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 the

hairs stand. Just how could anyone put their body

Everyone wanted to know.

passed, it became plain to see for everyone present that Ren's physical state was worsening

was either broken

...yet.

He remained completely unfazed throughout the whole time. Dodge, get hit, kill. He repeated this over and

couldn't remove their eyes off of the screen.

'”Beep!

was the sonorous beep coming from the speaker of

the last dummy

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

across the arena

Ren Dover; Time

this day, Ren's name was deeply imprinted into every's

***

Dummy Massacre finals ended. Inside of a narrow and secluded

I don't use this skill

side of a wall, I repeatedly coughed as I

I could barely keep my eyes focused as everything around me

drunken person, I roamed around the corridor

finished my game, once

I overdid

Monarch's indifference throughout the whole

its own to achieve the goal that I had set in my mind beforehand. Beating

I had completely overlooked the fact that under

cared nothing about anything else. Even if it

as I stood

of the dummies. It was

what resulted in me sustaining serious

game once the contestant was too

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

body continued to aim for

the whole game, I felt immeasurable amounts of pain

body

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

how much

was over, my overall time ended up being one minute

slower than

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

score, one minute

information that I had gotten from Melissa

the difficulty was much higher than it was

"Damn you Meliss'”pfffftt..."

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."

to her academy's waiting room. Standing before her

that I could

as

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

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

Yet...

she found out that her opponent's time was

margin.

completely crushed her

I'm not

on the head,

as skillful as 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 presume specializes in targeting multiple opponents

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

"Aerin."

"Yes"

as she lifted her head

your opponent put his body on

"What do you mean?"

head to the

TV screen displaying Ren's highlights

replay of the match, compared to you where you directly avoided and dodged all of the

"More reckless approach?"

confusion in Aerin's voice as she

he chose to not avoid the dummies attacks and directly used

head and directed her attention towards a nearby

then watched as Ren recklessly used his body to defend some of the attacks coming from

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

paused for a second

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

"I see..."

appeared on Aerin's face as she looked at the highlights displayed on the

'Brother's right.'

at her loss, Aerin did not have

understood why she lost. It was because

If he was willing to go that far to win the game, then

to Aerin, Nicholas satisfyingly nodded

against someone crazy. Someone that would even risk getting injured severely to win. You didn't

"Understood"

as her mood improved a

right, nothing's

because she lost this game didn't mean that everything

definitely redeem myself

to herself as her fists

show them what we are really

who seemed to have regained some

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

No.

only at her best when she was working with her

no one could

***

"Ah..."

short groan left my mouth.

smell of alcohol invaded my nostril as

what the hell