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 reduce

stand. Just how could anyone put their body under so

Everyone wanted to know.

see for everyone present that Ren's

either

...yet.

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

eyes off of the screen. They watched the

'”Beep!

beep coming from the speaker

indifferently looking at the last dummy on the floor, the crowd

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

across

Dover; Time

this day, Ren's name was deeply

***

after the Dummy Massacre finals ended. Inside of a narrow and secluded

don't use

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

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

around the corridor of

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

I

of Monarch's indifference throughout the whole game, I

moved on its own to achieve the goal that I had

that under

nothing about anything else. Even if it resulted

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

I managed to get rid of about half of the dummies.

resulted in

would stop a game once the contestant was too severely injured, from how I was still not kicked out, my injuries

that I only sacrificed the areas that were less

aim for the goal, my internal injuries

whole game, I felt immeasurable amounts of pain being

body

everything and aimed to kill the dummies in

how much damage I

the end, after everything was over, my overall

than my target

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

turned around and saw Aerin's score, one minute

had gotten from

doubt, the difficulty was much higher than it was

"Damn you Meliss'”pfffftt..."

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

"Ah, shit..."

hands, I cursed underneath my breath. My vision soon darkened and I slowly lost

'”Thud!

***

"I'm sorry brother."

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

that I

as

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

forty-eight seconds.

Yet...

were completely crushed once she found out that her opponent's

not even by a close margin. A whopping seventeen seconds faster

completely crushed her

I'm not

on the head, Nicholas

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 at once. This outcome was to be expected.

head towards a nearby TV. Displayed on

"Aerin."

"Yes"

as she

may not know this, but your opponent put his body on the

"What do you mean?"

tilted her head

at the TV screen

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

"More reckless approach?"

in Aerin's voice

not avoid the dummies attacks and directly used his body as a shield. Take a look at the

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

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

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 would've without a doubt have been

for a second before

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

"I see..."

she looked at the

'Brother's right.'

at her loss, Aerin did not

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

highlights now, Aerin found a whole new level of respect for her opponent. If he was willing to go that far to win the game, then she

Nicholas satisfyingly

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

"Understood"

her mood

right, nothing's

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

redeem myself

as her fists

what we are really made

looked at Aerin who seemed to have

performances, but Aerin was not at her best

No.

her best when she was working with her brother.

no one could stop

***

"Ah..."

short groan left my mouth. My

invaded my nostril

the