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.

body to reduce

hairs stand. Just how could

Everyone wanted to know.

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

was either broken or

...yet.

He remained completely unfazed throughout the whole time. Dodge, get hit, kill. He repeated this over

eyes off of the

'”Beep!

was the sonorous beep coming from the speaker of the arena's marking the end of

indifferently looking at the last

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

resounded across

Dover; Time ➤ 1:

day, Ren's name was

***

the Dummy Massacre finals ended. Inside of a

I don't use this

repeatedly coughed as I felt my

barely keep my eyes focused as everything around

roamed around the corridor of the

game, once I arrived at a secluded space,

I

of Monarch's indifference throughout the whole game, I was unable to

goal that I had set in my mind beforehand. Beating one

fact that under Monarch's

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

as I stood motionless waiting for them

of the

was also what resulted in me sustaining serious internal

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

likely stemmed from the fact that I only sacrificed the areas that were

my body continued to aim

whole game, I felt immeasurable amounts of pain being transmitted all

my body completely ignored

if the pain was only the fruit of my imagination, my body ignored everything and aimed to

how much damage I

was over, my overall time ended up being one minute and thirty-one

than my target

had failed, but once I got out and felt countless stares coming from the

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

I had gotten

difficulty was much higher than it

"Damn you Meliss'”pfffftt..."

sweet going up my throat. Not long after,

"Ah, shit..."

my breath. My vision soon darkened and I slowly lost

'”Thud!

***

"I'm sorry brother."

to her academy's waiting room.

really thought that I could

as

match, she was confident that she could win

score of one minute and forty-eight seconds. It was the best score

Yet...

were completely crushed once she found out that her opponent's time

margin.

crushed her

okay. I'm not

on the

art specializes in speed. Furthermore, he also

towards a nearby TV. Displayed on it were the highlights of Aerin's and

"Aerin."

"Yes"

replied as she

know this, but your opponent put his body

"What do you mean?"

tilted her head

at the TV screen displaying Ren's highlights and

you watch the replay of the match, compared to you where you directly avoided and dodged all of the dummies and counterattacked,

"More reckless approach?"

was a hint of confusion in Aerin's voice

dummies attacks and directly used his body as a shield. Take a look at the

brother's instructions, Aerin turned her head

recklessly used his body to defend some of the

dodging some of the attacks. Though it could've gone wrong as he could've been eliminated

paused for a second before

everything he's got for victory explains the huge gap between

"I see..."

as she looked at the highlights

'Brother's right.'

at her loss, Aerin did not have time

understood why she lost. It was because she put it her

of respect for her opponent. If he was willing to go that far to win the game, then

satisfyingly nodded his head as

even risk getting injured severely to win. You didn't lose without merit. Let's redeem ourselves in the

"Understood"

as her

nothing's

mean that everything was over. There were still the

redeem

to herself as her

what we are really made of when

he looked at Aerin who seemed

amazing performances, but Aerin was not

No.

was only at her best when she was working with

one could

***

"Ah..."

my mouth. My

my nostril as my

what the hell