บท 41: Chapter 40: Resentment
Diara got up and walked towards Noah, pulling him up
"I won't ask you to forget what happened in the past, but do not let it control you, don't become a slave to your emotions, do not let it drive you"
"Son, you're destined for greatness, find a goal, something, anything that makes you want to live on"
"Make me proud"
Diara hugged Noah as her body started becoming ethereal
"I wish I had more time, but unfortunately it's over"
She lowered Noah's head closer to her, their foreheads touching
"I don't know how much this would help you, but here, it's all I can give you right now, I hope it helps you along the way"
She transferred all her knowledge on unarmed combat to Noah, from her battle art, to every experience and battle she had ever fought in her lifetime. This wasn't just teaching Noah about them, she had made it become a part of him
"Also, please don't hate Ryan, and don't let revenge cloud your mind, Goodbye son"
Her body fading away completely after she said those words, Noah was left all alone now, and while his heart was still saddened by the loss of his loved ones, he had found a way forward
He wanted to find Ryan and find out the reason for the disaster of Gamora
Time resumed afterwards, and Noah sidestepped, dodging the strike from the shadow, before countering with a punch of his own, sending the resentment flying
The resentment righted itself midair before landing, once again vanishing into the darkness
One on one, man vs resentment, a battle for which side would hold dominance
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The battle in the Noah's mental world had continued for a very long time, Noah couldn't tell just how long had passed, days, weeks or even years
During this period it was a battle between the two sides, each trying to wear each other out
Both sides had attacked eachother with breathtaking moves and without any hesitation, each intending on killing the other
If it wasn't a battle in Noah's mental scape but in the real world, the damage done to their environs would be similar to that of ascendants, and they both would have fallen unable to keep up with their output
Noah had sharpened the skills Diara had imparted to him through his battle with the resentment, the style of combat had become second nature to him, not even needing to think to react.
He had always been good at combat, but now he had more experience and intuition to back it up, no longer having to overthink every step before he takes action
However at this moment their battle was just a fist fight with no techniques or fancy moves involved, just a brawl between two worn out individuals
Noah had time to think about what happened during this period of time and had cleared a lot of his doubts and fears, he still had a bit of hate towards Ryan, but it wasn't enough to drive him crazy anymore
Now he just wanted answers, and if possible to bring justice to the inhabitants of Gamora.
Noah slipped when he attempted to throw a punch at the resentment, making him lose his target, he fell face down into the ground instead
The resentment beastlike version of him however also fell on top of him, not delivering the final blow
'Well it's time I left here'
As Noah thought those words, the resentment above him, melted and fused into his body, the dark tendrils and dark miasma scattered across the mental scape also got sucked into him like his body was a vacuum
The only reason Noah materialized the resentment and was trapped in his mental world was due to the burdens in the heart
He would have died mentally and become a monster if he hadn't resolved it before his battle with the resentment ended, but since he had cleared up his mind and achieved relative peace the resentment returned to the form it should have been as, nether and fused with his body and soul, he was now in control of the energy force.
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Noah woke up from his deep slumber to the sight of a magic circle floating over his head
It wasn't bright as it should be, and the speed at which it spun was greatly reduced, he estimated the circle didn't have much juice left in it and would soon breakdown
'Just how long have I been here for'
Noah sat in the lotus position and started to use his new energy source to prove his body
He was previously a mid level awakened practitioner with thirty-six energy channels open, he was close to being a high level awakened but hadn't gotten the inspiration he needed to open the last three channels and charge into the next state
But now he had eighty six energy channels open. Noah had skipped the entirety of the high level awakened and was now a peak level awakener who could advance into ascendancy as soon as he got enlightened
Not just that, his muscles were denser and his bones were heavier as if they bulked up before being compressed again to fit his former size
Noah wasn't sure how much power he could exert at the moment but he knew his last self couldn't compare
Continuing his assessment, he discovered there wasn't a single bit of usual blue coloured aether running through his channels but in it's place was a red coloured energy
He didn't know why, but he knew the name was nether and that he couldn't use aether again until he found the third origin and introduced it to his body to achieve equilibrium
A lot had happened when he was passed out, but he had a short term objective, and that was to find the third origin and save his life, he couldn't have a long term plan before that
'How long do I have left'
Noah thought as he probed the seal engraved on his heart with his energy for clues, it wasn't easy but he found a way and shortly after he got a reply, six months
This meant Noah had been out for six months already, panicking wouldn't solve anything so he remained calm and tried manipulating the new energy running through his channels
He couldn't use his ice element here since he had no access to aether but since he had nether, technically he should be able to use it for another path
He cleared his mind and meditated trying to figure out what secrets the nether in his body had
After a short while, black tendrils started growing out of the ground around the area Noah was sitting, and vague form of a humanoid nine tailed fox, one similar to the resentment version of Noah appeared at Noah's back
It seeped into the shadows before appearing at a different location, doing that a couple of time before the shadow tendrils all shot out and merged at the centre forming a ball of shadow
The ball the expanded to form a dome with the shadowy figure in the centre before they vanished
That was Noah's embryonic art for his new power. Nether had granted him the ability of the shadows
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Ramona had been stuck in this place for so long that she had lost count
She couldn't tell day from night so she couldn't even make an estimate of how long she had been in been stranded
According to the calibrations on the warp gate she should have landed in the forest just outside Gamora
The environment seemed nothing like anything she had ever seen before and there wasn't even the slightest bit of aether in the atmosphere, instead was there was a repulsive energy that her body constantly rejected
The only reason she had been able to survive so far in a place with aether was the artifact the old seer had passed on to her before her journey with the words you might find it useful
It was a pendant shaped like a dragon's head and served as a storage space of some sorts, but it also had a part she couldn't figure out as it kept supplying her with the aether she had been using to fight the creatures that popped out of nowhere to attack her
Ramona wasn't sure where she was but she was certain she wasn't in Kreatia anymore
Stories told by the elders tell if a world with no aether, filled with chaos and abominations, a place where no inhabitant of Kreatia, the creatures that lived off aether could survive
Tartus, a place likened to hell, the home of the abominations that caused the ancient chaotic era
Ramona was almost sure she had found her way into Tartus, but the question was how
Even after thinking about it for days on end she couldn't figure it out, so she could only try to find a way out, survive for as long a possible
Thankfully as a peak level awakened and a dragon at that, her need for food was greatly reduced so she could make do with the little rations in the pendant and living off the aether it produced
She could only hope the aether being supplied to her didn't run out before she found her way out
Ramona spent her time walking, fighting and resting, an endless cycle she had to repeat until she found her way out of the hell she was stuck in.
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