Eternal Temptation: Awakening Sinful Desires

Seeing him shirtless, Arianna couldn't help but admire how muscular he looked, even though he wasn't bulky or anything like that. His muscles were well-toned, giving him an overall athletic appearance that was quite pleasant for her eyes, especially when combined with those handsome features of his face.

Not wasting any time thinking about irrelevant things, Asher charged at her once again while using his movement technique and sword art together to create after-images of himself, making it seem like there were multiple copies attacking from different directions all at once.

But no matter what angle Asher tried to come from, it always turned out fruitless, as his attacks would miss every single time without fail, as if she knew where he was coming beforehand, allowing her to dodge effortlessly whenever needed without even breaking a sweat.

Still, even if he was having difficulties landing a single blow on her body, he didn't stop his assault for even a second because he knew that this was the best way to improve his combat abilities faster than anything else.

After all, who wouldn't want to learn from someone who had been through countless life-or-death battles throughout their entire life? Someone who has mastered everything there is about martial arts techniques and combat skills?

"Are you going to just keep avoiding it or what?" Asher asked mockingly as they continued their little dance around the chamber while exchanging blows.

In response, Arianna grinned and raised her hand before pointing her index finger straight at him and saying, "Then come and take this!"

The moment those words left her mouth, a tiny ball made of dark flames appeared above her fingertip, which then flew towards Asher at an incredible speed, hitting him in the chest and creating a massive explosion upon impact.

It happened within the blink of an eye, so much so that it took some time for Asher himself to realize what had just happened.

When he did manage to register everything that had occurred, however, he found himself lying face-down on the ground with several injuries covering his entire body.

Most notably, however, there seemed to be a huge burn mark on the left side of his chest where the blast struck him earlier during the attack.

"Aghhhh..." Asher groaned out loud while trying his best not to scream out due to the excruciating pain coursing through every nerve ending within his body, making him feel like passing out right then and there itself.

But alas! Life wasn't fair sometimes, especially not when one was fighting against someone stronger than oneself who didn't show mercy whatsoever towards their opponents, no matter how injured or weakened they might seem at any given moment.

As expected, Asher felt another powerful blow hitting his side soon after he got up on one knee, followed by an intense wave of searing heat washing over his entire body as if it wanted nothing more than to burn away every cell inside him until nothing remained except ashes floating in the air.

Unable to bear such agony anymore, Asher screamed out in anguish before falling flat onto the floor again, where he writhed around like a fish out of water while desperately trying to find something—anything—to grab onto amidst all that pain he felt coursing throughout every inch of his being.

And yet no matter how hard he searched for relief from this torture, it never came because there wasn't anything nearby other than solid rock ground beneath him, which offered little comfort against whatever hellish fires were burning him.

Just when Arianna was about to stop her flames and let Asher rest for a while before their next round of sparring began, she noticed how Asher's screams turned into suppressed groans of pain after a few seconds of thrashing on the ground, as if he had found some sort of mental fortitude within himself to endure these sufferings without succumbing under its effects.

Then the very next moment, some strange devouring power started affecting her flames as if they were being eaten by something unknown and unseen by anyone present around there.

Even though Arianna could see her flames getting weaker and weaker every passing second, she remained unfazed as she watched everything unfold before her very own eyes.

Soon, the black flames disappeared from the sight, but the young man who was supposed to be lying unconscious due to his wounds slowly stood up again with ragged breaths and bloody eyes. His body was covered in third-degree burns, but that wasn't anything new.

What was surprising there, however, was the fact that even after receiving so much damage from her attack, he still managed to get back onto his feet once more despite being injured like that!

"Impressive..." She muttered under her breath while staring at Asher's bloodshot eyes, filled with determination and resolve to keep fighting against all odds no matter what happened next.

Seeing him standing tall despite having gone through so much torment just now, Arianna couldn't help but feel proud of her grandson's tenacity and willpower in spite of his condition.

Soon after, raising his sword with a heavy effort, Asher asked in a rough voice. "Is that… it? Is that… all you… got?"

However, Arianna didn't respond to him, but instead similar black flames appeared above her palm as before, except this time around these ones seemed stronger than their predecessor.

The moment they were created by her, she sent them flying straight into Asher's direction once more without hesitation or remorse whatsoever.

Unlike earlier, though, when he had been caught off guard by such an attack coming towards him at high speed, this time around, he wasn't surprised one bit about seeing those black flames approaching fast as lightning bolts striking down upon his figure!

In fact, instead of trying to dodge away from incoming danger like last time, he stood still before letting out a roar akin to some ancient beast awakening within him.

Then the next moment, a swift sword strike cut through the center of the incoming flames, causing it to split apart into two separate entities traveling in different directions altogether.

"Not so fast..." Arianna smirked after seeing his actions, and just like that, with a little movement of her finger, both split-apart flames turned midway in their flight towards Asher as if being guided by some unseen forces invisible to the naked eye.

And before anyone knew it, they came crashing down onto him from behind! This caused another loud explosion that sent shockwaves rippling throughout the entire chamber.

"Aaahhhh!!!" Asher felt extreme pain running through his spine as well as every other part of his body while screaming out loud after getting hit by those flames.

Even after trying his best to devour the flames around him, the power he had was not enough, and his mind started drifting into unconsciousness.

"Seems like this is enough," Arianna muttered under her breath after seeing how much suffering her grandson was going through.

With that thought running across her mind, she snapped her fingers, causing all remaining traces of those black fires burning around Asher's figure to disappear without leaving behind any trace whatsoever.

After a while, only silence reigned inside the training chamber.

"Hey... Are you dead yet? Should I announce the sad news to everyone?"

"..."