9 Time To Leave

Black Phoenix burst into black flames, hissing as they burned the air and even space started twisting around, as if it was being burnt by these flames. Black flames were smaller than white flames but they were far more condensed and induced terror inside both, Asura and Xia, when they stared at the darkness within the flames. It was reminiscent of a flame-shaped black hole. The black parts of Xia's clothes also lit up with those black flames when she used this Soul Spirit. After testing all three of her own Soul Spirits, Xia asked Asura to show her his own.

He demonstrated the first two but only told her about the third one since he didn't have the courage to summon it yet. He felt that if he did, he'd die for sure despite having that green dragon with life energy. He felt that this starry dragon could easily overpower the regenerative speed of his body.

Asura: "Oh, wait! I have an idea. I'll try to channel it only inside my finger instead of letting it merge with my entire body. If my finger explodes it'll regrow so it's not that big of a problem."

Xia: "You don't have to do it if it's that dangerous, I just wanted to see how it looks. There's no point if you need to be in pain in order to show me..."

Asura didn't pay attention to her words because he didn't like the feeling when he couldn't satiate his curiosity.

He carefully submerged his consciousness inside the black crystal and imagined a thread separating from it. Truly, a single fine thread of energy separated and flew out of the crystal. However, everywhere this thread passed in Asura's body, it would tear everything apart and that forced him to hurry up despite the clenched teeth and grunting sounds coming from him.

He quickly led the thread to his finger that started trembling and a black scaled pattern appeared on its surface. He quickly released that thread into the outside world and as soon as it came in contact with it, everything within the hundred meter area around them violently twisted toward the tip of Asura's finger, as if he was condensing the space itself into a point on top of his finger.

*Boom! Psshh....*

With an explosion, Asura's hand that boasted of five fingers now had a missing space where his index finger was. Asura let out a painful groan as a thin streak of blood peeked out of his nostrils, a result of internal injuries caused by the black thread while it passed from his belly to the shoulder and then to a finger.

He slumped down on the ground and watched as his finger started growing out slowly. According to that speed, it would take about five minutes and his finger would be fully regrown by then.

Suppressing his pain, he intentionally channeled all of the energy he could extract from the green dragon and led it to his finger. As he expected, the regenerative speed skyrocketed like a fire that previously burned down everything around them while they were unconscious.

Ten seconds later, and his bloodied hand once again had five fingers, but only index finger wasn't covered in blood. It was the only one that stood out, being pale white while others had blood spots and trails along them. The exploded finger regenerated that quickly, but Asura felt that half of the energy from the green-colored core was missing.

Xia: "... That's quite frightening... How are you feeling?"

Asura: "I'm okay. When I first merged with this thing, I didn't feel pain, probably because my nerves were destroyed by Spirit Energy and there was no pathway to transmit the pain through, but I have to admit, the pain is really scary."

Xia: "So, you will have to find some way to cultivate your body if you want to use that Soul Spirit, right?"

Asura: "Yeah, most likely. Right now my body is way too weak to withstand it. I can withstand the energy from the crystal more or less since it's my own, but the effect it causes in combination with the outside energy is way too overpowering for me to resist. That's the reason why my finger exploded - not because of the energy coming from the core, but because of the surge from the energy outside."

Xia: "Whatever, just don't do that again. I can't bear to see you in pain."

As she said that, the two of them simultaneously recalled how they felt in the grasp of the purple serpent, helpless and weak, suffering and writhing in pain.

The two looked at each other with tears in their eyes and tightly embraced each other, followed with a kiss. After such a nerve-wrecking situation, how could they not long for each other?

This was a first time Asura felt this feeling in his life - the first time he felt the taste of a girl's lips.

Although the two were still too young for anything else, a kiss was not a problem. Knowing that they would soon have to pretend to be brother and sister, how could they not want to thoroughly enjoy each other while they still have the chance to do so.

After a long time, the two finally stopped and separated, looking at each other's eyes full of affection.

Xia embarrassingly said: "Now you're officially mine. Hehe..."

Asura's heart throbbed at that sentence. Time and time again he felt like Xia was the man hitting on a woman and that woman was him. Although this gave him a slightly complicated feelings, the feeling of happiness far outweighed other feelings.

No matter how many times he heard Xia's sweet voice, he couldn't get used to its beauty. Every word she said, he could feel in the deepest part of his soul. As long as he could hear her voice, he was a happy man.

