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

you looking at me

Why didn't you tell the truth

do know that if the elven queen comes to know of your

that Amanda would say anything, I really couldn't afford to lose Angelica. This

think

of my head upon

afford to

together, I extended my

start making

I had set my mind to prepare myself for the

the matchups for the round of sixteen.' I

TRIIIING— TRIIIING—

and staring at the message written

"…errr."

[What is it?]

behavior, Angelica's voice reached my ears. Turning

arm and turning my wrist, the

opponent is a

[Round of sixteen]

vs Kevin

being tired and all. Sigh, really, what kind of

next opponent, truly, I couldn't understand how luck was my highest

Seriously.

***

Late night.

on a bed, was a beautiful girl with auburn

rhythmical breathing echoed throughout the lonesome

Twitch.

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

Twitch. Twitch.

twitch

opened her eyes, and then the first thing

'…What happened to me?'

to herself. Her memories were blurry, and she barely had any recollections of what had happened. That didn't last for long

'Ah…I lost.'

Emma's head as the

suddenly appeared behind her and

referee's intervention, she might've died there

'…I was careless.'

when she

of everything that had happened with her uncle, a lot of

eating away at her. Watching her friends and people close to her slowly surpass her, leaving

to keep up with Kevin and the others, however, through her sheer willpower and perseverance, she was able to get

rank, almost .

Kevin and others, but it was

why she fought Aaron was

to Kevin and the others that she wasn't some

if she might end up losing against Aaron, she thought that it would've been a great experience for her. It would help her identify her own weakness to later work on

she had been too

Aaron was also a human, it didn't mean that he wouldn't try to kill her during the tournament. She had joined

looking around the room, Emma wondered

"...Where are the others?"

she realized that was dark outside, she understood that they were most

hand, Emma leaned her body to the side and tried to

"Huh?"

her arm down, she once again tried to get out of the