. *Noir's POV*
Yulia and I followed Parakrami and the other Shura Ogres to their village and we helped them to prepare for the feast. They refused at first but Yulia and I insisted. Yulia helped in the kitchen and I helped preparing the beers and set the place for the feast.
He feast started and Parakrami raised his cup full of beer we also held ours ignoring the fact that we are minors.
"FOR OUR NEW FRIENDS AND FOR THE GLORY OF ASURA, CHEERS!!"
""CHEERS!!""
"UGUAAH!!"
"UGUAAH!!"
"UGUAAH!!"
"WELL THEN YOUNG WARRIOR, COULD YOU TELL US ABOUT YOU AND YOUR WORLD? WE ARE QUITE CURIOUS ABOUT YOU AND YOUR SPOUSE."
"You can just call me Noir and Yulia and I is not a couple."
He looked at me disdainfully and not believing in my words.
" WHATEVER YOU SAY NOIR. I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND HUMANS SOMETIMES. WELL YOU SEE OUR RACE IS QUITE STRAIGHT FORWARD. IF WE WANT SOMETHING OR SOMEONE WE GET IT BY STRENGTH."
"Is that so? Then I'm to tell you about me and my world. My parents died when I was young and I awakened the power to Escape dreams. Our world has many humans who has psychic powers and Yulia and I is the same."
I told him about my life my loss and my grief. Why would I tell a stranger about it? I actually don't know myself. I just carried away by their enthusiasm, sincerity and straight forwardness so I just thought that it wouldn't be bad to be honest as well.
I also told him about how met Yulia in the Labyrinth and how we got attacked by the cultists and how we end up here.
"I SEE, YOU'RE INDEED INTERESTING. NOT JUST YOU BUT THE LITTLE GIRL AS WELL. YOUR WORLD, YOUR ABILITIES ARE ALSO INTERESTING. I HAVE TO ADMIT THAT I UNDERESTIMATED YOUR POTENTIAL. YOU HAVE REACHED THIS FAR IN JUST FEW WEEKS AND IT'S FAR FROM YOUR LIMIT."
"What about You? Can you tell about your race, your world or this is your world from the start?"
I am really curious about them, they are more sentient than the monsters here and they are extremely strong compared to the other monsters. Are they monsters to begin with? And what is the Labyrinth?
It seems that I asked the wrong question as their faces became gloomy.
"Sorry if I asked a wrong question, Please forget about it."
I immediately apologized.
"NO, NO IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT KID. I ACTUALLY DON'T KNOW HOW TO EXPLAIN SO I WILL TELL YOU OUR STORY.
THE LABYRINTH IS NOT OUR HOME WORLD. WE ARE LIVING PEACEFULLY IN THE FOREST LIKE THIS, TRAINING AND CULTIVATING PRANA OR WHAT HUMANS CALLED AURA OR LIFE FORCE. SHURA GUNGUNATA JUNGLE IS OUR HOME AND WAS CALLED THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE IN THE WORLD BECAUSE OF THE STRONG BEAST LIVING THERE. OUR EDUCATION IS ABOUT FIGHTING, SURVIVAL AND THE SHURA SCRIPTURE THAT WAS PASSED DOWN TO SEVERAL GENERATION.
THE STORY ABOUT OUR DEMON GOD ASURA IS OUR HOLY SCRIPTURE AND GIVE US A BLUEPRINT ON HOW WE LIVE AS A WARRIOR AND AS A SHURA. TH PATH OF A SHURA IS THE PATH THAT WE ARE WALKING AND THE PATH WE ARE TAKING. ASIDE FROM THAT THERE IS MARTIAL ART BOOK THAT WAS PASSED DOWN TO US.
ACCORDING TO OUR ANCESTORS, THERE WAS A HUMAN WHO GOT LOST IN THE FOREST AND WAS SAVED BY THEM. HIS NAME IS FA AKARAWAT AND HE CLAIMED TO BE FROM ANOTHER WORLD. OUR ANCESTORS TAUGHT HIM THE PATH OF SHURA WHICH IS DIVIDED INTO THREE PATH.
FIRST IS THE PATH OF PROTECTION, DO NOT ABUSE THE WEAK AND FEAR THE STRONG BUT FIGHT THE STRONG TO PROTECT THE WEAK LIKE THE ASURA WHO FOUGHT AGAINST THE DEVAS AND PROTECT THE MORTALS.
