The Author's POV

Clank—!

The door closed, and silence enshrouded the room.

Leaning back on my bed, I looked towards the ceiling of the room.

"How troublesome…"

I muttered to myself. It wasn't long before I heard Angelica's voice inside of my head.

[Are you really going to drop out of the tournament, you know you could've just told her to wait after the tournament, right?]

"…about that."

Turning my attention back toward Angelica, a bitter smile flashed across my face. Before I could say anything, Angelica spoke up once again.

[If you had participated till the end, you would've most likely won the whole thing. That Kevin friend of yours, he's weaker than you.]

Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, I couldn't really deny her words.

Even though we had not fought each other yet, I could tell that the current Kevin was weaker than me. Not only did I know the ins and outs of how he fought, but I also had plenty of experience when it came to fighting.

I didn't waste my time in Henlour after all.

Just the knowledge of how Kevin fought was enough for me to be able to beat him, let alone all the experience that I had accumulated.

[If you know that he's weaker than you, why are you just quitting the tournament?]

"…It's cause I'm tired."

[Tired?]

Angelica replied, her voice sounding surprised.

Brushing my hair back, my hand soon paused on a certain part of my head before I started to scratch it.

"Yeah, I'm tired of all the constant problems that keep popping out of nowhere. I just want to relax for once. Have a breather."

I had already exposed myself, and I had proven my strength. The opponents, I could probably beat the all.

There was no need for me to continue the tournament anymore.

Most importantly, and the real reason why I no longer cared about continuing the tournament, was that I no longer cared about the top prize.

The only incentive the tournament had was the top prize. It was the only reason why I ever joined the tournament in the first place.

However, this no longer applied anymore. After hearing from Amanda just how much the elven queen cared about her mother, I figured that my gesture might end up earning her favor.

If that happened, what was the point of winning the tournament? Might as well get this event over fast.

Just to clarify, the reason why I gave Amanda the Xurin fruit wasn't because I wanted to earn the queen's favor. The possibility of earning her favor only occurred to me after I handed her the fruit and hence why I no longer held the tournament with as much importance as before.

Stroking the bottom of my chin, my mind shifted toward a different topic.

"…Right, I should also breakthrough right about soon."

The higher ranked I was, the greater the possibility of me surviving. The only hope I had when this happened was for me to not suddenly lose a rank.

Though the chances weren't exactly high, it was still possible. In hindsight, even if I did end up losing a rank, I'd just go back to where I was now.

Also, that was only applicable if I truly did lose a rank.

There might be a slim chance that I might just have to suffer an inhuman amount of pain, and I was fine with that. Nothing could be worse than what happened to me at the Monolith, right?

…I hope so.

I suddenly felt a shape gaze coming from my left side. I didn't need to look to understand

looking at me like

you tell the truth to that

know of your involvement with the situation, you

couldn't afford to lose Angelica. This was the best option that I could think

didn't think

eventually said inside of my head upon hearing my words.

afford to say too

I extended my

start making

to prepare myself for the upcoming event,

the matchups for the round of sixteen.' I thought when I

TRIIIING— TRIIIING—

and staring at the message written in

"…errr."

[What is it?]

behavior, Angelica's voice reached my ears. Turning to look in her

and turning my wrist, the

is a

[Round of sixteen]

Dover vs Kevin

all. Sigh,

Kevin to be my next opponent, truly, I couldn't understand

Seriously.

***

Late night.

down on a bed, was a

echoed throughout the lonesome

Twitch.

very subtle and almost unnoticeable. As the room was currently empty, no one was

Twitch. Twitch.

twitch came the second and

opened her eyes, and then the first thing that

'…What happened to me?'

she barely had any recollections of what had happened. That didn't last for long as memories soon started to flood

'Ah…I lost.'

suddenly popped up inside of Emma's head

remember the moment when he suddenly appeared behind her

been for the referee's intervention, she might've died

'…I was careless.'

fist when she thought about

low. Because of everything that had happened with her uncle, a lot of her resources were cut out from her, resulting in her

Watching her friends and people close to her slowly surpass her, leaving her behind, Emma

lack of resources truly made it hard for her to keep up with Kevin and the others, however, through her sheer willpower and

rank, almost .

have not been outstanding compared to Kevin and others,

fought Aaron was that she wanted

the others that she wasn't some

it would've been a great experience for her. It would help her identify her own weakness

she had been too

didn't mean that he wouldn't try to kill her during the tournament. She had joined the

looking around the room, Emma wondered out

"...Where are the others?"

was dark outside, she understood that they were most likely

her body to the side and tried

"Huh?"

suddenly froze. Moving her arm down, she once again tried to get