The Author's POV

Under the faint moonlight, Kevin sat down on a bench inside of the Leviathan building. 

—You've got anything? 

A voice entered his ears. It belonged to Ren. 

"...yes. I do." 

Kevin replied after a short pause. 

"I've found out who the targets are, but there is a slight problem..." 

—What is it? 

"They're both A rank and are not villains. Frontal confrontation is a no-go." 

A short pause ensued before Ren replied. 

—...That's troublesome, have you got their names and info? 

"Yes..." Kevin massaged his forehead. "Unfortunately, they are both individuals who have worked in the Lock for more than five years and are considered trusted individuals by the academy." 

After discovering the identity of the two individuals who were working under the Monolith, Kevin spent a lot of time trying to figure out their background. 

They were clean. So clean that he was left helpless. 

—Then this is really problematic. 

Ren replied as his voice deepened. 

"I know, but don't worry. Although we can't expose them now, I've found something else." 

—What is it? 

"I found out the location of the portals they are planning on setting up" 

After spying on the two individuals who were working under the Monolith for the past couple of days, Kevin was able to find a general pattern in their movement. 

From there, he was able to come up with an estimate of where they would set up the portals.

—...Oh? 

Ren's voice jumped up a little. He seemed quite hopeful. 

Unfortunately, shaking his head, Kevin poured cold water over him. 

"Regrettably, we'll only be able to access them once the game starts."

—Why's that?

"Because they're inside of the dome." 

—...ah. 

Ren let out a strange sound. Kevin smiled as a result. 

"I know..." 

Given how secure the place was, it was almost impossible for him and Ren to infiltrate the place. 

Furthermore, because there was nothing concrete yet, Kevin could not go to the professors and tell them about it. He'd just look crazy. 

The portals were not set up yet, thus no evidence about what the Monolith was planning, and the personnel used were people with clean backgrounds. 

The Monolith had planned this well.

They did not use villains but individuals who had been working with the Lock for a very long time and were trusted. 

Unless he presented evidence, he'd look crazy. 

—So what now? 

Ren asked in a troubled voice. 

"That's it for now." Kevin shook his head. "I'll keep you updated if anything happens. In all likelihood, we're going to have to try to stop the portals from opening during the battle royale"

Kevin stood up.

"I believe that they are also not the only accomplices as in all likelihood, some of the students participating in the battle royale will be participating in their plans..." 

Although he knew the approximate location of where the portal was going to be, he couldn't do anything else. 

The only thing he could do now was, wait for the battle royale to start. 

Once he did, he cooperate with Ren to destroy the portals. 

—I see...okay. 

Ren replied after a short pause. 

"Alright, I'm hanging up. I'll keep you updated if anything happens." 

—Sure. 

Du. Du. Du. Hanging up, Kevin put his phone away. 

Although he had just talked with Ren about sensitive information with his phone, Kevin wasn't worried about others finding out the contents of their discussion. 

That was because the phone he and Ren were using could not be monitored. 

"I guess, it's about time I head back...hm?" 

—Sha! —Sha! 

Right as Kevin was about to leave for his dorm, his feet abruptly stopped. That was because Kevin suddenly heard the sound of something cutting the air. 

He could even hear a small, muffled shout that came alongside each slash. The sound was coming from the Leviathan building public training grounds. Curious, he headed over, whereupon he saw a short-haired girl swinging two small broadswords.

It was Emma. 

"Em—"

Right as he was about to call out for her, Kevin stopped himself.

A trace of a smile appeared on his face as he thought of something. Sneaking up from behind her, he shouted. 

"Boo!" 

"...hyak!" 

Frightened, Emma turned around and swung one of her broadswords in Kevin's direction. 

"Wow!" 

Taking a step back, Kevin narrowly avoided the sword. Sweat trickled down his forehead as he raised his hands in defeat. 

"Hey, it's me, Kevin! Calm down, Emma!" 

"Y-you!" 

Emma glared at Kevin. Raising her other shortsword, she once again swung her shortsword towards Kevin. 

"Hey!" 

Kevin shouted as he took a step back. Summoning his sword, he quickly deflected Emma's attack. 

—Clank! 

"Die!" 

"Isn't that a bit too harsh?" 

After the first attack, Emma did not stop. Raising her other shortsword, she relentlessly slashed in Kevin's direction.

—Clank! —Clank! 

The sound of metal colliding reverberated across the training ground. 

"This is what you get for scaring me!" 

Emma's attacks did not slow down. In fact, with each passing second, they increased in power and frequency. 

Calmly deflecting Emma's attacks, Kevin laughed out loud. 

"haha, I'm sorry." 

As the night passed, the sound of metal colliding continued to echo across the training ground. Only after Kevin and Emma were too exhausted to continue did the sound stop. 

***

"Alright. All that's left now is to prepare for the upcoming event." 

After I got off the call from Kevin, I fell into deep thought. 

To summarize our conversation, the Monolith was going to attack, and the only way we could stop it was by directly breaking the portals that they were setting up in the middle of the dome. 

For that, I needed to make preparations. 

"Without a doubt, I'm bringing you." 

Taking the red book that sat in my drawer in the corner of my room, I placed it on my main desk. 

