"Honestly, I've met several…beings. Mortals, demons, and gods alike, but none like you. How can you not be concerned about what's happening in the background? How're you so sure your plans will work?" Orochi asked as we walked alongside in the middle of the forests, which were at the backside of the academy.
"My theory is that you should do your part of the job with utmost focus; there should be no reason for contemplation over past or regrets that it could've been done the other way too." I answered his questions as our boots crunched over crunchy wooden branches and fallen leaves on the forest floor.
"Basically, just do your part, and have patience. If you sit down by the riverbank and wait long enough, you'll see the bodies of your enemies float by." I spoke.
"That's a boring theory," Orochi commented.
"Well, it works," I replied, and murmured, "I guess."
"So, what's the lesson about?" I asked him, we've been walking for quite some time.
"Manifestation of aura, in a still state," Orochi replied.
"How many lessons are there? I'm curious," I asked.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I don't have an index or brochure of my powers, otherwise I could've told you…" He threw a tantrum.
"I thought you'd know," I muttered.
"Do I look like someone who keeps a booklet of powers? Am I manual or something? I'm a demon. I can't believe you're trusting me in the first place," Orochi spoke.
"A demon that is in love with a god. Yeah, I think I can trust someone like that a little," I replied.
There was an awkward silence for a while. Some time passed, and we arrived in an empty patch of the forest, a patch with no trees, just ground to camp on.
"Alright," Orochi stopped and clapped his hand once. We were at a place in the forest that was illuminated by the moonlight, unlike the pitch-black darkness of the forest.
And despite that, I didn't need to light the surroundings because, somehow, I could look at everything, and I could do so with my eyes closed, too.
My senses were somewhat evolved.
"The lack of core forced your body to sense the stagnant aura within you," Orochi spoke, leaning on a tree, as I stood in the centre of the patch, under the bright moonlight.
"And that has evolved your senses to some point, but it's not enough," He said, and holographic projections of himself with twin swords appeared all around me, circling as if each and everyone had a free mind.
Perfect replicas carved out of his aura. He wasn't just capable of swords; he was capable of giving life to his inanimate projections.
They were flawless, each with a different stance and murderous intent so intense it crept within my soul, made the hair on my arms stand up.
"Myriad Shadow," He spoke. "It's a mid-tier demonic art; unique to me, of course," he said.
"But you can't even manifest your aura in still form, let alone give life to it, and the way it's moving, it might take years if I don't guide you," he continued, walking forward till he was standing right in front of me.
"You're an emenant-ranked Knight, Ymir. You don't need techniques to power up, you need to adapt to your new form," He said.
"And do you know what the best way to train your mind and soul is?" He asked.
"Practice? Meditation?" I made a few guesses, tilting my head.
"Neither." He spoke, the corners of his mouth twitched in amusement. "It's death,"
He tapped his index finger in the centre of my forehead.
In a split second, the world shifted. Not even a transition, just a primal, instant shift in reality.
One millisecond, I was in the moonlit forest; the next, everything collapsed.
The ground beneath my boots felt different.
I wasn't in a room. I was standing on the ridge of jagged, dark stone that radiated with pulsing heat.
As I tapped on the ridge of black stone beneath my feet, no sound resounded.
I looked past the ridge of the stone, and below me were oceans of eight blood alleys of endless horizon. It felt like a different universe.
I looked up, and for the first time since my transmigration, I felt a sense of eerie dread creeping into my soul.
"What… is this?" I whispered.
A swirling vortex of blood-red clouds and lightning that made no sound.
Then the ground moved.
The tremor shook, and I realized with a jolt of pure terror that I wasn't standing on a stone ridge.
I was standing on a Scale.
Several scales, each the size of a mountain ridge, appeared from the bloody ocean valleys below, rising miles high in the sky.
And far beyond in the sky, eight gargantuan heads of snakes emerged. Each the size of cities. Even their silent breaths felt like calamities.
Their eyes weren't pupils; they were small suns, illuminating the realm I was in.
This was the ancient demon and the most powerful calamity of the three realms. I've been walking all along till now.
He was the real Yamata No Orochi.
The eight-headed calamity whose eight heads were the anchor of this realm I was in, whose body was the bloody oceans with endless depth beneath, and whose presence was a vortex of clouds and lightning resonating in the sky.
No matter how much I tried, I couldn't perceive them with my perception power. I couldn't even hurt him with my ace power if I wanted to.
"Welcome to the Eight Valley, Disciple," his voice boomed, vibrating through the marrow within my bones.
I felt as if I were an insect in his presence. No…I wasn't even the size of an insect for him.
"Fucking hell…" I murmured. A small smile appeared on my face.
"You're more fascinating than I thought," I spoke, as the human form of Orochi appeared beside me.
The same long black hair, formal clothing and golden eyes with vertical slits.
"You're the first ever mortal who's entered my mindspace and has witnessed my real form," He spoke, sitting on the ridge of his own scale.
"You can't die here, no matter what you do," He continued, tapping the space beside him, urging me to sit there.
I followed and sat beside him, my legs hanging in the air, sitting on the ridge of his scale.
"A perfect training ground, I think?" I voiced out my thoughts.
"You can say that. A month here is just an hour in the real world, fascinating, isn't it?" He spoke, looking at the eight calamity heads that had their eyes closed now, as if meditating in silence.
"So…how're you going to guide me?" I asked, as I too, followed his gaze, staring at the eerie and terrifying view ahead of me.
"It's simple, really. You just have to fight me to death," he said.
I squinted my brows and looked at him, "Fight you to death?"
"Precisely," He said. "Our duel has already begun. Make your move, I'm waiting,"
'What the hell is he saying?' I thought, he's not even paying attention to me, just staring at his real form.
I flared my aura as the fire burned, wrapping itself around my fist.
'Here goes nothing!' I swung a fist at him when he wasn't paying attention.
*Stab*
Before I could even make a complete swing, his hand was already on his katana that pierced through my neck.
It burned the flesh of my throat, not even making my blood gurgle, just a brutal stab.
'Fucking hell...' The thought flickered in my mind as the world began to tilt.
The last thing I saw was the mocking smirk on Orochi's face; a look of pure, predatory delight at the stab he'd just inflicted.
Then, the red sky went black.