Throughout the night, Asura went through the contents of the 'White Serenity Sword Style' scroll, putting his memorization skill from his past life to good use. He also had a little 'help' from Choronzon.

Night turned to dawn, and the first rays of the morning sun shone through the window, illuminating the room in a golden glow. Asura got into his meditative position, using the breathing pattern of the 'Thousand Essences Absorption'. Soon, he once again slipped into the 'Origin of Life'.

Once again, he drew on the power of the Demon Force to break through the walls of the 'Origin of Life'. As the black cloud seeped through, Asura kept a steady control on the black gases, so that the white world would not turn grey. Once the black cloud had completely entered the 'Origin of Life', it instantly condensed into the 'Demon's Avatar: Blade of Shadow Flame'.

Within the pure white world, Asura could feel the flow of his mana several times more clearly than in his worldly body. For hours, he practiced the stances and movements, simultaneously controlling the flow of his mana. In the outside world, Asura would probably have taken months, if not decades to master some of the sword forms. But in the 'Origin of Life', Asura felt that he could practice for months, or even years with just a few seconds or minutes passing by in the outside world.

Minutes turned into hours. Hours turned into days, and days turned into months. After what felt like a couple months, Asura felt that he had had enough, or else he would have gone mad from the repetitiveness of the training, and the solitude of the white world.

When Asura woke up, he noticed a visible change in the room. The walls that were previously coloured a golden hue was now a light yellow. Asura quickly got up from the bed and looked out of the window to check the sun's position as he was worried that he had accidentally been training till afternoon, missing the promised time of his spar with Khara.

"Two hours have already passed. It seems that a month in the 'Origin of Life' is equivalent to an hour here" Asura thought. "If I train for a year in the 'Origin of Life', then it would be half a day out here, though I doubt I'd ever train for a whole year."

Remembering the techniques he had mastered, Asura grinned as eagerly got up from his bed and headed towards the Dining Hall in quick strides.

Get ready to get your ass whooped, Khara.

As Asura stepped into the Dining Hall, he instantly noticed that something was odd. The usual cheery atmosphere of the children clamoring over the food was not present. Instead, the mood was extremely sombre and most of the dishes were even left untouched.

"What's going on?" Asura thought.

"Ah, you're here, thank god," Khara said as he walked up to Asura. His face was serious and his usual carefree demeanor was gone.

"Did something happen?"

"I don't know either. Nanny Lan has forbidden us from going out," Khara said. "I think something serious happened in the city."

Asura heard light footsteps coming from behind him. Turning his head to look behind him, Asura saw Sehn approaching them. His small round face had a worried look.

"What's wrong?" Asura asked, grabbing a loaf of bread from a nearby plate.

"Overheard Nanny Lan talking to the city guards. Heard there were three murders last night. Victims had their heads chopped off, seeming to have been killed by the same person," Sehn said in a flat tone.

Khara and Asura looked at each other, shock visible on their eyes.

"Three murders," Khara mumbled. "Guess we won't be sparring today, huh? "

"It's okay, I don't mind." Asura smiled, and looked at Sehn's worried face. "Why're you so worried, Sehn? I'm sure the city guards will take care of it."

"You know nothing. The three people that died were all 7th Level Warriors. Anyways, I'm going back to my room. Take care."

Sehn sighed, and walked out of the Dining Hall, leaving Khara and Asura behind. Asura put down his half finished loaf of bread, as he had lost his appetite after hearing about the murders.

"I'm going back to my room too," Asura patted Khara on his shoulders, and walked back to his room.

"7th Level Warriors, all killed by the same person? The killer is probably an 8th Level Warrior, though there's an extremely low chance that he or she is a Deva." Asura thought.

"Master, could it be Ho'Vah or Nilfim? They're the only ones I can think of that could kill 7th Level Warriors."

"We can't be sure about that. Anyways, Choronzon, I have a question for you. Is it possible to train in that pitch black world? Is it possible to spar with you?"

"Master, I'm afraid not. Back when you entered the pitch black world, I still had my Demon Force. However, I should be able to possess a body if you create one for me in the 'Origin of Life'."

Choronzon continued, "I will also teach you some Demon Force techniques in the 'Origin of Life', as the only technique you know of is the Materialization technique. As Khara had already explained, you're indeed inexperienced when it comes to real combat, so it's vital to master the Demon Force as soon as possible."

"That's no prob-" Asura's thought was cut off when he saw an eye-catching girl dressed in a blue satin dress walking along the hallway.

Ishtar.

"Hmm, I still haven't paid her back for making me her shield..."

Asura's eyes narrowed, and his lips curled up into a smirk as an idea popped into his head.

[Author's Note: I'll be releasing another 2 chapters today, so worry not!]

By the way, I'm sure some of you have seen WorldSerpent's latest 'chapter'. As a fellow author, it disgusts me to see that there are haters that actually spend their time and efforts sending hate mails to others. Here's my 2 cents worth - if you don't like a story, don't read it. Instead of sending hate mails, it'd be so much better if you actually took the time to explain what's wrong with the story, etc. Some of you may not know this, but your comments and mails affects the author a lot more than you think. I'm sure that most of the authors here, including me, take the time to read every single comments. It gratifies us everytime we see that someone took a moment out of their time to tell us that they appreciate our efforts. Even if I do not reply to your comments, rest assured that I've read it. I guarantee it. So please, spare a thought for others. For the lurkers out there, I encourage you all to create an account and start commenting your thanks, etc. It only takes a minute, if not two. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 38: Sparring with Choronzon