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..."

the way she

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

when you get

Pop—!

Emma's bubble burst apart.

way he will finally fight me

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

"Suit yourself."

against you, you'd probably

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

difference was that I wasn't planning on going on easy on her if

Kevin's

waved in

"Really?"

her hand

still looks embarrassed

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

"Ugh, don't remind me."

to the top 64 of

another winner and my

my head, a deep frown emerged

'He's strong.'

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 was a fearsome

He will be advancing to the

advancing to

be advancing to the

series of new

my face as I stared

higher

all rank from the undulations of mana surrounding

be advancing

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

'...How troublesome.'

the crowd.

of , he was someone that I needed to watch out

can't believe that scum is

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

just

was 25 years, and Gilbert just

that he's only a couple

lowering her cap and

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

was time for the second half of

it's my turn

up, I stretched my

whoever my next opponent was, it was going to be someone powerful. I could no longer

Caeruleum

contestants make their way

being called out,

I saw a youth slowly walk

his whole body

"Shit..."

cursed underneath

I did expect someone strong, I didn't think they would

rank, and a former

whose combat talents were on the same level as the protagonists, and someone who I had been keeping

this is going to be an

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

"...Right."

isn't entirely

Yufei was definitely someone who I would

attract that much attention. With the people having already witnessed the same repetitive magic card attack system from me, there really wasn't

my mind as I focused

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

merely smiled at his

face,

use those

"Mhm, who knows."