Beatitudes

Episode 104.

What's the ultimate thing that every fighter searches throughout his entire life… The power to conquer and advance to the top.

That was the supreme notion and strength that every fighter sought after. The choice to become a fighter was not a mandatory one, anybody could decide to become a fighter that fights his/her way up the ranks while the same person could also decide to just sit back and watch the brutal race entailing life and death like how a bystander would, treating every incident as a fantasy out of their reach.

True it was a somewhat cowardly thing to do but it was also this choice of theirs that enabled them to preserve their lives. But even still there were a lot more people who most would call hot blooded that would be willing to disregard the fear for their lives as they sought the power at the apex as well as the honor, prestige and might that came with it.

Hence, the people living in this world, ranging from those originating from the most obscure of backgrounds and places that almost couldn’t even be described as slums, to those born into places that could only be described as mythical as they were born with the privileges many could only hope to have., were categorized into two.

The brave ones, those who sought precisely that thrill gotten from entangling one’s self with life and death. They know that without sacrificing somethings, it would be impossible to truly do whatever it was that they wanted, having ambitions without enough strength was somewhat of a sin to them in and of itself. Hence the reason for their ardent search for strength, as they were the people with the biggest dreams.

While the other ones were the cautious ones, they had no care for chasing strength as they valued their lives more. Any one with a significant exposure to the world at large would know that once they became fighters, then they most definitely would have to tread in the zone that was the tainted zone, killing beasts and challenging mountain trials. Hence, these ones who valued their life a lot more would also know what being a fighter entailed. They were just fine with living their lives on as it already was. Enjoying what the world had in store had for them without leaving the comforts of the untainted zones.

Naturally there would always be those who had previously been brave and sought a future at the top of the world, but when they finally came to terms with how the whole thing really was, they would immediately capitulate under the experiences and the fear evoked from them. they would then decide to live a life that far removed from the dangers of the fighter’s world at the cost of similarly never being able to really advance further in strength. While there were also those who had done the opposite. They realized that perhaps a life with strength was not so bad after all and they would then resolutely step into the fighters world with stronger minds than most.

One ironic thing was the fact that a good number of those who valued their lives more usually felt the way they did due to the better lives they lived, in palaces and mansions guarded by numerous secrets experts and guards, not acknowledging the fact that all what they enjoyed were built from the foundation of their ancestors or close ones who chased after that strength that they ran away from. Eventually they would lose the foundations they enjoyed as they became unable to protect it.

While those who aimed for the top and wished for the apex strength usually ended up coming from substandard backgrounds or places that could just barely count as middle class. This was what made them strive further without a care to grasp that slight chance at making their lives better, eventually having some of them falling on the way, while the others managed to reach the top after many trials and ordeals.

All these instances and happenings that had been mentioned may seem contradicting and a little hard to understand. But the underlying essence of the whole was the fact that the whole thing came together to form a cycle, one of the strong and weak, of rising and falling. The brave rose to the top while the cautious ones fell to mediocrity. The strong ones would put the weak ones under their feet while the weak ones would have no other choice than to accept their fates. Then the fates get reversed as those at the top lose and fall down while those below previously cautious will soar to the top, vowing to be weak no more.

In the end, what really mattered the most, what one needed the most was strength. And not just a little bit of strength. Without enough strength, a person or even an organization would never be able to extricate themselves properly from the cycle that entailed either falling downwards or rising further above at every curve.

It was what one would call a thoroughly vicious cycle, a cycle that had existed even before the era of the tainted zone emerged. And it only become much more vicious due to the emergence of the tainted zones where lied both unimaginable dangers and unforeseeable opportunities.

Nobody fully understands the tainted zone, how it came to be and how it affects the world at large, while some people only have a basic understanding of the tainted zone, enough to get them through the fringes of the tainted zone but definitely not any further. But one thing was sure despite the lack of knowledge about of much intricate knowledge about it, it was the key to growing at the fastest speed possible.

Once this realization was made, it had immediately given rise to alarm as both the strong and the weak were alerted about it. With the era of the tainted zone also came the era of the activation of the origin pillars, one thing as well that most had no knowledge of. This was the true reason why growing was now more feasible for everyone than it used to be. Another reason why those who revoked its presence and authenticity were looked upon as if they were group of insane patients on the loose.

The class had been chosen, the ball has been set to begin rolling and now he was also a part of the vicious cycle a countless number of being had perished in. He and his comrades-in-battle, his partners since he had begun his journey. And unless he rose to the top and broke free of the cycle, he could only wait to be tossed around in the flow of things.

But Isaac had never really had a worry for that. He opened his eyes slowly due to sensing the surge of energy flowing into him weakening slowly but surely. As he basked in the feeling and felt himself grow stronger in a fundamental way, he knew it was only a matter of time for him.

The only thing in mind he knew was going to be a challenge was that he probably didn’t have much time…