
“And one last thing… to those lucky enough to run into me at the tournament and snatch a shot at the championship — tell them I said congratulations in advance. And to the ones unlucky enough to meet me and get eliminated — tell them I'm sorry ahead of time. Good luck out there.”
With those parting words, Ryu Hwi vanished.
In that instant, the entire mood of the venue shifted from who's going to win? to that bastard must die, no matter what.
Even Ragna, who had only just become a gamer, felt a surge of indignation — whoa, that's flat-out contempt, even by his standards — so imagine how everyone else felt.
“Right, come to think of it, my gamer life only went sideways after that lunatic went on his rampage. He dies. He absolutely has to die.”
Bisque ground her teeth and radiated killing intent. She wasn't alone, either — the other gamers' reactions were nearly identical.
⟪The tournament will begin in 10 seconds. Once it starts, you will be transported to a random stage. Then… 10.⟫
Whatever excitement there had been about the tournament was long gone; all that remained was murderous hatred aimed at Ryu Hwi.
⟪0.⟫
At last, the Super Gemini tournament had begun.
Battle royale.
Simply put, it was a game where everyone on the battlefield was an 'enemy'. The fundamental rule of a battle royale: defeat every single person other than yourself.
There were times when you could cooperate with other gamers, but in the end, victory was only possible once every last one of them had fallen.
Round one required the roughly 1,700 gamers transported to each stage to fight until only the survivors remained.
Super Gemini's multiplayer matches could be summed up in a word: an item war.
Holding a single main weapon suited to your style, you used the stage's various gimmicks and items to crush your opponents — that was the shape of the game.
When the tournament began, Ragna was transported to Stage 3.
‹Stage 3 — Border of Plains and Snowfields›
A glance showed him the standing of his group and the total survivors.
Group 3 — 1,760 / 1,760.
No other gamers were visible nearby. They had presumably stationed everyone at separate starting points to prevent an immediate bloodbath of gamers colliding the moment the clock hit zero.
“Whew.”
Ragna took a deep breath.
He had spent years working as an analyst for Linzea, waiting the whole time for his chance to become a gamer — and then Linzea had collapsed.
The guild's fall itself was no real loss.
After all, Yggdrasil's update had made it possible for anyone to become a gamer.
And then, as if it had been waiting for exactly this moment, came Super Gemini — the very first game labyrinth of Yggdrasil 2.0.
Ragna had thrown himself into Super Gemini's world faster than anyone. As of now, he had cleared up to Stage 8.
Even Bisque and Noir were still working on their Stage 8 attempts. Among the gamers playing Super Gemini, he was at the very top of the food chain.
Ragna drew out his main weapon.
A Bubble Shooter.
It looked like a child's toy that fired bubbles, but the bubbles' offensive performance was seriously impressive. It could fire in near-endless succession, and the moment any impact struck a bubble, it detonated.
Ragna had picked up this Bubble Shooter by chance midway through Stage 4, and it had carried him through battle after battle like a whirlwind.
Super Gemini's system shows a warning marker whenever an enemy exists within combat range, he reminded himself.
It was a system designed to prevent players from dying without ever knowing what hit them — and it applied fully in multiplayer, too.
Ragna used the surrounding blocks as footholds to launch himself high into the sky, then scanned for other gamers.
“An item block!”
Spotting a block marked with a '!' on his way up, Ragna fired his Bubble Shooter. The '!' tile shattered, revealing a new item.
◈ Type: Throwing Weapon
◈ Effect: A boomerang wreathed in flame. Throw it, and it returns.
“A B-grade item, huh? Well, I'm sure I'll find a use for it eventually.”
In Super Gemini, every item came with a grade. The Bubble Shooter was S-grade — and rumor had it there were even items above S-grade, the fabled 'EX' tier.
“Huh?!”
A warning marker flashed into view. A signal that a gamer was nearby.
Found you!
Across the way, he could see a gamer weaving between blocks and closing in.
