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

help but feel their hairs stand. Just how could anyone put their

Everyone wanted to know.

that Ren's physical state was worsening by the second as his left hand

either broken

...yet.

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

They couldn't remove their eyes off of the screen. They watched the fight as though they were

'”Beep!

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

at the last dummy on the floor,

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

across

Dover; Time ➤ 1: 31

was deeply imprinted into every's

***

Massacre finals ended. Inside of

is why I don't use

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

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

roamed around the corridor of the arena

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

it, I overdid

throughout the whole game, I was unable to properly

its own to achieve the goal that I had set in my

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

nothing about anything else. Even

getting battered all over by 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

what resulted in me sustaining

Lock had set up a system where it would stop a game once the contestant was too severely injured,

I only sacrificed the areas that were

to aim for the goal,

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

my body completely ignored

the fruit of my imagination, my body ignored everything and

much

end, after everything was over, my overall time

than my

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

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

information that I had

was much higher

"Damn you Meliss'”pfffftt..."

up my throat. Not long after, blood

"Ah, shit..."

cursed underneath my breath. My vision soon darkened

'”Thud!

***

"I'm sorry brother."

waiting room.

that I could

as her voice

the match, she was confident that she could win the

forty-eight seconds. It was the best score she

Yet...

crushed once she found out

a close margin. A

crushed

okay. I'm not

Aerin on the head, Nicholas comforted

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

TV.

"Aerin."

"Yes"

as she lifted her head

may not know this, but your opponent put his

"What do you mean?"

head to

screen

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

"More reckless approach?"

hint of confusion in Aerin's voice as she wondered what

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

Aerin turned her head and directed her attention towards a

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

been eliminated for getting too injured, if done well, this strategy would've without a doubt have been the most

for a second

victory explains the huge gap between you two.

"I see..."

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

'Brother's right.'

her loss, Aerin did not have time to see

understood why she lost. It was because she

of respect for her opponent. If he was willing to go that far

Aerin, Nicholas satisfyingly nodded his

risk getting injured severely to win. You didn't

"Understood"

her mood

right, nothing's

that everything was over.

definitely redeem

swore to herself as

Let's show them what we are really made of when we

as he looked at Aerin who seemed to have regained some of her previous

of Aerin's amazing performances, but

No.

her best when she was working with her

no one

***

"Ah..."

groan left my mouth. My body ached

of alcohol invaded my nostril as my

the hell