Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Going back in time.

The first week of the graduation event.

Eren was still far away from entering the E-Rank inside the Sansara World.

The Edinnica Arena was hosting many big and small spectral screens. The audience had a variety of options because of them. Of course, the screens were showing the battle scenes taking place between the participants.

The first week of the event started great. Every participant could be seen doing their best to survive in the Sansara World. Whether they fought in their teams or battled solo, earning Karma points became paramount for any conflict for all the parties involved in the conflicts.

The mortals were also mixed within the audience. A special zone was created for them so that they could watch the event without getting affected by random mana fluctuations.

The mortals were allowed entry inside the Edinnica Arena only after the participants were sent into the Sansara World. Otherwise, most of them would have to forfeit their lives just by being present near a highly charged environment.

The mortals were both excited and terrified by the violence they saw unfolding inside the Sansara World. They already knew that rankers were a different breed. However, scenes like these made them understand how true their assumptions really were.

The establishments cared deeply for their mortal populace because they knew they would receive a consistent supply of rankers from them. They knew events like these inspire some mortals to take rankers' path, ensuring that a new batch of rankers always gets created in every generation.

Every generation of rankers was like cogs needed to keep the establishments' machinery working. This was the reason why they spent so much of their resources on keeping the academies running.

Life-and-death events like these were woven into rankers' societal fabric. They enabled the establishments to recruit and manage the best rankers of their generation.

The rankers didn't see the mortals as their equals after breaking into the Novice rank. And it was a natural feeling most rankers would experience. These feelings would grow the more they progressed ahead in their ranking journeys. However, the rankers wouldn't go out of their way to harm the mortals.

Rankers and mortals were like oil and water. They wouldn't mix. However, they remained neutral to each other's existence for the most part.

Anfang Alliance made the establishments ensure that the rankers stayed away from the mortals' matters. That's because a single high-ranking entity would cause great harm to the mortal population if they were allowed to.

***

One of the audience booths- dedicated to the mortal populace. Edinnica Arena.

Mortals were provided special entry and arrangements inside the capital city for the event. As a result, a huge crowd of mortals gathered inside the stadium. There were special array systems in place for the mortal populace. One could use compact array dials that were part of the array systems to control the spectral screens available for them.

A blind girl was listening to the commentary of the event intently. She was fascinated by hearing what was taking place inside the Sansara World. However, she zeroed in on a particular detail after hearing a name.

'Eren Idril… I have heard this name before. isn't this person Katalina's guild master?'

The blind girl mumbled to herself. Her name was Sara Stark.

Sara's shoulder-length peach-colored hair cascaded her cute and beautiful face as she stared blankly in front of her. A mini spectral screen was right in front of her. However, it was obvious that she wasn't looking at the screen.

Sara Stark had grayish-blue eyes that didn't make her seem like she was blind. She had clear skin that had a pinkish hue. With her gorgeous face and apt feminine curves, Sara Stark was quite a beauty.

Sadly, Sara Stark had become blind at the age of 12 when she tried testing her compatibility with a certain technique. This technique was supposed to make her step into the Novice rank. However, the technique backfired and she ended up losing her sight.

In the land of Anfang where magic and magic-related potions were a norm even among mortals. It was just that mortals had their own way of employing mana. Therefore, defects like blindness were almost unheard of. So whenever such mortals made their appearances, they would be treated differently than the others.

Blindness was not the only turmoil Sara had.

Occasionally, she had to suffer tremendous amounts of pain in her eyes and head at night. This was another side effect of practicing a defective ranking technique.

The episodes of pain would be intermittent. Sometimes Sara would experience three weeks of no-pain nights. And sometimes she would have to face that pain every week. These episodes of pain made her blindness worse.

Usually, people like Sara couldn't be treated with means of magic available to mortals and low-level rankers. Also, these people were unable to become rankers due to the existing defects in the mana circuits.

All mana-related treatments came with some kind of risk factor for mortals no matter how carefully they were administered. People with such disabilities were unable to magically get rid of their problems for the most part because of this.

Thus, there was a perception among mortals. That those mortals with such defects were hated by the mana. As such, they silently condemned the existence of people with such defects.

Nobody mistreated Sara Stark because of her blindness. There was no reason to. They just maintained a safe distance from her. So that her bad luck doesn't rub off on them. After all, they didn't want to anger the World Will by interacting with someone it had seemingly cursed.

Sara and her parents visited a lot of Novice and Ace healers so that they could cure her of her blindness or relieve her of the episodes of pain. However, for some reason, they were unable to help her. The family didn't have sufficient funds or guts to seek a higher-ranked entity's help in their minuscule matter.

In the end, even Sara started believing that she was indeed cursed by the World Will of Anfang. However, Sara didn't let her situation get the better of her. She eventually made peace with her pain and suffering.

If Eren was present at the audience booth, he would have recognized Sara Stark right away. After all, this was the girl he had cared for in his past timeline.

AN: Sara Stark is mentioned vaguely in chapters 523 and 524. The composition Medicine for the Heart is written for her character.