Cultivator in a World of Angels, Demons, and Super Heroes

"How do you know more about this than us?" Ahdem asks Red suspiciously.

"No. More importantly. How did you even figure out how to access… this place?" Havvah adds.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Red playfully says.

"…" Ahdem and Havvah feel frustrated that their curiosity is not satisfied.

"You really won't tell us?" Ahdem insists.

"You wouldn't understand anyway." Red will not budge.

"I've lived three hundred thousand years. I don't know everything, but I have the capacity to understand many things." Ahdem says proudly.

"Perhaps you do." Red nods.

"But not this one. If it was so easy to understand, I would have explained it to Fumio already."

The couple look towards Fumio, and Fumio returns to them an ignorant look.

"I'll tell you someday." Red says in finality.

"You two, please return outside first. It's been a while since I've sparred with my disciple." He then asks of the couple.

"…" Fumio this time, is excited.

While he dreads each spar with Red, he also treasures the experience he gets from the activity.

"May we stay?"

"We'll watch at a distance."

The couple are curious however.

"Fine." Red nods.

He mentioned sparring to the two in purpose to make them stay.

A few moments later, Red and Fumio are now ten meters apart, facing each other, with their practice katanas drawn.

Havvah and Ahdem, who are watching in one of the edges of the treasure dimension, wait in bated breath.

Suddenly, Fumio waves his hand to Red's direction and, *fufufufu* sound of wind being cut resounds loudly.

Before the couple can figure out what made the sound, they see Red's arm and sword blur, followed by *tnk-t-t-nk-tnk* sounds of something hitting metal.

They then see Fumio's figure blur towards Red, and a scene they can only wish their eyes follow in detail, displays itself.

Because currently, Fumio's figure looks as though it is vibrating, and in front of his figure are silhouettes of something metallic, shining from time to time.

*cla-cl-c-c-c-clang!*

If it were not for the harsh sound of metal clashing against metal, they would not be so sure that Fumio is currently assaulting Red with sword strikes upon sword strikes, and Red defending them.

Unlike Fumio's blurry figure however, they notice that Red's is more detailed and more passive. Except for Red's arm which is as blurry as an electric fan's, they can see Red's entire body clearly.

"With just one arm…" Ahdem cannot believe that Red is defending with ease with such a handicap.

"I know…" Havvah too, is mystified.

The two noticed that Red is missing something under his left sleeve, but knowing that the man can manipulate objects without touching them, they figured that Red is the type that fights at a distance. That is why they did not expect him to confront Fumio head-on.

The next moment, after hearing one more ear deafening clash of the swords, they see Fumio's figure disengage from Red, and retreats a considerable distance.

As soon as Fumio stops, the couple immediately notice Fumio's kimono is torn in many places, exposing his muscular body.

They then frown seeing Fumio's katana suddenly disappearing from his grasp, followed by the young man assuming a loose karate stance.

They look towards Red, and they too, see that Red does the same with his weapon.

They are reminded that this exchange is not a fight, but a spar.

The next moment, they see Fumio's figure charge once again to Red.

Unlike the last time however, Fumio stops a few steps away from Red and throws a punch in the air.

The couple is shocked to see a large phantom of a fist, which they estimate is the size of a horse's head, appear in front of Fumio's outstretched arm, and quickly charges Red at an incredible speed.

Before they can even begin to appreciate the display, the phantom fist is snuffed out by an equally sized but a more tangible phantom palm coming from Red's direction.

They then see the phantom palm proceed to charge to Fumio.

They see Fumio cross his arms in front of him in defense, before getting hit by the phantom palm.

The two are surprised that the impact sent Fumio flying tens of meters away.

To their relief, Fumio lands on his feet and manages to stay standing after stumbling a few steps further back.

They then notice that Red is not going on pursuit. Instead, they see the man starting to do what looks like a kata.

They are stunned however that at each swing and thrust of Red's limbs, phantom fists, feet, palms, and knife hand chops fly towards Fumio at an incredible speed.

They get worried for Fumio at what looks like an overwhelming barrage of attacks and they feel their spines tingle at each close calls, and each blocked strikes by Fumio.

Just as Fumio can no longer keep up, Red stops with his attacks.

The pause in action lets the couple to let out the breath they have been holding. It also allows them to process what they have seen.

"Okay. They're obviously A class. Moving at least the speed of sound." Havvah wipes her forehead that is starting to coldly sweat.

