The first sage evaluated Soverick before the competition but didn't think him overly skillful compared to the others. Soverick has a powerful soul for a king of law but his level of skill wasn't estimated to be high because he rarely fought.
The erroneous estimate of his strength has changed in light of recent events. But before that fight with the dragon, the first sage only thought that Soverick had a shot at being concerned about the title of sage. There are a lot of others who also have a shot at becoming sages too.
Surely Soverick is powerful for a king of law but the first sage knew it is because of his title as child of the plane and his powerful soul. If there is something unique about Soverick, then it is his eyes. Even the first sage thought highly of his eyes. In fact, his plan for the competition is heavily hinged on Soverick's eyes. If Soverick doesn't attend the competition then he might be in trouble. Then again, it is inevitable that Soverick will attend. Soverick might think he made the decision to attend of his free will but he has been baited.
Soverick aside, there are others of some importance participating in this competition. The sage doesn't have just one card to play after all. All of these battle sage monkeys are also special. They might not be as powerful as Soverick, but they were expected to more than match him in skill. Their skill was supposed to make them their equals if they are suppressed to the same level of power. It is these people that warranted a longer look from the first sage.
The first three of them are children from the first sage's bloodline. The first is Salvos, the herald of flaming hell. He looks like a generic battle sage monkey in appearance. He has the white fur of sages also similar to those without bloodlines. The only thing special about him is the blindfold he wears. Right now, he is not wearing his blindfold and his eyes are open to the world. It is why the entire arena is burning.
It is not the burning of trees by dragon fire like in the case of Soverick. In this arena, everything is burning including the air. The arena has turned into a domain of fire. Even the earth is burning much less the trees. There are no more trees at all in this hellscape. They have all been burned to ashes. The ground has melted and turned into an ocean of lava. The air is hot and thick with smoke. Dark clouds filled with soot formed above the battlefield.
The first sage wasn't surprised when he saw this. He already expected it. That's why Salvos is the only one in this arena. An entire arena was made to contain him. Soverick might be a Calamity to be around but Salvos represents certain death. The sage would need to constantly repeat the environment or the participants in the arena will suffer. That is if they are able to survive the flame attacks.
Salvos started the challenge with a single-minded focus to reach the mountain. Meanwhile, whatever comes to attack him goes off in flames. It is in those rare situations when he is attacked that he will open his eyes. This is one of those situations. A rank 6 beast is attacking him.
It is a type of tiger. It is large and has claws that can rend Salvos's weak body apart but the tiger can't reach him to use its claws. Salvos had removed his blindfolds so he only had to gaze at the tiger and the tiger went up in flames. It isn't only the tiger that went up in flames. Everything Salvos gazed upon went up in flames. It is not an attack that can be dodged. Everything in his sight gets attacked, even the earth and the ground.
This is how he acquired the unique feat of One Shot Executioner. A single attack of his is enough to kill anything and everything he gazes on. The same thing repeats itself even when the beast is two ranks above him. As long as the entity he gazes at is not fundamentally different from him, he will surely kill it. The tiger is rank 6 while he is rank 4. He was able to easily kill the tiger but he won't be able to beat a rank 7 as a rank 5 because of the fundamental difference between them that allows a rank 7 to use world power.
Then he closed his eyes and the world calmed down. The air and the ground stopped burning. They don't burn usually so they need the external influence that was making them burn to keep burning. The ground is molten lava and red hot though. The damage has already been done. It will need time to cool and even then, it will never be the same again. For now, the ground looks like that of a lava hellscape.
The ground has stopped burning but the tiger is still burning. It has flesh that will burn once the water has been evaporated to a sufficient level and the fat has been ignited. It wouldn't matter if the tiger is flame retardant anyway. It already died when its brain heated up and the water there boiled its nerves past the required point needed to turn a raw egg into a hard-boiled egg.
Salvos resumed his march across the ashy, sooty hellscape toward the mountain in the center of the arena. His blindfold has been placed on his forehead so that he can see through his eyelids. He doesn't need his blindfold anymore. He has gained better control of his divine ability ever since he became a transcendent. He doesn't set things on fire indiscriminately anymore but he still keeps the blindfold for moments when he has exhausted his eyes. It helps his eyes to rest and recuperate better by separating it from the world.