n

n

n—WHIIIIII! —WHIIIIII!

nThe tumultuous sound of the sires rang inside of the dome. The whole facility turned red as emergency messages repeatedly echoed across the place.

nPlease evacuate the premise Please evacuate the premise Please evacuate the premise

n

"Crap!

"

nIgnoring the sirens and staring at the metal disc in Ren's hands that was shaking uncontrollably, Kevin's eyes interlocked with Ren's.

n

"Let's leave.

"

nDropping the disc on the ground, Ren took a couple of steps back.

n

"Wait what about them? Are we leaving without them?

"

nKevin pointed towards the eight individuals on the ground.

n

"Yes. Leave them.

"

nRen coldly replied.

n

"But they are children

"

n

"...

"

nTurning around, Ren completely ignored Kevin.

n

"Hey Ren, where are you going?

" Kevin shouted.

"Think about it, they could've been blackmailed by the Monolith to do their bidding. What if they are innocent

"

nRen's footsteps halted.

nTurning around, he coldly looked at Kevin.

n

"...They are not worth it.

"

n

"Bu—

"

nBefore Kevin could reply, Ren had already left.

nThough vague, the meaning behind Ren's words was clear; let them die in the explosion

nIt was a cruel thing to say, but he was not wrong. With the impending explosion, trying to save the lives of others might result in his own death. Furthermore, these people were the ones that started everything. Regardless of the fact that they might've been blackmailed or not, they were the ones that caused everything. Trying to save them at the expense of his own personal safety was not worth it.

n

"...ah.

"

nA small sound escaped from Kevin's lips.

nBiting his lower lips, Kevin he lowered his head and clenched his fists tightly. He knew that Ren was right, but a part of him really wanted to save them.

n

"I'm sorry.

"

nEventually, Kevin came up with a decision. Closing his eyes he turned around. He knew that Ren was right.

nHad the circumstances been different, he would've helped them. But now that his life was on the line, he needed to worry about himself instead of the others.

nHowever.

nRight as he was about to leave, an enchanting voice reached his ears.

n

"What's going on here?

"

nKevin's eyes suddenly lit up.

n

"Miss Longbern, Miss Jefrrey!

"

n

"Kevin, what is going on here?

"

nLanding softly on the ground, Donna looked at Kevin. Besides Donna was Monica.

n

"Over there.

"

nKevin pointed at the disc in the disc the distance.

n

"Miss, can you do anything about this?

"

n

"——!

"

nGazing towards the direction Kevin was pointing at, Donna's brows jumped up slightly. Feeling the fluctuations coming from the disc, Donna was taken aback. Her whole demenour changed completely.

n

"Monica.

"

n

"I know. Give me a second.

"

nHaving already spotted the disc beforehand, Monica solemnly nodded her head. Slowly walking towards the disc, Monica waved her hand over the disc. An orange hue enveloped the disc.

nKracka. Kracka. Kracka.

nLevitating in front of Monica, black lightning crackled around the disc.

nClosing her eyes, Monica tried her best to suppress the impending explosion. To her dismay, however, she couldn't suppress the device. Gravely looking at Donna, she shook her head.

n

"I can't do anything about this. It's too late.

"

n

"Even you can't do anything about it?

"

nDonna's brows knit tightly.

n

"No, we need to evacuate quickly. We only have five minutes at most before the device explodes. Get as many students out as possible, and isolate this place.

"

nWith the core cracked, the internal energies within the core were starting to run rampant. A tremendous amount of energy was slowly building up inside of the device.

nThe energy accumulated would become so powerful that perhaps only an ranked hero could withstand such impact. Even so, they would suffer tremendous injuries.

nDonna and Monica understood this point, so the only thing they could do was get as many people out as possible.

n

"Understood.

"

nAt Monica's suggestion, Donna nodded her head. The best possible solution was to get as many students to evacuate the premises and call all the ranked heroes present in the academy to create a shield around the dome to protect the surroundings from the impact.

nOnly then would they contain the explosion.

n

"Kevin, get as far away from here as possible!.

"

nLooking at Kevin, Donna shouted.

n

"Yes.

"

nHeeding Donna's advice, Kevin turned around and ran towards the exit.

n

"Monica, go help the students in need.

"

n

"Yes.

