The Author's POV

'My goal is one minute and twenty-eight seconds...'

Setting a goal in his mind, Ren watched as the world around him lost color and his emotions disappeared alongside it.

Fear, nervousness, confidence, any and all emotions just disappeared.

In his mind, there was only one goal.

Reach one minute and twenty-eight seconds.

Regardless of the costs.

'”Beep!

Following the beeping sound, Ren closed his eyes.

Ta.Ta.Ta. Fiddling with a small ring on his finger, Ren calmly stood rooted in his spot. Within seconds the dummies were already upon him.

Lifting his head slightly, Ren opened his eyes and placed his hand on the sheat of his sword.

A second passed and over thirty dummies appeared within inches of his body.

'”Shuaa! '”Shuaa! '”Shuaa!

The sound of the air splitting reverberated across the space as each dummy swung their dulled weapon in Ren's direction.

To those that were spectating, it looked as though Ren had just given up.

Even as all of the dummies were attacking him at the same time, Ren stood still.

Some of the spectators couldn't watch anymore and turned their eyes away.

Although they knew that the contestants were going to be safe, just the visual impact of Ren getting attacked from all sides caused them to turn their heads away.

"Move!"

"What are you doing!"

"Gyaaaa'”!"

Screams echoed across the stands as some spectators stood up and shouted at the large monitor above.

The screams intensified even more once everyone could no longer see Ren's figure displayed on the screen.

All they could see at the moment were a pile of dummies on the same spot he was standing before.

'It's over.'

Everyone thought.

It was then that something shocking happened...

'”Click!

Following a subtle clicking sound, the volume of the arena grounds decreased.

The spectators who were watching Ren's match couldn't find any words to say as their mouth's hung wide open. Some even started stuttering as they pointed at the monitor above

"W-what just happened?"

"How is...this possible?"

"My god..."

Murmurs and discussions echoed across the arena grounds as everyone stared at the large monitor above.

They couldn't believe what they were seeing.

Standing in the middle of the room was Ren's apathetic figure. His calm and indifferent eyes were displayed for the whole world to see.

From his demenour, it looked as though this was nothing to him.

Most shockingly, around him, over half of the dummies present in the room had turned red as they formed a small circle around him.

This scene was deeply etched in the spectator's eyes as they all stood up and cheered.

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

The spectator's blood was boiling. How could it not?

Watching as Ren singlehandedly dispatched over half of the dummies in a single move caused almost everyone to be shocked.

Furthermore, no one knew how he did it as the cameras were blocked by the dummies.

The battle was still not over though.

Ren had only gotten rid of half of the dummies. Everyone also noticed this as they quickly stopped cheering and kept their eyes glued on the large screen.

They didn't want to miss a single second of what was about to come.

...and they were glad they didn't.

Without even letting Ren take a breather, the remaining dummies attacked him from all sides.

Click. Click. Click. Subtle clicking sound resounded across the arena grounds as more and more dummies fell on the ground.

No one could see Ren's movements, but his cold and indifferent image was deeply imprinted in their minds.

He looked like an awe-inspiring general that reaped through the lives of all of the enemies that got in his path.

Every second a dummy turned red. Such a shocking scene repeated over and over again as the dummies around Ren turned red without him even moving.

It was breathtaking.

Unfortunately, even though Ren had taken down half of the dummies, there were still a lot of dummies left that relentlessly attacked him from all sides.

Most of the time there would be rings around Ren to block their attacks, but sometimes an attack would make it past his defense and hit him directly.

At first, they thought it was because Ren's defense wasn't that great.

But it was then that people began to realize...

Ren was doing it on purpose.

He was purposely using his body to absorb the impact coming from some of the attacks so that he could make a quick counterattack.

sacrificing his body to reduce

their hairs stand. Just how could

Everyone wanted to know.

seconds passed, it became plain to see for everyone present that Ren's physical state was worsening by the second as his

either broken or

...yet.

to care. He remained completely unfazed throughout the whole time. Dodge, get hit, kill. He repeated

of the screen. They watched the fight as though

'”Beep!

everyone out of their stupor was the sonorous beep coming from

was indifferently looking at the last dummy on the floor, the

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

cheers resounded across the

Time ➤ 1: 31

this day, Ren's name was deeply imprinted into every's

***

ended. Inside

don't use this skill

the side of a wall, I repeatedly coughed as I felt my lungs burning. They felt like they

move forward, I could barely keep my eyes focused as

I roamed around the

fine after I finished my game, once I arrived at a secluded space, away from everyone's eyes, I started coughing

I overdid

the influence of Monarch's indifference throughout the whole game, I

body moved on its own to achieve the goal that I had set in my mind beforehand. Beating one minute and twenty-eight

completely overlooked the fact that under Monarch's indifference, I wasn't

achieving my goal, I cared nothing about anything else. Even if it resulted in me

all over by the dummies as I stood motionless waiting for them to completely surround me

to get rid of about half of the dummies. It was the most appropriate move given

was also what resulted

stop a game once the contestant was too severely injured, from how I was still not kicked out, my injuries were not enough to stop

stemmed from the fact that I only sacrificed

to aim for the goal, my

amounts of pain being transmitted all over my

body completely ignored

imagination, my body ignored everything and aimed to kill the

of how much damage I was

overall time ended up being one minute and

slower than

once I got out and felt countless stares coming from the

saw Aerin's score, one minute and forty-eight seconds, reality finally

I had gotten from Melissa was

difficulty was much

"Damn you Meliss'”pfffftt..."

up my throat. Not long after, blood spurted out from my

"Ah, shit..."

hands, I cursed underneath my breath. My vision soon darkened and I slowly lost

'”Thud!

***

"I'm sorry brother."

returned to her academy's waiting room.

thought that I could

muttered as

match, she was confident that she could win the match. She really did think

once she saw her score of one minute and forty-eight seconds. It

Yet...

found out that her opponent's

not even by a close margin. A

completely crushed her

I'm

on the head, Nicholas

rank and from the looks of it, his sword art specializes in speed. Furthermore, he also had a mysterious skill that

head towards a nearby TV. Displayed on it were the

"Aerin."

"Yes"

as she lifted her head

opponent put his body on the line

"What do you mean?"

head

at the TV screen displaying Ren's highlights

where you directly avoided and dodged all

"More reckless approach?"

in Aerin's

not avoid the dummies attacks and directly used his body

head and directed her attention towards a

watched as Ren recklessly used his body to defend some of the

could've gone wrong as he could've been eliminated for getting

a second before

explains the huge gap between you

"I see..."

appeared on Aerin's face as she looked at the highlights displayed on the

'Brother's right.'

frustrated she was at her loss,

she lost. It was because

he was willing to go that far

next to Aerin, Nicholas satisfyingly nodded his head as he

You were up against someone crazy. Someone that would even risk getting injured severely to win.

"Understood"

as her mood improved

right, nothing's lost

she lost this game didn't mean that everything

definitely redeem myself

to herself as her

are really made of when we are

he looked at Aerin who seemed to have regained some of her previous

amazing performances, but Aerin was not at her best when

No.

best when she was working with her brother.

one could

***

"Ah..."

short groan left my mouth. My

invaded my nostril as my

the