The days that followed blurred into a harsh routine of survival. There was no comfort in the realm. No Cities, road or even comfortable shelter waiting for them at a moment of rest, because the realm knew neither night nor day, it existed beyond that cycle; it only showed the endless crimson sky.
They took waking up to be their day and when they slept as night, their bodies had created their own sense of day and night, like an internal clock. During wake up hours, Grey and the middle group would practice what Milo had drilled into them relentlessly, forcing them to learn the fundamentals of swordsmanship, footwork, and survival. Those who possessed elemental abilities trained separately under Milo's watchful eyes, learning how to control their powers without exhausting themselves, mostly they would try to land attacks against Milo, but they soon came to the realization that it was useless effort but not entirely meaningless.
The rest practiced until their muscles trembled and their hands blistered. Complaints quickly vanished. The realm showed no mercy to the weak. Food came from the monsters Noah and Milo killed during their hunts. The creatures were terrifying to behold, but hunger was a far greater enemy. Their flesh was roasted over crude fires and shared among everyone. The taste varied from beast to beast. Some surprisingly edible, others so bitter that swallowing them became a challenge.
Yet nobody dared waste a single scrap, water was another struggle. A bearby stream had been discovered, but Noah forbade anyone from drinking directly from it. The realm was unknown, and unknown things often hid death beneath innocent appearances. Every drop was collected and boiled before consumption. The process was slow and exhaustiong, they had to literally cook the water. It was their own way of trying to avoid sudden death. The water there was strange, it had hints of white materials on it but it kept them alive.
While the others trained and gathered resources, Noah and Milo carried the burden of protecting the camp. Almost everyday, monsters traversed their territory, emerging from the white forests. Some came alone. Others arrived in packs. Whenever that happened, Noah and Milo would leave the camp together.
The survivors often watched from a distance, but we're ready whenever the situation presented itself, they tried their best to stay alive, amidst that group of struggles, there were those who fought like prodigies. As flashes of aura illuminated the crimson horizon. Tremendous roars echoed through the forest, followed by the sound of steel colliding against claws and fangs. Trees shattered. The earth trembled. Sometimes distant explosions painted the sky with brief flashes of light.
They did all this while still protecting the cadets from corruption using their mental plane. Together they held back every creature that wandered too close.Without them, the camp would have fallen countless times. And so the survivors endured. They trained. They hunted and was also being hunted at the same time.
Each passing day made them a little stronger, a little harder, and a little less like the people who had first arrived in this Ivory waste. Because in a world like this, survival itself was a form of evolution. All that was what had happened to them, during their near end of the realm.
Grey had waken up under the dreadful blood red sky, He saw that Noah, Darrin, Natasha and Marcus Night were no longer at their resting ground. They had already resumed their regular routine, Grey's eyes glowed golden, white lightning dancing around his pupils, and then the mark of the last storm born appeared.
He observed them closely, watching how Noah explained key details to them on how to increase the efficiency of their power, both in aura, ekrin and their world. That was just what he pointed out, because nobles were already groomed fighters, trained to possess unbelievable battle sense since birth. So Noah didn't instruct much on that because he knew they each had their own fighting style already impacted into them by their households. Grey looked around, everyone was still asleep, even Milo. Apearantly it was his turn to sleep. During the three days they've been in the Ivory waste, Milo and Noah had been taking turns on watch.
He looked back, at the four figures in the distance. The three cadets were facing off against Noah, Grey notice the most important threat first. Natasha move, white stone errupted beneath Noah, he stepped aside, the jagged rock missing him by inches. She rushed forwared without hesitation. Her first attack had been meant to hit, it was just a distraction.
It looked as though she had mimicked some of the techniques she'd withnessed withing the labyrinth. The second her foot pinned the pale ground... jagged white rocks strock towards Noah. Darrin stepped in from the side, some sort of force moving around him like a shield, but Noah had already noticed this. He knew that attack was some form of mechanism that Darrin was controlling. Small particles of iron like cells that were too small for the eyes, and too numerous to count. Noah didn't even bother drawing his blade. He leaped into the air and landed in a smooth slide, effortlessly avoiding the rising spikes. At the same time, silver armor materialized around Natasha's body intricately arranged to fit her slender frame. Two swords appeared in her hands. But Noah's focus had shifted naturally towards Darrin.
The iron shield crashed forward, Noah's sheath stroke it with a sharp crack. The impact echoed across the field before Natasha could reach them, and Darrin could some how recover, Noah twisted his body mid fall, then he froze. Marcus had moved.
Noah calmly raised his blade that was still in its sheath, and attacked swiftly. The strike sent Natasha stumbling backwards. She immediately regained control, manipulating her element. sending most of the force downward, and then a trail of rubbles bled beneath her feet... then larger boulders formed behind her indicating the size of the impact.
Noah then dashed straight at Darrin. "Crap!" He raised his iron shield. The impact rang out sharply. Yet an unseen force negated much of Noah's attack. Noah paused for a brief moment, then grinned. Even while dedicating most of his aura to shield the cadets from corruption, it still wasn't enough to force him back.
Natasha seized the opportunity and lunged, attempting to pierce him with one of her blades. Noah reacted instantly. His sheathed sword smashed down onto her weapon, driving it into the ground before he launched her backward with a powerful strike. She cried out as she was sent flying. Using that momentum, he accelerated towards Darrin again this time with an increase in speed.
Before Darrin could react. Noah appeared in his blind spot and drove him into a tree. He crumpled holding his side, and rolled across the ground. Noah's feet remained hung as he watched Marcus. 'This kid.' Grey's eyes widened. It felt as though he was withnessing an entirely new world of combat. Throughout the entire exchange, Marcus hadn't really done anything. He simply stood there. "Aren't you coming?" Marcus smiled. "Oh? Is it finally my turn?"
A massive axe appeared in his hand, a bit too mature for a twelve years old, but that mattered less to Noah as Marcus rushed forward. The ground cracked beneath him, ash he leaped into the air, his axe rose above his head with other hands, he brought it down with terrifying force. Noah's eyes narrowed.
The amount of aura gathering around the weapon was absurd. Blocking was not an option, he stepped aside. A moment later, the axe struck the ground. The earth exploded, a crater appeared where Noah had been standing. Dust and shattered stone flew in every direction. Marcus pressed forward relentlessly, every strike of the axe carried enough force to crack stone, Noah gave ground for the first time. The pale earth fractured beneath his feet.
Their speed was astonishing.
Without warning, Noah drew his blade and met the incoming axe.Steel collided with steel. The two exchanged a flurry of blows. Marcus's Ekrin and Aura flared around him, enhancing both his physical strength and the sharpness of his weapon, Noah grinned. This was finally becoming interesting.
Marcus suddenly drove a knee out of nowhere... toward Noah's chest with brutal force. Noah crossed his arms, his blade in one hand and his sheath in the other. The impact echoed through the battlefield. Marcus pressed harder. Instead of resisting directly, Noah pivoted backwards and stepped aside. Marcus's momentum carried himforward. For a brief moment, he charged into empty air. Noah seized that. His sheath flashed. Slamming into the side of Marcus's neck.