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.

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 this coming back to bite me in

...

Galxicus, stadium

designed to be a more modern version of 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

amongst the guild members as

the arenas for the spectators to see. Because the screens were controlled by the guild master, Ronald Dover, there was no need for him to worry about

the start of a duel, the guest seats were packed full of people. Because of the

didn't want videos of his son losing miserably to Alex to spread, whilst others thought it was because he didn't

not being able to take photos or videos since they weren't

"Can Ren do it?"

inside of a glass cube, a few individuals

arena, Samantha Dover glanced at her husband and squeezed his hand

"I believe in him..."

head, Ronald Dover too looked at

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

with Alex thirty minutes ago, Ronald couldn't help but worry

be a

"Hmph"

rows behind Ronald, Martin arrogantly looked at the arena below him as he sipped on some

in his hands, Martin looked at Ronald before slowly

enough for this to actually be considered

"..."

his eyes on the arena

front of the whole guild. I want to see if you can ignore me

"It's starting."

"…Tsk."

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

duel between the Vice-guild master and guild master was

arena, a middle-aged man equipped with a headset and a microphone, stared at the audience with a big smile

this is going to be a duel between Vice-guild master representative, Alex Cloudburm, and

keep the crowd in suspense, the

rated as a D ranked talent overcome Alex

at the crowd, the host put on a confused expression as he said the last

over here is also a student at the lock? Yes, the most prestigious academy

his best to hype up the match as much as he could. And this was evidently achieved as the

prevent the shockwaves from the fights to leak out. This way, if things got out of handy,

I see big

but shout as soon as she saw Ren's figure slowly walking

Nola, cheer

the right passageway, Samantha Dover held Nola tightly in her arms and nervously bit her

'Please be safe...'

...

"Are you ready?"

"…Yes."

by the staff, I walked up to the main arena

my foot stepped into the arena, the rumbustious cheers coming from the crowd instantly drowned out

-Waaaaaaaaaaaaa!

was about to get adjusted to the cheers, an even