THE PATH OF FREEDOM, NEVER BOW DOWN TO TYRANNY AND ACCEPT THE FATE THAT YOU DON'T WANT BECAUSE ASURA CRAWLED OUT FROM THE DEEPEST PART OF HELL TO PERSUE FREEDOM THAT HE WANTED AND NEVER BOWED DOWN TO HIS OWN FATE AND TO THE GODS.
LAST IS THE PATH OF REVENGE, DO NOT POINT YOUR FIST TO THE INNOCENT BUT TO THOSE WHO HAS WRONGED YOU. AN EYE FOR AN EYE AND EVIL FOR EVIL.
FA AKARAWAT TAUGHT HIS MARTIAL ART TO OUR ANCESTORS IN RETURN. IT IS CALLED THE "ART OF THE EIGHT LIMBS".
HANDS: PUNCHES, HOOKS, AND JABS TO ATTACK AND DEFEND.
ELBOWS: DEVASTATING, SHARP STRIKES USED AT CLOSE RANGE, OFTEN CAPABLE OF CUTTING OR KNOCKING OUT AN OPPONENT.
KNEES: CRUCIAL IN THE "CLINCH" (A GRAPPLING TECHNIQUE) TO STRIKE AN OPPONENT'S BODY OR LEGS.
SHINS: CONDITIONED TO BECOME INCREDIBLY DENSE, ACTING AS BOTH BATS FOR HEAVY KICKS AND SHIELDS TO BLOCK ATTACKS.
THE CLINCH: THE ART OF EIGHT LIMBS GOES BEYOND MERE STRIKING; IT INCORPORATES A HIGHLY SPECIALIZED STAND-UP GRAPPLING SYSTEM KNOWN AS THE "CLINCH."
OUR ANCESTORS FUSED IT WITH PRANA CULTIVATION AND WAS CALLED "SHURA'S EIGHT LIMBS." EVERYTHING SEEMS FINE AND WE LIVES PEACEFULLY BECAUSE WE ARE FAR FROM CHAOS AND WARS OF OTHER RACES LIKE HUMANS, ELVES, BEAST KIN, RAKSHASAS, NAGAS, GARUDAS or DWARVES. THERE ARE OTHER PEACEFUL RACES LIKE VANARAS, YAKSHAS GANDHARVAS AND APSARAS.
His expression changed and became melancholy.
"EVERYTHING CHANGED WHEN THE SKY COLLAPSED. THE ABYSS SET IT'S GAZE ON OUR WORLD AND THE GROTESQUE BEINGS INVADE OUR WORLD AND THEY FILLED THE HORIZON. NOWHERE TO ESCAPE AND NO ONE CAN. THE DREAMS OR REALITY DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE THEY WILL BE THERE.
ALL THE RACES STOPPED THEIR WARS AND FOCUSED ON DEFENDING AGAINST THE INVASION OF THE UNKNOWN YET THE INVADERS DIDN'T STOP AND MANY DIED INCLUDING MY OWN PEOPLE. WE ALL DEGCIDED TO GATHERED THE STRONGEST IN EVERY RACE TO FIGHT AGAINST THE INVADERS. WE ARE CALLED THE "AASHA" THE HUMAN REPRESENTATIVE IS SIMILAR TO YOU NOIR, A TRUE WARRIOR AMONGST THE WEAK AND CUNNING HUMANS, HE IS CALLED A HERO.
ALL THE RACES UNITED UNDER OUR LEADERSHIP YET WE FAILED AND WE ALL DIED. THE SCARIEST PART IS WE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT WE ARE FIGHTING. ALL WE KNOW IS A TITLE OR A NAME "ELDER THINGS".
THE NEXT THING WE KNOW IS WE ARE HERE. WELL, LET'S STOP TALKING ABOUT DEPRESSING STUFF AND JUST DRINK MORE!!"
"UGUAAH!!"
"UGUAAH!!"
"UGUAAH!!"
Yulia and I didn't drink too much so we didn't got drunk but the SHURA Ogres drunk beer as much as they can. We went to our room but the thing is—
"So we are sharing the same room huh?"
I asked rhetorically
(You seems to be enjoying this 变态(pervert)
Well, after everything that we've been through it's impossible for me to not have feelings for her but it's not the time for that yet. We still have something to do before we settled down our feelings so we are not going to talk about it and it's better to rest for now. Thankfully even though we are not drunk it still helped me to fell asleep faster because I don't think I would be able to sleep because of nervousness.
