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

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

Everyone wanted to know.

Ren's physical state

was either broken or

...yet.

didn't seem to care. He remained completely unfazed throughout the whole time. Dodge, get hit, kill.

was breathless. They couldn't remove their eyes off of the screen. They watched the

'”Beep!

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

looking at the last dummy on the floor, the crowd

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

cheers resounded across

Time ➤ 1:

name was deeply imprinted into every's

***

finals ended. Inside of a

don't

against the side of a wall, I repeatedly coughed as I felt my lungs burning. They

could barely keep my

a drunken person, I roamed around the corridor

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

it, I overdid

throughout the whole game, I was unable to properly control what I

to achieve the goal that I had

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

my goal, I cared nothing about anything else. Even

dummies as I stood motionless waiting for them to completely surround

get rid of about half of the

was also what resulted in me sustaining

Lock had set up a system where it would stop a game once the contestant was too severely injured, from how I was still not kicked out, my injuries

stemmed from the fact that I

aim for the goal, my internal

whole game, I felt immeasurable amounts of

my body

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

much damage I

my overall time ended

than my target

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

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

information that I had gotten from Melissa was

difficulty was much higher than it was supposed

"Damn you Meliss'”pfffftt..."

felt something sweet going up my throat. Not long after, blood spurted out from

"Ah, shit..."

my breath. My vision soon

'”Thud!

***

"I'm sorry brother."

her academy's waiting room. Standing before her brother, Aerin's head

thought that

as

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

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

Yet...

out that her opponent's time was even faster

by a close margin. A whopping

crushed her

okay. I'm

on the head, Nicholas

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

as he turned his head towards a nearby TV. Displayed on it were the highlights of Aerin's and

"Aerin."

"Yes"

she lifted her

your opponent put his body on the line during the

"What do you mean?"

her head

at the TV screen displaying Ren's

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

"More reckless approach?"

hint of confusion in Aerin's voice as she

he chose to not avoid the dummies attacks and directly used

her brother's instructions, Aerin turned her head and directed

to defend some of the attacks coming from the dummies. By her side, Nicholas continued

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

paused for a second before

for victory explains the huge

"I see..."

on Aerin's face as she

'Brother's right.'

loss, Aerin did not have

finally understood why she lost. It was because she put it her all like

If he was willing to go that far to win the game, then she could only accept

to Aerin, Nicholas satisfyingly nodded his head as

were up against someone crazy. Someone that would even risk getting injured severely to win.

"Understood"

as her mood

nothing's

she lost this game didn't mean that everything was over. There were still the battle royale

redeem

as her fists

we are really

Aerin who seemed to have regained some of her

but

No.

was only at her best when she was working with her

no one could stop

***

"Ah..."

left my mouth. My body

my nostril as my eyelids slowly opened

what the hell