"Ah! Here he is, the contestant that got first place in his group. Ren Dover"

"Hm?"

A reporter suddenly approached me. With a tablet in his hand, the reporter shoved a microphone to my face.

"If you would spare us a minute, would you mind telling us what you were feeling during the match, and how will you continue moving forward?"

"W-well, I'm naturally happy about my result..."

Caught off guard by the reporter, I became slightly flustered.

Though I had expected such a situation to happen, I was still recovering from my previous stunt.

Before I could even calm down, I was thrown into another troublesome situation.

"Is that so, then what are your predictions for the games? Do you think you will make it to the top fifty, or is that a bit too high at the moment?"

"Top fifty?"

My brow raised. My nervousness instantly vanished. What did he just say?

"Yes, although hard, given your qualifications, it should be possible. Given some of the other contestant's scores, although your score is quite high, enough to get you first in the group, there are over a hundred other scores that are higher than yours. Do you think you can beat them?"

"Ha."

The edges of my lips pulled upwards, and a small chuckle escaped from my lips.

'To think that I am being looked down upon this much...'

They probably assumed that my timing was the best I could achieve. That I went all out.

"I might regret saying this, but..."

"Excuse me, is there something fu'”"

"Win"

A soft yet audible voice escaped from my mouth.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm going to win, no'”", I shook my head. This didn't sound right, "let me rephrase my words..."

Lifting my head, I looked straight into the cameras pointing at me.

"...I will win the dummy massacre games and crush every competitor that stands in my way"

Without waiting for the reporters to ask any more questions, I turned around and left. Behind me, the sound of intense scribbling rang out.

Although it was mainly my fault. I was tired of people looking down on me.

Now that I no longer needed to hide as much as before, it was about time I showed the world a little bit of what I could do.

This was my statement.

***

[...I will win the dummy massacre games and crush every competitor that stands in my way]

Inside a waiting room, a male's voice echoed from the speakers of a TV screen. On the opposite side of the TV screen was a large black sofa where a platinum-haired youth sat.

'”Click!

Raising his hand, the platinumed hair youth turned off the TV. A faint smile appeared on his lips.

"Who would've thought he was like that?"

Turning his head to the right, a beautiful platinum hair girl appeared by his side. A solemn expression appeared on her face.

If one looked closely; they'd be able to notice the striking resemblance the male and female students had. Had it not been for their different gender, they would've looked identical.

"Aerin, what do you think your chances of beating him are?"

"I'm not sure"

The platinum-haired girl, Aerin, shook her head.

She too was participating in the dummy massacre games. In fact, she had just returned from her game, and this was what she had come back to when returning to the waiting area.

Placing his hand on his chin, Nicholas, Aerin's brother, crossed his legs and fell into deep thought.

"Hmm, that's a bit worrying. Especially since we need to get first place here...", musing for a bit, Nicholas looked at Aerin and asked, "What's your best time?"

"For the first game? It's one minute and forty-two seconds"

"One minute and forty-two seconds?"

Directing his attention towards his watch, Nicholas opened the scoreboard and checked the scores of the other participants. More specifically, Ren's.

"Two minutes and one second, that's a lot slower than you..."

"I'm sure he didn't go all out"

Aerin pulled her eyes away from her brother's watch.

Not once did she believe that Ren had gone all out. She too didn't go all out in the beginning rounds.

Furthermore, it didn't really matter right now since the difficulty increased which each passing round.

This time was not the best representation of the final time. She understood that.

"Right, I share the same sentiment as you"

"Well, we are twins..."

Aerin replied with a slight smile on her face.

They were born at almost the exact same time, and have spent most of their life together. It wasn't strange for them to think similarly.

"Haaa, so even if you know that he didn't go all out. Then are you confident in beating him?"

"Yes, no problem"

Aerin replied as she stood up and looked at the TV screen in front of her. Her eyes were sharp.

The confidence in her voice couldn't be masked as she touched the grip of her rapier.

"That's my sister"

Nicholas stood up and lightly ruffled Aerin's hair.

"I know that you will win"

"You can count on me"

At her brother's compliment, a blossoming smile appeared on Aerin's face. Now, more than ever, she swore to herself that she wouldn't lose.

***

At the same time.

"What a peculiar child..."

Inside of a quiet and cozy office, an elderly man muttered as he sat behind a large wooden desk. An expensive nameplate was placed on top of the desk.

On it, the words [Douglas R. Barker] were deeply engraved.

The room was quite large. At least for an office space. On the opposite side of the wooden desk was a white leather sofa and a coffee table that could be used to greet the guests that came into the room.

"He is indeed very talented..."

