Odyssey of the Blind God

Miranda was far from being disappointed at the onset of the event that was initiated by a painful scream that originated from the center of the arena.

All of a sudden it felt as if the gravitational force had increased drastically within the eerie silence of the arena.

As a result, the pressure weighing on everyone skyrocketed as well, and even the Instructors' faces were shrouded in slight astonishment.

Only Miranda, Junades, and Kassandra were able to continue smiling!

Without a warning, Nial's dark miasma was pulled into the ground where it disappeared in an instant, revealing ink-dyed ground, a faintly smiling blind youth, who was casually strolling over the dark ground, and Jase, whose Blade Intent was riddled with holes.

Fresh blood trickled down his arms and legs, while an expression of disbelief appeared on Jase's face.

'I am losing? What? No….that cannot be…I've never lost…It's not over yet…I have not lost yet…'

Jase had yet to be inflicted with a serious injury that prevented him from continuing to fight. His Blade Intent might have been riddled with dark holes but his body was mostly unscathed. This was due to the Tier-1 metal chestplate he was wearing.

It had shielded him from the darkness spikes when his mind had been attacked by Nial's petty trick.

'Yet, it was a petty trick!! I will be prepared next time…I will defeat him next time…'

Darkness spread out from the edges of the holes in his Blade Intent, and not even Jase's Holy Aura was strong enough to dispel the entire darkness in his Blade Intent.

"Well, maybe my dark energy is still more useful than I assumed. I also didn't expect your Holy Aura to be weak. I expected more from a Double Awakened Original…and the Sword Master's son as well, of course."

Nial's voice was barely audible but not a single other sound could be heard in the entire arena.

As such, even the lowest-ranked Originals were able to hear every single word Nial had said.

It was a provocative comment, at least to Jase who roared out in anger. He felt that the young Original, who was merely at the 4th Origin rank was openly mocking him and had humiliated him in front of everyone.

This frustration and anger were more than enough for Jase to go all out.

Jase released his entire mana as he activated both of his Innate abilities [Blade Intent] and [Holy Aura] in addition to his first bound ability called [Monstrous Strengthening]!

[Monstrous Strengthening] increased Jase's physical strength by close to 30%. The ability's compatibility with his other two Innate abilities was quite high, thereby increasing their effectiveness if used in combination as Jase's mana veins received an amplification from his first ordinary bound ability as well.

However, Nial could only smile faintly as he saw the way Jase attempted to release his strongest form to stomp on his opponent.

He could only smile faintly, shaking his head and snap his finger.

When the unusually loud snap resounded in the arena, the ink-dyed ground rumbled along with the entire room.

In an instant, hundreds of darkness ropes shot out of the ground.

An oasis seemed to form below Jase's feet as his holy aura caused the ink-dyed ground to ripple.

All of a sudden, numerous pairs of hands emerged out of the rippling ink-dyed ground. They gripped Jase's legs, and attempted to pull him into the darkness.

While Jase struggled to free himself of those hands, hundreds of darkness spikes pierced out of the ground at once.

Moving simultaneously, the darkness spikes nearly pierced into Jase from all directions.

Even though his attacks were weakened by close to 30%, that was everything the Holy aura could achieve. Thus, once Nial's darkness spikes pierced through Jase's Battle Intent, they stopped just a few millimeters away from cutting into his skin.

'I might not be able to jump through darkness yet, but that should be enough, I guess?' Nial smiled before adding the cream of the crop as he activated one of his runic armaments for the second time.

[Tier-1 Earring of Dizaryx]

Targeting Jase with the mental attack of the Earring of Dizaryx, Jase roared out once again. The Sword Master's son's mind went blank for a moment before he regained his senses.

Rapidly blinking his eyes, he looked around as he had no idea what was going on, at first. However, when he recalled what had happened, he could only curse himself.

Jase felt as if he was tongue-tied, and the same could be said about his movements. He was completely restricted and unable to move even a single inch.

Hundreds of darkness ropes held him tightly, while darkness spikes pierced his skin faintly.

'What the hell just happened?!? Did I really lose against him?…not possible…that's not possible…'

Jase was utterly dumbfounded. However, he was not the only one. Rather, there were only a handful of people, who were not astonished or shocked about what they were currently seeing.

From their point of view, Nial had subdued Jase with ease. The young and blind Original might be breathing heavily and the mana remnants he was left within his mana core were few.

However, all of this was not important because the arena seemed to have turned into Nial's territory.

