The Author's POV

"Huuu..." 

Taking a deep breath and calming my emotions down, I took out a pen from my dimensional space.

With Aaron following me, this was the only option I had at the moment. If I lead him to Kevin, things might worsen. 

"Please work."

Channeling my mana into my fingers, I decided to make some changes to the book. 

Unfortunately...

"Damn it!" 

My grip on the book tightened. The changes that I had made to the book disappeared within five seconds. 

It became apparent to me that I was still too weak. 

Even though I could make changes to the future with the book, the changes were only proportional to the amount of mana I had. At this moment, my mana was only at the level of a <E> rank. It was pitifully low. The only changes I could make were not something that could help Kevin. 

'Calm down...calm down, I need to calm down.' 

I repeated inside of my mind. 

Repeating the process a couple of more times, and once again failing miserably, my breathing started to get rough as panic started to set in. 

"...I have no choice." My teeth clenched tightly. "I'm going to forcefully breakthrough." 

Though I was breaking through a couple of days before I was supposed to, this was the only way I could save Kevin at the moment. 

As long as I broke through to <D> rank, there might be a chance for me to change the future a little bit. 

Clenching my fists tightly, I took out a small pill from my dimensional space. 

"Ugh, I was saving this up for later but..." 

Throwing the pill in my mouth, I closed my eyes and waited for it to enter my system completely.

The pill that I took was nothing really special, it had the ability to help one breakthrough when they felt that they were near. Originally, I had planned on using this pill in about a week's time, but given the circumstances, I had no choice. 

"This is probably gonna hu—khuak!"

Not even a second after I said that, an electric current ran down my body as all of my muscles spasmed uncontrollably. This was the consequence of forcefully breaking through.

Immense pain followed by potential future repercussions. The reason for this was simple. Because my body was still not fully capable of withstanding the huge increase in power that would come from a rank increase, by forcefully breaking through I was putting my body under immense strain. 

If you put too much stuff inside of a box, the box will overflow. What I was doing was essentially the same thing. Stuffing my body with items, or in this case, energy. 

My current body was still not fully capable of withstanding the large amount of energy. Hence why the unbearable amount of pain. 

...but I did not have time to think about those problems. My main priority right now was saving Kevin. 

"Haaa...haaaa..."

Fortunately, the pain didn't last long. Within half a minute everything was already over. With my body splattered all over the floor, I took massive breaths as I forcefully pushed my body up. 

"...Please work." 

With trembling hands, I opened the book and once again tried to make changes. Making the opponent miss, Making Kevin's attack land, Making the opponent trip...I tried everything. 

"Khuak!" 

Eventually, as if my soul was getting sucked out of my body, the book slowly changed.

"It's working." 

My eyes lit up. Slowly but surely the future was changing...but my joy did not last for long. 

===

—Thud. 

Falling face-first on the ground, Kevin's heart stopped moving. 

On this day. Kevin Voss died. 

===

"What? Dead again?" 

Dropping the book on the ground, I covered my face with body hands and ruffled my hair. 

Once again Kevin died.

The only difference was that he had managed to stay alive for eight more minutes. 

"Damn it!" 

A cruse escaped from my lips as my jaw clenched tightly. 

'Was everything that I did useless? Was there really no way in saving Kevin?'

No. 

I firmly shook my head. Taking a mana replenishing potion from my dimensional space and swallowing it down, I stood up. 

"I've broken through already. With my newfound strength, I should be able to—"

—Sha! 

Before I could finish my words, a cold metal object pierced through the air and aimed for my head. Fully on guard, ducking down, I managed to avoid the attack. 

Standing opposite of me was Aaron who had caught up with me. 

"Have you finally decided to face me head on?

'...damn it, I don't have time for this'

Exhaling, my muscles relaxed slightly.

"Huuu, I'm definitely going to regret this, but..."

Lifting my head slightly, and glaring at Aaron that had finally caught up, I muttered underneath my breath. 

"Monarch's indifference." 

***

After Aaron and Ren left, an instructor quickly arrived at the area they first engaged with each other, the area where five students lay on the ground passed out. 

"This was all done by one student...?" 

Arriving at the location and staring at the five students on the ground, the instructor was shocked.

He had in fact witnessed the whole fight from the very beginning. There were about fifty instructors on standby at the moment overlooking the entire dome. 

On their wrist was a watch where they could spectate some of the matches the students were having. The instructor saw Ren's whole match from the beginning to the end. 

It was a flawless performance. From first targeting the two strongest individuals before taking out the weaker three. He had executed everything perfectly. 

"Alright, let's get this over with." 

Twisting his hand, magically, all of the students on the ground floated in the air. 

"Hm?" 

The instructor's feet abruptly paused. He suddenly noticed something. 

Walking over to a certain area, he tilted his head to the side. From where he was standing he spotted a small metallic shine. Curious, he decided to look. 

"What the..." 

Arriving before the metallic shine was, the instructor froze. Squinting his eyes, he bent down and dug the ground. Not even a minute after he started digging the ground, the instructor took out a large metallic disc from the ground. 

Staring at the disc for a couple of seconds, the instructor's eyes opened widely as a curse escaped from his lips.

"Shit—!" 

Tapping on his watch, the instructor flusteredly sent a message to the other instructors. 

"Code Red. We've got an emergency." 

*** 

—Rustle! —Rustle!

The rustling sound of vegetation being pushed to the side echoed across the surroundings as two figures stood on opposite ends. 

