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

hairs stand. Just how could anyone put their body under

Everyone wanted to know.

Ren's physical

either broken

...yet.

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

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

'”Beep!

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

last dummy on the floor, the

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

across the

Ren Dover; Time ➤ 1: 31

was deeply imprinted into every's

***

after the Dummy Massacre finals ended. Inside of a

is why I don't

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

I could barely keep my eyes focused as

I roamed around

look fine after I finished my game, once I arrived at a

it, I

I was under the influence of Monarch's indifference throughout the whole game, I was unable to properly control

to achieve the goal that I had set in my mind beforehand. Beating one minute

had completely overlooked the fact that under Monarch's indifference,

my goal, I cared nothing about anything

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

one swift movement, I managed to get rid of about half of the dummies. It was the most appropriate move given the

also what resulted in me

had set up a system where it would 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

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

my body continued to aim for the goal, my internal

felt immeasurable amounts

my body completely ignored

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

how much

over, my overall time ended up being

than my

once I got out and felt countless stares coming

one minute and forty-eight seconds, reality finally

information that I had gotten from

was much higher than it was supposed

"Damn you Meliss'”pfffftt..."

felt something sweet going up my throat. Not long after, blood

"Ah, shit..."

underneath my breath. My vision

'”Thud!

***

"I'm sorry brother."

her academy's waiting room. Standing before her brother,

that I

muttered as

she was confident that she could

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

Yet...

crushed once she found out

even by a close margin. A whopping

completely crushed her

okay. I'm not

on the

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

towards a nearby TV. Displayed on it were

"Aerin."

"Yes"

she lifted

opponent put his body

"What do you mean?"

her head to the

screen displaying

you directly avoided and dodged all of the dummies and

"More reckless approach?"

Aerin's

used his body

Aerin turned her head and directed her attention towards

used his body to defend some of the attacks coming

wrong as he could've been eliminated for getting too injured, if done well, this strategy would've without

for a second

for victory explains the huge gap between you two.

"I see..."

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 because

new level of respect for her opponent. If he was willing to go

to Aerin, Nicholas satisfyingly nodded his head

severely to win. You didn't lose without merit. Let's redeem ourselves in the battle

"Understood"

as her mood

right, nothing's lost

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

definitely redeem

herself as her

are really made of when we are

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

may have forgotten because of Aerin's amazing performances, but Aerin was not

No.

best when she was working with her brother.

one could

***

"Ah..."

left my mouth. My body

invaded my nostril as my

what the hell