Inside a luxurious office of dark wood and black marble, decorated with royal furniture, sat a man cross-legged on the floor.
His shirt hung loose, his back remained straight, and his hands were on his knees.
.-.-.-.-.-.
Sitting on the ground, I looked at Orochi and tilted my head, "Now what?"
"This doesn't look like a sword training…" I mumbled. I knew Orochi's swords were different. In the game, they were indestructible, swift, and could not just only cut everything, but also pass through things as if ignoring their existence.
I know getting those swords from him was not possible for now, but learning the way he uses them was.
"What do you think my twin swords are?" Orochi asked, leaning on the office table in front of me.
'What kind of question is that?' I thought.
"Your twin swords are…swords?" I mean, that's the most logical explanation.
"…" He was speechless somehow.
He sighed and took out a cigar from the box on the table.
Placing the cigar between his lips, he looked at me as a sword, gleaming of beautiful blue aura manifested just below the cigar, hovering in the air.
It looked like a long katana made of condensed blue flames.
The aura radiating from the blade lit the cigar, and he heaved a long breath of smoke.
Orochi snapped his fingers, and the sword disappeared.
"My twin swords…are not some kind of physical weapon," he spoke, with the burning cigar between his fingers.
"They're a complete manifestation of aura…" He said.
"Complete manifestation?" I mumbled. Even wrapping your aura around a blade was considered a feat of a master knight of emenant rank and above.
People who could do it were considered geniuses. Just like Marcus.
But a complete manifestation means condensing and shaping your aura to the point it becomes a blade itself.
"Yes, the first step to learn twin swords is to learn the creation of swords themselves," He spoke, and flicked the ashes of his cigar.
"How?" I wasn't asking this because I wanted to know how he did it. I was surprised to the point that the word just blurred out of my mouth.
"Everyone tries to push their aura out," He took another drag of a cigar. "Just like you were doing a week ago, pushing the rotation of your core to limits to make your aura spread out."
"Mortals, demons, angels, all of them. They treat their bodies as a container of their power. They never think that both are one." Orochi began his explanation.
"Your core…it rotates constantly, like a heart pumping your blood. If it stops you, break the flow, your body loses the path to channel aura within; in other words, your container erodes in itself."
"But to master your aura, what you need isn't speed, it's stillness."
"Stop your aura heart, and make it realise that your aura is not his to control, it's yours, you have to be the true channel for your aura, not just a path for your heart." He said and walked towards me.
Bending down, Orochi tapped on my chest as I stared down at his hands. He was human. But his fingers were like those of a war demon.
Up close, they were ugly, but they looked like they could tear my chest apart to shreds.
"If you depend on that filthy thing…you'd be stuck like the rest of the mortals, so the first step towards the twin swords isn't mastering the flow, it's mastering every ounce of your aura itself. You have to learn to live without your core."
'What the hell is he saying?' I'll die without a core-
And before I could even think, my body was stunned, and I couldn't move a muscle.
My eyelids were open wide as I stared helplessly at the hand of Orochi, piercing my chest.
I barely moved my eyes to look at Orochi's face. He was grinning.
'You fucking demon…' I groaned and smirked even though my lungs could feel his hand. Blood piled up in my mouth, leaking from the edges.
'I'll kill you one day,' I definitely would.
Those were the last thoughts I had before losing consciousness.
.
.
.
.
.
Is it the second time I've faced death?
I couldn't remember the moments of my first death.
But I could clearly remember Orochi's hand tearing through my chest and shattering the core.
My whole body felt like it was tearing apart.
I felt exhausted. As if I've been working labour non-stop.
I could feel myself lying on the floor.
My eyes flickered open slowly, staring at the dark painted ceiling of the office I was in.
I placed my hand on my chest, and there was a pit bump in the centre of my chest.
"Awake?" I heard a familiar voice.
Getting up with the support of my hands, I groaned in pain and stared at Orochi, sitting in my office chair.
I couldn't feel any aura. No, there was no core at all.
"What did you do?" I growled.
"Nothing…just took out a useless pebble," Orochi replied.
'Useless pebble?' I thought. That's a fucking core.
"Don't worry about it, you can't feel your aura right now because you're not used to the stillness. It's been your core handling the work for you up until now. But now it will be you, your mind. To feel your aura, you won't have to feel the flow, or the core."
"Instead, you'll have to feel every ounce, every drop, every particle of your aura to make it work. And that will gain you more control than ever," Orochi said and stared at the moon shining in the night out of the window.
"So, instead of hating me, sit straight. Close your eyes. And feel what's inside your body."
"I didn't cripple you, infact I even maintained the state of your channels without damaging them. I've laid the perfect foundation for you."
I closed my eyes and thought for a while.
He was right. If he wanted me dead, that was a perfect chance for him. And a man with no power isn't worth his time anyway.
I sat cross-legged, enduring the pain in my body, and started meditating.
After all, what's the point in living in this world if it's not going to be like this? This pain... I've experienced it for the first time in my lives.
And I…didn't hate it.