TBATE - Accidental Restart

13 - Suspicion and Progress

The soul realm. The vast, grassy, open field that I have trained in once before, would once again help me grow as a warrior.

My mentor, Kordri, standing across from me, let me take in the view.

"Alright Arthur, I'll keep this explanation short. We are going to fight each other until I feel you are worthy of moving on, until you knock me down, or until you die. If you die, we will try again. Understood?"

Nodding my head, and getting into my normal fighting stance, I awaited Kordri's deadly attacks.

Getting into a stance himself, bringing his hands up to guard his face, he suddenly closed the gap between us. His speed was insane, but nothing I haven't experienced before. I knew blocking Kordri's heavy hits would only leave me with broken bones, so my only option was to dodge.

A right hook was coming towards my chin. Slightly leaning back to dodge, I attempted to throw a quick jab as a counter. My fist didn't connect. If I was older, that hit probably would've connected, but my body was still underdeveloped physically. I wasn't at my fastest.

Missing my jab, I moved back to create distance between us. It obviously didn't last for long, as Kordri was immediately on me once again. His punches were perfect. Everything from his form, to the execution. Jab after jab, hooks, and even gut punches were thrown in rapid succession. Dodging these hits proved to be extremely difficult, as my mentor wasn't holding back on me. I seen a chance to land a strike. When Kordri would throw a punch at my ribs, i'd be able to dodge and counter.

The world seemed to slow down, as that exact punch came towards me. I slipped to my right, and landed a solid hit on Kordri's chin, then jumped back.

Kordri stopped his unrelenting assault for a moment.

"Your skills are impressive. Many young asura would be struggling here for days or weeks trying to land one clean hit. You've done just that in a matter of minutes. I can see why Caera bragged about you so much."

"How many times did she die before she hit you? Wait! Let me guess... 60 times."

"93 times. She was truly persistent."

I chuckled, "That sounds like her alright."

"Let's continue." He said, resuming our fight.

He opened up with a left hook, I dodged it. A few of my own straights thrown, all were parried or dodged.

Kordri's constant pressure had me on the defensive. The four-eyed asura went for a sweep, I was too slow to react, and my left leg was now broken, and I fell to my back.

"Shit..." Was the last thing I said, right before his fist pierced my chest. The warmth of my own blood, pooling under me, dyed the grass around me a deep red.

Pulling his hand out my chest, no longer impaling me, Kordri smirked. "You've got a lot to improve upon."

My vision went black, and then my surroundings suddenly changed. Back in the cave, Windsom opened his eyes, as if he knew exactly when I would die.

"How is Arthur's combat ability, Kordri? Is he better than the girl?" Windsom asked.

"Arthur would put most of my young students down, in hand-to-hand combat at least. Comparing him to the last human i've trained, he certainly is better than she was at the start. As of right now though, I'd say she is the better fighter."

I definitely thought I was better than Caera. Not a better person, but a better fighter that is.

"Again," I said, looking right into Kordri's eyes. "I don't want to be wasting time out here, when I could be in the soul realm."