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 to

but feel their hairs stand. Just how could anyone put their body under so

Everyone wanted to know.

it became plain to see for everyone present that Ren's

was either

...yet.

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

off of the screen. They watched the

'”Beep!

the sonorous beep coming from the speaker of

Ren's figure who was indifferently looking at the last dummy on the floor, the

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

resounded across the arena

Ren Dover; Time

Ren's name was

***

ended. Inside of a narrow and

I don't

repeatedly coughed as I

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

a drunken person, I roamed around the

finished my game, once I arrived at a secluded space, away from

I

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

own to achieve the goal that I had

I had completely overlooked the fact that under

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

feeling my body getting battered all over by the dummies as I stood motionless waiting for them to completely surround me before using the

rid of about half of the dummies. It was the most

also what resulted

where it would stop a game once the contestant was too severely injured, from how I was still not kicked

that I only sacrificed the areas that were less

body continued to aim for the goal, my

immeasurable amounts of pain being transmitted all over

body completely

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

much damage

the end, after everything was over, my overall

than my target

once I got out and felt countless stares coming

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

that I had

much higher than it was supposed to

"Damn you Meliss'”pfffftt..."

something sweet going up my throat. Not long after,

"Ah, shit..."

underneath my breath. My

'”Thud!

***

"I'm sorry brother."

the other hand, Aerin returned to her academy's waiting room.

that

muttered as her

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

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

Yet...

once she found out that her opponent's time

not even by a close margin.

crushed

okay. I'm not

on the head,

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

TV. Displayed

"Aerin."

"Yes"

as she lifted

but your opponent put his

"What do you mean?"

head to the

the TV screen displaying Ren's

match, compared to you where you directly avoided and dodged

"More reckless approach?"

confusion in Aerin's

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

instructions, Aerin turned her head and

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

the attacks. Though it could've gone wrong as he could've been eliminated for getting

a

to give it everything he's got for victory explains the huge gap

"I see..."

face as she looked

'Brother's right.'

she was at her loss,

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

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

Aerin, Nicholas satisfyingly nodded his head as he

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

"Understood"

as her mood

right, nothing's lost

that everything was over. There were still

definitely redeem

herself as her fists clenched

really made of when we

at Aerin who seemed to have regained some

amazing performances, but Aerin was not at

No.

her best when she was working with her brother.

no one

***

"Ah..."

my mouth. My body

of alcohol invaded my nostril as my eyelids slowly opened

the hell