15 Dual Cultivation - The Cycle of Earth First Layer [1]

Asura's body was exhausted, each breath causing a burning agony to spread from his lungs and chest as the muscles tightened.

He grasped his lance with a loose grip, fingers trembling, glancing with blurry eyes, watching the last few monsters growling in their cages. 

'It hurts to breathe... my fingers are numb, and blood keeps bubbling in my throat...'

"Haa....ha..."

Around his body, the ground was desecrated with the torn, destroyed corpses of various beasts as the mud was now wet and sloppy with their blood and fluids filling the deep holes gouged out by Lumeris Nova's huge blade.

'Mu Xue is watching me, and I must finish...'

A huge sphere of fire and ice throbbed inside his chest, beating like a newly evolved organ.

Asura didn't understand everything but found that his dragon monolith had fused with the flames... and the ice Mu Xue gave him was merging with the devil monolith.

"Asura? Can you continue?"

Mu Xue's big eyes were watery, watching as he fought almost endlessly for four hours, yet even now, his blade was dancing.

She could feel it from his pale face, convulsing and twitching muscles...

Asura was about to collapse.

'Xue'er... Hmmm?'

He forced his lance to penetrate a wolf's chest, the heart now easily sliced by the blade that burned with a black flame and sucked the monster until it became a dried husk. 

The brief flow of energy helped him recover a small amount, but it was not enough to help the unbearable cramping in his muscles and organs as if they were all being squeezed by someone and yanked from his body.

'I can sense something... someone...'

As another bear was torn in half, Asura turned his head, his arms moving subconsciously as the blade ripped the monster apart and sucked it dry.

His eyes crossed another; she was standing in the distance, her body blurred in the darkness and his strained eyesight...

Only her beautiful amethyst eyes seemed to cry out.

'Don't Give Up!'

'Fight Hard!' 

'You Can Do It!'

He didn't understand why this feeling spread through his chest.

A warm scent of vanilla, lavender and freshly baked tart filled his nose as the figure vanished, a beautiful white image behind as she flew away.

Asura felt a second wind as he turned to face the last ten monsters with renewed vigour, biting his teeth, swallowing the warm taste of iron in his throat as he jumped into the frozen cage and began to tear apart the monsters like a ravenous beast...

No, he was like a Devil who discarded his safety, devouring all who entered his range.

***

His lance sliced across the face of the final stage two wolf, cutting through the bone and eyes with a dirty, wet splash of goo covering his black armour caked in blood, mud and monster flesh.

"Awu..." 

The final howl of the wolf sounded, echoing in the dark forest of silence as Asura collapsed to his knees, the life essence stolen from the wolf barely covering his expenses.

He couldn't fight more as the heavy black helmet slipped off his head, and Asura lost the sensation of power in his arms and fingers. Lumeris Nova dropped the lance from his fingertips, reluctant to part as it vanished into blue and crimson light particles.

"Haa.... Xu....Ueeh...." 

A vile mixture of blood, tar and impurities began to pour from his stomach as if all his organs had dumped their waste at this moment, forcing him to regurgitate and vomit them out, feeling pain like being crushed before falling forward, completely spent.

"Asura!?" 

Like a frost comet, Mu Xue flashed to his side, ignoring the disgusting scent and sticky black substance with coagulated blood and god knows what pouring down her arm and body; instead, she held him in her arms, stroking his sweaty, matted hair.

"Asura? Are you okay?" 

Under her worried calls, his body only continued to remove the vile source of his impurity and pain, convulsing in her arms as tears dripped down her cheeks.

"I shouldn't have pushed you so far..."

"I will take the pain."

"You only need to smile and love me."

She desperately tried to heal the broken skin and cracks on his face, but her mana was low and only caused the damage to worsen.

"Asura..."

As she was about to collapse with worry, stress and panic, a powerful hand touched her shoulder with countless red feathers fluttering around before she fell into a deep sleep.

Her body wrapped around Asura to protect him.

"These reckless bastards..."

"Fighting so many beasts and using them to follow a new path..."

"Staying here was the right choice."

"Now I am certain."

Moments later, they were back inside the warm academy room, clean and tidy, cuddling together.

"Asura Fenix... A boy with the blood of a dragon, devil and..." 

"Tsk... Who rumoured him to be a coward and fearful of hurting a fly..."

"This boy is just like his name..."

"A damn Asura..."

The woman's husky voice faded as her crimson hair fluttered in the morning wind, replacing the disgusting scent from Asura's vomit with a gentle breeze of floral spring air.

***

Meanwhile, inside Asura's body and mind.

Asura's body was filled with enough mana to cause him to explode.

All five monoliths were now brightly lit inside his mind as Brian was in her true form, channelling the extra energy into the unknown obelisk.

Her nose was bleeding heavily, and her skin cracked like Asura in the real world as her hands constantly directed the excess mana to the needed monoliths.

"The Devil Monolith needs to reach the first stage."

"His heart has split into two to form his inner core and relies on the dragon and devil parts being perfectly balanced... ugh... this fool, why did he act so stupid."

"I will become his balancer... Until he is ready, let me keep them all from crumbling due to his current imbalance."

Despite saying this, the beautiful phoenix was smiling from ear to ear, her eyes like crescent moons at the sleeping Asura lying on the black monolith in the centre. 

She was happy to see him exceed even her expectations when she told him about the foundation being important.

Her idea was for him to kill a few monsters, maybe six or seven, to form a solid base.

"Yet this fool... He chooses his heart and completely fuses the devil and dragon monolith into his dual hearts... Out of sheer guessing and speculation because I called it life essence!"

With affectionate eyes, she endured the pain of her flesh tearing, blood oozing down her body as the Devouring and Devil Monoliths finally reached the first stage.

"I hope this is enough..."

"Once he begins the Cycle of Earth's First Layer1... I will redirect the excess Anima towards that kind girl and help adjust her path and this stupid pillar that refuses to wake up!"

Her foot kicked the tallest pillar, only for the damage to be reflected and make her cry out in pain as the final moments of danger began to pass.

By the time Asura woke up, he would have stepped onto the correct path and understood why he didn't have a mana core from birth.

"It's good that this girl is so pure in spirit and body... Although I should take her to the bathroom..."

"No girl wants their beloved to see them in a dirty state..."

"I just hope that woman isn't close and senses me."