Even without the use of additional mana, he could control the ink-dyed ground, and shoot out darkness ropes and darkness spikes.

Thus, he could freely control everything which enabled Nial to tie down Jase, preventing him from making a move. Nial had subdued Jase but his actions clearly indicated that he could kill the young Originals if he wanted to.

The hundreds of darkness spikes that had emerged from the ground were more than enough to demonstrate this in a quite obvious manner.

"How tyrannical…What a fierce youth…I like it." Commander Ullyr could not hold himself back from jumping up, and from laughing out loud. He wholeheartedly praised Nial as if the young Original was his own son who had achieved something miraculous and made his father proud.

He also tried to keep his facial expression in check but that failed miserably as his awestruck eyes were fixated on Nial.

Nial had already regulated his breathing and also retracted the darkness ropes and darkness spikes. Afterward, he terminated his possession over the arena, which was why the dark energy dispersed slowly.

It would take a few minutes but the ink-dyed ground would revert to its usual color.

'15 seconds…I went a little bit overboard. Was that because of the potion Miranda gave me?'

Nial was pretty sure that he knew his current limits best. That was why he knew that it was not possible for him to control the ink-dyed ground for more than 10 seconds.

Even that was a high gamble simply because his control over dark energy was still not high enough, while the amount of mana he possessed was simply too little.

Dyeing the ground with his dark energy was not the problem as it didn't require mana and only needed dark energy. However, to control everything in the range he had subdued with his dark energy was entirely different.

It couldn't be done easily and required Nial's entire focus.

To the others, it might have looked easy but that was merely the case due to Nial's acting.

He wanted to make an example out of Jase and defeat him in an overbearing manner. The reason for this was quite simple. Nial didn't like the fact that Jase was too arrogant and thought too highly of himself just because he was born with great talent and in an extraordinary household.

Nial had felt the need to show everyone that someone from ordinary background could defeat powerful Originals with great talent and background as long as they worked their asses off!

His point had been proven and now only one question was left behind– Was Nial's potential truly worse than Jase's?

According to all information that had been procured, the answer was a simple 'Yes'.

Jase had two Innate abilities and a powerful ability. On the other hand, there may not be a lot of information about Nial's Innate ability but his bound ability could create the black miasma.

It didn't have any attack power and it could only weaken others.

Of course, the officials missed out on a lot of important information, including the fact that Nial's mana core's limit was not at the 5th Origin rank anymore, and neither was his first bound ability merely able to create the black miasma.

However, it was not as if Nial would waste his time trying to help others figure out more about his secrets.

They were supposed to work relentlessly if they wanted to get to know him more!

"Do I have to fight two more challengers right now, or can I rest for some time and finish them off afterward?"

Nial had turned to the Teradan military camp's Instructors and the Commander and raised a query. His question sounded sincere but his words were certainly not favorable to the Originals, who had challenged him.

Some of his challengers were present as well and their faces turned red in anger. However, none of them dared to say anything.

"Eh…little Nial, you can rest a bit and if any challenger still wants to fight you, you'll have to fight…"

Commander Ullyr felt a little bit weird. He wanted to speak to Nial first but it looked like the youth would rather rest and catch up on his breath.

Nial didn't want to be bothered by anyone, and Commander Ullyr understood this quite well.

'Even if it looked like Nial overwhelmed Jase, I guess that Jase still has more energy left than Nial…Nial went all out and clashed with his opponent with all his might, while Jase…didn't even think about taking the fight seriously, at first. Using one's frustration and anger ought to create mistakes…'

Commander Ullyr was disappointed in Jase. He had found out about his double awakening just today. This should be a great sign for mankind because the Sword Master's son was bound to become a major pillar of strength and support for humanity.

However, his interest quickly switched to the blind Original, who had given his all to fight his opponent and even used his energy in order to replicate something they had only read about in legends.

"Didn't he replicate a Domain by using this dark energy?" One of the more intelligent Instructors asked, clearly baffled by what she had seen. Only after digesting everything that had happened, did she realize what Nial had done.

"It was not a Domain…but I cannot really argue that it was similar to one. Nobody here has ever seen a Domain but all of us should have read about them…so…is that a Pseudo-Domain? Is it a replica? Or just a special technique used with his unique energy?"

Commander Ullyr had no idea but he could only shrug his shoulders, feeling a little bit frustrated.

'How the hell did Miranda find him…why couldn't I get him in my hands first…the military needs people like this little guy…

Who gives a damn about his background or his blindness if he is that powerful?!? Exactly…nobody!!'