Silence fell… but this time it was not merely an empty gap between sounds, it was a real weight pressing on the place, as if what had happened moments ago was not just a training fight, but a direct shattering of an idea that had long been settled in everyone's minds without them realizing it.
Shaal was still on his knee, his breaths uneven, his hand trembling slightly as he tried to comprehend what had happened. The problem was not the physical pain, but that vast gap between what he expected… and what actually occurred. He slowly raised his head and looked at Faiser with a confused gaze, as if even the words themselves weighed on his tongue before coming out, then said in a low but charged voice:
"How…? How can this happen…? I wasn't holding back, I wasn't playing, and yet… it ended like this, as if I was fighting someone… who doesn't even belong to the same level."
Faiser did not answer immediately. He remained standing calmly, his expression steady, his eyes devoid of any agitation, as if he had been waiting for this exact moment—the moment of questioning, the moment of doubt, the moment of searching for an explanation. Then he sighed lightly, ran his hand over his neck, and said in a very normal tone, almost boring:
"If you're waiting for a complicated explanation… you'll be disappointed, because what happened is simpler than you think, and perhaps even more ridiculous. I just… happened to come across something that worked in my favor."
All eyes froze on him.
"Happened…?"
Faiser gave a faint smile, then continued as if explaining something ordinary:
"You fight with a clear pattern. Your rhythm is steady, and your movements, despite their speed… are predictable to someone who watches calmly. And I… was just watching, nothing more. Maybe I was lucky that you revealed all your cards so quickly, and maybe I was lucky that my body responded at the right moment. I don't see it as anything more complicated than that."
Shaal frowned slightly, as if not fully convinced, but he found nothing to respond with immediately, while one of the disciples muttered behind him:
"So… just coincidence?"
Faiser shrugged indifferently:
"Fighting is full of coincidences. A wrong step, an unsteady breath, a moment of hesitation… all these small things create a result that seems big. Losing once… doesn't mean you're weaker, it might just mean… you weren't at your best moment."
A brief silence followed, then he continued, this time in a slightly deeper tone:
"And if we fought ten times… the result might be completely different. So don't take this as an absolute truth, just… one outcome among many possibilities."
This time, some of the disciples nodded. The explanation was… logical enough to be accepted, simple enough to be digested, and comfortable enough to be believed.
But—
Not everyone.
Shin was still standing in his place, looking at Faiser without speaking. His expression was calm, but his eyes… were not. He heard the words, yes… but he did not see truth in them. He saw something else entirely, something that could not be said so simply, nor reduced to "coincidence."
"This is not coincidence…"
he said to himself slowly.
"What happened was completely clear… precise… calculated. It wasn't improvisation, it wasn't luck… it was understanding."
He breathed slowly, then said aloud in a light tone:
"Maybe…"
Faiser smiled at him, without commenting.
As for Shaal…
He lowered his gaze for a moment, then raised it again, this time with a different look. The shock had not completely faded… but it had turned into something else, something quieter:
"If what you're saying is true… then I didn't lose because you're stronger, but because I was… easy to read."
Faiser replied directly:
"That's part of fighting. Being strong isn't enough, you have to be unclear… or at least, less clear than your opponent."
He paused for a moment, then added in an almost calm tone:
"But don't underestimate yourself either. Your strength isn't bad—on the contrary… for your level, you're advanced. You just… need more than strength."
There was no mockery in his voice, nor clear arrogance… but it wasn't pure kindness either. It was a strange mix, difficult to define.
Shaal did not respond immediately, but he nodded slowly, as if something had settled within him—not full conviction… but the beginning of understanding.
The arena gradually began to return to motion. The disciples dispersed, but the whispers did not stop, the gazes did not fade—in fact, they became more focused.
"A newcomer… defeated Shaal?"
"Even if it was coincidence… this isn't normal."
"And his aura… did you notice it?"
"No… I don't think this is just a beginner."
"Do you know who this strange person is?!"
Faiser turned slowly, as if the matter was over for him. His steps were calm, steady, carrying no haste. But inside… it was not the same.
"Coincidence…?"
He smiled inwardly.
"How easy it is… to satisfy minds with a simple explanation. But it's better to stay out of sight… at least for a while…"
He continued walking slowly along the edge of the arena, and his eyes lost that outward calm, returning to that cold depth no one could see.
He sighed…
"Haaah… what happened… wasn't coincidence. It was… a result."
He stopped for a moment, then continued within himself, this time in a long, deep internal voice, as if reconstructing the fight step by step:
"His movements were clean, yes… his strength is stable, his flow far better than mine, his body more accustomed to energy—and that's natural. He's close to the Root level, while I… am still in a stage that is supposed to be among the lowest ranks. And yet… I didn't feel the pressure I expected. Instead, I felt something else. I felt that the gap in 'level' isn't absolute as the books make it seem—it depends, frighteningly, on how you use what you have, not just on what you have."
He breathed slowly.
"If my opponent had been someone at the same level… but with a different mindset, with greater calm, with the ability to hide his rhythm, to break his pattern, to force his opponent into mistakes instead of falling into them…"
He paused.
Then he smiled faintly.
"The fight would have been completely different… and perhaps… I would have been the one who fell."
He lowered his gaze to his hand.
"This body… is still weak. This level… is still at the beginning. But…"
His gaze gradually changed.
"My vessel…"
That word alone was enough to bring everything back.
The cracks, the leakage, the pressure, the chaos.
"What I read in the books… doesn't apply to me. What is considered a flaw… is what gave me the advantage."
His thoughts began to accelerate, but did not lose their precision:
"My flow is faster, my spread wider. Energy isn't contained… it is pushed, compressed, released. And this… makes my movement unstable to them, unreadable, because I myself… do not move according to the rules they know."
He raised his head slightly.
"I do not belong to this system… at least, not entirely."
Then—
"And that…"
He smiled.
"Is interesting."
He stopped walking.
He looked at the arena again, at the disciples, then at Shin, then at Shaal.
"If this… is the level of those approaching the Root…"
He paused.
Then continued internally in a low voice, carrying cold confidence:
"Then I still have a long way ahead… but not because they are far… but because I… haven't truly begun yet."
A deep internal calm settled.
Then—
"And if this world thinks I started from the bottom…"
He smiled.
A faint smile… carrying silent narcissism.
"It doesn't realize… that I do not rise like them."
And nearby…
Shin was still standing, watching and thinking.
"Coincidence…?"
He breathed slowly.
"If it were coincidence… it wouldn't have been this clean and easy."
He lowered his gaze slightly.
"This man… hides more than he shows."
He raised his eyes again.
"And more dangerous…"
He paused.
"Is that he does it… naturally."
And in that moment…
The calm was not comfort, but that heavy stillness that comes when a balance shifts without everyone noticing yet, as if the arena itself realized that what happened was not the end of a fight… but the beginning of something deeper.
The place had not changed…
But the eyes had.
The disciples' gazes were no longer the same,
Shaal was no longer who he was moments ago,
And Shin… no longer saw Faiser with the same simplicity.
As for Faiser—
He walked calmly, as if none of it concerned him, as if what happened was nothing more than a passing experience not worth stopping for.
But the truth…
Was that that small moment, that simple fight, that "coincidence" everyone believed…
Was the first silent crack…
In a system that had always been clear.
And it was the first step…
Toward something that would not stop at the bounds of this arena.
Because what entered the sect today…
Was not just a person.
But an entire path… that had begun to move.