The Author's POV

"Wow, that's a lot of stuff."

Staring at the commander's dimensional storage, I was amazed by the things he had inside of it. From potions to artifacts, he was loaded.

'Ah, I should check that stuff later, my priority should be the card.'

There was a time and place for everything.

Now was not the time for me to get distracted by the things inside of his dimensional storage.

My priority should be the card. Without it, my escape route was blocked.

"Here."

Thankfully, it didn't take long for me to find it as a black card quickly appeared on the palm of my hands.

Staring at the card, I put it back in my dimensional space and headed for the door.

"...I better hurry out of this place."

The hardest task was completed. All I needed to do now was rush all the way towards the gates at the first level.

"Commander, is everything alright?"

However, just as I was about to leave the place, someone else entered the room. The moment the individual entered and my eyes landed on him, my pupils dilated and my body froze.

"...What are you doing here?"

I muttered out loud.

"Hm? You know me?" Gazing in my direction for a brief moment, Matthew's eyes paused towards a certain corpse behind me. "Commander?"

Upon spotting the commander's dead body, instead of panicking, a wild yellow hue started revolving around his body. With his eyes focused on me, he commanded.

"Ezra! Alisa!"

"You called?"

"What's going on leader?"

At his call, two more people showed up. A wild aura revolved around their body.

"!"

Making eye contact with Matthew who nudged his head in my direction, they immediately got the gist of the situation and got into battle positions.

"You." Unsheathing his saber, Matthew didn't immediately attack. Pointing it in my direction, he said. "From your previous words, it seems as though you know me." Staring at my face for a couple of seconds, a trace of disgust flashed across his eyes. "...but I don't ever recall meeting someone like you. Especially with a face as memorable as yous."

Listening to his words, a light sigh escaped from my lips as I quickly regained my calm.

"Haaa..."

Scratching the back of my head, I muttered out loud. "Your attempt at trying to buy time is honestly pathetic." A green hue suddenly enveloped my body as I placed my hand on the grip of the sword. "Oh, and about what you said before, I don't actually know you, I was just expecting Luther to come by himself."

This part wasn't a lie.

I had originally expected Luther to try to accomplish this mission by himself with the goal of taking the mask for himself in mind. Never did I expect Matthew to show up.

But it didn't matter.

Gazing at Matthew and the three people behind me, neither one of us moved. We were both trying our best to waste time. Him for getting a better understanding of the situation and getting in battle formation with his members, and me for my mana.

'I need to finish this quick.'

I thought to myself, as my eyes peered through the gap of the door behind Matthew and his two companions.

Making sure that there was no one else, I once again looked at them and analyzed their strength.

'Judging from the mana revolving around them, all of them are ranked, with Matthew being slightly stronger at rank.'

This wasn't strange though. For the longest time, Matthew had always been stronger than me.

However, ever since last meeting him, I had finally caught up with him.

Currently, standing opposite to me in a triangular formation with Matthew at the back, they were glaring at me with unprecedented calmness.

It became evident to me that they were extremely experienced individuals.

I was standing, I could see no gap

Matthew was standing more than ten meters away from me. This was outside of

need to take

was of the

for backup, then the

it wouldn't hinder my plans as they would think that I was going for the normal gates, it would reduce the chances of me escaping by

the hilt of the sword, slowly unsheathing the sword, a subtle clicking sound

—Click!

third movement of the [Keiki

in front of the male individual standing in front of

—Spurt!

had no time to react before the sword quickly penetrated

"Huek!"

If one looked carefully, they'd see

the

weapon, she quickly

Alisa dash in my direction. His face was incomparably white. Almost as though he had seen a ghost. Apathetically glancing at Matthew, I muttered. "It's too

movement of the [Keiki

—Click!

subtle clicking sound rang in the room and another

body beneath my feet, exhaling, I turned around and coldly glanced in Matthew's direction. "I'm sure you've already

his hands and pointing towards my direction, trembling he

***

Empty.

getting engulfed by the flames on live television, that was

motivation and goal to strive for power disappeared right before his eyes. For a brief moment of

dead, what's the point in getting stronger? What do I

was nothing but emptiness.

disappeared, leaving him all alone inside of the Monolith, scraping for merit points by risking his life

apparent when during the battle arena matches he almost

empty,

times he wanted to

up at one point. However, just when he was about to lose

Xavier Pearce.

person who gave him a second

inside of his head, Matthew managed to

while, he had finally shed his old naive self whose only

he had gone through a reformation that he realized how naive

at an astonishing rate. During the period he

he no

another hell hole, Matthew did whatever he could to survive. He couldn't

longer did he want to dwell in the past. He just wanted

...Or so he thought.

"H-how?"

Matthew's hand trembled as he pointed in Ren's

"Yo—"

"Ezra!!"

was Alisa who screamed as she watched her companion,

"How dare you!"

raised her sword and dashed

no! What are you

as he stared at Alisa. She was

"It's too late."

—Click!

it was

and a

happened

Too fast.

point that it was almost impossible for him to keep up. Gazing at Alisa's

Ren slowly

you've already figured everything out,

'That familiar voice.'

to make the connection until just now. The sword technique and

he was all

eyes, Matthew forcefully calmed himself down. After that, opening his eyes, he calmly looked at

supposed to be

than an explosion

of meters away from him, Ren coldly

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."