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

hairs stand. Just how could anyone put their body under so

Everyone wanted to know.

Ren's physical state was worsening by the

was either broken or

...yet.

to care. He remained completely unfazed throughout the whole time.

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

'”Beep!

stupor was the sonorous beep coming from the speaker of

at the last dummy

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

cheers resounded across

Dover; Time ➤ 1:

name was deeply imprinted into every's

***

after the Dummy Massacre finals ended. Inside of a

is why I don't use this

wall, I repeatedly coughed as I felt

barely keep my eyes focused as everything around me looked

a drunken person, I roamed around the corridor of the

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

I

of Monarch's indifference throughout the whole

the goal that I had set in my mind beforehand. Beating one

the fact that under Monarch's

my goal, I cared nothing about anything else.

as I stood motionless waiting for them to completely surround me before

the dummies. It was

resulted in

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

likely stemmed from the fact that I only

to aim for the goal, my internal

immeasurable amounts of

my body

everything and aimed to kill

how much

over, my overall time ended up

slower than my target

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

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

had

a doubt, the difficulty was much higher than it was supposed to

"Damn you Meliss'”pfffftt..."

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

"Ah, shit..."

at blood-stained hands, I cursed underneath my breath. My vision soon darkened and I slowly lost

'”Thud!

***

"I'm sorry brother."

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

really thought that I

as her

to entering the match, she was confident that she could win the match.

forty-eight seconds. It was the best score she could've

Yet...

found out that her opponent's time was even faster than

not even by a close margin. A

crushed

I'm not

on the head,

was just as skillful as you. You're both the same rank and from the looks of it, his sword art specializes in speed. Furthermore,

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

"Aerin."

"Yes"

she lifted

but your opponent put his body on the line

"What do you mean?"

tilted her head to

the TV screen displaying

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

"More reckless approach?"

in Aerin's voice as she wondered

he chose to not avoid the dummies attacks and directly used his body as a shield. Take a

head and

Ren recklessly used his body to defend some of the attacks coming from the dummies. By her

saving precious seconds that you used on dodging some of the attacks. Though it could've gone wrong as he could've been eliminated

paused for a second before

victory explains the huge gap between you two.

"I see..."

appeared on Aerin's face as she looked at

'Brother's right.'

at her loss, Aerin did

Aerin finally understood why she lost. It was because she

opponent. If he

to Aerin, Nicholas satisfyingly

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

"Understood"

as her mood improved

right, nothing's

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

redeem

to herself as her fists clenched

show them what we are really made of

looked at Aerin who seemed to have regained

people may have forgotten because of Aerin's amazing performances, but Aerin was not at

No.

best when she was

no one could stop

***

"Ah..."

short groan left my mouth. My body ached

smell of alcohol invaded my nostril as my

what the hell