Donna, who had been standing in front of the elderly man, gave a reply in a polite manner.

A look of reminiscence appeared on the headmaster's face.

"His sword art reminds of me the Keiki style. Ah, the last time I saw it was around five decades ago when Grandmaster Keiki fought against one of the top executives of the Monolith. Those days were much darker as order had still not been established..."

It took humanity nearly seventy years to establish a proper and well-organized civilization.

Before that, the world was in total chaos. Demon and beast attacks were a common sight, and skirmishes amongst fellow humans appeared far more often than now. At least on the surface.

Though Ashton city was already built, it was still a new city.

Compared to now, it was far more dangerous. The security measures weren't as advanced as they were now. Committing a crime back then was much easier.

Fortunately, there were humans that stood out from the rest.

They were the pillars that brought order to the chaotic world that people lived in. If not for them, humanity would've taken a lot longer to properly regain a foothold on their planet.

Grandmaster Keiki was one such person.

"I was still far from reaching his level back then, everything just sort of felt like a blur, however..."

The headmaster paused. Leaning back on his chair, he peacefully smiled.

"I could never forget that sight. The sight where he laid bare of hundreds of demons and villains without even moving. To this day, I have never forgotten that moment. It truly shocked my younger self to the core.."

By the side, Donna attentively listened to the headmaster's words. To her, Douglas was like a mentor. Someone she looked up to.

Any words from him were something that she would deeply engrave into her mind.

"If I'm not being rude, how long do you have left, headmaster?"

At Donna's question, Douglas smiled. He then proceeded to raise his hands in front of him. If only looked closely, they'd be able to notice that the hands were becoming transparent.

Turning his head around, Douglas looked at Donna. "I should still be able to hold on for another day. I'm currently inside of a safe location so I don't have to worry about overexerting myself. I should be able to be here for today's closing ceremonies"

"In the meantime, I'd like for you to tell me more about the students that you have been speaking so highly of, especially the youth on the screen over here..."

"As you wish"

Taking out a tablet, Donna bowed her head slightly and shared everything with the headmaster. She talked about Kevin, Ren, Amanda and everyone that she thought were good seedlings.

As she talked, she omitted a few things from her statement. Like what art Kevin and Ren practiced.

Although she held enormous amounts of respect for the person before her, she had promised not to share their secret with anyone.

As such, unless she got their explicit permission, she wouldn't reveal anything.

***

[Lock private waiting area]

11 A.M.

Laughter rang out in the room.

"I swear to god..."

"Hahahaha, I'm going to die!"

Kevin laughed, but he didn't just laugh. Holding onto his stomach, Kevin bent down and laughed like there was no tomorrow. It was as though he saw the funniest thing ever.

'Then die...', I inwardly muttered.

Unfortunately, as much as I wanted it to happen at this moment, it was impossible. Kevin was the key piece in defeating the demon king.

Without him, I'd be screwed. Till then he couldn't die.

"You laughed enough?"

"kh...yeah"

Despite Kevin's attempts at stopping himself from laughing, his trembling body easily gave him away.

It was only after another minute had passed that he managed to fully calm down. He quickly changed topics.

"I saw your interview..."

"You did?"

"Yeah, never expected you to act that way"

"Wel'”"

"That last statement. Pretty cocky of you"

Taking a quick sip of her drink, Emma who was sitting next to Kevin cut me mid-sentence.

"It was wasn't it..."

I didn't reject Emma's statement. Though I wanted to, I couldn't reject the truth.

I was pretty cocky. Wasn't even sure why I acted that way...

Normally I would've never have done such a thing. It was very out of character.

'Did my emotions get the best of me?', I wondered.

Perhaps so...

With all sorts of problems popping up recently, my mood had become a bit unstable. From how Ava rejected my offer, to Amanda's situation. Nothing was going right for me this past month.

My sudden outburst may be due to that. But I wasn't sure.

It didn't really matter though. Since I had already done the deed, all I had to do now was follow up on my statement.

"His statement made me cringe a little..."

"It was alright. His kiss to the camera was far more cringy in my opinion"

"True"

"Tsk, I'm leaving"

Overhearing Kevin's and Emma's conversation, I clicked my tongue and turned around. It'd be better if I just left before I snapped.

"Where are you going?"

Briefly glancing in my direction, Kevin asked.

"I'm going to walk around with my sister. You guys are pissing me off"

"Alrig'”"

"Amanda's game is starting"

Pointing at one of the TV screens, Emma cut Kevin off.

"Oh, where?"

Kevin didn't seem to mind this as he quickly turned around and looked in the direction of where Emma was pointing at.

Rolling my eyes, I made my way out of the lounge area.

"What a useless friend..."