A Match Beyond My Sight
The match followed standard regulations. It was best of three rounds, with a five-minute time limit per round. And during the long-awaited first round, I couldn't see a single thing.
Exactly as the words imply. Nothing was visible to my eyes.
The other spectators were just as stunned as I was.
Instead of cheers rising during the fight, everyone held their breath, groaning and fidgeting like dogs desperate to pee, completely at a loss.
You need to understand what's happening to react, but it felt like we'd all gone blind.
Was that dark blur the wind or Robenin? Was the faintly moving blue shape Count Trenpe?
Everyone had come expecting to witness something incredible.
A duel staking the pride of Sword Masters—how fierce and thrilling it would surely be. They'd gathered here, swollen with anticipation.
But that was a massive delusion. Almost everyone, myself included, couldn't even track their shadows as they fought.
The only one properly watching the match was probably Ash.
Rai's voice echoed directly into my mind. "I've arrived, Master! Huh? Why are you sitting there like that!"
Only the occasional clang of swords colliding rang out. Aside from the moments when they paused to measure distance, nothing was visible.
I buried my face in my knees and seriously debated whether I should just cry.
Rai's voice echoed directly into my mind. "Are you crying? I brought a telescope, so cheer up! Here! Hurry and look through this!"
"...Telescope or not, I have to be able to see something first! Those two are so fast I can't tell what they're doing! I can't even distinguish them properly!"
This wasn't a fight in the realm ordinary people could handle. It wasn't something you could enjoy by watching like street thugs throwing punches.
If I'd been a bit more of a complainer, I would have demanded a refund on my ticket. It was like attending a concert only to find the pitch so off that the music was inaudible.
I'd come to witness the duel of the century, but the participants' realms were so high that nothing was visible to ordinary eyes. A truly tragic situation.
"Aaaack!"
No matter how desperately I stared, it was useless.
The moment I thought one of them had swung their sword, the other was already on the opposite side. By the time my eyes caught up, the pair had already created distance again and separated far away.
Rai's voice echoed directly into my mind. "The Count's sword is faster! Master."
"You can see that?"
Rai's voice echoed directly into my mind. "It's more accurate to say I can feel it, right? What they're swinging is ultimately just objects made of metal. Since metal falls under my jurisdiction... I can roughly tell where it's flowing."
To think I was worse than Rai!
I set the telescope Rai had brought on my lap, but it only soured my mood further.
It didn't seem like I'd see anything even with it. I tried anyway, but the narrow field of view made tracking their movements even harder.
"...Can something really be this invisible...? It's giving me a serious case of self-loathing."
Rai's voice echoed directly into my mind. "...Why are you suddenly speaking so formally?"
"Because reality just slapped me across the face."
Rai's voice echoed directly into my mind. "Eh, that can happen. You're a Spirit Master, Master. You don't usually need to move quickly. You do realize you're speaking out loud right now, yes?"
Plenty of people must have felt frustrated watching the duel, but the shock I received was on another level. Others might at least think, Wow, so this is the astonishing realm of Sword Masters. For me, this wasn't someone else's problem.
As someone grinding my teeth to fight one of them, it was utterly devastating. The impact of not being able to see their movements at all was enormous.
Because I'd believed I'd trained quite diligently, it felt like I'd been slapped by my own hand.
I'd felt secretly relieved that I could follow Ash's sword fairly well when he used it, but now I realized I'd simply underestimated him because he'd never had reason to fight with full strength.
This won't do... Absolutely not! I'm at far too much of a disadvantage! At that speed, my head would fly off the moment I faced Robenin!
If I had Rai devour Robenin's sword right from the start, I might have a chance of winning. But I didn't want to win that way.
He should display his swordsmanship as a swordsman, and I wanted to defeat him as a Spirit Master.
Disabling his sword would be the same as someone disabling my spirits. I wasn't obsessed with fair play, but I took immense pride in the fact that I was a Spirit Master.
If I'd simply wanted to kill him, I would have poisoned him without all this hassle.
I wanted to defeat him as a Spirit Master. That was the only way to recover and protect the pride that had been crushed in my childhood.
My head understood that swordsmen and Spirit Masters couldn't compete, but I'd always told myself that since I was different, I would eventually win. It seemed I hadn't factored in that my opponent was equally extraordinary. Whether I simply hadn't wanted to admit it or hadn't realized the gap was this wide.
Watching those horrifically complex sword exchanges and lightning-fast movements I couldn't even dream of following, I honestly felt afraid.
And I grew angry at the realization that I had eyes yet couldn't even tell whose body the red bloodstains on the arena floor had come from.
As I stared meaninglessly at a match whose flow I couldn't see, only the ominous thought that I could never defeat Robenin grew stronger.
Having never witnessed sword fights of such a high realm before, the shock only deepened.
I never looked down on swordsmen. But I didn't know they could become this strong. Those people have already transcended human limits!
Could I defeat Robenin without taking his sword?
Did I want to win that way?
