The Author's POV

Minutes before the explosion, outside of the dome.

"Jin, you're here."

Kevin approached Jin.

Looking left and right, he asked.

"Have perhaps you seen Ren anywhere?"

Staring at the large translucent barrier covering the dome, Jin shook his head.

"No."

"Strange..." Kevin murmured. "I thought he'd be here already since he left earlier than me."

Having left before him, Kevin assumed that Ren had already left the dome.

'Perhaps he's already left the area?'

Though Plausible, Kevin shook his head.

Even if he chose to go back, he wouldn't have gotten far. Especially since Ren only left a minute before him.

Most likely, he was still roaming around here somewhere or was with a professor.

"Hey, you two! Help out over here!"

"..uh?"

Snapping Kevin out of his thoughts was a rough voice. Turning his head, Kevin spotted a professor in the distance.

With one hand touching the blue barrier, using his right hand, the professor motioned him and Jin to go to him.

Kevin immediately rushed to the professor. Jin silently followed from behind.

"How may I help you?"

"How is your mana reserve?"

The professor asked.

"Half."

"Good...you?"

The professor turned his attention to Jin.

Squinting his eyes for a second, Jin eventually responded.

"...About the same."

"Hm, that's perfect, I need you both to channel your mana inside of the barrier."

"Channel our mana inside of the barrier?"

"Mhm, we need as many helping hands as possible. This is the only way we can contain the large explosion from affecting the civilians that have come today."

The instructor's voice became serious.

"You understand how serious the situation is, right?"

If the explosion was not contained, many of the people that had come to attend the tournament would die. Especially since the majority couldn't defend themselves. Not everyone was a powerful hero.

"Understood."

Kevin's back straightened.

Convinced by the instructor's words, Kevin immediately placed his hand on the barrier and injected his mana into it. Jin did as well.

By the side, taking out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, the instructor thought for a moment before asking.

"Want some?"

"No, thank you"

Taken aback for a second, Kevin refused.

Even though smoking was not something that would affect his health as it did in the past, Kevin hated the smell.

a different way to deal with anxieties. Although the instructor next to Kevin was trying to put on a brave front, Kevin

way he could deal

"You?"

then turned

"..."

don't

the instructor. Flicking his

Puff.

slowly rose in

beats a

"Hm?...what the"

in the air, Kevin's brows suddenly knit. Turning his

they shut down the broadcast

to

the images of some of the students

also see some professors rushing towards the entrance of the

"I'm also not su—"

"...Hm? Isn't that Ren?"

instructor mid-sentence. This anger the instructor a

the distance, Kevin

a couple of times to comprehend the

"W-what."

mouth, like a goldfish, Kevin's jaw moved up and down

doing there? Wasn't he supposed to already be here? Didn't

It was only after that he realized what was happening that he opened his mouth and

"REE——!"

—BOOOOOOOM!

the large explosion that erupted within the dome. Taking his hand off the barrier, Kevin watched in despair as Ren's figure slowly disappeared within the

in the distance. Because his face never changed, no one

someone looked

tightly. So tightly that they

***

time, inside of

Ren doing

cried

opposite to her was Ren's figure staring into the camera. Falling on

his face. It

Then.

—BOOOOOOOM!

shook. Because they were quite far from the dome, the aftershockes of the explosion were so strong that the windows trembled unctrontrollably. It

their eyes were glued

body was enveloped

"...kh"

the scene for a short second, Melissa grit her teeth and turned her head to

the scene any longer. Though her head was usually always clear, at

'Did Ren just die?'

complex problems in the world, for the

"...just w-hat?"

sideways,

her mouth with her hand, she tried to supress her screams. Even then, as

"..."

Amanda's eyes never left the screen. Out of the three, she was the only one that watched the whole

eyes remained fixed on the television screen. Amanda's mind was

grasp, what was happening. What

be dead

Amanda, and before she knew it, tears had already started falling

in an almost

"...Liar. "

***

"Noooooo!"

large apartment, a

"Ren!"

in front of her, like a crazed person, Samantha Dover,

Give me my son back! Give him

falling

"Mama?"

But even then, seeing the

she too

"Maama...whaaa!"

a sofa opposite to them, bearing a striking resemblance to Ren, was Ronald Dover, his father. He wasn't a many of many words, but that didn't mean that he didn't love his

No.

loved his family tremendously. The only reason he was still working at a run-down guild that was filled with