Everything turns dark. I can no longer see the sun in the sky, the dust on the ground, the green of the leaves, or anything for that matter. All that remains is the void. I pat my body to make sure that everything is still present. I even place my own hand in front of my face, but still, I see nothing. Gradually, my understanding of what has happened grows. It becomes clear that in a split second, my sight was robbed from me. Immediately, I concentrate all of my senses on my hearing and attempt to assess the state of my surroundings.

What I can hear is a series of panicked gasps and grunts from all of the second quarter trainees. Some are still trying to understand what is happening, while the more quick-witted ones seem more shocked at how powerless they are before Ron’s ability. Soon, however, my vision returns to me, well, partially. Currently, the only things I can see are Zora and Ron’s figure standing in the battle zone.

Ron laughs loudly and speaks to Zora. “Witness my [melody]! Now that your sight has been robbed from you, what will you do little one?”

Zora, now even more wary of her opponent, grips her sharpsong tighter and adopts a defensive stance. She raises the instrument in front of her, ready to parry any incoming attack. Confused, I ask myself a question out loud.

“Why can we see them?”

Maestro Lauren, who overhears me, answers promptly. “Well that’s because he allows it, Alden. The effects of certain [melodies] can be targeted to specific opponents, mine is a perfect example!”

Her voice coming from somewhere behind me startles me quite a bit, but I attempt not to show it. Curious as to the extent of his power, I ask the Maestro something else.

“Can you see anything Maestro?”

She chuckles. “But of course, he couldn't possibly hope to blind someone like me for an extensive period of time, especially alongside all of you! I am still much stronger than he is after all! Though, I do suppose if I were to face him by myself, his ability could become quite annoying.”

‘I see… At the end of the day, a large enough difference in raw power trumps all…’

Through the darkness, Ron throws his dagger-like instrument towards Zora. It whistles through the air, flying at an incredible speed. Zora, who’s reflexes are among the best in the group, finds herself unable to react to the projectile in time now that she can no longer use her eyes. As such, she tries to evade it, but it grazes her cheek nonetheless. Blood drips from the wound and Zora’s frown deepens. She must understand that her current situation is almost hopeless.

“I missed on purpose there, but the next will aim for your head so you’ll have to do better than that little one!”

Zora’s next move is exactly what I would have done had I been in her place. She gathers pureflow to the muscles in her lower body, and leaps away from Ron, hoping to exit his abilitie’s effective range. Strangely enough, however, no matter how far, or how many times she dashes away from him, she is unable to find an exit. Well, it’s not that strange in reality, because to us, it simply seems like she is running in circles around the combat zone.

“Unfortunately, for someone of your level, there is no escape from the Total Eclipse! Now, what will you do?”

A vein bulges on the side of the purple haired girl’s forehead and she shouts. “Shut up!!”

Zora accelerates towards Ron by following his voice. She uses her [melody] and dashes towards him at incredible speed. Regardless, Ron evades it easily, and this time he counter-attacks. Once their exchange is over, a deep cut is revealed on Zora’s forearm.

“Like I said, too predictable, no flair at all!”

Unyielding, she repeats the same motion, and is met with the same result. The more this goes on, The more I see her pureflow output dropping. Her panting becomes heavier, her attacks become weaker and little by little, she slows down. Zora is clearly reaching her limit.

Worried for her, I speak to Maestro Lauren. “Shouldn’t we stop this fight now? It’s clear that Zora… isn’t a match for him, is there really a need to humiliate her like this?”

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For a moment, there is no reply, but then, the Maestro places her hand on my shoulder and speaks with a solemn tone.

“You should have a bit more trust in your friends, don’t you think?”

“...”

I cannot find anything to answer with. I even feel a bit of guilt. So, I stop speaking and I simply keep watching the fight.

Zora is relentlessly attacking her opponent, exhausting herself even further and risking long-term injuries. Blood trickles from her nostrils, highlighting her overexertion. Nonetheless, Maestro Lauren refuses to put an end to the fight. As for Ron, he stubbornly continues to only respond to Zora’s attacks rather than defeating her and ending it. From my point of view, it seems like he’s toying with her.

Ron lets out a loud laugh and speaks to Zora as she is attacking him. “Come on! Come on! You can do better than that! I haven’t even broken a sweat yet, little one! Is speed all you’ve got under your belt?”

The cuts decorating Zora’s body have increased in number, now numbering well over a dozen. Crimson liquid escapes every single one of them and her complexion pales. Her hands can barely hold on to her instrument and she has difficulty keeping her footing. Her legs are shaking from exhaustion and large droplets of sweat are dripping from her forehead. If this were a real fight, there is no way Zora would still be standing, but so far, Ron has intentionally been inflicting shallow wounds upon her, making sure that no damage he does will render her unable to keep fighting.

