"Phew." In a large, underground room shaped like a cube with a side of 300 metres, Shuwrak Zahara stood with a relaxed posture and exhaled softly. Only a pair of shorts covered his lower body, leaving his upper body bare.
He wasn't ripped, even had a small beer belly. His figure was lean while his arms didn't look like they had much strength in them. It was clearly the body of someone who hadn't trained to be a fighter.
"Exhale...inhale..." He muttered softly, raising his hands upward during an inhale and downward during an exhale, "...exhale."
He was at the centre of the room, calmly repeating the breathing patterns. Standing on the other side was an Empyrean Boar with a 4-Life Stage cultivation.
In terms of cultivation, the Empyrean Boar had four, mature bodies while Shuwrak Zahara only had one completed Human Avatar. His second Human Avatar was still in construction. After being challenged to a fight by Inala, Shuwrak Zahara wanted to train, which led to the current situation.
"You can attack me whenever you want. No need to mind my actions." Shuwrak Zahara said after a few minutes of silence.
"I know." The Empyrean Boar nodded. He was a man who went by the name of NarBuntara, a Wean Clansman without anything special to his name. He was strong and had killed plenty of the Varahan Empire's Free Humans. But that was his only contribution to the Clan.
Since fighting was all he knew, he took the initiative to face Shuwrak Zahara when the latter asked the Wean Clan for a combat partner. 'I didn't have many opportunities to interact with him. Let's see if this nanny is actually as important as the leader claims.'
Primary Nature-Empyrean Boar Transformation!
Nature-Prana Shock!
Assuming Empyrean Boar form, he charged towards Shuwrak Zahara, intending to ram into the latter. Shockwaves surrounded his body, rippling int a region a couple metres surrounding his body. These shockwaves were enough to ward off most attacks.
And even if an attack were to pass through it, there wouldn't be much strength left by the time it slams into him. It was by relying on this that NarBuntara had hunted countless Free Humans, 'They have powerful abilities, but their bodies are weak. Even in their Human Avatar forms, I can shatter them with repeated stomps.'
With imposing momentum, the Empyrean Boar rushed towards Shuwrak Zahara. The latter simply stared at it and then let out a soft sigh, "This isn't enough."
A wave of fluctuation emanated from him that inhibited the shockwaves covering the Empyrean Boar's body. Following that, a Spirit Weapon-in the shape of a needle-with the power of Refractive Inhibition flew like a bullet, accelerated by a potent amount of psychokinesis and stabbed into the shoulder of the rushing Empyrean Boar.
After piercing into the shoulder, it targeted the blood flowing through the region, acting upon the Prana mixed into the blood. The Prana incident upon the needle was refracted and made to circulate within the needle.
Similar to how light is reflected multiple times within a raindrop in a process termed total internal reflection, the Prana was forced to follow the same within the needle. The power of Refractive Inhibition suppressed and inhibited the property of Prana.
And using the psychokinesis present in the needle, the Prana present in the blood flowing through the shoulder was circulated within the needle and had its properties fully inhibited. And then, the needle vanished, causing all the Prana to flood the blood vessel.
Like a dam wall being shattered, the Prana exerted too much pressure. Spontaneously, the Empyrean Boar's Spirt Container suffered a crack while the shoulder exploded, spraying out blood.
"W-what was that?" The Empyrean Boar's left foreleg hung limply as its sudden loss caused it to tumble to the ground and skid forward due to the momentum behind its charge. It tried to regenerate the wound, but even if Prana accumulated at the injured spot, there were no signs of regeneration. "Why aren't I healing?"
"You should return. We're done here." Shuwrak Zahara stated in disappointment upon observing the Empyrean Boar's fluster, "Give it a few seconds. Your wound will begin healing after that."
As he had said, after a few seconds, the Prana gathered at the wound recovered its healing function and began to quickly regenerate the wound. Soon, the Empyrean Boar was able to get up and move about without issues.
"What was that?" Reverting to human form, NarBuntara expressed his fluster as he stared at Shuwrak Zahara, "How did my Prana behave like that?"
"It was as if...it had destructive properties." He expressed in horror, "Prana is a recovery energy. It doesn't have any destructive properties."
"If you cannot understand what happened, then go and face a Millinger. Then you might get an idea." Shuwrak Zahara didn't seem interested in having a conversation any longer and waved his hand, dismissing the Wean Clansman.
"Tch!" A few seconds of stunned silence later, NarBuntara clicked his tongue and huffed out of the training room, 'Arrogant bastard!'
He didn't hide his expression as he stormed out, producing a loud thud as he slammed the door shut upon exit.
"Hah!" Shuwrak Zahara let out a sigh and plopped to the floor and stared at the greyish-white ceiling, "It seems the divide is only growing stronger, sister."