....
I woke up and saw Yulia's sleeping peacefully and I never thought that there would something so beautiful. I shook my head and cleared my thoughts before I get into trouble, damn puberty!
I looked at the window and it's still dark outside. The real question is what are we going to do now? How can we get out of here? Parakrami and the other Shura Ogres are incredibly strong and we also became friends with them. There must be a way to resolve this.
"Yawn!"
(Good morning Noir!)
"Good morning Yulia"
Yulia said while stretching. Sigh! She wasn't bothered at all.
We went out together and saw the Shura Ogres who are completely drunk last night but full of energy early in the morning. These guys are really built different.
"YOU TWO SHOULD EAT FIRST BEFORE YOU GO AND TAKE THE TEST."
Parakrami said and we nodded. After we ate breakfast we followed him to the forest with other hundreds of the Shura Ogres.
"THE KEY IS WITH ME AND I AM THE KEY. TO GET OUT OF THIS PLACE YPU HAVE TO DEFEAT ME AND THE OTHER SHURA OGRES BUT SHURA WOULD NEVER FIGHT AN UNFAIR FIGHT SO WE ARE GOING TO BREAK THIS RULES AND DO IT IN A SHURA'S WAY. THE SHURA'S TEST.
THE RULES OS SIMPLE NOIR WOULD FIGHT AGAINST ME AND YULIA NEEDED TO CHOOSE HER OWN OPPONENT. IF YOU DEFEAT BOTH OF US YOU BOTH CAN GO IF ONE OF YOU LOSE ONE OF YOU WOULD STAY HERE FOREVER."
*Gulp!*
""We accepted.""
We have no reason to refuse he is doing it for us after all.
"SINCE YOU BOTH AGREED THEN LET'S GT STARTED. MAY THE ASURA GUIDE US ON OUR MARTIAL PATH."
"I will choose that one"
Yulia pointed at the tall Shura Ogre, he is not the strongest but he's still stronger than her.
"NOT BAD, YOU'RE NOT AFRAID OF FACING SOMEONE THAT'S STRONGER THAN YOU BUT YOU'RE NOT ARROGANT TO FIGHT AGAINST SOMEONE THAT'S WAY STRONGER THAN YOU."
Parakrami praised.
I looked at Yulia before we separated and I followed Parakrami to the deeper part of the forest.
"NOW LET'S START."
*SWOOOSH!*
Strong are domineering Golden Aura emerged from him.
"So this is Prana, so strong!"
I muttered.
"{MAT NUENG}"
A domineering straight fist came at me in a blinding speed but I already know it yesterday so I managed to dodged it and tried to counter.
"{Black heaven fist}"
But he reacted quickly as I expected.
"{KHAO CHIANG}"
A curving knee strike aimed at the my ribs and I jumped backwards.
Those exchanges happened in an instant. I stared at him focusing myself on the fight.
"{KHAO TRONG}"
He rushed at me with the driving the knee straight forward into my abdomen.
I managed dodged again using {DREAM ESCAPE} and was teleported far away. Every strike is heavy and deadly. It will be over if I got hit by it.
"YOUR POWER IS INDEED EXTRAORDINARY, I WONDER HOW MUCH YOU CAN DODGE."
He smiled sadistically.
He appeared in front of me in an instant.
" DOUBLE SOK TAT"
A double elbow swinging strike parallel to the ground aimed at my head and body.
Shit!
"{Back flashed step}"
I used black lightning to speed up my movement and used it to create a black lightning afterimage. I learned it from the queen bee. He continued his domineering attack and I can only dodge and adapt but this can't go on I have to attack too but he didn't give me a chance.
I adapted to his speed after minutes of being attacked and I'm ready to fightback.
"{KHAO LOI}"
An explosive, airborne knee strike that aimed at my head. I dodged and counter attacked.
"{Black heaven Mat Nueng }"
I copied his technique and added black Heaven's lightning on my fist.
*BOOM!*
He got hit and flew backwards. His skin was burned but instantly healed.
"PHEW! THAT WAS AMAZING KID. I KNEW THAT YOU ALWAYS HAD IT IN YOU. YOU CAN GROW IN CONSTANT BATTLE LIKE US. SHOW ME WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED."
"YES!!"
I shouted and mimicked his fighting position.