Considering that she is battling him without being able to see and only relying on her other senses, she is doing quite well, but it does not change the fact there is simply no way for her to win. His situation is grim. No matter what she does, it is effortlessly parried by her adversary who immediately responds in kind. Her flow reserves will soon be empty, if her body does not break before that, and Ron is still in perfect condition. He’s simply too strong.

‘Why does he insist on continuing this spar…?’

They clash a few more times and finally, or inevitably perhaps, Zora’s knee hits the ground. As I feared, she has run out of juice. She plants her sharpsong in the ground to hold herself and tries to get her erratic breathing under control.

Ron places his hands on his waist and looks at her. “Are you finished already? That performance doesn’t even warrant a passing grade hahaha!”

“N-Not yet…!!”

I can no longer hold myself back. “Zora! You’ve done enough! You’ll really hurt yourself at this rate, just surrender!”

“SHUT UP!” She shouts.

“I don’t need ya ta tell me what to do! I can keep goin’, I’m stronger than ya think, stronger than all of you think! I haven’t shown everythin’ yet!”

‘Where is this coming from? I’ve never seen her like this before…’

She points to Ron with her sharpsong and makes a request. “Hey, weird glasses guy, you wanted ta see somethin’ cool right?”

“Well, I can’t actually see anything, but you’re right yes! hahahaha!”

She uses her instrument as support and stands up once more to adopt a battle stance, this one different from her previous one. Curiously, she bends her forward knee to adopt a well grounded form. Then, she fully extends her right arm in front of her, holding the sharpsong with it, and extends her left arm behind her. Her eyes, though unseeing, reflect more resolve than ever before. As I look at her, I feel that from this new stance of hers, an odd sense of refinement and lethality radiates from her entire body.

“That’s good ‘cause I’ve got somethin’ to show you, but I don’t want anybody else ta see this…”

Ron smirks. “Oh? So you’d like me to turn off the lights for everyone then? Sure thing!”

My world turns dark once more. I try to resist the effects of his ability. I squint my eyes and pivot all of my energy to my eyes in order to peer through the darkness, but to no avail. Mine and Ron’s levels are too far apart. If he does not wish me to see, then I will not be able to see, it is that simple.

Through the darkness, I hear Zora’s soft voice. “Thanks… I hope yer prepared for this.”

“Show me!”

Clearly, Zora is preparing to do something. I can’t see any of it, but I have a feeling that I know what is on the verge of occurring. To confirm my hypothesis, I can solely rely on my hearing to understand the events of the battle. Thus, I concentrate intently, piecing together every piece of information I can using the sounds around me.

I filter out all of the unnecessary noise, only allowing those from the fight to fill my ears. The first thing that reaches me is the sound of the air slowly rippling, and of the ground being stomped powerfully. Gradually, strong bursts of wind strike me, as if something was moving at an increasingly fast speed. Strangely enough, however, there is no clashing of instruments. Instead, the longer I listen, the more numerous are the noises of the air ripping apart, and the faster they become. It reaches a point where the noises overlap, eventually creating something akin to a rhythm, almost resembling a song. Even after half a minute or so, there is still no clash, and the noises, while not quite there yet, more distinctly resemble a melody. The battle zone becomes more agitated, the leaves rustle, the dust refuses to settle and the atmosphere itself trembles.

The tension in the atmosphere becomes denser as this continues, nearly tangible. I find myself even forgetting to breathe, not wanting to miss even a second of this performance. Finally, a thundering crack resonates throughout the training field, as if thunder had fallen from the sky. and a single impact is heard. A singular clash of metal against metal fills my ears and the veil of darkness is lifted. The light has finally returned to mine and everyone else’s eyes.

Zora, who now stands behind Ron, plants her sword in the ground and collapses. Her body is riddled with wounds and there is no way to tell how badly she is hurt. I prepare to run towards her to assess her condition, but something stops me. My instincts scream that I should not come any closer. Trying to find the source of this ominous feeling, I look towards Ron. Strangely, he inspects his dagger-like instrument, which now bears a few cracks on its edge, threatening to crumble. He then sheaths it and slowly picks up his visor from the ground to put it back in front of his eyes. When he turns to face the collapsed Zora, I notice a shallow incision on his neck which drips with blood.

As he looks down on her, an eerie smile forms on his face, not conforming with the demeanor he had shown us up until now. In a soft voice, he says: “Hahaha… Zora was it? That last attack definitely had some flair, I’ll have to remember you...”

He regains his enthusiastic usual mood, wipes the blood dripping down his neck and returns to stand among the fourth quarter students.

The threat now gone, Sylvia, Ivana, Adam, Alex and I all rush to Zora’s side.