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

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

Everyone wanted to know.

for everyone present that Ren's physical state was worsening by the

was either broken

...yet.

didn't seem to care. He remained completely unfazed throughout the whole

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

'”Beep!

the sonorous beep coming from the

looking at the last

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

across

Ren Dover; Time

Ren's name was deeply imprinted into

***

Massacre finals ended.

don't

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

could barely keep my eyes focused as

around

I tried my best to look fine after I finished my game, once I arrived at

it, I overdid

whole game, I was unable to

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

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

anything else. Even if it resulted in

I stood motionless waiting for them to completely

of about half of the dummies. It

also what resulted in

too severely injured, from how I was still not kicked out, my injuries were

from the fact that I only

to aim for the goal, my internal injuries

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

body completely

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

much damage

over, my overall time ended up being one minute

slower than

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

around and saw Aerin's score, one

information that I had gotten

a doubt, the difficulty was much higher than it

"Damn you Meliss'”pfffftt..."

from speaking, I felt something sweet going up my throat. Not long after,

"Ah, shit..."

breath. My vision soon darkened and I slowly

'”Thud!

***

"I'm sorry brother."

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

thought that I could

muttered as her voice

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

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

Yet...

out that her opponent's

a close margin. A whopping seventeen seconds faster

completely crushed her

I'm not

Aerin on the head, Nicholas comforted

sword art specializes in speed. Furthermore, he also had a mysterious skill that I presume specializes in targeting multiple opponents at once. This outcome was to be expected.

nearby TV. Displayed

"Aerin."

"Yes"

replied as she lifted

put his body on the line during the

"What do you mean?"

her head to the

the TV screen displaying Ren's highlights and

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

"More reckless approach?"

of confusion in Aerin's voice as she wondered

and directly used his body as a shield. Take a look

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

some of

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 strategy

paused for a second

it everything he's got for victory explains the huge gap between you two. Your

"I see..."

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

'Brother's right.'

her loss, Aerin did not have

It was

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

to Aerin, Nicholas satisfyingly nodded his head as

up against someone crazy. Someone that would even risk getting injured severely to win. You didn't lose without merit. Let's redeem ourselves

"Understood"

as her mood improved

nothing's lost

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

redeem

to herself as her fists

them what we are really made of when we are working

Aerin who seemed to have regained some

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

No.

only at her best when she was working with her

one

***

"Ah..."

left my

smell of alcohol invaded my nostril as my eyelids slowly opened

what the hell