"Oh my god. He did it!" Somebody exclaimed.
"What the heck was that?!" Her friend standing next to her added.
In the weeks and days leading up to the competition, increasingly more youths in the regiment joined in on these mock sparring events to prepare.
A crowd was gathered outside in the training grounds on this winter evening, spectating the shocking conclusion to the current fight.
"He really is a monster, just like Flone!" Another exclaimed.
At the center of this attention was Blight, who'd just deflected Ray's attack and sent him tumbling with a powerful kick to the side.
It was the day before the competition began.
During this time, he had built up a reputation for his fighting prowess among the regiment.
Many recognised him as a fearsome foe, one who did not have particularly powerful abilities, but who would defeat you with unexplainable battle tactics and unique fighting style.
His creepy pitch black eyes were also partially responsible for this fearsome image.
Marsuu called the conclusion of the fight as Ray stopped skidding across the mud and looked towards Blight, who stood there, going over the fight in his head.
'Hmm… too weak.'
It was not that he was untalented, but Blight felt the difference between Ray and himself.
He could read his every thought and see their every move two seconds into the future.
Any plan or attack, as long as it was not unavoidable or did not completely overpower him, was rendered useless before him.
Blight considered his current strength, he was confident in ranking within the top 5.
Perhaps if he were lucky in his matchmaking, he could even rank within the top 3 by using his [Spider Sling].
The only people he was not confident in beating were Marsuu, Flone, Eldrich, and Yone, but if one of them were to face each other earlier, and eliminate the other, and he faced somebody else to obtain his spot within the top 3, then it was doable, but this was a reach.
The main problem he faced was their powerful abilities.
But if he could use [Spider Sling], then he could disrupt their ether channelling, rendering them useless and giving him an easy victory.
This was his trump card, he would need to withhold using it until he was backed into a corner against a foe that he was sure he could not beat. Otherwise, it would be wasted too easily.
After weeks of studying and practice, he had only just managed to learn it last week.
He tested it briefly with the sorcery instructor, who, while it didn't work on him, told him he was channeling the surge correctly, so he was now ready to use it in the upcoming competition.
Ray stood up with a limp and clutched at his side, he looked up at Blight but said nothing, only giving an acknowledging nod before turning to leave.
Blight then looked towards Eldrich, who stood in the corner, grinding his teeth, and smiled at him.
Eldrich's eyelids twitched, and he became even more enraged, though he tried to hide it.
Ever since the day he first received the vision from his resonance, Blight had begun to act with less restraint.
His recent visions only magnified this.
Blight looked long and deep into his pupils, reading his every thought.
'… You disgusting little corpse worm. Scum of the earth, cockroach. Filthy rot stain. You think you're something? You're nothing. How dare you humiliate me? Just you wait until I destroy you tomorrow...'
His smile grew into a smirk. At the same time, he felt helpless.
The whirlwind of anger, resentment, fear, shame, frustration, jealousy, unwillingness, this guy was a real nut job!
He liked to carry the air of nobility, acting as if he was unbothered by everything, but deep inside, he was a complete mess.
Where was he even supposed to begin with unravelling him?
Blight ran a hand through his hair and turned to look away from Eldrich. He couldn't be bothered to entertain his antics today.
As he left the training grounds, Marsuu, Shazbot, Leyhart, and Avil caught up with him, walking in a line as they headed back towards the feast hall.
The sun was beginning to set, and a dark blue haze washed over the sky. Frost crackled underneath their footsteps.
None of them said a word for some time.
"That was brutal." Marsuu finally spoke, patting Blight's shoulder. "It's actually scary how quickly you've improved."
Blight shrugged. "Ray has always been a posturing weakling, I'm more interested in Eldrich and Yone."
Leyhart kicked a stone in his path, sending it bouncing across the frozen mud.
"Well, are you guys prepared?"
Shazbot shook his head and laughed.
"No man, I'm so cooked. I'd be happy to even rank within the top 100."
Avil shrugged helplessly.
Blight also said nothing. He was scanning their eyes and reading their thoughts as his flaw was put into action.
Leyhart was resentful, not at Blight, but at his own weakness. He was unwilling to be cast aside and disregarded.
Avil had given up entirely and did not entertain any thoughts of grandiosity. He was solely focused on dinner.
Blight couldn't help but laugh at this.
Marsuu was silent, and his face was plain, but behind it, his emotions were in turmoil. He was thinking of his sister.
In these few weeks, Blight no longer avoided his flaw and would often purposefully activate it in order to learn more about everyone and everything around him.
He wanted to be in control, in whichever way possible.
Despite it being a point he always felt conflicted about, he knew that he was no longer afforded the luxury of avoiding something just because he disliked it.
Still, he learned many interesting things, even many secrets and facts that he might have never uncovered if not for his flaw.
For example, Marsuu's past. As it turned out, he was born into a poor family in decline, his mother died at his birth, and his father could not withstand his grief and grew into an abusive alcoholic.
He often thought of his older sister, who mostly raised him. To him, she was his world.
Marsuu hated his father. He saw in him everything that he did not like in a person. He wanted to be different, to not grow in his footsteps and act as he did, weak, pathetic, and unable to withstand hardship.
What he hated most, however, was himself. He hated his powerlessness, his inability to help his sister. It was a flame that burned brightly within him, driving him to become stronger.
There were many such people in this regiment he was a part of. Everyone had their own past, stories, goals, and motivations.
Blight compared them to himself. In a way, he was much more complicated than all of them, because everything about him was shrouded in a grand mystery.
He remembered two passages that he would often see in his father's writing.
[Life is a clash of wills, full of suffering and misguided efforts, of people striving to be heard and lashing out against others, but also a place of tenderness, longing, beauty, and touching vulnerability, with all the pain, fragility, unusualness, and ugliness implied.]
[It's possible to loosen your ego to a more worldly perspective. Casting off some of the customary, anxious self-justification and brutal pride you hold. Rather than criticise and attack them, you can imagine their behaviour being driven by pressures derived from their own primitive minds. Their temper or viciousness are, you see now, symptoms of hurt rather than of evil.]
It kind of made sense to him, but this was way too sympathetic for his liking, even bordering on pathetic.
He did not know much about his father other than that he would spend much of his time writing. For he never showed much interest in interacting with Blight.
He wondered if he was some kind of humanitarian due to the way he seemed to view the world around him, and he also realised a factor he had never considered before.
What kind of lineage did his parents have? What were their boons and flaws?
Was it possible that his father had a similar flaw to himself?
Blight shuddered. He definitely did not want to become anything like what he judged his father to be.