The Author's POV

"This..."

Looks of absolute shock flashed across the faces of Lorena and Zack as their eyes bulged wide open.

'What have they just witnessed?' They both thought at the same time.

Everything happened so fast that they were both unable to understand what had happened.

In fact, moments prior they were merely commentating about the much without much enthusiasm. After all, Kimor was extremely strong. Both Lorena and Zack were unsure about their own prospects of beating him let alone someone who was <B> ranked like Caeruleum.

But just as they thought that this was going to be an easy match, out of nowhere, they witnessed Caeruleum gain the upper hand over Kimor as blood seeped down from his shoulder.

It had to be noted that Kimor not once had been injured throughout the tournament.

Could this have been due to luck?

Everyone shook their head. There was a limit to how lucky someone could be. The speed at which Caeruleum attack was simply way too fast for anyone to pick up with the backed eye.

To add further clarity that this may have not been just luck, the look on Kimor's face as soon as he realized he had been injured became perfectly vivid for all spectators present to see as they understood that from the first exchange that this was no luck.

How he did it, everyone did not know, however, hope suddenly reignited inside their hearts.

Could it be possible?

"Wait, what is he doing?"

Startling everyone out of their stupor was Lorena's voice as she stood up and pointed toward the screen.

It was then that everyone saw it.

Caeruleum placing his hand over his face and slowly removing what seemed to be a mask off his face revealing the features of a young man with jet-black hair, and deep blue eyes.

His looks, which were fairly handsome, instantly attracted the attention of almost everyone that was watching the match.

"Quick, someone scan his face and get me a report on who he is."

The first one to react to his sudden face reveal was Zack who stood up and glanced in the direction of the people working in the studio.

Instantly, upon hearing his voice, everyone woke up from their stupor and quickly got to work.

It wasn't just them that was doing this, but so were the big guilds throughout the world as they all wanted to find the identity of the mysterious young man that had suddenly shown up on the stage and had even managed to gain an advantage on Kimor, one of the top contenders for the top contenders of the tournament.

The reporters were quick.

Within just a minute of them scanning the face of the young man who had appeared on the stage, they were able to gather information about him.

Without wasting any seconds they quickly sent it to Zack who briefly looked through them.

However, the moment he looked through them, his mouth opened up in shock.

"This…"

Lifting his head and staring at the crew to make sure he wasn't seeing things wrongly, it was only after he got confirmation from them that he turned to look back at the camera.

A complicated look flashed across his face as he repeatedly lowered and raised his head to make sure that the profile did indeed match the features of the man on the stage.

"This…I don't know how I should break this, but…"

Lowering his head and once again looking through the information, Zack scratched the back of his head and muttered.

"We have identified the contestant on the stage, and…well, I don't know how to say this…but…his name is Ren Dover"

Zack paused.

Then, raising his head and staring straight into the cameras, he said.

"...and he is supposed to be dead."

***

At the same time this was happening, on the upper echelon platform.

Interest finally ignited on the faces of the people present as they gazed towards the platform where Ren and Kimor were fighting.

This was especially so for Brutus and Gervis who leaned their bodies forward. Seemingly trying to get a better look at the match.

The elven queen on the other hand, although more interested, didn't show as much interest as the others.

Her head was preoccupied with different matters.

With his eyes glued on Ren's figure on the stage, surprise flashed across Octavious's languid eyes.

Given his strength, he was naturally able to see exactly what happened, and it was because he was able to see what happened that he was left surprised. Simply put, the speed of the attack was incredibly fast.

So fast that even an <S> ranked individual would have difficulty following up unless they paid close attention to it.

Lowering his head he glanced at his watch and sent a message.

[Send me information regarding the young man on the stage.]

Pressing onto the screen, he proceeded to send the message.

Whoever he sent the message to, they were efficient. Within a minute or two, he got a reply back, the moment his eyes landed on the information, the surprise in his eyes only increased.

Name : Rank Dover

Status : Dead

Information : Believe to have died during an explosion at the Lock three years in the past, during the inter academy tournament. Inheritor of the Keiki style…

Reading through the information, Octavious momentarily closed his eyes.

'…so this is who 876 is.'

Piecing all the information together, he quickly came to the conclusion that Ren was 876.