"

nStomping her foot on the ground. Monica disappeared from her spot. Turning around, and looking in the direction where Kevin and Ren had run off, Donna disappeared as well.

nThe corpses of the eight students disappeared along with her.

n***

n

"Shut down the broadcast!

"

nAt the same time, inside of a fairly large room that was filled with large monitors, a powerful voice rang out.

n

"W-we can't!

"

nA flustered voice replied back.

n

"What do you mean you can't?

"

nThe powerful voice shot back.

n

"We've got direct orders from the higher-ups to shut down the whole event! Do it now!

"

n

"Sir, I'm telling you we can't! The controls aren't functioning at all!

"

nTa. Ta. Ta. Repeatedly pressing on the keyboard in front of him, a young man shot back.

n

"Let me take a look

"

nShoving the young man to the side, a middle-aged man with a greyish beard leaned forward and pressed on a few buttons.

nHe had just received an order from the higher-up to shut down the broadcast. Staring at the monitors in front of him depicting panicked students running away from the dome whilst professors helping the paralyzed one, it didn't take a genius to understand what was going on.

n...something terribly wrong had happened.

nError Error Error

n

"What the..?

"

nStaring at the large red marks on the screen, the middle-aged man's brows shot up. Turning his head, he shouted.

n

"What's the situation for the other cameras?

"

n

"Sir we've lost control!

"

n

"We can't do anything, sir. The control panel no longer works.

"

nMultiple panicked voices replied back. Every single camera had been taken over.

n

"Damn it!

"

nCursing out loud, the middle-aged man smacked his hand on the table.

n

"What the hell is happening!

"

n***

n

"Ahhhhh!

"

nA pained scream rang in the forest.

nOnce the effects of Monarch Indifference ran out, a tremendous amount of pain engulfed my entire body. Especially from my chest area where a large gash appeared.

n

"Haaa...haaa...

"

nLeaning against a rock, I took deep breaths. Taking out two potions from my dimensional space, I unscrewed the cap and quickly downed them.

n

"khhaa—

"

nThrowing the two empty potions on the ground, slowly but surely, my wounds started to heal. My mana which had depleted to the bottom was also starting to fill.

n

"Ghh...

"

nGritting my teeth, I forced myself to continue running forward.

nWith an explosion about to occur any minute now, the professors were now busy trying to get as many people out as possible.

nRegrettably, with there only being a limited number of them compared to the thousands of competitors, there were bound to be casualties, it was inevitable.

nNot wanting to be one of those casualties, activating drifting steps, I rushed with all my might towards the exit.

nIt was a race against time.

n***

nAt the same time, a kilometer away from the exit.

n

"Coff...coff...

"

nCoughing, Aaron leaned against a tree. With his arm on his shoulder, he gritted his teeth.

n

"Bastard!

"

nRecalling the painful defeat that he had suffered not too long ago, Aaron clenched his jaw tightly.

nThose cold and emotionless eyes that treated him as though he was trash, caused anger to surge from within him.

n

"How dare you!

"

nHe shouted.

nHis humiliation deepened once Ren turned around without finishing him off when he could've. It was as though he was saying 'You're not worth my time.'

nFrom Jin to Kevin and to now Ren. Aaron suffered loss, after loss, after loss. His fists clenched uncontrollably.

nTo make matters worse, this all happened in front of the whole world. He had become the butt of all jokes. The o' so famous Aaron Rhinestone, reduced as nothing but a mere stepping stone for someone else.

n

"Damn it! I can't accept this!

"

nHe smashed his fist against a nearby tree.

n—WHIIIIII! —WHIIIIII!

nWith the glaring sound of the sirens ringing across the facility, turning his head, and looking into the distance, Aaron knew that he needed to get out fast. He could feel the fluctuations coming from the distance. Within half a minute, everything was going to blow up.

n

"...hm?

"

nAaron's feet suddenly stopped.

nLooking towards the distance, Aaron suddenly spotted a familiar figure. At first, his face twisted savagely out of pure rage.

nBut.

nAn idea suddenly struck him as a wicked smile replaced it.

n

"Don't blame me for this...I'm just merely trying to survive

"

nChanneling every ounce of mana left inside of his body, Aaron's eyes locked themselves onto the figure in the distance.

n

"Thanks.

"

nHe muttered before disappearing from his spot.

n***

n

"I'm almost there.

