The Author's POV

Crash—!

With a loud crash, an orc came crashing down on the hard ground.

"Haa...haa..."

'I will definitely make you pay for what you've done.' Kevin swore to himself as he stared at the orc opposite him. With his head on the ground and his eyes closed, the orc was knocked down cold.

"The opponent is knocked out cold, the match is over."

The referee's voice resounded across the grounds, marking him the victor of the duel.

"Winner, Kevin Voss. He will be advancing to the top 64 of the tournament."

Announcing his victory, the referee raised Kevin's hand in the air.

The loud cheers coming from the audience rang out.

Kevin in return smiled at the audience.

'...That piece of shit.'

Or at least pretended to smile.

In reality, he was still fuming about what had happened yesterday.

The humiliation and embarrassment he felt were something he had never felt before in his life. Just recalling what happened sent shivers down his spine. The embarrassment was just too much.

Turning his head and staring towards the distance where Ren stood, Kevin deeply sighed.

Then, turning his head, he looked towards Emma who was seated next to Ren. Noticing his stare, the two of them waved in his direction.

Staring at the two of them from the arena grounds, doubt crept inside of Kevin's heart.

'...Could the figure in the dream really be Ren?'

Part of him truly wanted to dismiss such thoughts from his mind, but after looking back at the past, Kevin realized that there was a chance that the figure in the vision was Ren.

The Hollberg incident, the time when they were attacked by demons when they were returning from the dungeon, and just a week ago when he lost himself.

In those times, Ren truly reminded Kevin of the figure in the vision.

No matter how many times he wanted to deny reality, he knew that he couldn't...but Kevin wasn't planning on letting those visions dictate his mind.

In the first place, he never truly understood what the visions signified. Were they a vision of the possible future?...or were they simply just visions?

He spent a lot of time trying to rack his brain over the matter, but regardless of how much he thought about it, he couldn't quite understand it.

In the end, he just stopped thinking about it.

He realized that thinking on the matter was simply going to be a waste of time.

Be it the present past or whatever the visions signified, Kevin was not planning on letting the visions corrupt his mind and turn his back on his friend.

Never...

***

"The real matches should begin now."

With my arms crossed, I solemnly gazed at the platforms below.

"...the real matches?"

"Yeah."

I nodded my head. Seated next to me was Emma who was leaning back with her cap held down, covering her face. A small shadow cast over her beautiful face.

Apart from the two of us, pretty much everyone else was fighting in the arenas below. Jin, Amanda, Hein, Ava, you name it, they were all fighting.

Somehow, I ended up stuck with Emma whilst waiting for our turns.

"What I mean is that the next opponents are going to be extremely hard to deal with."

"Munch...much..."

of her chewing on her gum rang out. From the way she was acting, she didn't

"Munch...much...I'll still win."

you get matched up with

Pop—!

Emma's bubble burst apart.

he will finally fight me seriously for

pupils. It was clear

"Suit yourself."

out against you,

to know anyway. The chances of her going against Kevin were

going on

look, Kevin's looking at

in

"Really?"

her hand too. With a forced smile on his face, Kevin

looks embarrassed from

out loud as I stared at Kevin's forced smile. Overhearing my words, Emma's

"Ugh, don't remind me."

be advancing to the top 64

referee announced another winner and my

deep frown emerged on my

'He's strong.'

his area was an enormous orc. His very presence attracted the attention of the spectators as his frightening display of power over the tournament had made people realize that he

will be advancing to the top 64

Vaalyun Venmoira. He will be advancing to

be advancing

series of new names started getting

I stared at the individuals whose names

all higher ranked

a simple glance that they were all rank from the undulations of mana surrounding their

Dexteroi. He will be advancing to the top 64 of the

attention was another announcement, and the frown on my face

'...How troublesome.'

the crowd. With a calm and composed look, he

he was someone that I needed to watch

that

one that felt annoyed by Gilbert's appearance as Emma lifted her hat and

only 25. He just

was 25 years, and

sometimes I forget that he's only a

again lowering her cap

a few more people's names were called up. Those were the names of the winners of the first half of the round of

winners were announced, it was time for

my turn

up, I stretched

but I knew that whoever my next opponent was, it was going to be someone powerful. I could

13, Caeruleum vs Han

the contestants make their

called out,

platform, I saw a youth slowly walk to it with a

yet dangerous aura spread throughout his

"Shit..."

cursed underneath

I did expect someone strong, I didn't think they would be

Yufei, rank, and a former

talents were on the same level as the protagonists, and someone who I had been keeping in mind for a

to be

her hat. Turning

"...Right."

isn't entirely

was definitely someone who I

card attack system from me, there really wasn't any excitement for my match as I headed down to

I removed all unnecessary thoughts from my mind as I focused my attention on my opponent. Han

opposite me with his hands behind his back, Han Yufei gazed in my direction

merely smiled

a frown on his face, Han

you going to use those cards

"Mhm, who knows."