Training with Kordri

  A vast area with nothing but grass and a lake behind me. It was a wonder how wind managed to flow inside this realm, considering we are inside an artifact. Oh, by 'we' I mean me and Kordri. It took a little convincing on my part to get access to this training facility, but they relented knowing the fact that my core growth was capped.

"Maybe they fear my adaptability?" It was a small impulsive decision that led to this. Back when I was fighting Windsom, I may have accidentally copied his combat moves down to the T and further improved on them. It couldn't be that Kezess became paranoid of me learning everything from Kordri and ordered him to only display the minimum amount of his combat prowess…right?

Ah, I should elaborate on my guest right? Kordri was another asura from the Thyestes clan. A pantheon asura to be exact. The monk like deity was quite humble in nature if you exclude the hidden lust for battle he bore. The artificial sun was reflected on his bald head, making me squint my eyes.

"I believe introductions are in order." The monk spoke with his eyes closed, it would've looked normal if his other eyes were not open though.

The only quality he bore distinct from humans were his eyebrows, replaced by eyes…. I'm not kidding you. He had an extra pair of eyes for his eyebrows!

"Um…I have a question." I spoke with bated breath. Pure curiosity inlaid in me.

"If it was something not related to our spars, the I hope you refrain from asking."

….Damn.

"I am Kordri, affiliated with both the Indrath clan and Thyestes clan. This pantheon Asura will be teaching you for the duration of your stay in Epheotus. You may refer to me as master Kordri."

….Why did he start referring to himself in third person? Well whatever, if you are going to show off the so will I!

"Andrew Rivers. An elf from Elenoir, savior of the world, greatest inventor, the brightest mind in the cosmos and I'm 13 years old."

I didn't get the expected reaction, but a shallow grunt.

"Let us get started then." He said before putting his guard up. "A lot of asuras have heard of your feat of injuring Windsom, while most of them are skeptical of it, I for one am willing to be on the fence.

A pressure eerily similar to the gods rained down, startling me a bit. It made me wonder how much different killing intent was from king's force.

"So prove your worth, Andrew." The tattoos on his arms glowed before he became a blur. Leaving behind a trail of charred ground on his path to my side.

Kaboom—!

Fists met fists and kicks met temples as both of us were thrown back by the force of the other. A perfect mirror. That was what the evaluation he had of me. Each of his movements were replicated only by a hundredth of a second behind.

This delay however led to more damage accumulation on my side." That's unfortunate." I spoke before closing in on him and throwing him over my shoulder onto the rock jutting out. "You can only have so many different moves." After a while, the moves become repetitive. "Unless you bring in something new, you will lose and this match will only give me a new variation of judo and kudo."

Kordri silently got up from the ground, the ground he stood on, slowly cracked until only sand remained. "Lord Kezess told me to refrain from doing anything excessive." The tattoos on his body glowed a fiery red before his nature changed.

"This doesn't seem excessive to me." He said before I felt a force on my abdomen. I didn't even register the pain before my body bent back like a boomerang and I coughed up blood and bile.

"I'm flattered!" I yelled and used his hand as a bar to set my legs up and give an axe kick on his shoulder. "But that is still unfortunate!" The blood leaking out from my mouth made it difficult to speak but my intentions were solid.

Bam-!

A loud noise erupted as I kneed his face with my other leg and wrapped my hands around his neck to put him on a chokehold.

"The fight will end too easily if a do that…." I spoke before kicking his leg to knock off his balance and punched his abdomen.

"Do you really think you can win, Kordri? To an asshole like me?"

"Yes." Was all I heard before I felt my head almost leave my neck from the backhand slap.

"You have a nasty personality. But there is reason within you." He came out of the smoke with a bruised face that was already healing thanks to the influence of this realm.

"I do not know why you bear such a temper, but I'll make sure to not lose to you." His other pair of eyes were now also glowing red.

"Perfect…" I ran towards my opponent, now augmented with mana surprising him by the sudden increase in speed.

"Kugh." He could only cross his arms to defend against the punch that was now strong enough to incapacitate the hulk.

"Should I give you some time to heal those bones?"

"No." And just like that, our fight continued.