"The Empire you envisioned has already collapsed into two." His brows creased, expressing his exhaustion with the situation as his voice oozed out sadness, "You were fated to grandeur, but you died too soon."
Revenge? He could go about that, but with everything he had gathered until now, there was no survivor from the Third Major Disaster. Grehha and Boul Brimgan were still alive, but only temporarily. He had personally verified this information.
The last was Virala, but Shuwrak Zahara didn't have the strength to face the Mystic Humans. With the replenishing capabilities of a Spirit Eater and the Tratham tool of their Gold Ewworm, the Mystic Humans of Dralh Sea could maintain a defensive battle forever.
Until the resources of the entire Dralh Sea were exhausted, their defensive line would never fall. So, Shuwrak Zahara couldn't storm their headquarters and kill Virala. He had no support from his people for that.
After all, only he was aware that Virala was alive. This information was something he found from his information network in the Dralh Sea.
Secondary Nature-Tangible Millinger!
Using this, he could communicate with the Centinger Race, and also rely upon this identity to
interact with every Silver and Gold Grade Pranic Beast part of the Red-Draft River. As a ginormous water body that flowed through a quarter of the Sumatra Continent, it was massive, with tens of thousands of tributaries.
One of these was the Brask Channel, connecting the Red-Draft River to the Dralh Sea. Through
this channel, many Pranic Beasts from the Red-Draft River had migrated to the Dralh Sea.
They had the capability to consume Phells, which made the Dralh Sea a favourable environment for them.
The Mystic Humans had been suppressing the Abyss River's ejection of Phells steadily, slowly
but steadily cleaning up the Dralh Sea so that its old ecosystem could be recovered. It was what allowed new Pranic Beasts to arrive at Dralh Sea and make it their home.
Some of them were in a communication relationship with Shuwrak Zahara, which was how he came to know about Virala's rampage in the region after being killed by Brangara in the Kalahatra Desert.
'He has a means to revive, but he's not in a right state of mind.' However, that was a dead end, since the information also stated the arrival of Ruvva who suppressed Virala.
That was why Shuwrak Zahara couldn't take revenge, as Ruvva was his niece. In the end, all that he could do was try to rebuild the Varahan Empire according to his sister's vision. He wished to protect the place and ensure traces of his sister's efforts didn't vanish.
'I won't allow Sumatra to forget Yarsha's existence!' Thinking as such, he sighed. He was part
of the Varahan Empire's older generation that remained with the Wean Clan, following their old ways.
However, this was a strained relationship that was bound to break at one point. The longer the Wean Clan fights the Varahan Empire, the stronger the hatred that will grow between the Clansmen and Free Humans.
It was already evident in people like NarBuntara who visibly expressed his dissatisfaction towards Shuwrak Zahara. 'Only the first three generations of the Wean Clan care about me.'
The first generation of Wean Clansmen consisted of Barla and her siblings. They were Yarsha Zahara's children and clearly had a favourable relationship with Shuwrak Zahara. However, they had all been killed. The second generation had an amicable relationship with him, as they had interacted with him lots when Yarsha Zahara was still at the Varahan Empire.
The third generation knew who Shuwrak Zahara was and gave him some respect. But that was
it. At the end of the day, he was a Free Human. His status as a nanny only applied to the second generation.
And day by day, he was being seen more and more as a Free Human than the older brother of Yarsha Zahara. 'I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep this up.'
"Yarsha, what do I do?" He sighed, feeling somewhat powerless, "I still have power and
authority now, but it's only because of the second generation. In war, nothing can be guaranteed. If more of them were to die, then I'll no longer have a place here."
"The utopia you created has already collapsed." He grunted, "Father and the rest are delusional. They've yet to come to terms with reality and still think they have value here."
"Hah!" He slumped on the floor and calmly observed the ceiling, 'I wanted to fight, but even a 4-Life Stage Wean Clansman cannot make me serious. There were so many ways I could have killed him back then with just my Primary Nature.'
Gold Millinger Art!
He got up and stared at his physique, "Only I cultivate this. If I were to die, such a genius
cultivation technique would be lost from history. No one will know how talented its creator was."
Yarsha Zahara was dead, he had come to terms with it, mentally prepared the day she had begun to face the Mystic Seven alongside Brangara. However, what he wanted to preserve was her legacy.
Improving Mystic Sumatra Art? It wasn't because he wanted to benefit the Wean Clan. He simply wanted to improve it for that was his sister's most prized creation. "I won't give up."
"I will keep trying so that you'll be remembered, sister." He clenched his hand into a fist and
lightly bumped the floor, "Sumatra will never forget your existence. I will keep fighting towards that eventuality."