That person is…?
It was a familiar face, and Ragna swallowed hard.
With good reason — the man had been a rather popular gamer in World of Phantasm, famous for his handsome looks.
“Agos, was it?”
The moment Ragna confirmed who his enemy was, he hurled the Flame Boomerang.
“Wha—?! You dare launch a sneak attack?! Do you even know who you're dealing with?!”
Agos dodged Ragna's attack with casual ease, then climbed atop a block and glared down at him through gritted teeth.
“I've never seen you before, but apparently you don't know who I am. I am Agos, veteran of World of Phantasm — a man who earned the rank of Phantasma itself!”
In Yggdrasil 2.0, old records meant next to nothing. Did he really not realize that?
Ragna fired his Bubble Shooter anyway. A swarm of iridescent bubbles drifted up into the air.
“What is that toy? Honestly. This is the weapon fit for the man destined to stand at the summit — the EX-grade Shuffle Gun!”
EX?!'
Agos brandished the weapon mounted on his left arm, showing it off to Ragna like a peacock fanning its tail.
So the rumored weapon actually existed.
“This beauty draws one of the twenty cards stored in its deck and unleashes its power!”
“……!!”
Ragna swallowed.
Why on earth is he volunteering his weapon's abilities?
Super Gemini was packed with all kinds of weapons, and it was nearly impossible to figure out what traits each one had without clashing head-on. Deconstructing an enemy weapon's characteristics was, in itself, how the game was meant to be played — and this guy was just… openly bragging about how great his weapon was.
Is he really that confident?
Five holographic cards that looked like playing cards floated up along Agos's left arm. Agos tapped two of them with his finger.
“Decent draws. Body Reinforcement and One-Time Guard. Now — allow me to show you the difference in our levels!”
No, seriously, why would you TELL me that?! Is this some kind of high-level mind game?!
A moment later, Agos lunged.
Whether the Body Reinforcement effect was genuine or not, his movements had become incomparably faster than before.
Ragna didn't panic. He moved with deliberate calm, firing his Bubble Shooter in steady rhythm until every direction was thick with soap bubbles.
“These pathetic little bubbles!”
Agos pulled a hammer from his coat — auxiliary equipment he must have picked up on his way here.
“All I have to do is blow them away in one swing!”
The palm-sized hammer ballooned into something enormous in an instant.
He clearly intended to use the enlargement ability to send the soap bubbles scattering in a single blow — but the instant the hammer touched a bubble, it erupted in a blinding flash of light and exploded.
“GWAAAH?!”
Caught in the blast, Agos shrieked and went tumbling off the block.
“Hah— hahk— hah—.”
Before he hit the ground, Agos grabbed a nearby block and hauled himself back up.
“Exploding soap bubbles, is it? Using such sneaky tricks… not bad, kid!”
“…….”
Ragna was so dumbfounded that even a sigh refused to come out.
“But now that I know your bubbles' little secret, you won't catch me again. Prepare yourself… Hey! Where do you think you're going?!”
When Ragna backed away, Agos scrambled after him in hot pursuit.
Before long, Ragna came to a stop on a long line of floating blocks stretching off toward the far side of the snowfield. Agos, who had chased him onto the blocks, deployed his cards again.
“Hmph! A minute's passed, so I can draw new cards! Brace yourself!”
Ragna, thoroughly done with dealing with this man, simply pointed behind him.
“You might want to check behind you.”
“You think I'd fall for such an obvious trick… KUEK?!”
The Flame Boomerang he'd thrown earlier came arcing back to Ragna — and caught Agos square on the back of the head.
A critical hit on a completely undefended target.
In Super Gemini, taking a hit strong enough to 'actually kill you' meant game over.
ELIMINATED — Agos
How did a guy like that ever make Phantasma?
Phantasma — the word for those who had earned the right to challenge World of Phantasm's final content, the Tower of the Demon God. Once upon a time, it had meant the elite of the elite.
