No one could explain what happened, no one but the captains, and of course Rai.
"That's strange isn't it..." Rai muttered under his breath. He knew what happened, he knew what ability it was. He knew the story after all.
The participants Soul-Cores were underdeveloped, so they couldn't see right through it. But thanks to the system errors, Rai levelled up to a level where his Soul-Cores were partially developed, so he saw it all.
"He hit himself."
Adrian stood to his feet, he lost three molars, and the blood from his teeth dripped down the side of his lips.
"W-what?" He felt it, he force from whatever it was that hit him was arguably the same as the power behind the punch he intended to hit Silver with moments ago.
"What happened?" Unfortunately, it was not enough to take him out. "Did you this?" He wiped the blood of his face, then turned to face Silver.
"Captain of the 11th Soul-Squad?" Alaric called out to Hiro.
"What the hell? What kind of naming basis is that?" Hiro raised a brow.
"We will never be on a basis where I will address you by your first name commoner." Alaric said disdainfully.
"Damn... You bastard, just how arrogant can you get?" He felt disrespected, but at the end, it was something he was used to.
"You saw it didn't you? You saw what happened?"
Hiro turned his sights to silver and narrowed his eyes, it was hard to believe he had such an ability for a B-rank Soul-Hunter. "Yeah... He hit himself, but I'm not entirely sure how he did it."
"That's right, to the eyes of the underdeveloped Soul-Core of these sheeps, it looked like he collided with an invisible wall, but in truth, he hit himself."
"Hmm, you do know that your view of commoners is quite troublesome and scary right?"
Back in the battle, Silver stood tall, his gaze settled on his opponent. He didn't move, he didn't flinch.
"I see." Adrian said. "It was that energy you released earlier wasn't it? You weren't just releasing your energy aimlessly?"
"Yes, that's right." Silver replied, confirming Adrian's thoughts.
"Hmph, what a cheap trick. It seems I underestimated you. However, now that I know what you're doing, I can avoid it." His Soul-Energy spiralled into his hands once again, and he smiled smugly as he looked at Silver.
Adrian raised his hand, his voice sharp as he called out. "Wind Soul-Technique: Tempest Canon!" His Soul-Energy gathered in front of his palm, and he twisted it, compressing it into a glowing sphere of wind energy.
"I'll end it all before you have a chance to use your Soul-Technique!" With a loud crack, the sphere exploded forward in a roaring blast of wind, shooting straight at Silver with crushing force.
Just when it looked like it was all over, the sphere of wind deformed, and dissipated before it even reached Silver.
The whole hall was puzzled, trying to make sense of it made it a lot worse.
"What the hell is happening!?" Adrian lost his cool, and he dashed forward at him. "How are you doing this... How the hell are you doing this!?" He threw a punch infused with his wind Soul-Energy raggedly, and Silver sidestepped and easily dodged it.
"Once upon a time, the world brought a man into a great family. This family was powerful, one of the most strongest known to mankind, and their kids inherited this gene." Silver began, effortlessly dodging all of Adrian's assault.
"But he wasn't gifted like his two siblings he wished to surpass, he wasn't chosen to be blessed with such immense Soul-Energy, but he didn't give up, and he kept pushing forward. He tried everyway he could, he developed his muscles, honed his mind, and perfected his skills."
"Shut up!" Adrian threw another punch cloaked with his wind Soul-Energy, but a sudden force struck him back, sending him crashing and tumbling hard through the cold grounds.
"However, there were heights he could not attain. No matter how hard he tried, his Soul-Energy wasn't close to enough to achieve his goals. But he didn't allow himself to give up."
Adrian rose to his feet, gathered another spiraling sphere of wind in his palm, and leapt into the air. "Shut up!!" He cried out loudly, then hurled the Tempest Canon at Silver.
Silver stood still, and his hair casted a shadow over his eyes. Just like before, the swirling sphere vanished. This time, a strong force blasted Adrian from the air, and he crashed into the ground, leaving behind a crater two meters wide.
"Then I arrived at one solution." He raised his head and glared at Adrian, the one who had insulted everything he stood for. "The world rejected me, and I was never part of the chosen ones. So I chose myself." A faint grey light glinted off his eyes as he spoke.
"So that's what's happening." Alaric sighed, he felt ashamed that it took him this long to figure it out.
"Hm?" Hiro raised a brow and turned to face him. "What's happening?"
"Like his opponent, I thought he was merely deflecting his attacks back at him and making it look like he was hitting himself, but that's not the case. It all started with that energy he released at the start of this battle." He explained, not missing any details.
"What do you mean?"
"Look around you commoner, do you sense anything different?"
Hiro looked all around him, especially at the participants, and his eyes shot open.
There was a difference.
The usual flow of Soul-Energy through the exam candidates Soul-Cores were disrupted, but because the captains, vice captains and the other officers had a much more developed Soul-Core, they weren't affected.
"Their cores... They've been tampered with." Hiro sat up fast with his wide eyes, in theory, that was not supposed to be possible.
"That's right, that energy Silver released at the start, it disrupted the flow of Soul-Energy through their cores. The Soul-Cores are the base of our existence, our nerves, our cells, it's what allows us to channel our Soul-Energy through our bodies. My guess is, that was the condition for activating his technique."
"Perfect Hypnosis." Silver said.
His Soul-Technique — Perfect Hypnosis, was a technique that rewrote his opponent's five Soul-Cores visually. There were two conditions necessary for activating the technique, and the second was the most crucial.
After it's activated, Silver had the ability to manipulate the five senses of his target. Their perspective, their sense of taste, and what they feel.
It was all his toy.
And at that moment, he had control over the flow of Adrian's Soul-Energy.
Adrian coughed out a bit of blood from his mouth, then he stood to his feet, with all his sense of reasoning lost to his rage.
"Damn you... Damn you... Damn You!" He built up the tempest Canon once more and charged forward in one last desperate attempt.
"It seems you don't understand, so let me spell it out for you." As Silver spoke, he casted the perfect hypnosis, making Adrian pour even more power into the Tempest Canon.
But just as Adrian thought his attack had landed, a crushing force slammed him deeper into the ground, and a thick cloud of dust rose up around him.
As the dust cleared, Adrian laid unconscious in a crater, his eyes turned white and his body completely still.
"Your reality... Is simply just my thoughts." As the hall grew silent, Silver turned his back and walked away, completely unharmed.
"The winner of this match, Silver Veylir!"