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

feel their hairs stand. Just how could anyone put their body

Everyone wanted to know.

became plain to see for everyone present that Ren's physical state was worsening by the second as his left hand

either

...yet.

to care. He remained completely unfazed throughout the whole

audience was breathless. They couldn't remove their eyes off of the screen. They watched the fight

'”Beep!

everyone out of their stupor was the sonorous beep coming from the speaker of the arena's marking the end of

indifferently looking at the last

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

across the arena

Dover; Time

was deeply imprinted into

***

Massacre finals ended. Inside of a narrow

I don't use this

repeatedly coughed as I felt my lungs burning. They felt like they

forward, I could barely keep my eyes focused as

roamed around the corridor of

my game, once I arrived at a secluded space,

I overdid

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

body moved on its own to achieve the goal that I had set in my mind beforehand. Beating

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

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

the dummies as I stood motionless waiting for them to completely surround

movement, I managed to get rid of about half of the dummies. It

resulted in me

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

that I only sacrificed the areas

aim for the goal, my internal

immeasurable amounts of pain being transmitted

my body

the fruit of my imagination, my body ignored everything and aimed to kill the

of how much

my overall time ended up being

slower than my target

but once I got out and felt countless stares coming from

Aerin's score, one

I had gotten

the difficulty was much higher than it was supposed to

"Damn you Meliss'”pfffftt..."

myself from speaking, I felt something sweet going up my throat. Not

"Ah, shit..."

blood-stained hands, I cursed underneath my breath. My vision soon darkened and I slowly

'”Thud!

***

"I'm sorry brother."

her academy's waiting room. Standing before

that I could

as her

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

of one minute and forty-eight seconds. It was the best score she could've

Yet...

found out that her opponent's

close margin. A whopping seventeen seconds

completely crushed her

okay. I'm not

Aerin on the

just as skillful as you. You're both the same rank and from the looks of it, his sword art specializes in speed. Furthermore, he also had a mysterious skill that I presume specializes in targeting multiple opponents

he turned his head towards a nearby TV.

"Aerin."

"Yes"

she lifted

may not know this, but your opponent put his body on the line

"What do you mean?"

head to

at the TV screen displaying

of the match, compared to you where you directly avoided and dodged all

"More reckless approach?"

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

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

turned her head and

of the attacks coming from the dummies.

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 the dummy

paused for a second

he's got for victory explains the huge gap

"I see..."

as she

'Brother's right.'

at her loss, Aerin did not have time to see Ren's

was because she

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

Nicholas satisfyingly

even risk getting injured severely to win. You didn't lose without

"Understood"

replied as her

right, nothing's lost

lost this game didn't mean that everything was

redeem

herself as her fists

really made of when

who seemed to have regained some of her

but Aerin was not at her best when she was

No.

best when

one could

***

"Ah..."

my mouth. My body

pungent smell of alcohol invaded my nostril as my eyelids slowly opened

what the hell