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.

body to reduce

but feel their hairs stand. Just how could anyone put their body under so much torture? Was it worth

Everyone wanted to know.

Ren's physical state

either broken

...yet.

throughout the whole time. Dodge, get hit, kill. He

off of the screen. They watched the fight

'”Beep!

their stupor was the sonorous beep coming from the

last dummy on the floor, the crowd went into

"Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!" "Huaaa'”!"

across

Time ➤ 1:

name was deeply imprinted into every's

***

ended. Inside of a narrow and secluded

don't use

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

barely keep my eyes focused as everything around me

around the corridor

to look fine after I finished my game, once I arrived

I

was under the influence of Monarch's indifference throughout the whole game, I was unable to properly control what I was

goal that I had set in my mind beforehand. Beating one minute and twenty-eight

completely overlooked the fact that

goal, I cared nothing about anything else. Even if it resulted in me getting severely

battered all over by the dummies as I stood motionless waiting for them to completely surround me before

one swift movement, I managed to get rid of about half of the

what resulted

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 were not enough to

likely stemmed from the fact that I

my body continued to aim for

game, I felt immeasurable amounts of pain

my body completely ignored

ignored everything and aimed to kill the

much damage I

after everything was over, my overall time ended up being one minute and

than

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 and

information that I had

the difficulty was much higher than it

"Damn you Meliss'”pfffftt..."

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

"Ah, shit..."

blood-stained hands, I cursed underneath my breath.

'”Thud!

***

"I'm sorry brother."

academy's waiting room. Standing before her brother,

really thought that I could

as her voice

she was confident that she could

one minute and forty-eight seconds.

Yet...

hopes were completely crushed once she found out that her opponent's time was even faster than

close margin. A whopping seventeen seconds faster

completely crushed

I'm not

the head,

his sword art specializes in speed. Furthermore, he also had a mysterious skill that I presume specializes in

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

"Aerin."

"Yes"

she

your opponent put his body on the line

"What do you mean?"

tilted her head to

TV screen displaying Ren's

you where you directly avoided and dodged all

"More reckless approach?"

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

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

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

as Ren recklessly used his body to defend some of the attacks coming from

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 the

a

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

"I see..."

she looked at the highlights displayed

'Brother's right.'

her loss, Aerin did not

was because she put it her all like Ren

If he was willing

Aerin, Nicholas satisfyingly

getting injured severely to win. You didn't lose without merit. Let's redeem ourselves

"Understood"

as her mood improved

right, nothing's lost

she lost this game didn't mean that everything

redeem myself

herself as her

show them what we are really made of when we are

who seemed to have regained some

Aerin's amazing performances, but Aerin was not at

No.

her best when

one could stop

***

"Ah..."

short groan left my mouth. My body

my

what the hell