"

nLooking at the doors in the distance, gritting my teeth and summoning every last bit of mana I had, I increased my pace. Because I was low on mana, my speed was not that great. But it was enough for me to reach the exit.

nNext to me, I could see multiple students also slowly approaching the door.

nStaring at the nearing door gate in the distance, I could see a faint blue sphere in the distance. That was most likely the barrier the instructors had set up in order to contain the explosion.

nAs long as I passed that barrier, I knew that I was going to be safe.

nTherefore.

nFOOOM!

nI increased my pace even more.

n

"Cmon, I'm almost th—huh?

"

nRight as I was about to exit the premises, to my horror, my body froze. Suddenly my vision turned dark, and I found myself in a completely different area. The exit which was previously very close to me was now extremely far.

nMy body froze, and my mind blanked.

nStaring on the spot where I previously was standing, I could faintly see the outline of a youth in the distance. Squinting my eyes, I soon found out the identity of the youth.

nAaron.

nWith his lips twisted upwards, his eyes interlocked with mine. Turning around, he left the premise.

n

"Ah...

"

nA small sound escaped from my lips. Gazing at Aaron in the distance, I understood everything.

nRight when I was about to exit the building, Aaron must've used his special skill, dual-link, to switch positions with me.

nUnderstanding my current predicament, I felt a myriad of emotions. Anger, rage, despair, fear, anxiety, and many other similar emotions.

nBut.

n

"...It's too late.

"

nStaring at the exit in the distance, and feeling the terrifying aura not far from where I was standing, I knew that I didn't have enough time to make it back. I was simply too far.

n

"Just where did I go wrong?

"

n—Thud.

nHelpless, I fell on my knees. Had I gotten rid of Aaron whilst under the influence of Monarch's indifference, none of this would've happened.

nBut I knew best that blaming Monarch's indifference was useless. Under Monarch's indifference, aside from my goal, anything else didn't matter. So did Aaron. My goal was to save Kevin not get rid of Aaron.

nThis flaw ended up being a costly one.

nTaking out a small object from my dimensional space, a lost look appeared on my face.

n'Do I really have no choice...?'

nTurning my head and looking towards one of the cameras in the distance, I softly muttered.

n

"If the cameras are working, I'm sorry everyone...

"

nRecalling my family, Kevin, and the others, my chest started to sting.

n'...Right, I guess I also couldn't keep my promise.'

nRemembering the promise I had made with Amanda, a bitter smile appeared on my face. I truly regretted making the promise.

n—BOOOOOM!

nAt that exact moment, as if time slowed down, a huge explosion erupted, and a powerful shockwave shot outward shaking the whole dome from its foundations.

nStaring at the blooming cloud of fire that was slowly making its way towards my direction, I could only mutter one word.

n

"Beautiful...

"

n***

nOutside the dome.

n—BOOOOOM!

nA thunderous explosion rang out, and terrifying energy that threatened to destroy everything in its path emerged from within the dome.

nOutside of the large dome building, a large blue translucent sphere appeared.

nStanding beside the sphere, many instructors placed their hands on it as they injected their mana inside of the barrier trying to contain the explosion.

n

"Pfffff!

"

n

"Khuaaak!

"

n

"Kaahhh!

"

nOnce the explosion hit the barrier, it shook uncontrollably. The faces of many of the instructors standing outside of the sphere paled tremendously. Some of the weaker instructors even ended up passing out.

nFortunately, with the aid of the more powerful professors, they were able to contain the explosion.

nUnfortunately.

nBroadcasted on every television screen in the world, was the image of multiple students getting engulfed by the massive flames.

nTheir despairing screams as they were engulfed by the massive flames echoed across every television screen in the human domain. At this point, many turned off their TV screens as they could no longer watch such scenes.

nBut for those that kept watching, in particular, one specific angle stood out from the rest. It was the one where a student with Jet-black hair and blue eyes appeared. Muttering something to the camera, everyone watched as his figure slowly disappeared into the fire.

nHis image was particularly striking because he had been the student that most people had been paying attention to throughout the whole tournament.

nHe was the rising star of the tournament. The inheritor of the Keiki style, and the student that beat Aaron cleanly.

nUnder everyone's eyes, they watched as his body slowly disappeared inside of the flames.

nOn this day, to the world, Ren Dover had died.

n