As the faint crackle of the TV echoed in the leaden silence of the room, time seemed frozen by the speed of that single sword strike. Unaware of the sinister threat taking shape among the shadows outside, Fast and Lena were pinned to the screen, unable to even react; their minds refused to process the impossible power they had just witnessed.
Fast muttered without taking his eyes off the screen: "What he did... I didn't even see what happened."
Lena, still frozen, could only manage to say, "Me neither."
Still stunned, Fast slowly turned toward Sard. "Sard..." he started but couldn't finish. He fell silent when he saw Sard staring at the TV screen as if nailed to it, not even blinking. Sard was in such a deep state of shock that he seemed to have forgotten everything else in the room. His gaze was hung in the void where the monster had just been split in two.
"This... this must be him," Sard murmured. His voice, rather than trembling, was low with the profound astonishment of witnessing something impossible. "Yes, this is definitely him. It can't be anyone else... There couldn't be another hero in this world who is this powerful yet unknown to everyone. This is definitely him!"
Fast and Lena asked simultaneously, with equal curiosity: "Who? Who are you talking about?"
Sard continued without taking his eyes off the screen, the words barely escaping his lips: "The hidden S-Rank whose name appears in no records, whose existence only spreads by word of mouth..."
Still unable to shake off the shock, Sard slowly turned his head toward Fast and Lena. There was an expression of acceptance in his eyes that they had never seen before.
"I never believed it was real until I saw it with my own eyes," he whispered. "I thought it was just an urban legend, but now there is no doubt... I think this is that secret S-Rank known by nothing but his name: Blink!"
Fast paused under the weight of this name. "Blink... I've never heard of him. Is he really that strong?"
Lena raised her eyebrows in surprise from her chair. "I've never heard of him either," she said, glancing at the screen once more before turning to Sard. "Are you really sure it's him?"
Sard fixed his gaze back on the screen. "It's normal that you haven't. Information about him was nothing but rumors and urban legends. But according to the stories, he appears out of nowhere even in battles where S-Rank heroes are helpless against giant S-Rank monsters, handles everything alone, and disappears. It was hard to believe... Until I saw him just now. This must be him."
Fast leaned back in his bed and muttered. "Wow..."
Lena broke the short silence in the room. "So what are you going to do now, Fast? Are you going to register with the Hero Association?"
"Yes," Fast said with a determined voice. "My decision is even clearer after what I've seen. I'll go and join as soon as I'm discharged."
Sard cut in immediately. His voice was cautionary. "If you go and register as you are now, you'll probably start as an E-Rank. But if you discover your ability before you go, they might assign you directly to the rank you deserve. Otherwise, climbing the ranks will take much longer."
"Sard is right," Lena said.
Fast looked at his hands, his voice a bit hesitant. "But I don't know what to do. How to activate my ability, how to master it... I have no idea."
Fast paused for a moment and slowly turned his gaze toward Sard. That mischievous, "what does he want now" yet desperately hopeful expression formed on his face. He clasped his hands under his chin and leaned slightly toward Sard on his bed.
"Sard... Please, will you train me? Please help me!"
Sard replied with a cold, dry voice without even turning his head: "No."
"Come on! You're the most talented among us! Please, please, pleaaaase!"
Sard grimaced at Fast's persistence; his discomfort was evident. He tried to turn his head away, but he couldn't escape Fast's pleading expression.
Lena stepped in. "Come on, Sard, with your help, he can really discover his ability. You're the most talented one here, and after all, we're friends. Remember the old days, the times we spent together..."