Advent of the Three Calamities

Chapter 325: An Abrupt Situation [1]

Six orbs appeared in my mind.

They were all within arm’s length.

So long as I reached my hand, I’d be able to touch them.

Standing before them, I felt the urge to touch them. I knew that something would happen were I to touch them, but I stopped myself.

I knew that it wasn’t time just yet.

Looking around me, and seeing the darkness that enveloped the six orbs, I found myself shaking my head.

“….There’s so much missing.”

This was vastly different than what I understood about domains. What stood before me was merely the framework of what would later become my domain. I needed to expand the concept that stood before me before even remotely thinking about the last step—Materialization.

But that step seemed a distant one.

For now, I could only focus on expanding the concept that was in front of me.

“Joy, Rage, Sorrow, Affection, Fear, Shock.”

Six words appeared beneath each orb.

They each represented an emotion, but at the same time, three carried different meanings as opposed to the six main emotions.

Why…?

Why was it like this?

I stood in silence, pondering over what felt like forever. I could feel that the answer was at the tip of my tongue, and yet, each time I felt that I was close to the answer, my mind would blank.

It was a frustrating process that repeated repeatedly until I was finally pulled away from my mind.

‘…I was close.’

Seeing Leon’s face, I knew that I could only try next time.

There was still another round of battles, and I couldn’t carelessly handicap myself before the match.

Taking a deep breath, I glanced his way,

“….With the way that you’re looking at me, I’d be more worried about you than Caius.”

All I felt were goosebumps with the way he was looking at me.

“….”

Leon didn’t say anything and just squinted his eyes.

Eventually, he asked,

“Were you practicing your domain?”

“Hm?”

How did he know?

As if he could read my thoughts, Leon answered.

“…It’s your eyes.”

“My eyes?”

I took out a small reflective surface and looked at my reflection. Staring into those deep hazel eyes of mine, I turned back to look at Leon.

“What’s wrong with my eyes?”

“….They’re normal now.”

“Then?”

“They were changing color just a few moments ago when you were in a trance.”

“Uh?”

I blinked my eyes, staring at my reflection once more. Changing color? In what way…? No, I think I knew in what way.

There were six different colors in the orbs.

Perhaps the color change stemmed from each orb that resided within my consciousness.

If that was the case, then it’d make sense.

But outside of all of that, I suddenly grew curious about something as I turned to look at Leon who was staring back at me with an impassive expression.

Recalling how he had mentioned all of this, I suddenly realized something.

“You, you’ve developed a concept as well?”

“….That’s a secret.”

Leon replied with a thin smile.

A secret?

‘What’s this guy trying to do?’

The fact that he could more or less tell what was happening to me was a clear indication that he had at least developed an intent. Given his talent, it would make sense. But how far was he into developing his domain?

Did he develop his concept…?

All of a sudden, a lot of questions popped up into my mind. The more I thought about them, the more my mind churned.

I felt my chest grow heavy the more I thought about the situation.

It was at this moment, that I had a painful realization.

‘….If I don’t develop something soon, then I’m afraid I won’t make it far into the tournament.’

If Leon was able to develop a concept, then what stopped the others from doing so? In fact, it could be that I was lagging behind the others in this aspect.

I thought I had done great by developing an intent so early.

And it probably was a great achievement. Nonetheless, I had lagged behind the others in terms of progress. By the time I reached Tier 4, the others had reached it months before me.

In such a situation, even though I developed an intent so early, they had all the time in the world to figure out their own intent and develop a concept.

The realization made my chest grow heavy.

“….You’re overthinking things.”

As if he could see through my thoughts, Leon spoke. When I turned to face him, he rubbed his hand over his shirt.

“An Intent isn’t something that can be developed or found just because you reach the fourth tier. It’s something that occurs to you when your mind is ready. Regardless of how much talent you have, if your mind isn’t ready, then you won’t be able to develop an intent.”

“What do you mean by your mind isn’t ready?”

“…It means what it means. It’s not something that can be explained with words, but you’ve already experienced it before. I’m not sure when you managed to find your intent, but I’m sure you felt that something was missing before you found it, right?”

I blinked my eyes for a brief moment, recalling the time before the play.

Indeed, there was a time back then when I felt that something was missing from me. It nagged the back of my mind and was what prompted me to unlock the [Love] emotion.