Nowadays, it just meant washed up.
Ragna logged an easy first kill.
Group 3 — 1,693 / 1,770.
“Whoa, over fifty already gone in that time?”
Fierce battles were evidently raging all over. Just then, another warning marker flickered into view.
“Honestly, they don't even give you a moment to breathe!”
‹Stage 9 — The Underworld›
Group 9 — 1,650 / 1,770
The fiercest fighting of all was unfolding in Group 9.
Because a mad dog was tearing across that battlefield — Bisque.
Just as she had in World of Phantasm, she whirled an axe far larger than her own body, rampaging in every direction at once.
She'd tried out all sorts of items, but in the end, nothing felt as natural in her hands as a heavyweight axe.
“Ryu Hwi, you son of a bitch!!”
Bisque vented her fury at Ryu Hwi with every strike.
Part of it was his taunting, sure — but what really set her blood boiling was something else entirely.
“How am I supposed to forgive you for SPOILING the stages like this, you bastard?!”
For the past month, Bisque had been having the time of her life exploring Super Gemini's world.
In World of Phantasm, the game had been less 'play' and more 'work'. But Super Gemini delighted its gamers in so many ways that every session felt rewarding.
What kind of world will greet me next?
Every moment had made her heart race.
And then that bastard went and spoiled it all — here's what Stage 9 looks like, everyone!
“I'm still only halfway through Stage 8, damn it all…!”
“Somebody stop that Mad Dog!”
Bisque was showing off, without reservation, the skill that had earned her the title of 'next ace'.
She wasn't just flailing wildly, either — she read the situation, used the surrounding blocks for cover, and deployed other items with proper judgment. Bisque had already racked up 14 kills, the highest kill count of any group combined.
‹Stage 1 — The Plains›
Group 1 — 1,731 / 1,769
By contrast, Group 1, where Noir found herself, proceeded at a leisurely pace. Perhaps because so many cautious gamers had landed here, hardly any real fighting had broken out yet.
“Wow, so Stage 1 has a gimmick like this, too.”
While moving to find an advantageous position for the coming fight, Noir stumbled onto one of Stage 1's hidden gimmicks. Every time she played, there was something new to discover.
Even after clearing it, she felt she could come back and enjoy it again and again.
“I should probably get moving soon… but there's still plenty of time, so maybe I'll take it slow?”
Noir shelved the tournament altogether and threw herself into solving Stage 1's puzzle instead.
Everyone was playing the competition their own way.
The places where battle had first erupted most violently settled, as time passed, into a temporary lull. Night eventually fell, and the gamers broke off their fights to rest.
A few gamers kept battling straight through the night without a care, but most, feeling the limits of their stamina, chose to rest for now.
Day one drew to a smooth, uneventful close.
The second day of the tournament.
The morning hours were spent avoiding combat, eyes blazing for items to use in the fights ahead. In Super Gemini, itemswere your fighting power.
The gamers who fought thoughtlessly had mostly been wiped out in droves on day one; the survivors honed their strategies with the championship in mind.
When noon arrived, the battles reignited in earnest. Gamers caught in the crossfire of chaotic free-for-alls were sent to game over one after another.
Before long, Group 9's numbers had dropped by more than a hundred.
⟪A group has finally lost more than 100 gamers. The condition has been met — from this point on, Boss Entities will spawn at random.⟫
Hearing the broadcast, the gamers froze mid-fight for a moment.
The thing that was bound to come had finally come.
⟪Boss Entities will spawn at random across each stage. Upon spawning, the location of their appearance will be displayed. A boss will vanish one hour after spawning. In 10 seconds, the Boss Entities will appear.⟫
Bisque, too, stopped fighting and waited quietly for the boss to appear.
Some prayed it would spawn right where they stood; others prayed it would appear anywhere but.
⟪0.⟫
“Well then — time to raise some hell.”
At last, Unreason itself revealed its form in the very heart of the battlefield.