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 way

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

get matched

Pop—!

Emma's bubble burst apart.

will finally fight

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

"Suit yourself."

you, you'd probably lose in a

didn't need to know anyway. The chances of her

on going on easy on

Kevin's looking at

in Kevin's

"Really?"

Kevin, Emma waved her hand too. With a forced smile on

still looks embarrassed

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

"Ugh, don't remind me."

He will be advancing to the top 64 of the

announced another winner and my previous joyous mood

head, a deep frown emerged on my

'He's strong.'

attention of the spectators as his frightening display of power over the

He will be advancing to

He will be advancing to the top 64 of the

He will be advancing

a series of new names started

face as I

higher ranked

glance that they were all rank from the

be advancing to the top 64 of the

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

'...How troublesome.'

arena was Gilbert who basked in the cheers of the crowd. With a

a rank of , he was someone that I needed

that

annoyed by Gilbert's appearance as Emma lifted her hat and threw a disgusted look in his

is only 25. He just barely made

could participate was 25 years, and Gilbert just

he's only a couple of

again lowering her cap and basking in

were the

winners were announced, it was time for

my turn

up, I

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

13, Caeruleum vs

the contestants make their way to

called out, my

staring towards the designated platform, I saw a youth slowly walk

dangerous aura spread throughout his

"Shit..."

silently cursed underneath

did expect someone strong, I didn't think

and a

same level as the protagonists, and someone who

going to be

lifted her hat. Turning my

"...Right."

she isn't entirely

was definitely someone who

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

all unnecessary thoughts from my mind as I focused my attention on my opponent. Han

my

smiled at his

frown on his face, Han Yufei opened

use those cards to

"Mhm, who knows."