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..."

rang out. From the

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

you get matched up

Pop—!

Emma's bubble burst apart.

way he will finally fight me seriously

her head, a fire appeared in her pupils. It was clear that she was excited at the prospect

"Suit yourself."

really goes all out against you, you'd probably lose in

my shoulder. She didn't need to know anyway. The chances

going on easy on

look, Kevin's

waved in Kevin's

"Really?"

her hand too. With

still looks embarrassed from

at Kevin's forced smile. Overhearing my words, Emma's face cringed

"Ugh, don't remind me."

be advancing to the top 64 of

words, the referee announced another winner and my previous

deep frown emerged on my

'He's strong.'

back to 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

Sarfu. He will be advancing to

Vaalyun Venmoira. He will be advancing

Barrelbeard. He will be advancing to the top 64 of

series of new names started getting

solemness appeared on my face as I stared at the individuals whose names were being

all higher

glance that they were all

advancing to the top 64

attention was another announcement, and the frown on my face deepened. This time, it

'...How troublesome.'

Gilbert who basked in the cheers of the crowd. With a calm and composed look, he

someone that

believe that scum is also

by Gilbert's appearance as

he is only 25. He just barely made

maximum age one could participate was 25 years,

that he's only

before once again lowering her cap and basking in the sunlight coming from

words, a few more people's names were called up. Those were the names of the winners

it was time for the

my

I

been smooth sailing, but I knew that whoever my next opponent was, it was going to be someone powerful. I could no longer hold back as

Caeruleum vs

make

my alias being called out, my hands froze

my head and staring towards the designated platform, I saw a youth slowly walk to it with a

his whole body

"Shit..."

silently cursed underneath

someone strong, I didn't

and a former classmate of

on the same level as the protagonists, and someone who I had

going to be an exciting

muttered from behind as she lifted her

"...Right."

she isn't

was definitely someone who I would definitely

same repetitive magic card

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

his hands behind his back, Han Yufei gazed in my direction with a small frown

merely smiled at

a frown on his face, Han

use those

"Mhm, who knows."