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 reduce

witnessed this couldn't help but feel their hairs stand. Just how could anyone

Everyone wanted to know.

everyone present that Ren's physical

either broken or

...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

'”Beep!

everyone out of their stupor was the sonorous beep coming from

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

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

cheers resounded across the

Time ➤ 1:

was

***

ended. Inside of a

don't use this skill

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

could barely keep my eyes focused

person, I roamed around the corridor of

game, once I arrived at a secluded space, away

it, I

the whole game, I

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

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

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

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

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

also what resulted in

the Lock had set up a system where it would stop a game once the contestant was too

from the fact that I only sacrificed the areas that were less

as my body continued to aim for the goal, my

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

body completely ignored

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

much damage I was

end, after everything was over, my overall time ended up being

than my

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

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

had gotten from Melissa

doubt, the difficulty was much higher

"Damn you Meliss'”pfffftt..."

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

"Ah, shit..."

my breath. My vision soon

'”Thud!

***

"I'm sorry brother."

to her academy's waiting room.

that I

muttered as her

was confident that she could win the match. She

minute and forty-eight seconds.

Yet...

found out that her opponent's time was even

close margin. A whopping seventeen seconds

crushed her

I'm not

Aerin on the head, Nicholas comforted

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

his head towards a nearby TV. Displayed

"Aerin."

"Yes"

she lifted her head

opponent put

"What do you mean?"

her head to the

at the TV screen displaying

you watch 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 approach?"

was a hint of confusion in Aerin's voice as she

dummies attacks and directly used his body as a shield. Take

Aerin turned her head and

Ren recklessly used his body to defend some of the attacks coming

body, he was essentially saving precious seconds that you 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

for a second

he's got for victory explains the huge gap

"I see..."

solemn look appeared on Aerin's face as she looked at the

'Brother's right.'

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

she lost. It was because she put it her all like Ren

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

to Aerin, Nicholas satisfyingly nodded his

that would even risk getting injured severely to win. You

"Understood"

as her mood improved

right, nothing's lost

mean that everything was over. There were still the battle

definitely redeem myself

as

Let's show them what we are really

smiled as he looked at Aerin who seemed to have regained

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

No.

when

no one could stop

***

"Ah..."

my mouth.

my nostril as my eyelids slowly

the