No, but that was a monster. While this dilemma tormented me, the first round ended. From what I could tell, even the referee hadn't properly seen the match and couldn't readily declare a winner.
Only after noticing the wound on Robenin's forearm did they finally conclude the first round as Count Trenpe's victory.
A short break was given before the second round began, but I felt as exhausted as if I'd fought the match myself.
I grew so depressed that even Ash began to worry.
"You could see it, right?"
"...Roughly, yes."
"I couldn't see anything. No matter how hard I tried to force myself to see something, it only made me dizzy. To think this is all I'm capable of."
I was a human overflowing with confidence, yet watching two swordsmen who had stepped beyond human boundaries made me feel shabby for a moment.
Come to think of it, the strongest swordsman I'd seen up close was Ash, and even I couldn't properly follow the tip of his blade.
And that sword tip had never once been pointed at me. Just how gentle a world had I been living in all this time?
Rai's voice echoed directly into my mind. "Ugh... I'm angry!"
Rai's voice echoed directly into my mind. "Is it because Robenin turned out stronger than you expected?"
"No! It feels like I grew up far too sheltered!"
Rai's voice echoed directly into my mind. "...? What did you say? I don't have ears, remember. Could you repeat that?"
"I said it feels like I grew up like a flower in a greenhouse! That's why I'm so complacent!"
Rai's voice echoed directly into my mind. "Have you forgotten you were kidnapped by a dragon that eats ogres? Or destroying the slave traders? What about nearly getting crushed to death under a lake while searching for treasure just recently?"
No matter what Rai said, my resentment refused to settle.
While I chewed on my fingertips, the second round began, but for some reason I just wanted to look away. After all, I wouldn't be able to see anything anyway.
Ash tried to comfort me, but it didn't help much.
"Jeanie, don't try to see it hastily with your eyes. First, try to locate their presence."
"Easy for you to say! Do you think I'm you!"
"Now... don't get angry. You can certainly do this too. It's a matter of technique. Trust me and try closing your eyes."
"...If I close my eyes, I'll see even less."
"Not like that. Come on, just once."
At his calm, soothing touch, I grumbled but reluctantly closed my eyes.
It was a half-resigned state—if I couldn't see whether my eyes were open or closed, there was no loss in shutting them.
While everyone else cheered as the match began, I sat with my eyes closed, simply feeling my own eyeballs rolling around.
"It's not difficult. It might even be easy for you."
"There are too many people... Robenin's presence is too far away."
"Ignore what you don't need."
I understood what Ash was saying, but concentrating was difficult.
The noisy voices of countless people mixed together chaotically, seeming to pour down on me with my eyes closed.
"Two beasts are fighting over there with ferocious momentum. There might be rabbits, squirrels... or chickens nearby. But they'll clearly be different from those. Two large ones. You know what I mean, Jeanie? They're different."
"Mmm..."
"Find them, focus, and feel them. Make them yours."
By slowly stroking my shoulder, Ash helped release the tension in my body.
With my arms crossed and eyes closed, I slowly groped through the darkness, searching for the two unusually large and fierce presences. They were far away, but I could sense them. Their existence was more overwhelming and vivid than anyone else's here.
"Normally they would be concealing their presence, making them hard to detect, but not now. They're raising their killing intent to the maximum, swinging their blades and competing over who is the stronger being. There won't be an easier moment to feel them than right now. Jeanie, you can sense it."
"I feel them."
"Then hold on to it."
I held my breath and sharpened my mind in a way similar to mana training.
Amid this noisy heat, they felt cold precisely because they were so sharp. But I worried that opening my eyes would make me lose this sensation instantly.
"I don't understand. What does 'holding on' mean?"
"It's only difficult because you're overcomplicating it. Jeanie? You control that enormous spirit... its name was Endairon, correct?"
"What about Endairon?"
"You're someone who can even command such a being. You perfectly controlled that giant entity so it could fill the cave and sweep through everything without touching us. It's similar. It's about where you direct your senses."
"...Where to direct them."
"Yes, that's the only difference. Sensing is easier than controlling. To control something, you must first sense it, right? You already know how. There simply wasn't anyone to teach you the trick."
Like controlling Endairon... like sensing that massive body and deciding where its flow would go...
How long did I concentrate? I only began to clearly feel Robenin and Count Trenpe's presence once they started using their sword aura.
Even with my eyes closed, the moment their sword auras fiercely collided, a sharp sensation struck me that made my fingertips twitch involuntarily.
The flow of mana can be felt even with eyes closed. Among those flows, sword aura is fierce like a striking bolt of lightning, yet silent like a deep well where lightning has struck.
"Did you find them?"
I gave a small nod.
"If their movements have entered inside you, then open your eyes."
I opened my eyes, yet the sensation I'd captured once did not disappear.
It was closer to reading and feeling the flow than seeing with my eyes. Just like Rai had said about feeling the metal.
"I see it."
The traces of sword aura drew themselves in my mind. Who held the advantage? It was Robenin.
He was swallowing the Count whole.