As his thoughts paused there, his brows furrowed.

'Why did he reveal himself?'

It wasn't really that hard for him to figure out that he was 876. Matching the exact time when the Monolith said they met 876 to the time Ren supposedly died, Octavious did not think for a moment that 876, or should he say 'Ren', would do something so careless and reveal his identity so quickly.

There was definitely more to it than he thought.

Opening his eyes again, he directed his attention back towards the tournament. Or to be more precise, in the direction of where Ren was.

The interest in his eyes only increased.

He was curious about his motives for suddenly revealing himself.

***

Ren slowly put the mask away.

Swoooosh—!

A soft breeze suddenly brushed past his body sending his hair scattering all over his face. Raising his hands, Ren took out a hairband and tied his hair back.

On the other hand, as Ren tied his hair, Kimor, who had slowly recuperated from the shock of what happened, grit his teeth and straightened his back once more.

The languidness in his eyes completely disappeared and what replaced it was a heavy solemness.

From that one brief exchange, Kimor understood that he was facing no easy opponent. In fact, it wasn't just him who understood this as almost everyone that was spectating understood this.

Whoever Caeruleum was, he had previously been hiding his strength.

"...Are you not going to start?"

Snapping Kimor out of his thoughts was Caeruleum's cold voice. Raising his head and meeting Caeruleum's dull gray eyes, Kimor body faltered slightly.

He took a step back.

A deep sense of fear enshrouded his whole body as his eyes never left Caeruleum's dull gray eyes.

The more he looked at them, the more he felt his soul getting sucked into them.

Reflected behind those dull grey eyes was the same figure standing in front of him. However, instead of standing in front of him, he was merely looking at him with a bored look, sitting on a golden throne. Most strikingly were his emotionless and cold eyes that seemed to treat him as a passerby, or rather, an insignificant figure.

It sent chills down his spine.

The overbearing pressure coming from him became many times more powerful the more he stared at hm as a deep sense of dread completely washed over his entire body.

It felt as though he was in the presence of a Monarch.

A being that he was not supposed to cross!

His legs buckled slightly. He suddenly had the urge to kneel. No, he had to kneel! How could someone like him remain standing in front of such a presence?

But just as he was about to kneel, he suddenly stopped.

'What am I doing?'

He suddenly thought to himself. Was he just about to kneel? Who was he? He was Kimor, one of the strongest orcs amongst the younger generation and someone who had only kneeled in front of his leader, Brutus.

How dare he suddenly kneel to some unknown human he had never met before?! Preposterous!

Closing his eyes, Kimor channeled all the mana inside of his body as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Huuuuuargh!"

As he screamed his thunderous voice boomed throughout the whole arena as he quickly snapped out of his delusions.

Clenching his teeth, the aura revolving around his body intensified to the extreme as he reached out to grab onto his axe which was behind his back using his left arm. The one that was not injured.

SHIIIIIING!

Sparks flew on the ground as the tip of the axe came into contact with the ground.

Then, once he took out his axe, without wasting any time, he tensed his legs and propelled his body forward.

This time, as he moved, he made sure to increase his speed even further. His speed was even faster than in the first exchange.

From the previous exchange, he understood that even though his opponent was not exactly strong, the speed at which he could attack was terrifying.

Most frightening was his ability to make decisions in the little time he gave him to react.

Therefore, after thinking things through, Kimor decided to switch strategies. Instead of opting for pure speed, he was planning on using brute force as well.

Bang—!

Arriving before Caeruleum, pressing his foot onto the ground till it cracked apart, Kimor raised his axe and cut horizontally.

Fast and furious!

The moment the axe came swinging down, it came charging in Ren's direction like an avalanche. Its momentum was almost unstoppable.

***

My eyes stung.

Staring at the incoming attack that seemed to be able to cut through me like butter using Eyes of Chronos, I found that the more I used the skill, the more my eyes started to hurt.

His current attack was many times faster than his previous attack, the power that it contained was also many times stronger.

Unfortunately, the attack was not something I could dodge. Therefore, after thinking things through, deactivating Eyes of Chronos, I pressed my foot onto the ground, tilted my body towards the direction of where the axe was coming from, and met the attack using the body of my sword.

Clank—!

Sparks flew in every direction as his axe came into contact with my sword.