It was a weird situation that I couldn’t quite explain, but it suddenly became clear to me.

Could that be what he means…?

That I needed to figure out what was missing before an Intent was created. In my case, it was the last emotion. That was the missing piece for the creation of my intent.

Had I not performed in the play and unlocked the emotion, then I would’ve still been struggling to this day.

…Unless someone found out what they were missing, they wouldn’t be able to unlock an intent.

“It looks like you realized.”

Leon smiled calmly.

“In my case, I—”

Leon stopped himself halfway, his face twitching as I pointed my finger at him.

“In your what?”

This guy…

He said ‘secret’ just a few moments ago, only to sell himself out in the next second.

“….”

Leon didn’t answer as his face twitched again.

“What’s the point of resisting?”

“Tsk.”

“Did you just click your tongue?”

Leon looked away and didn’t answer. I was just about to speak again when I felt a small vibration in my pocket. The same was true for Leon as a cube materialized before the two of us.

“Oh.”

It looked like the sound round of fights was about to start.

I had just turned my attention away from the cube to speak to Leon again when I noticed that he had already clenched it and disappeared.

“This…”

He ran away, didn’t he?

It had been a while since I found myself at a loss for words.

“Haa.”

In the end, with a long sigh, I could only shake my head and reach forward to grab the cube. A familiar sensation washed over me and I found myself appearing on one of the platforms at the top.

It was one of the taller platforms, and from where I was, I could see the other platforms beneath.

None of the platforms were on the same level, with some more elevated than the others.

‘Looks like Leon got an easier opponent.’

He was standing opposite a face that I could recognize from the videos. He was a decent contender, but nowhere near Leon’s level.

Looking down, I could see more familiar faces appear.

Kaelion, Caius, Aoife, Amell… Gradually, all the top contenders appeared one by one. Seeing this, I sighed in relief, thinking that I’d have an easier draw, but the next moment, my heart sank.

Kiera stood at the opposite end, her long platinum hair cascading down her back, and her deep crimson eyes locked in a stoic gaze. She wore the familiar black uniform, her usual demeanor replaced by an unsettling calm.

Following her appearance, the referee appeared as well.

He stood in between us and glanced in our direction before raising his hand.

“Kiera Mylne from the Nurs Ancifa Empire versus Julien Evenus from the Nurs Ancifa Empire.”

My muscles tensed, popping silently as I got into position and stared in Kiera’s direction. This fight… It was going to be extremely difficult.

“Hoo.”

I needed to be ready.

Glancing our way one more time, he threw his hand down.

“Begin!”

***

Moments prior.

The studio picked up on the match between Julien and Kiera immediately. The moment the two appeared, the broadcast started as Johanna and Karl started to introduce the two contestants.

<It looks like the two dark horses of the tournament will now be fighting against each other!>

There was obvious excitement in this match.

Who wouldn’t be excited with the prospect of seeing two underdogs fight against each other?

Noticing the boost in viewership, Karl’s speaking became faster.

<On one side we have Kiera who is the favoured one in the match. Despite Julien’s amazing performances as of late, he is the underdog in this match. It’s funny…>

Karl laughed.

<The two of them both come from the same institute and once, Julien was hailed as the number one prospect. However, now things have changed. From the looks of things, he has fallen to fourth place in regard to the general rank between those of the same institute. Perhaps it was because of his injury, or perhaps other reasons, the others have caught up with him>

Alternating his gaze between the two contestants, Karl sighed.

<This match will be a heavy one for Julien. It’ll determine if he’ll ever get a chance to get his position back, or…>

Karl’s words stopped halfway through.

Just as he was speaking the referee announced the start of the match.

He, alongside Johanna and everyone that was watching, was expecting either Julien or Kiera to start with an explosive move, but the scene shook everyone to the core.

Looking in Julien’s direction, Kiera lowered her body.

She then began to mumble something.

Then, without hesitation, she turned back and jumped off the platform, flames appearing beneath her feet, decreasing the speed of her fall before she safely landed on the ground beneath as if it were nothing.

In the silence that took over the studio and those watching the match, the referee’s voice echoed.

<…The winner is Julien Evenus of the Nurs Ancifa Empire>

All hell broke loose shortly after that.

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