Asura: "We have to leave this area, considering how it looks I'd say there will soon be some people who want to come and see what happened. We were unconscious so we don't know why everything in our surroundings is leveled to the ground, but still we can't stay here."

Xia: "Um. If someone comes, they will most likely think that we are some rare Beasts and there's a high chance of them taking us away. It's better to leave and look for something to eat first, after that we can go search for cities and other people."

Asura: "Say, do you want to find someone to adopt us so we can have a background, if we find a suitable chance?"

Xia: "Mm, I think so too. But we need to make sure that they are worthy. I don't want to be adopted by some random weirdo and be forced to look after them as a 'good daughter'. Besides, this isn't Earth that's regulated by laws and all that. This world is far more dangerous and harsh than that..... as we have seen. The powerless ones die."

Asura: "... Yeah. We need to be strong in order to control our own destiny. Otherwise our fate will be in the hands of others."

Xia: "I really wonder what this world has to offer. We've already seen how minuscule we are compared to a mere snake, I wonder if there are other, stronger creatures in this world... And I'm really curious what happened to that snake after we passed out."

Asura: "Considering that everything around us is reduced to nothingness, it's not hard to see what happened to it. It's only a shame that we couldn't kill it off ourselves, otherwise it'd be great."

Xia: "Do you think it's better that we look for a large city immediately or start from a some small village and build our way up?"

Asura: "Definitely a city, but we have to be careful about the guards. I don't think they'll allow two homeless kids to wander about on the streets. Oh! Also, we need to find different clothes. These are way too suspicious no matter how you look at them. Although they look very cool, it's not something we can casually wear in the city, in my opinion."

Xia: "True, but where will we put these away? If only we could absorb them into our bodies like our Soul Spi--..."

Xia suddenly felt chilly while talking and when she glanced down, she saw nothing but her naked body. The clothes she previously wore were nowhere to be found. She saw Asura slightly chuckle at the situation and pouted. She didn't mind him seeing her naked, after all - they're a pair of lovers now, even if they are still little kids.

Xia: "Humph! Your turn. It's not fair that only I get to be seen naked. Show your goods, mister!"

Asura scratched his head and tried recalling the clothes just like Xia did. Needless to say, he was successful and also, his little brother was out in the open for everyone to see, although everyone here was just Xia.

Xia: "Ai, how tiny."

Asura shrugged and said indifferently: "What can I do, it's not like we're only six, is it? In any case, you can try helping it grow up if you want, but I'm not sure it'll work."

Xia glanced at Asura with surprise. She didn't expect him to be so calm when she teased him. And she also didn't expect to be challenged in such a way, but still, that doesn't mean she'd agree just because of a provocation.

Xia: "Thank you for your offer, but I'll hold on to it for a few years, dear brother...."

Asura noticed the pause after the word 'brother', and grinned: "You like us pretending to be siblings, don't you? It feels wrong and because of that it makes things even more interesting, right? Pervert."

Xia turned red and lowered her head in shame: "Hmph. As if you're any better yourself!"

Asura made a very kind and honest-looking face and softly whispered in Xia's ear: "I don't know about you, but I certainly love it... little sister. Keke."

Xia looked at Asura once again with a surprised look in her eyes. She didn't expect him to straight up agree with her. Usually someone would deny or use the situation to tease the other, but this guy went and openly revealed that he likes it. Such courage!

Xia: 'He truly is one-of-a-kind, as you would expect of my future husband. Good job, me!'

Asura smiled and ruffled Xia's hair which ended up as them hugging again, but this time the sensation was even more intense since they both were stark naked.

Asura secretly stole a glance at Xia and thought: 'My little girl-- ... sister is so cute and beautiful. Considering what kind this world is, there will surely be someone who has ill intentions toward her. I must become strong enough to protect her from anyone, even if they are Gods! My name, Asura, may become the symbol of chaos and evil if needed, but Xia must remain untouched... even if I have to go against a hundred worlds.'

Xia looked at the resolute look in Asura's eyes, and even though she didn't know what caused that, it made her feel elated, drowning in happiness. She took his hand and the two started going in a direction of the mountains.

Their lives in this world had started with a bang, quite literally. They decided to give their all to never let something like an earlier event happen ever again. After all, there will not be another awakening next time. If it happened again, their only outcome is death.