The Author's POV

"Huuup!"

Jumping down from the building and softly landing on the ground, I walked over to Hein.

"You okay?"

"…Yeah."

He replied, his eyes darting all over the shield. My brows furrowed at his actions.

"What's wrong?"

"...Nothing."

Taking out a handkerchief, he slowly wiped away the dirt that was on his shield.

A sigh escaped from my lips once I saw this. Ever since Henlour, he had always been acting up like that whenever his shield got dirty. I didn't even know how to react at this point.

That aside, apart from minor dust on his body and shield, he truly did look fine.

"We'll talk more later. For now, step back."

"Wai—"

Cutting him off, I extended my hand and turned my head.

"Don't worry, I'm only borrowing him. You can fight him later."

My goal was to test the magic cards. I wasn't going to kill him. Hein could easily fight against him in the future. Plus, at the moment John was still stronger than Hein by one minor rank.

"…fine."

What I said seemed to have some effect on Hein who eventually stepped back. I nodded in satisfaction.

Looks like he still had some respect for me.

"You still didn't answer me, who are you?"

John's voice rang from behind as a powerful wave of mana sprung from his body.

Ignoring him, lowering my head, I stared at the cards in my hand.

'Fireball, Ice wall, quake, and blind.'

They were the spells enchrypted in the magic cards. They were quite the simple spells, but they were still quite powerful. At least, they were powerful enough to deal with the person in front of me.

The reason why Melissa chose to encrypt these spells was because the others were just too complicated for her current level of development.

Lifting my head and staring at the place which was surrounded by people, I looked back at John.

"Looks like a big crowd has formed around us."

"That's good."

John lowered his body and took out his shield. He took a stance that looked similar to that of Hein. But, if I had to say, It was a bit more refined. Not sure if it was a bit more efficient though.

"I'll keep you in check until the others come. See how you can explain the fact that you are here despite not being one of the people participating."

I rolled my eyes at his words.

Honestly, if I explained to him properly, I could resolve this whole conflict, but…why would I?

Had the perfect testing material right in front of me. Why would I miss such a good opportunity?

Turning my head, I looked at Hein and softly muttered.

"Pay close attention."

Bang—!

Then, pressing my foot onto the ground, I shot in John's direction. Within a couple of seconds, I was already before him.

"Huuup!"

Reacting to my sudden burst of speed, taking a step forward, the ground beneath John cracked apart and small pieces of rock shot upwards.

Dodging the pieces of rock, I swiftly arrived before him. As I arrived before me, in my view, all I saw was a massive shield. It looked as though I was facing a massive tortoise.

Quite frankly, despite my experience, I saw no openings. Still, I wasn't disheartened by this.

'Let's see.'

Taking out the 'fireball' magic card, I channeled my mana into it. Then, turning my body sideways, I skid before the shield and smacked the card right on it.

Smack—!

of force into my attack. The moment my hand smacked against the shield, a circular pressurized wind gale outwardly

Swoooosh—!

ground around us

on the shield, I jumped up and did

"Was that it?"

his shield, John

the strength

again questioned. The edges of his lips

anything, I touched my

'Is one enough?'

it would take one second and a half to activate the

card by ten more seconds by channeling my mana inside of a specific area that would delay the flow. This was a feature that I suggested to her a while back and

Glad she listened.

"Try attacking again."

John taunted.

card and once again dashed in his direction. The speed at which I was going was the same

Bang—

arrived before the shield, stomping my left foot on the ground, my body shot toward the right side and I once again smacked a

Smack—!

wind gale shot out between the point of contact between my hand and the shield. Despite

think two is

again, I stopped. Since the time limit was only ten seconds, there wasn't enough time to add a

considering my opponent's strength, this

done playing

steps. Furrowing his brows tightly, he

don't know what you just

if I were

SHUUUUA—!

finish his sentence, his shield glowed, and a bright flame suddenly erupted,

to scream before

a small scream coming out from

"...Oh shit."

seconds ticked, and the flames engulfing John grew,

flames were a lot stronger than I had originally

my head in Melissa's direction, I found her looking at John's burning

stuff on it. Next

head, our eyes met and

'What did I expect?'

"What's going on here?"

was then that a familiar

rushing in our direction.

Swoooosh—!

hand

"Haaa..haaa..."

and a

in relief once I

specialized in

to the extent of me getting kicked out by the Union or anything like that, but it

"Did you do this?"

voice. Turning my head, my eyes interlocked with Donna's. She had an icy glare on her face as she looked

Gulp—!

of saliva. She may have not been releasing any pressure, but the aura

it wasn't anything too

she gave out

have no

"Huuuu..."

my head, I

'Monarch's indifference.'

***

couple of days and Donna was supposed to give a roundup to the participants about who their opponents were and how the structure of the tournament

to arrive at the residence, she suddenly saw a bright flame in the

could also hear a

direction of where the

was then that she saw two males fighting against each other. One seemed to be fine, while the other was

quickly removed the flames

the flames quickly dissipated away, revealing the features of a young man close to

'John Berson.'

Donna instantly recognized him.

one of the few people she paid close attention

she turned to face the perpetrator of

knit as soon as her eyes laid

never seen

memorized the faces of all the five hundred participants, and

Instantly she became warier.

"Who are you?"