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 to

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

Everyone wanted to know.

became plain to see for everyone present that Ren's physical state was worsening by the

was either broken or

...yet.

whole time. Dodge, get hit, kill. He repeated

their eyes off of the screen. They watched the fight as though

'”Beep!

from the speaker of the arena's marking the end

last dummy on the floor, the crowd went

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

cheers resounded across

Ren Dover; Time ➤ 1:

name was

***

finals ended. Inside of a narrow and

I don't use this

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

move forward, I could barely keep my eyes focused as everything around me

around the corridor of

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

I

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

the goal that I had set in

completely overlooked the fact that under Monarch's

anything else. Even if it resulted in me getting severely

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

to get rid of about half of the dummies. It was the most appropriate move given the time

resulted in me

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

stemmed from the fact that I

aim for

amounts of pain being transmitted all

my body

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

much damage I

my overall time ended up being one

seconds slower than

and felt countless stares coming from the spectators, I knew that

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

had gotten from Melissa

the difficulty was much higher

"Damn you Meliss'”pfffftt..."

something sweet going up my throat. Not

"Ah, shit..."

cursed underneath my breath. My

'”Thud!

***

"I'm sorry brother."

the other hand, Aerin returned to her academy's waiting room. Standing before her brother, Aerin's head

thought that I

muttered as

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

forty-eight seconds. It was the best score

Yet...

completely crushed once she found out that her opponent's time was even faster

close margin. A whopping seventeen seconds faster than

crushed her

I'm

the head,

the same rank and from the looks of it, his sword art specializes in speed. Furthermore, he also had a mysterious skill that

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

"Aerin."

"Yes"

replied as she lifted

but your opponent put his body on

"What do you mean?"

head to

the TV screen displaying Ren's highlights

where you directly avoided and dodged all of the dummies and counterattacked, Ren

"More reckless approach?"

of confusion in Aerin's voice as

chose to not avoid the dummies attacks and directly used

turned her head and

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

sacrificing his 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

a

everything he's got for victory explains the huge

"I see..."

on Aerin's face as she looked at the

'Brother's right.'

was at her loss,

she lost. It was because she put it her

the highlights now, Aerin found a whole new level of respect for her opponent. If he was willing to go that far to win the

to Aerin, Nicholas satisfyingly nodded his

injured severely to win. You didn't lose without

"Understood"

replied as her mood improved

right, nothing's

didn't mean that everything was over. There were

redeem myself

as her fists

we are really made of when

Aerin who seemed

performances, but Aerin was not at her best when she was

No.

was only at her best when she was working with her brother.

one

***

"Ah..."

groan left my mouth. My

smell of alcohol invaded my nostril as my

the hell