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..."

munching sound of her chewing on her gum rang out. From the way she was

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

when you get matched up

Pop—!

Emma's bubble burst apart.

way he will finally

head, a fire appeared in her pupils. It was clear that she was

"Suit yourself."

all out against you, you'd

my shoulder. She didn't need to know anyway. The chances of her going against Kevin were the same as

that I wasn't planning on going on easy on

Kevin's looking at

waved in

"Really?"

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

looks embarrassed

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

"Ugh, don't remind me."

advancing to the top 64 of

the referee announced another winner

a deep frown emerged

'He's strong.'

spectators as his frightening display of power over the tournament had made

will be advancing to the top 64 of

be advancing to the top 64

will be advancing to

a series of new names

face as I stared at

are all higher ranked

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

Von Dexteroi. He will be advancing to

frown

'...How troublesome.'

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

a rank of , he was someone that I needed to watch

that scum is

appearance as Emma lifted her hat and threw a disgusted look in

is only 25. He just barely made it to the

could participate was 25 years, and Gilbert

he's only a couple of

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

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

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 no longer hold back as I

13, Caeruleum

the contestants make their way to the

called out,

I saw a youth slowly walk to

calm yet dangerous aura spread throughout his whole body as walked toward the

"Shit..."

cursed underneath my

someone strong, I didn't think they would be at this

Yufei, rank, and a

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

to be an

behind as she lifted her hat. Turning my head,

"...Right."

isn't entirely

Yufei was definitely someone who I

having already witnessed the same repetitive magic card attack

removed all unnecessary thoughts from my mind as I focused my attention

Yufei gazed in my direction with a small frown on his face.

smiled at his

on his face,

to use

"Mhm, who knows."