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.

was sacrificing his body to

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

Everyone wanted to know.

seconds passed, it became plain to see for everyone present that Ren's

was either broken

...yet.

throughout the whole time. Dodge, get hit, kill. He repeated this over and

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

'”Beep!

beep coming from the

the last dummy on the

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

across

Ren Dover; Time ➤ 1: 31

was deeply

***

Massacre finals ended. Inside of a narrow and secluded

don't use

the side of a wall, I repeatedly coughed as I felt my

keep my eyes focused as

drunken person, I roamed around the corridor of the

tried my best to look fine after I finished my game, once I arrived at a secluded space, away from

it, I

whole game, I was unable to properly control

goal that I had set in my mind

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

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

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

of about half of the dummies. It

what resulted in me

up a system where it would stop a game once the contestant was too severely injured,

that I only

aim for the goal, my internal

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

my body

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

much

was over, my overall time ended up being one

seconds slower than

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

around and saw Aerin's score, one

information that I had gotten from Melissa was

a doubt, the difficulty was much higher

"Damn you Meliss'”pfffftt..."

stopping myself from speaking, I felt something sweet going up

"Ah, shit..."

breath. My vision soon darkened

'”Thud!

***

"I'm sorry brother."

to her academy's waiting room.

thought that I

as her voice

was confident that she could win the match. She

of one minute and forty-eight

Yet...

out that her opponent's time was even faster

a close margin.

crushed

okay. I'm not

on the head, Nicholas

specializes in speed. Furthermore, he also had a mysterious skill that I presume specializes in targeting multiple opponents at once. This outcome was to

as he turned his head towards a nearby TV. Displayed on it were the

"Aerin."

"Yes"

as she

put his

"What do you mean?"

her head to

at the TV screen displaying

where you directly avoided and dodged all of the dummies and counterattacked, Ren chose a more reckless

"More reckless approach?"

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

he chose to not avoid the dummies attacks and directly used his body as a shield. Take a look at

Aerin turned her head and directed her attention towards a

his body to defend some of the attacks coming from the dummies.

used 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 the most optimal for getting a high score in

paused for a

got for victory explains the huge gap between you

"I see..."

Aerin's face as she looked at the

'Brother's right.'

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

was

of respect for her opponent. If he

next to Aerin, Nicholas satisfyingly

You 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 in the

"Understood"

her mood improved a

right, nothing's lost

didn't mean that everything was over. There were still the battle royale

definitely redeem myself

herself as her fists

really made of when

Aerin who seemed to have regained some of her

performances, but Aerin

No.

best when she was

one

***

"Ah..."

short groan left my mouth. My

of alcohol invaded my nostril as my eyelids

what the