Fear Born from the Unknown
As the saying goes, human fear always stems from ignorance of the unknown. People fear death because they have no idea what awaits them afterward. They fear ghosts because their existence cannot be properly proven. They fear criminals because they cannot predict what might be done to them upon encounter. And the complete blocking of one’s vision was an act that went beyond mere inconvenience—it struck directly at those primal human instincts.
“……”
With nothing visible, nothing could be known. There might be a stone right in front of one’s feet, ready to trip them. Sounds picked up by ears grown sensitive in place of sight could not be identified. Even the thing brushing one’s fingertips could not be distinguished as a bug or a blade of grass. Fear crept upward from within that ignorance. The outstanding human brain, faced with a situation of complete unknowns, summoned needless imagination and senselessly multiplied the terror.
“It’s all right.”
A warm presence traveled across her wrist. Like the beacon of a lighthouse illuminating the way across a vast, sightless sea, Jeon’s voice guided Arina by the arm and eased her anxiety.
“I will protect you no matter what.”
His words were the sole comfort for her as she wandered through the darkness. Trusting him, relying on him, Arina took each step with care. When Jeon moved forward, she followed; when he stopped, she stopped as well.
“……”
Even Jeon, who would normally have been tense at the mere fact of holding Arina’s hand, had no room for such thoughts now. His eyes, sharpened like blades, warily scanned the surroundings. He spread his mana in every direction, nerves stretched to their limit. He looked exactly like a mother hedgehog bristling her spines to protect her young.
Jeon kept his body hidden behind rocks, moving cautiously as he searched for a place to conceal himself. Yet all his careful actions proved utterly useless before his opponent.
Whoosh!
Suddenly the temperature of the surrounding air surged. The heat grew fierce enough to singe the tips of his hair. Jeon jerked his head upward. At the same moment his eyes widened at the sight of a fireball plummeting like a meteor.
Crash!
He forcibly manipulated the lightning inside his body, accelerating his nerve signals to explosive speeds. Without hesitation he wrapped Arina in his arms and hurled himself sideways.
Boom!
The fireball that fell from the sky collided with the rock Jeon had been using as cover, shattering it to pieces. Flames burst outward like fireworks. The rock, unable to withstand the explosive force, erupted into flying stone shards that mercilessly tore into Jeon’s back as he shielded Arina with his body.
“……”
His clothes ripped. Blood slowly soaked through the tears. Enduring the stinging pain, Jeon turned. What filled his vision was a man whose hair fluttered an even fiercer red than the flames that had flown at them moments before.
So he came in with an attack after all?
Aaron Dice. The strongest mage among Benedict Academy’s students. True to his reputation, he made no attempt to hide his presence. He appeared spreading enormous waves of mana, and Jeon stared at him intently. Then his eyes shook violently.
As if he had discovered something entirely unexpected, his gaze fixed on the pink rabbit character bracelet fastened around the man’s right wrist.
“Is this the presence of Junior Jeon and Junior Arina?”
His focus seemed blurred, as though he could not see in front of him. Yet his gaze pointed with perfect accuracy toward where Jeon and Arina stood. A bizarre, almost surreal scene.
At the same time, Jeon instinctively realized that the fundamental premise he had been operating under was completely wrong.
“……How can you recognize us when your eyes can’t even see?”
This was neither a novel nor a movie. Asking an enemy to explain himself was normally an incredibly foolish thing to do. Unless the opponent was a talkative psychopath who enjoyed boasting about his crimes, no one would bother giving a detailed answer.
But this was a mock match, a special arena arranged by the seniors specifically to improve the juniors’ skills. Therefore Aaron answered Jeon’s question without the slightest hesitation, letting out a small chuckle.
“Mages generally know how to handle many kinds of magic, but each of us has a main specialty we delve into more deeply.”
Just as Jeon specialized in the notoriously difficult electric element among elemental magics, Aaron too focused on elemental magic—the most popular offensive attribute used by the greatest number of mages: the element known as fire.
“Fire is not merely an attribute that burns things.”
Its greatest characteristics are light and heat. Of the two, what Aaron had focused on most was heat—the body temperature that every living creature must possess. By sensing it indirectly, he could trace the opponent’s outline like a silhouette and construct their image inside his mind. It was essentially replicating the effect of a magic tool known as a thermal imaging camera through pure spellcraft.
“Losing one’s sight is certainly a major handicap, but overcoming any weakness is precisely what defines a mage.”
The advancement of magic tools had brought extreme convenience to the modern age. Conversely, it meant mages had overcome every inconvenience life threw at them and turned it into convenience. Simply accepting a handicap and resigning oneself to it was not the way of a mage. Overcoming it through one’s own power was the ultimate spirit a mage must possess.
“Difficulties should be conquered by one’s own hand. If you leave it to others, how are you any different from a spirit mage?”
Perhaps it was pride in his identity as a mage. A faint smile curved Aaron’s lips.
“It might be presumptuous advice, but I believe Junior Jeon should enter the tournament with that same mindset. A half-hearted attitude may allow you to excel, but it will never let you truly stand out.”
