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 sothing would happen were I to touch them, but I stopped myself.
I knew that it wasn't ti just yet.
Looking around , 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 was rely the frawork of what would later beco my domain. I needed to expand the concept that stood before before even remotely thinking about the last step- Materialization.
But that step seed a distant one.
For now, I could only focus on expanding the concept that was in front of .
"Joy, Rage, Sorrow, Affection, Fear, Shock."
Six words appeared beneath each orb.
They each represented an emotion, but at the sa ti, three carried different anings 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 ti 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 ti.
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 , I'd be more worried about you than Caius."
All I felt were goosebumps with the way he was looking at .
11
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 monts 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 stemd 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 sothing as I turned to look at Leon who was staring back at with an impassive expression.
Recalling how he had ntioned all of this, I suddenly realized sothing.
"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 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 mont, that I had a painful realization.
...If I don't develop sothing soon, then I'm afraid I won't make it far into the tournant.'
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 achievent. Nonetheless, I had lagged behind the others in terms of progress. By the ti I reached Tier 4, the others had reached it months before .
In such a situation, even though I developed an intent so early, they had all the ti 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 sothing that can be developed or found just because you reach the fourth tier. It's sothing 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 an by your mind isn't ready?"
"...It ans what it ans. It's not sothing 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 sothing was missing before you found it, right?"
I blinked my eyes for a brief mont, recalling the ti before the play. Indeed, there was a ti back then when I felt that sothing was missing from . It nagged the back of my mind and was what prompted to unlock the [Love] emotion.
It was a weird situation that I couldn't quite explain, but it suddenly beca clear to .
Could that be what he ans...?
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 perford in the play and unlocked the emotion, then I would've still been
struggling to this day.
...Unless soone 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 monts 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 sa 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 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 sa level, with so 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, All... 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 mont, 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 deanor
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 extrely difficult.
"Hoo."
I needed to be ready.
Glancing our way one more ti, he threw his hand down.
"Begin!"
***
Monts prior.
The studio picked up on the match between Julien and Kiera imdiately. The mont the
two appeared, the broadcast started as Johanna and Karl started to introduce the two
contestants.
There was obvious excitent 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 beca faster.
Karl laughed.
Alternating his gaze between the two contestants, Karl sighed.
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 sothing.
Then, without hesitation, she turned back and jumped off the platform, flas 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.
All hell broke loose shortly after that.
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