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.

This way he will finally fight me seriously

a fire appeared in her pupils. It was

"Suit yourself."

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

thought as I shrugged my shoulder. She didn't need to know anyway. The chances of her going

planning on going on easy on

look, Kevin's looking at

waved in Kevin's

"Really?"

her hat and staring at Kevin, Emma waved her hand too. With

still looks

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

"Ugh, don't remind me."

will be advancing to

referee announced another winner and my

my head, a deep frown emerged on

'He's strong.'

frightening display of power over

Sarfu. He will be advancing to the top 64

be advancing to the top

will be advancing to the top 64

of new names started getting

on my face as I stared at the

higher ranked

could tell from a simple glance that they were all rank from the

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

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

'...How troublesome.'

in the cheers of the crowd. With a calm and composed look,

a rank of , he was someone

believe that scum is

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

He just barely

was 25 years,

only a couple of years younger

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

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

the winners were announced, it was time for the second half of the matches

it's my

up, I stretched my

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

13, Caeruleum

make their way to

my alias being called

platform, I saw a youth

throughout his whole body as

"Shit..."

silently cursed underneath

didn't think they would

Yufei, rank, and a former classmate of

on the same level as the protagonists, and someone who

going to be an

behind as she lifted her hat. Turning my head, I

"...Right."

she isn't entirely

who I would definitely have

same repetitive magic card attack system from me, there really wasn't any excitement for my

from my mind as I focused my attention

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

merely smiled at his

face, Han Yufei opened

you going to use those cards to fight

"Mhm, who knows."