The Academy Tournament existed to bring glory to one’s school, but it was also a massive interview stage where countless mages could showcase their exceptional qualities. One could not dismiss a participant simply because they did not attend Benedict Academy. Taking part in the tournament meant they had risen to the very peak of their school’s student body. Some would charge forward desperately to promote themselves, and among them would surely be others who had devised ingenious schemes like Aaron Dice.
Do not confine your abilities within the bounds of common sense.
“……”
At Aaron’s words, Jeon fell into quiet thought. Aaron watched him in silence. A moment later, Jeon gave a light bow.
“Thank you for the lesson.”
“Think nothing of it.”
Aaron waved his hand lightly. Perhaps because they now stood as rivals and enemies, his tone had shifted to casual speech unlike their first meeting. Yet the consideration for his junior contained within it had not diminished in the slightest. This was probably Aaron Dice’s true nature as a mage.
“Well, now that the pleasant chat is over, shall we begin in earnest?”
Any later and the vice-president might throw a fit.
The moment the words left his mouth, the air heated up once more. Flames rose from Aaron’s fingertips. He wrapped them around himself like a cloak and charged toward Jeon at tremendous speed.
“Stay back.”
The plan had already fallen apart. The opponent’s greatest force had appeared before them. Moreover, he possessed the captain’s bracelet that would decide the match’s outcome. Hoping to buy time and rely on Togun’s victory was no longer realistic.
I have to finish this myself.
The only way to defeat the student council president—who proudly bore the handicap and wore the captain’s bracelet as if he alone were the team’s leader—was to crush him directly. In a world of ability users where the gap in strength grew more pronounced with every rise in level, it was nearly impossible. But it was not completely hopeless.
No matter how accurately one could locate an opponent through body heat, the fact that their eyes could not see remained unchanged.
Precise targeting of small areas is impossible.
What Aaron Dice could do was exactly what he had done earlier—use the explosive power of flames to sweep across a wide area at once. Even then, because this was not the virtual world of the actual tournament where injury was almost impossible, he would have to carefully control his strength.
If Jeon exploited that fact, he still had a chance.
Whoosh!
The scarlet flames wrapped around him like a cloak spread wide to both sides like phoenix wings. A wall of fire surged toward Jeon. An attack formed of surface rather than point or line left no room for thoughts of evasion.
If I cannot avoid it, I will meet it head-on.
Yet because he had forcibly expanded the area, the power itself was considerably weaker than the previous fireball.
Crackle!
If he concentrated on a single point and broke through, it could be pierced. Making that judgment, Jeon gathered lightning at his fingertips. A single bolt shot forward like an arrow, flying toward the towering wave of flames.
Boom!
The lightning that began as a point became a long vertical line. A streak of electricity split the flames in two with Jeon at its center. White and red clashed dazzlingly, causing pain as if the eyeballs themselves would burn.
Damn it!
At the same time Jeon frowned, his expression revealing clear dismay. His vision had gone completely dark. This too had surely been the opponent’s aim—to turn the inconvenience of being the only one who could see into an advantage by forcibly destroying Jeon’s visual capabilities.
With this, Jeon’s only advantage had vanished. No, it had been completely reversed. From the beginning, the opponent had possessed the ability to locate Jeon while his own eyes could not see.
Swoosh!
Without warning the flames parted. An arm fiercely wrapped in mana shot toward Jeon. A brutal hand seized his face in an instant.
“This is the end.”
Beginning at the palm, Aaron’s body temperature soared without limit. It was the precursor to ignition.
“Keep your mana wrapped around you. Otherwise you might suffer serious burns.”
Consideration shown toward Jeon until the very last moment. And right before the flames erupted, Jeon swiftly grabbed his wrist.
“Thank you for the consideration. In return, allow me to say one thing as well.”
His reaction was fast. Too fast to be believed for someone responding to an attack delivered while blinded. And Aaron realized it.
This guy…!
He had not closed his eyes. Whether his eyeballs burned or not, he had endured the blinding glare and kept his eyes wide open, constantly watching the front in preparation for sudden attacks. A truly absurd method. If done wrong it could cause permanent, severe vision loss. It was far too bold and reckless a tactic for a mere mock match, not even the real tournament.
Therefore even Aaron had not predicted it—that Jeon would be this serious about trying to defeat him.
“Watch your chin.”
Jeon’s body moved with blinding speed. Just as when he had embraced Arina and dodged, he accelerated his nerve signals to the limit. His muscles accelerated instantaneously and tore from the strain. Yet without uttering a single scream, Jeon drove his leg upward. The kick landed squarely on Aaron’s chin, launching his body into the air.
“……!”
Follow-up strikes came immediately. Jeon swung a fist toward Aaron’s abdomen at high speed, but unfortunately Aaron was not naïve enough to fall for the same trick twice. He swung the hand gripping Jeon’s face in a wide arc, forcibly deflecting the attack trajectory. Then flames erupted from the soles of his shoes. Using that explosive acceleration, he drove his knee upward.
“Keuk!”
Jeon, struck directly in the face by the knee, was thrown backward while spraying blood from his nose. His mind went blank for a moment. The aftermath of fully absorbing the intense light with both eyes finally caught up as crushing fatigue. His vision darkened completely as though a blackout had occurred.
“Good work, junior.”
Immediately afterward, an explosion loud enough to rupture eardrums erupted, and Jeon’s body was blasted backward.