"And striking at each other at an even quicker speed." Ahdem adds.

"But… The 'Boss' must be beyond A-Class. He's too relaxed and is obviously guiding Fumio." He comments.

"Hmmm…" Havvah grunts, acknowledging the observation.

They then see Fumio summon what looks like a bucket sized flame on left hand and a bowling ball sized water ball on his right, followed by him fusing them.

*sssss*

This immediately produces a thick fog.

"What's he doing now…" Ahdem gets interested at the tactic.

His question is answered as the next moment, a huge phantom of a sword tip, the size and thickness of a surfboard, emerges from the fog, and thrusts towards Red.

They get worried, seeing that the sword phantom looked to have passed through Red's body at a speed even quicker than the phantom strikes Red sent to Fumio earlier.

They get worried even further when they see more sword phantoms emerge from Fumio's fog, and they rain upon Red.

They are shocked however seeing Red's figure blur, and looks like it is phasing through and between the sword strikes.

At the same time, phantom limbs start appearing once again around Red, and they fly towards the fog, matching the speed of Fumio's phantom swords.

The couple's eyes are starting to hurt seeing the exchange of spectacular attacks.

Not long after however, they notice that the sword attacks from Fumio are reducing in frequency, until stopping ultimately.

The next moment, *THUD* they see Fumio's figure fly out the fog at incredible speed before crashing to the ground.

The momentum makes Fumio bounce across the ground a few more times before finally stopping.

The scene is enough to tell the couple that Fumio failed to defend one or even more of Red's strikes.

"Let's stop here." They hear Red announce.

To their relief, they see Fumio slowly push himself off the ground, stands on his feet without a problem, and walks to rejoin Red.

They notice however that Fumio is limping a little and his posture is a bit crooked, which tells them that the young man is hurt or even injured.

Before they can volunteer themselves to treat Fumio, they see Red hover his palm on Fumio's body.

A few seconds later, they see Fumio's posture gradually become straight once again, telling them that the young man's pain is relieved at the least.

Fumio, shadow boxing as soon Red retreats his palm, is an evidence to them that Fumio's injuries are healed.

They are about to rejoin the cultivators when they see a glass-like transparent dome appear around the two men. The transparent dome, in addition to Red giving them a look, makes them decide to simply stand in wait until the cultivators are done talking to each other.

"Thank you, boss." Fumio says as he pats where he was injured until just now.

"But come on, you should have gone easier on me. I had more to show you." He complains.

"I already know that you have a pretty good mastery of your basic elixir attacks." Red says.

"At least give me the satisfaction of using it more." Fumio grumbles.

"Where's the satisfaction if you can't do it under pressure? If you want to throw attack after attack without regard, why don't you spar against a dummy?" Red asks.

"Sorry." Fumio grimaces.

"But I have to say. I didn't expect you to do it with a sword. And do it under pressure." Red compliments.

"Thank you, boss." Fumio feels proud at finally receiving positive feedback.

"I don't know why, maybe because I'm a better swordsman than a karateka, but it comes easier than doing it with my limbs." He shares.

"Quite possibly." Red nods.

"Anyways. You should practice your footwork technique more and incorporate it in your attacks." He then suggests. 

"I will, boss." Fumio says bitterly. He is already doing what Red suggested, but it is not as easy as it sounds.

"Basing on the movement of spiritual energy around you… I'm guessing you found quite a few tricks?" Red asks.

"What tricks?" Fumio frowns, but gets a guess soon enough.

"I did notice that whenever I drain my reserves, my absorption increases, refilling my reserves faster. I also don't know if it's just my head playing tricks, but it feels as though consolidating my True Seas also increase bit by little bit." He explains.

"Consolidation speed does increase, but that too has its limit." Red confirms.

"I see." Fumio is glad to have confirmed it.

"That's why instead of keeping my reserves full all the time, I've been draining it as much as possible in the treasure dimension in training. Then, I go back out to the real world and cultivate, and when it's full, I go back in. Rinse repeat.

"Even though it took me a lot of work and might have delayed my consolidation progress by a bit compared to IF I straight up cultivated with reserves full, I got a great benefit from it." He explains.

"You feel your elixir traveling in your meridians and pathways much smoother and quicker… Very good." Red nods.

"Yes." Fumio is glad that his method received approval.

"But let's get to something stupid you did.." Red pours cold water on his mood.