Heaven's Greatest Professor

The elder Ariha was not entirely convinced, despite all the reasoning and vague evidence. Honestly, he had not managed to convince himself entirely. The entire affair seemed overly complicated with insufficient information to form a simple conjecture.

First of all, it was nearly impossible for a celestial to reproduce with another race. However, through transmutation, it was possible to turn another person into a celestial hybrid—this seemed to have taken place over his being, albeit at a much deeper level, involving primordial powers and all. He couldn't even get his head around that stuff.

What was more complicated was his void essence. It appeared to be related to an individual known as the Void Emperor—he had no memory of a being so named. Well, the being seemed to have existed epochs ago, tens of thousands of years ago, so he allowed himself some leniency.

From their conversation, he understood that the Void Emperor was already dead, and his essence had been harvested by a group of individuals who should currently be known as the Traitor Gods. Is that why the moonspawn's essence did not affect me as it did most people?

Both avatars appeared to harbour no love for the Void Emperor, much less the traitor gods—who were hunting the celestials to gain their Radiance Core.

The elder avatar had lost many of her loved ones, rendering her quite cynical.

However, all this had not gone unnoticed by the younger avatar's expression.

"How about this," she proposed, frowning at him. "Give him two years... no, one year is enough. Give him one year. If he's someone we choose, he should be able to defeat you in a fair fight in that time."

The elder avatar snorted. "Even if I give him a decade, he won't come close."

"Perhaps you didn't hear," younger Ariha remarked nonchalantly, "I mentioned a fair fight. The two minutes you gave him is hardly fair."

"I heard you, and I stand by what I said."

"Then you shouldn't have a problem giving him a year's time."

The elder one shook her head. "A year is too long, long enough that he'd begin to slack off..." she pondered the decision for a bit. "I'll give him three months instead. Train him however you want, reveal all of our secrets if you must, but at the end of the three months, he will have to fight me."

The younger Avatar wanted to say something, but the more authoritative version raised her hand to silence her younger self.

"It will hardly be a fair fight considering the disparity between our powers," she said after a while.

"Do you have something in mind?" the younger Ariha arched her celestine eyebrow.

"Five minutes," stated the elder.

"Five minutes," he repeated in a whisper.

"Five minutes," announced the challenge of the final checkpoint, turning to him. "For five minutes you have to withstand my wrath, or your life is forfeit."

He took in a deep, frigid breath.

"I do not care if you are our chosen," she continued. "If you cannot withstand it, you're not capable of inheriting our power." She turned to her younger avatar. "Wouldn't you agree?"

Even if the younger Ariha disagreed, it was not reflected in her expression.

Receiving no objection, the elder Ariha smiled. "The suppression on you is lifted," she declared as she rose into the air. "Disappoint me, and I'll end you."

Leaving those last words, she vanished into the sky. As she had mentioned, power surged through him, as all the suppression on him was lifted, releasing all his raw physical and essence power. The disparity between the two states was staggering. His ability to use the pattern almost doubled and that too without getting fully adaptable into his power.

He turned to the younger Ariha to find her literally cringing.

"Light, save me from being this melodramatic," she said, turning to him. "Did you hear her? Ahem! 'Disappoint me, and I'll end you.'"

He couldn't help but shoot her a judging gaze at her own mimicry, before bursting into laughter.

"Smile, that looks good on you," she told him. "When the world throws **it** at you, smile, laugh... because the worst it could do to you is ruin your sense of humour."

"I'm not so sure if that's true, but thank you."

"It is the truth," she told him in an admonishing tone. "Never become dull in humour like that. I forbid you."

He wasn't sure how to reply to that. "Um, okay."

"Anyway, you've got three months to train," she said, brushing away a lock of her silvery hair. The storm had calmed down somewhat after the elder one's departure. "It will be hard if you want to defeat her... you understand?"

He nodded solemnly.

"No, you do not understand the depth of her power," she admonished. "She... she's the current master of Elysian."

A frown crept up on his brows. "She's the immortal, I heard so much about after coming here?"

Ariha shook her head. "No, she killed the original Immortal Master of Elysian, and took his place to hide from the traitor gods... Well, that was close to the truth in the original timeline, perhaps..."

His frown only deepened.

"So you need to understand," she said, inhaling a deep breath, wisps of pattern absorbed into her form unconsciously, causing him to lift his eyebrow. "That miserable version of myself is a complete Transcendent being, who has seen the worst of it all, experienced and had become a menace in her own right. Very few things go unnoticed by her sight and senses.

"Thankfully, arrogance and pride run through our veins like how molten flame spurts out of volcanoes. She probably had an idea that I was goading her, but that only flamed her arrogance. I guess knowing oneself takes one to many places..." She shook her head. "A five-minute battle... this is probably the best outcome I had hoped for, though it would have helped if she had given more time."

He became contemplative as well. To defeat a whole transcendent being, and not just any transcendent, but arguably the best coming from the Celestial lineage.

"How do I defeat a transcendent being?" he muttered, looking up to her.

"You don't," she said with a grin. "Not when you're like this. No, all you have to do is withstand her wrath for five minutes... Even still, the chances of you making it are nigh impossible."

He frowned, wondering what she was getting at.

"Good thing, you have a Transcendent being for yourself, no? To prepare you for the battle?"

"You are..." he was speechless. "You too..."

She smiled. "Another version of myself... my true self... had given our power, sacrificing a big part of herself, I reckon..." She sounded completely certain of it. "I do not know the circumstances that forced her to take such a drastic step. Or what you are to us?

A disciple? Lover, perhaps? Probably not, as I would much prefer someone with a better sense of humour..."

He rubbed his forehead. While Ariha had her brilliance, she sounded so willful at times. Even when he was to fight an impossible fight in three months' time. Honestly, her diminutive teenage form didn't really inspire confidence, if he didn't know what she was capable of.

"However," she continued, "I do not think she had the opportunity to train your personality, considering how terrible you are at handling power. Your aura control is passable... as for the control of pattern... still a long way to go."

He bent one knee before her. "I'm prepared to train until all my bones are broken, my muscles barely able to move an inch, my blood flows backward. I'm prepared..."

He stopped to stare at her. Ariha, hopefully his master, was cringing.

"I have one rule," she said, staring at him solemnly. "Don't be melodramatic."

He measured her expression and found no room for negotiation on this matter. He sighed. "I'm prepared to listen to all your commands."

"Good," she nodded. "I'll hate it if you don't listen to me."

He nodded, picking up his spear. "So, how do I begin?"

"By leaving the weapon and taking the rest for the day. Your mind is too heavy to learn anything."

"But--"

"No buts," she said, her eyes glaring at him. "I do not teach those who do not listen to my orders."

He stared at her for several seconds, as though wanting to pick a fight with her. But in the end, he had to waver... without the impression his body was powerful as ever, unfortunately, all the crashing emotions and experiences left his mind dry for any worthwhile training.

"Rest up, eat something. I'll come early tomorrow. Be prepared."

With that, she too flew off into the sky, leaving him to ponder over important questions whose answers he wouldn't receive anytime soon.

After she left, he tried to engage in a spear dance, to have a little warm-up... unfortunately, what she said was truer than he recognized.

Ultimately, he sat down on the ruins of the shrine and looked up at the sky. Dark clouds undulated in their motion with the occasional charges of lightning.

Dark thoughts crawled up in his mind eventually, trying to affect him, push him into depression... Gritting his teeth, he pulled his mind back and decided to do something eventually with his time.

Training would have done it, but he promised her... he did not want to disappoint his potential master on the very first day if he could help it.

So, he brought out his instruments and ingredients, and began cooking.