The Author's POV

Descending down the elevator

I quickly headed towards where the changing rooms were located. Suddenly, just as I was about to enter the changing room, an official guild member wearing a black suit stopped me.

Frowning, pointing towards my name tag, I said in a somewhat disgruntled voice.

"I'm the one participating in the fight, can't you see?"

"Haha, it's not that. If you want to get changed you must head to another room"

Pointing to my right, the man pointed at a pathway next to the main entrance.

"Oh, thank you."

Thanking the man, I walked in the direction he pointed at and soon arrived at my assigned waiting room.

[Waiting Room 3]

Entering the changing room, I walked in and sat down on a random seat.

"Fuuu...."

Letting out a long breath, I prepared my mind for what was to come.

From what I've gathered, my opponent, Alex Cloudburm was a spear user whose rank was a rank lower than mine.

Meaning that I was stronger than him. At least stats-wise.

...Coming into this match. I decided that apart from using the [Keiki style] I would go all out. Meaning that I was about to expose my rank.

After thinking for a bit, I decided that pretending to be weak all the time wasn't something that would benefit me. At least not when I wasn't in the lock.

There was no longer a need for me to stop myself from exposing a part of my abilities. It was fine to expose some of it. Not all of it, but some of it.

...and that's exactly what I was planning.

Recalling Alex's arrogant face as he looked at me in disgust, I was sure I wasn't going to pull any punches in our fight today.

...I made up my mind to absolutely destroy and humiliate him in front of everyone present.

I needed to destroy Martin's rising momentum and give my father some breathing space. And the only way to achieve this was through thoroughly beating the crap out of Alex.

Beat him to the point where he would forever remember the humiliation.

Fortunately for him, before the match was decided, I had told my dad to block people from taking videos or photos of the match, saving him from future humiliations.

When I asked my dad for this request, he initially thought that it was because I was afraid of it spreading on the web, but my reason couldn't be any more different...I wanted to leave a bit of leeway for myself in case I would be forced to use the [Keiki style] to win.

If videos of our fight were to be exposed to the world to see, though unlikely, there was bound to be someone out there who would be able to recognize what sword art I practiced.

Chances were that once exposed, my family would definitely be put in danger.

to the point I felt that I would need to use the [Keiki style] for my current spar, I just wanted to reduce any chances of

...

Galxicus, stadium

the Colosseum. The central arena was split into three squared platforms, while the stands started 10 meters above the platforms and could house more than

guild members as there would always be fights happening in

was happening in the arenas for the spectators to see. Because the screens

seats were packed full of people. Because of the earlier warning by the guild master, photos and videos were prohibited from being taken during

spread, whilst others thought it was because he didn't want people to find out about the internal struggles happening within

not being able to take photos or videos

"Can Ren do it?"

the battle arena from above, inside of a glass

towards the arena, Samantha Dover glanced

"I believe in him..."

head, Ronald Dover too looked at the

show outwardly, he too was extremely nervous. This fact was quickly picked up

ago,

going to be a tough match for

"Hmph"

looked at the arena below him as he sipped on

wine cup in his hands, Martin looked at Ronald before slowly

enough for

"..."

Martin's provocations, Ronald kept his eyes on the arena causing Martin to clench

in front of the whole guild. I want to see if

"It's starting."

"…Tsk."

and leaned against the back of the seat. From the way he was smiling, it was obvious that he was confident

duel between the Vice-guild master

the arena, a middle-aged man equipped with a headset

be a duel between Vice-guild master representative, Alex Cloudburm, and the

crowd in suspense,

Dover, who was rated as a D ranked talent overcome Alex

as he said the last bit. However, his expression soon changed as he spoke

Did you know that Ren Dover over here is also a student at the lock? Yes, the most prestigious

information he had, the host tried his best to hype up the match as much as he could. And this was evidently achieved as the cheers around the

the whole arena. The blue film which was created out of mana was made to prevent the shockwaves

see big

Nola couldn't help but shout as soon

cheer

walking out from the right passageway, Samantha Dover held Nola

'Please be safe...'

...

"Are you ready?"

"…Yes."

the staff, I walked

the rumbustious cheers coming

-Waaaaaaaaaaaaa!

the cheers, an even more boisterous round of cheers engulfed the entire arena