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,

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

that when you get

Pop—!

Emma's bubble burst apart.

he will finally fight me seriously

in her pupils. It was clear that she was excited at the prospect of fighting

"Suit yourself."

you,

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

that I wasn't planning on going on easy on

look, Kevin's looking

in Kevin's

"Really?"

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

still looks

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

"Ugh, don't remind me."

advancing to the top 64 of the

words, the referee announced another winner

deep frown emerged

'He's strong.'

frightening display of power over the tournament

to the top

will be advancing to the top 64 of the

will be advancing to the

series of new names started

my face as I stared at the individuals whose

higher ranked than

tell from a simple glance that they were all rank from the undulations of

will be advancing to the top 64

and the frown on my face deepened. This time, it

'...How troublesome.'

the cheers of the crowd. With a calm

, he was someone that

believe that

only one that felt annoyed by Gilbert's appearance as Emma lifted

25. He just barely made it to

25 years,

only a couple of years younger than

before once again lowering her cap and basking in the sunlight

were called up. Those were the names of the winners

after the winners were announced, it was time for

it's my

up, I stretched my

whoever my next opponent was, it was going to be someone

13, Caeruleum

contestants make their way to

called out, my hands froze

head and staring towards the designated platform, I saw

calm yet dangerous aura spread throughout his whole body as walked

"Shit..."

silently cursed underneath

strong, I didn't think they

Yufei, rank, and a former classmate of

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

to be an exciting match

her hat. Turning

"...Right."

isn't

someone who I would definitely have

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

my mind as I focused my

with his hands behind his back, Han Yufei gazed in my direction with a small frown on his face. Seemingly trying to peer through

smiled

on his face, Han Yufei

you going to use

"Mhm, who knows."