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

who witnessed this couldn't help but feel their hairs stand. Just how could anyone put their body under so much torture? Was it worth

Everyone wanted to know.

for everyone present that Ren's physical state was worsening

either broken

...yet.

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

couldn't remove their eyes off of the

'”Beep!

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

the last dummy on the floor, the

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

across the

Ren Dover; Time ➤ 1:

day, Ren's name was deeply imprinted into

***

Massacre finals ended. Inside of a narrow

don't use this skill

I felt my lungs burning. They felt like they were on

I could barely keep

around the corridor

I finished my game, once I arrived at a secluded

I overdid

throughout the whole game, I

the goal that I had set in my mind

that under Monarch's indifference,

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

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

of the dummies. It was the most appropriate move given the

also what resulted in

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

from the fact that I

my body continued to aim for the goal,

whole game, I felt immeasurable amounts of

body completely ignored

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

how much damage I was

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

than

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

score, one minute and forty-eight seconds, reality finally struck

information that I had gotten from

doubt, the difficulty was much higher than it was

"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

'”Thud!

***

"I'm sorry brother."

waiting room. Standing before

that I could

as her voice

she was confident that she

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

Yet...

she found out that

by a close margin. A whopping seventeen seconds

crushed her

I'm

on the head, Nicholas comforted

from the looks of it, his sword art specializes in speed. Furthermore, he also had

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

"Aerin."

"Yes"

she lifted

your opponent put his body on the

"What do you mean?"

her head

at the TV screen displaying

the replay of the match, compared to you 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

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

her head

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

eliminated for getting too injured, if done well, this strategy would've without a doubt have been the most

for a second

to give it everything he's got for victory explains the huge gap between you two.

"I see..."

Aerin's face as she looked at the highlights

'Brother's right.'

at her loss, Aerin did not

understood why she lost. It was because she put

he

Aerin, Nicholas satisfyingly nodded his head as

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

nothing's

because she lost this game didn't mean that everything was over. There were

definitely redeem myself

to herself as her fists clenched

really made of when we

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

have forgotten because of Aerin's amazing performances, but Aerin was

No.

best when she was working

no one could

***

"Ah..."

groan left my mouth. My body

pungent smell of alcohol invaded my nostril as my eyelids

the