For a brief moment, neither of our weapons moved, but this only lasted for a short moment before I found myself flung all the way towards the other side of the arena.

Intense pain coursed throughout my whole body as my hands almost let go of the sword in my hand.

Bang—!

Whilst I was in mid-air, I suddenly heard another loud sound coming from the direction of where Kimor was from.

Lowering my head, I watched as Kimor stretched his waist and threw a brutal punch in my direction.

What came after was a small after image of a fist that quickly shot in my direction.

Staring at the incoming attack, I had very little time to react. Raising my sword and ignoring the pain, I channeled all the mana inside of my body and drew two rings.

Once the rings formed, raising my hand, I directed one ring towards where the attack was coming from, whilst I directed the other one to go right beneath one of my feet as a form of foothold.

But it appeared as though I had underestimated the power hidden behind Kimor's attack.

Not even a second after coming into contact with the ring, it quickly tore it apart before arriving right in front of me.

"Khuuuak!"

This time I was not so lucky as my body once again shot back and I felt a lingering sweetness coming from the back of my throat.

"Spurt!"

Unable to hold back the sweetness, I spat a mouthful of blood as I felt my chest cave in slightly. I knew that I had broken at least five ribs.

Bang—! Bang—! Bang—! Bang—! Bang—!

But this was not it. Not even a second after I got hit by the first attack, I heard the sound of five more attacks headed my way. My face darkened at the thought.

Suppressing the pain, motioning for my last ring to come my way, the ring quickly arrived beneath my foot. Touching the ring with my right foot, I released all the tension that I had been gathering in it and propelled my body upwards.

Swooosh—! Swooosh—!

Doing so I was able to narrowly avoid the attacks. However, just because I was able to avoid the attacks didn't mean I could relax as Kimor continued to send more and more attacks my way.

Bang—! Bang—! Bang—!

Lowering my head and staring at the incoming attacks, I had a sudden thought.

"...Doesn't this remind me of Amanda's attacks?'

By now I was around four hundred meters above the platform.

Beneath me were a barrage of attacks that came hurdling in my direction like cannonballs.

Subjected to such high intensity of attacks, I would've normally panicked by now, but this scenario was oddly familiar.

It looked exactly like the scenario which I practiced with Amanda many times in the past. Instantly, an idea on how to handle this came into my mind.

Raising my sword and channeling all the mana inside of my body, I continuously drew circles in the air. As I drew the circles in the air, the pain that was coming from my chest intensified as I had trouble breathing.

"Cough, cough."

I spat more blood.

By now, my body which had been rapidly raising was slowing down, and it wouldn't be long before I would fall back down. Fortunately, that was exactly what I wanted.

Upon drawing my twelfth circle, the momentum was completely gone and my body quickly fell to the ground. Beneath me were the massive cannonball-like attacks.

Blinking once, I muttered inside of my mind.

'Eyes of Chronos.'

Time slowed down and the whole world around me froze.

With the aid of the chip inside of my head, my eyes dilated as an arrow suddenly appeared inside of my vision, showing me the path that I needed to take in order to make it back down to the ground safely.

Everything happened within a small fraction of a second, and once I managed to find the right path, I quickly acted.

Clenching both fists tightly, the rings around me quickly shot downward and positioned themselves in the spots where I had calculated the attacks wouldn't land. Then, pressing onto a ring that I had placed beneath my foot, I propelled my body downwards.

Like an arrow, my body shot towards the nearest ring I had set up at unparalleled speed. Once I arrived next to it, I would use it as a foothold to push my body down even faster.

Booom—! Booom—!

Each time I stepped onto the ring, it would explode into millions of particles. However, thanks to this, I was able to increase my speed even more.

I was traveling so fast that from time to time I was forced to activate 'Eyes of Chronos'. This was so that I would not lose sight of what was happening around me.

Booom—! Booom—!

Breaking apart two more rings, activating 'Eyes of Chronos' once again, I finally saw Kimor standing in the middle of the arena.

It was only for a brief moment, but when I saw Kimor, I realized that he was holding onto his axe with both hands. His eyes locked in my direction.

A cold chill ran down my spine as I placed my hand on the sheath of my sword.

The third movement of the [Keiki style] : Void step