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.

his body to

how could anyone put their body under so much torture? Was it

Everyone wanted to know.

that Ren's physical

was either broken or

...yet.

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

breathless. They couldn't remove their eyes off of the

'”Beep!

out of their stupor was the sonorous beep coming from the

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

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

resounded across

Time ➤ 1:

was deeply imprinted into every's

***

the Dummy Massacre finals ended. Inside of a narrow

is why I don't

a wall, I repeatedly coughed as I felt my lungs burning. They felt like they were

barely keep my

person, I roamed around

I finished my game, once I arrived at a

I

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

moved on its own to achieve the goal that I had set in

fact that

cared nothing about anything else. Even if it resulted in me getting

I stood motionless waiting for them to completely surround me before using the second movement

the dummies. It was the most

also what resulted in me

the Lock had set up a system where it would stop a game once the contestant was too severely injured, from how I was still

from the fact that I only sacrificed the areas that were

to aim for the

felt immeasurable amounts of pain being transmitted all over my

my body completely ignored

pain was only the fruit of my imagination, my body ignored everything

much

was over, my overall time ended up being one

slower than my target

and felt countless stares coming from the spectators, I knew that something

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

had gotten from Melissa

a doubt, the difficulty was much higher than it was supposed to

"Damn you Meliss'”pfffftt..."

speaking, I felt something sweet going up my throat. Not long after, blood spurted out from my

"Ah, shit..."

I cursed underneath my breath.

'”Thud!

***

"I'm sorry brother."

hand, Aerin returned to her academy's waiting room. Standing before her

that I could

muttered as her

to entering the match, she was confident that she could win the match. She

score of one minute and forty-eight seconds.

Yet...

crushed once she found out that her opponent's time

even by a close margin. A whopping seventeen seconds faster

crushed her

okay. I'm not

the head,

of it, his sword art specializes in speed. Furthermore, he also had a mysterious skill that I presume specializes

his head towards a nearby TV.

"Aerin."

"Yes"

as she lifted her

know this, but your opponent put

"What do you mean?"

tilted her head

at the TV screen displaying Ren's highlights and

to you where you directly avoided and dodged all of the dummies and

"More reckless approach?"

was a hint of confusion in Aerin's voice as she wondered what her brother

dummies attacks and directly used his body as a shield.

her head and directed her attention

defend some of

on dodging some of the attacks. Though it could've gone wrong as he could've been eliminated for getting too injured, if done well, this strategy would've without a doubt have been

a second before

it everything he's got for victory explains

"I see..."

she looked

'Brother's right.'

of how frustrated she was at her loss, Aerin did not have time

now, Aerin finally understood why she lost. It was because she

If he was willing

to Aerin, Nicholas satisfyingly nodded his head as

were up against someone crazy. Someone that would even risk getting injured severely to win. You didn't lose without merit. Let's redeem ourselves

"Understood"

as her

nothing's

lost this game didn't mean that everything was over. There were still the battle

redeem myself

as her fists clenched

are really made of when

at Aerin who seemed to have regained some of

of Aerin's amazing performances, but Aerin was not at her best

No.

was only at her best when she was working

one could

***

"Ah..."

left my mouth.

my nostril as my

the hell