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..."

sound of her chewing on her gum rang out. From the way she was acting, she didn't seem to be the least bit

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

that when you get

Pop—!

Emma's bubble burst apart.

This way he will finally fight me seriously

fire appeared in her pupils. It was clear that

"Suit yourself."

out against you, you'd probably lose

The chances of

I wasn't planning on going on easy

Kevin's

waved in Kevin's

"Really?"

and staring at Kevin, Emma waved her hand too.

looks embarrassed

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

"Ugh, don't remind me."

to the top 64 of the

announced another winner

deep frown emerged

'He's strong.'

presence attracted the attention of the spectators as his frightening display of power over the tournament had made people realize that he was a fearsome

He will be advancing to the top

advancing to

Borerlig Barrelbeard. He will be advancing to the

of new

as I stared at the individuals whose names were being called

are all higher

were all rank from the undulations of

Gilbert Von Dexteroi. He will be advancing to the

another announcement, and the frown on my

'...How troublesome.'

in the cheers of the crowd. With a calm

someone that I needed

that

felt annoyed by Gilbert's appearance

is only 25. He just

was 25 years, and

that he's only a couple

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

were called up. Those were the names of the winners of

was time for the second half

it's my

up, I stretched

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

Caeruleum

make their

being called out, my

saw a youth slowly walk to it with a calm and

spread throughout his whole body as walked toward the

"Shit..."

silently cursed

strong, I didn't think they

rank, and a former

same level as the protagonists, and someone who I had been keeping in mind

is going to be an exciting

her hat. Turning my head, I rolled my

"...Right."

she isn't

definitely someone who I

that much attention. With the people having already witnessed the same repetitive magic card attack system from me, there

arena, I removed all unnecessary thoughts from my mind as

Yufei gazed in my direction with a small

merely smiled at

a frown on his face, Han Yufei opened

you going to use those cards to fight

"Mhm, who knows."