Standing on one side was Ren's cold figure, whilst on the other side was Aaron. 

"You shouldn't have let me caught up with you."

Aaron playfully smiled. 

In response to Aaron's provocation, Ren's face remained indifferent as he coldly said.

"Move out of the way." 

"...Oh? Why should I?" 

"..." 

Ren did not respond. 

Placing his hand on the sheat of his sword, he started channeling his mana. 

"Hmmm" 

Feeling the fluctuations coming from Ren's body, Aaron's face became serious. He soon disappeared. 

SHIIIIING!

Just like before, Aaron reappeared right in front of Ren. Thrusting his dagger forward, he aimed for his throat.

However, something totally unexpected happened. 

Staring at the incoming dagger, Ren stood still. He made no effort in dodging the attack at all. Placing his hand on the sheat of his sword, a clicking sound rang out. 

—Click! 

"...What the!" 

Right before the clicking sound rang out, the back of Aaron's hair stood to no end. 

Abruptly stopping his dagger right before Ren's throat, Aaron disappeared and reappeared a couple of meters back. At the exact moment he disappeared, a lightning-fast sword appeared in the area he was standing.

Cold sweat trickled down his forehead as he stared at Ren with eyes filled with disbelief. 

"Y-you. Were you trying to kill yourself to get rid of me?" 

Aaron said in a flustered manner. Had he not dodged at the last moment, he would've without a doubt have been eliminated. 

The same thing would've applied to Ren who merely stood still and watched the dagger aim for his throat.

"No." 

Ren shook his head as he responded to Aaron.

"Then why didn't you defend yourself from my attack?" 

"...Because I knew that you were going to back out." 

"Are you calling me a coward?"

"Yes." 

Conversing with Aaron, Ren secretly placed his hand on the sheath of his sword. Slowly, he was accumulating mana inside of his body.

He was trying to buy time.

"Ha..." A long sigh escaped from Aaron's lips. "To think that I'm being looked down upon." 

Covering his face with the palm of his hand, Aaron's lips twisted upwards. 

"...You think I didn't know that you were gathering mana?" 

—Fwuaa! 

A majestic green hue suddenly shrouded Aaron's body. Bending his body slightly, he glared in Ren's direction. 

"Funnily, I've been doing the same thing. Let's see if you can hold out well"

Aaron suddenly slashed diagonally with both daggers.

"Huuup—!"

Like a lightsaber, two majestic green energies erupted from Aaron's daggers as they headed in Ren's direction. 

—Cracka! —Cracka!

Staring at the incoming attack, Ren took a step to the right. Gripping on the handle of his sword, lightning crackled around him. 

"Huuuu..." 

He then took a deep breath and apathetically stared at Aaron. His body suddenly disappeared. 

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

SHIIIIING! SHIIIIING!

At the exact moment Ren's body disappeared, the two large energy slashes appeared on the spot he was standing, tearing everything apart. Two large deep scars appeared on the ground as everything within the vicinity of the attack tore apart. 

Unfortunately for Aaron, Ren was not there.

"Wha—huh?!" 

Catching Aaron by surprise, Ren directly appeared in front of him. He then thrust his sword forward and aimed for his heart. 

—Spurt!

Aaron's eyes shot wide open as blood spilled on the ground. 

"Khuak!" 

"...you dodged it." 

Ren coldly said as he looked at Aaron. At the very last moment, right when his sword was about to pierce Aaron's heart, he shifted his body left ever so slightly, saving himself. 

"Kaaaah!" 

A pained scream escaped from Aaron's mouth. Stomping his foot on the ground, he distanced himself from Ren. 

"Haa...haaa..."

—Thud!

Appearing a couple of meters away from Ren, Aaron gasped for breath as he knelt on the ground and touched his chest that was bleeding profusely. 

In the distance, Ren was not in a good state either as a large cut that traced all the way from his right shoulder to his leg appeared. Blood trickled down his body. 

Because the third movement did not directly teleport a user but was actually a quick burst of speed, he was unable to dodge Aaron's attack fully. He too suffered damage. 

"...don't get in my way again." 

Staring at Aaron's kneeling figure in the distance, Ren coldly said before slowly turning around and leaving. 

Under normal circumstances, Ren would've eliminated Aaron, however...

These weren't normal circumstances. 

He was under Monarch's indifference.

His goal was to save Kevin. Anything other than that was a mere waste of time to him. The only reason he chose to engage with Aaron was because he was obstructing his path. Furthermore, with him now injured, even if he consumed an advanced potion, it would take him at least an hour to fully heal. 

Thus, without looking back, Ren's disappeared into the distance. 

***

At the same time, inside of a private office. 

—Crash!

The heavy sound of a chair falling on the ground rang out in the office space as a beautiful woman stood up. Turning her head to the right, she stared at a young girl with orange-colored hair.

Opening her mouth, her tone was very grave. 

"...Monica." 

"I know." 

With her eyes glued to the television screen, Monica nodded her head. Her face was incomparably serious. 

"I know, Donna..." Monica bit her lower lip. "We can no longer keep the fact that Ren is the inheritor of the Keiki style a secret."   

"Why did h—" 

—Triiing! —Triiing! 

Cutting Donna off, was the sound of her smartwatch ringing. Turning her wrist slightly and staring at the notification on her screen, heavy tension descended in the room. 

"Let's go now." 

"Mhm" 

Similarly staring at the notification on her screen, Monica solemnly nodded her head.

An emergency had occurred.