Since Kevin was present, the book was a must-have. 

"What else?" 

My brows furrowed. After musing for a bit, opening up my phone, I ordered a couple of things from the web. 

Because I had stored enough food and water to last me a long time, I didn't need to worry about that.

Plus, the battle royale was going to last at most one week. So I had plenty of food. 

"That's about it, right?" 

Double-checking everything and making sure that nothing was missing, I nodded my head. 

—Twiiing! —Twiiing! 

Suddenly my phone rang. It was a message. 

Opening my phone and staring at the message, a smile appeared on my face. 

"So you've finally changed your mind?" 

***

Friday. 

With all the side matches coming to an end, and the second years also finished with their battle royales, it was time for the last event to begin. The first years battle royale. 

The event that was most looked forward to at the moment.

That was because this match was crucial in determining who would be the winner between the Lock and Theodora Academy. 

The whole world's attention was on this game. 

Would the Lock retain their undefeated record or would Theodora Academy finally break it? Everyone was eagerly anticipating the results of this match. 

"Attention!" 

As it was the last day of the week, the viewership on the TV channels was at an all times high. 

The 1500 first-year students went to the dome in the Lock, and everyone was currently waiting with their group. 

"It's time for us to check your storage devices" 

As soon as the instructors made sure that everyone was present, they started inspecting everyone's storage devices. 

It took about ten minutes for my turn to come. 

Entering a small room, an instructor did a quick scan over my body as I handed him my bracelet. 

"...I apologize in advance." 

"Go ahead." 

Slowly, the instructor took everything out of my storage device.

Because there was a lot of stuff, it took a couple of minutes to get everything out. 

"...this is quite a lot of stuff." 

The instructor muttered. Snacks, water dispensers, tents, potions, pretty much anything that I could think of I brought. 

"Since we don't get penalized for bringing more stuff, it doesn't hurt to be extra prepared." 

"Fair." 

The instructor nodded his head. Taking out a small device, he traced it over all of the equipment before sending me back.

"It'll be over soon. Please have some patience." 

"Sure." 

The check took a total of two minutes before everything was okay.

"Alright, you're good. You may enter the dome." 

"Thank you." 

Putting everything back into my bracelet, I thanked the instructor and walked through another door that was connected to the dome. 

'It's truly unfortunate' 

As luck would have it, we were allowed to bring out our own dimensional spaces and weapons. 

This was so that the bigger academies wouldn't fall into too much of a disadvantage when fighting against the other academies that would team up with each other. 

Regrettably, because of these checks, I couldn't bring Angelica with me. 

The device that the instructor just used measured for anything that contained demonic energy, or was explosive in nature. 

This was obviously put in place to prevent any incidents from happening.

Although Angelica could hide her demonic energy with her skills, bringing her would be extremely risky. I didn't want to take that risk.

"You're done?" 

Waiting at the entrance of the Dome was Kevin. Jin was behind him. 

"You guys too?" 

"Yup." 

"...That's good." 

"You nervous?" 

Kevin suddenly asked. 

"Sort of." 

I gave Kevin a meaningful look.

The nervousness didn't stem from the battle royale game, but from what was about to come.

Our current plan was to split up as soon as we entered the game to directly find the portals and break them. 

Because Kevin had already told me the location of where I needed to go, I knew exactly what to do.

So all that was left was for me to wait for the battle royale to start. 

"The exam will begin shortly." 

Half an hour after meeting up with Jin and Kevin, an instructor came out to brief us quickly on the rules. 

"Since most of you have watched the two previous battle royales that had taken place, I will make this short. Last team standing wins. No time limit, and you may use as much force as possible." 

At the examiner's last words, the place became noisy. 

"Now, calm down everyone. The only reason I'm telling you that it's okay to go all out is because installed in your suits is a small defensive mechanism. Once you experience a blow that will kill you, it will activate and create a small shield that can withstand the impact of a <C> ranked warrior. However..." 

The instructor suddenly paused and the air froze. 

"The shield will only activate once and once it does you will be rendered immobile. From there you will be a sitting duck. To all the contestants present, once a contestant is taken down, you are not allowed to touch them. If you do that will be an instant disqualification." 

At the instructor's words, everyone nodded their heads. This was fair and more realistic since everyone would be able to fight with all they got. 

"Good. For those that are eliminated, an instructor will later come to pick you up and escort you out of the premises. That should be it for the rules. May the best team win." 

Once the instructor finished explaining the rules, heavy tension descended on the waiting area. Everyone kept a fair distance from each other. 

—Beep! 

Marking the beginning of the trial was the all too familiar beeping sound that I had been hearing since the start of the tournament. 

—Rumble! —Rumble!

The large metallic overhang doors that connected to the dome slowly opened up revealing a dense forest-like environment. 

Not long after, the students slowly made their way into the premises. 

"Let's go." 

"...Sure." 

Following Kevin from behind, and with Jin next to me, we soon entered the dome. Right before we entered, my eyes interlocked with Kevin's. 

We had approximately thirty minutes at our disposal. During that time, the contestants weren't allowed to attack each other. 

And in that given time...

Kevin and I would do our best to stop whatever incident was about to happen.