“Only useful assets have a place within the HSA,” Executioner Leywin answered coldly before going back to watch Seth’s fight.
With nothing else to say, Delta left Hall J-2’s observation lounge and headed for the control room. As he walked down the hallway Delta’s mind kept returning to the auto-injection. With each passing day, he found himself thinking about it more and more frequently.
‘Power is absolute. Those who are not at the top get stepped on,’ Delta repeated to himself.
Since he was a kid he had been a prodigy, praised by everyone he met. However, as he grew more powerful, he slowly started approaching the limit of his potential. Blinded by the praises of the people around him and drunk with his ever-growing arrogance, he decided to ignore the clear signs.
By the time he joined the Black Guard, he thought that he would easily continue to grow his power and looked down on everybody. However, that’s when he was forced to acknowledge his reality.
He clenched his fist as he remembered the first time he met Leywin. It had been the first time in his life he had felt powerless.
He wasn’t the best. He was barely special.
In order to compete against those who stood at the top, Delta tried to push himself beyond his limits, trying to continue to grow by all possible means. Yet that wasn’t enough. Two years ago, his energy synchronization hit a dead end, and with it, he finally reached his limit.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t push his limitations any further. He had been so close to catching up to them, yet he failed. He lacked power.
After some time he stopped trying to actively increase his stage, as he tried to accept his reality. However, he was never really able to let go of his goal. His hurt ego and arrogance turned into resentment. And, he used the outcasts who never gave up to vent it.
Yes, he had killed a few of them in the past Rising Espers Tournaments and if it wasn’t for Leywin stopping him that day, he would’ve killed Seth too, but why would it matter? Because how dare they keep trying so hard to achieve a miracle when he had to give up? Because why could they still have hope while being in such a pitiful position, when he had to see his dream be shattered to pieces? If anything he was doing them a favor, freeing them of the miserable life, as society’s trash, waste, that they had ahead of themselves.
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Even if not that extreme, Delta was not alone in his reasoning.
And if their families found out, what could they do to him anyway? That is if they even cared at all.
‘But now, I might have a way,’ Delta pondered.
‘How far am I willing to go? How much am I willing to risk?’ those were the questions crossing Delta’s mind. Those were the questions every person would have to answer sooner or later.
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“Ready! Begin!” the judge exclaimed, starting the last round of Seth’s final match.
He looked out of breath, as drops of sweat rolled down his face. His eyes were locked on the boy before him, and yet they seemed distant and tired.
The boy standing in front of Seth was a step 1 integration-stage esper. The score was 4-3 and even though the boy had the advantage he looked clearly frustrated.
Without wasting a second, he activated his ability and dashed toward Seth with his dagger in hand.
Seth instinctively reached for his katana, which was sheathed across his lower back, however…
BA DUMP
The moment he touched the katana’s handle his whole body froze as a sharp pain shot through it. He felt his heartbeat accelerate and his breath become irregular as his mind forced him out of the fight.
He closed his eyes tightly, trying to regain control. When he opened them up again, the boy was just in front of him, his icy blade cutting through the air as he slashed horizontally.
Seth docked and rolled, barely managing to dodge the attack. The boy quickly turned around and lunged at Seth.
Clang!
Seth finally unsheathed his sword and parried the attack with his sword while pressing the scythe on his left hand against the back of his blade to guide the powerful attack out of the way. To make his blow heavier and more powerful, the boy had covered his dagger in a coat of ice. Yet, what he didn’t realize was that the excessive amount of strength he put into his attacks because of his frustration only made Seth’s parries more effective.
Seth swiftly repositioned his sword, trying to predict the next attack in order to parry it. He made it in time, however, he mispredicted it.
As the attack closed in, Seth quickly moved both his sword and scythe to block the attack.
Bang!
He felt the strength of the impact shoot through his whole body. Not even a second later, an icicle shot from the ground straight toward him. He quickly leaped backward, dodging the icicle.
Knowing what the boy would do next, Seth let go of the scythe. Holding it by the chain, he threw the scythe in a circular motion.
At the same time, several icicles shot from the boy’s hand toward Seth.
In terms of power, the difference between manifestation-stage participants and those who were in the first half of the integration stage wasn’t that big. The reason for this was that none of them were prodigies. Those who were still in the manifestation stage and Seth’s age tried to make up for their lacking ability with their fighting technique, similar to Seth, while those who were in the first half of the integration stage usually relied too much on their ability and overlooked their fighting technique.
The true gap of power usually came between the steps 2 and 3 of the integration stage, but even more between the steps 3 and 4.
On top of that, Seth had one more advantage, all awakened espers looked down on him. As such, in order to protect their own ego, they subconsciously refrained from using their full strength, and especially their ability.