It had felt wrong from the beginning. Ever since Rock had laid eyes on him, he had felt something was amiss.
He just didn't seem right and after seeing him fighting, the feeling only intensified.
He wasn't skilled, quite the opposite, and a complete amateur, utterly talentless for combat. Yet, he dodged each attack, stumbling and making a fool of himself, but dodging nonetheless. It was like he knew the future, which, reading his file, shouldn't be his ability.
Unless he lied…Had Leo committed a mistake?
Once again, he just dodged. The same flustered way, even worse actually, as he had a heavy jian in his waist. Eventually, he started to slow it down, Ruth's spear finding some success here and there.
At that time Rock considered stopping the fight. For one simple reason, the weapon should be dull–not able to cut even a fly. So why was Ruth's spear sharp?
Ruth was using his Aspect to sharpen the weapon. Rock, of course, knew the young man's ability, he just didn't think he would actually use it as this was supposed to be only a demonstration. If it was against any other person he would stop the fight immediately and punish Ruth, however, when he saw the cut on Otto's cheek turn into a white scar, he stopped himself.
'Maybe this will do him well…' He had thought.
Of course, he wouldn't let the boy die, but at some point he could feel in his eyes, something changed. He wanted to win. That left him curious.
What had provoked that change? Was it pure pride? He had heard about what had happened in the cafeteria, was the feeling of losing encouraging him to try?
Or, perhaps, had been the fact that Ruth had used his ability. Maybe it had invoked some kind of survival feeling in Otto?
In any case, that change was good. Even if it didn't alter the fact that he was still losing. Losing meant growth, as long as you didn't die.
'It's over' he had thought when Otto suddenly became unfocused. 'A novice mistake.' Losing focus in a battle was sure to get you killed.
Then something changed again. Rock's instincts screamed at him, the same feeling he had felt when he looked at a Nightmare Creature for the first time.
A dark, unnatural orange glow burned within them. His expression was cold–the kind a killer would wear–yet his eyes held intense madness. One that Rock had only ever seen before in Nightmare Creatures.
He muttered some words that even Rock couldn't understand and then turned into a blur, as he rushed forward towards Ruth.
Ruth, taken by surprise, launched a clumsy attack that Otto dodged with ease–the first dodge that was actually good. He finally unsheathed his blade, with a swift yet weird motion, he tried to cut Ruth in half. It wouldn't work, after all, his sword was dull. But, if he had hit, it would probably leave Ruth with a permanent injury.
Thankfully, Rock had already moved by now. Catching the boy's blade between his fingers, that were empowered by his essence.
"Enough." he commanded.
But Otto didn't stop. Letting go of his sword, he was about to kick Rock in the stomach, but before he could, he vomited radiant blood, fell on his knees, and then collapsed.
***
Otto was rushed to the Medical center immediately.
His condition was bad–extremely bad.
His internal organs had been crushed, compressed inward as if his own muscles were trying to destroy themselves. Thanks to Silk, who coincidentally was inside of him today, and Weaver's Blood, he somehow survived, yet his body wasn't in a good state.
The healer on duty–a quiet woman named Mira whose Aspect let her see wounds as threads of light–worked for nearly an hour, knitting ruptured vessels, easing bruised lungs, coaxing his heart back into a steady rhythm.
However, even with her ability, it was not enough to heal him completely, only to stabilize him.
When he finally woke up, the room was in semi-darkness, illuminated only by a single lantern on the wall. His mouth tasted of copper and ash. Every breath seemed to drag the air through broken glass.
Rock was there, sitting on a low stool beside the cot, arms crossed. He hadn't left since bringing Otto inside.
He tried to sit up. Pain lanced through his ribs; he hissed and fell back.
"Stay down," Rock said, voice low. "You're lucky to be breathing."
Otto didn't respond. Rock watched him in silence for a few seconds before finally speaking:
"I don't know what you did and I won't ask you any questions either. By now, I have enough common sense not to meddle in the secrets of Legacy clans–especially the secret ones…But I will ask you this: Don't do that again."
Silence stretched. Somewhere down the hall, another person groaned in pain.
"Sure." Otto finally responded, his voice horseal. "It's not like I love being hurt, you know?"
"Right." He rose from his chair. "The doctors said they had no idea if you would ever recover. I don't know what you did, but all your organs seemed to have compressed. You'll probably have to stay here until you enter the Dream Realm. With luck, you'll manage to become an Awakened, and the Spell itself will heal you completely."
Otto nodded slowly, this simple movement provoked a headache.
Rock looked at him with pity.
"Hang in there." With that last encouraging phrase, he left the room.
Now alone, Otto wanted to laugh, but he didn't.
'People really brought up the story of the secret clan.' Honestly, he was impressed.
It had been a story he came up with without much thinking, yet people seemed really invested in it. Perhaps it was his eyes, or it really existed secret clans that he never heard of–even in the novel–but whatever it was, he was glad that it still worked.
A harsh sigh sent a sharp pain coursing through his lungs. Otto closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but he couldn't.
Every time he closed his eyes, he remembered the incident with perfect clarity. His state of mind, the way he viewed everyone as prey, the sensation of power coursing through his body, and, finally, the macabre pain of each of his organs writhing.
He knew that there were no blessings in Flaws. That, even if it appeared good like Kai's, it was only a trap. And his' was no different.
His Flaw had a grand downside: He was constantly remembering things.
He had noticed this before; Each time he looked at Sunny the Mad Prince's face would haunt his mind. Whatever he looked at someone's face, he would instantly remember someone that looked similar. A different wind in the day would take him flying into old memories when he was only a baby, and together with each memory, the exact emotions, pains, thoughts, and feelings, would all come back to him.
At the time of his fight, he suddenly remembered the Mad Prince fight and together with it, the madness that he spread.
It seems the Corrupted Terror had left a scar in his mind, an intense madness that would break loose each time he remembered it.
'Imagine if I had been cut by Sin of Solance…' That idea send a chill through his body.
Suddenly, Otto recalled an article he had once read about a man named Solomon Veniaminovich–also known as the man who could not forget. Curiously, they could now share that title, although their memories functioned in different ways.
According to the article, Solomon suffered from a severe mental disorder and distractibility, which led him to constantly relive old memories. Reading a book or holding a conversation flooded his mind with images, sounds, or even colors from the past—completely unrelated to the present moment—making it difficult to focus on anything.
Not only that, but the man also replayed embarrassing and painful memories with full intensity. Which was what was happening to him.
'What a wicked little thing…' Thankfully, different from Solomon, he had a solution. 'I need to get [Weaver's Mind] quickly.'
It was either that, or continue walking in the Ascension Path, which he would naturally do, but even an Ascended brain would have a limit, Weaver's Mind though, would probably be the definite solution.
'But how do I even get Fate? Do I have to kill Nightmare Creatures as well? I don't even know how I acquired the first thousand.'
Not only that, but nothing guaranteed that he would get Weaver's Mind quickly. It could very well be the next reward, just as it could be the last.
Making an educated guess, he surmised that the sequence would likely follow the same pattern as Sunny's in the novel–hence [Weaver's Blood] being the first. Which would make it the fifth. However, once again, it was just a guess–nothing proved it to be true.
'That's still far though…' With another harsh sigh, Otto looked at the window at his side. The moon shone brightly up in the sky. '...I wonder what Asterion is doing right now.'
…This damn Flaw will be the end of him.