Onslaught (Rise of the Empire Book 6) by Ivan Kal Read Free Book Online

And Narrasak was a worthy partner; he was one of the strongest students in the program alongside Anessa.
    “Narrasak, we will be late,” Anessa said, as she slowly disengaged herself.
    “You’re right,” Narrasak said, his eyes gleaming with passion. “We will continue tonight.”
    Anessa hit him in the shoulder as she passed, not bothering to respond. She could hardly wait. They reached the practice hall, and entered just a moment or two before their instructors.
    After the practice, one of their Sha instructors asked her to stay behind so that he could speak with her alone.
    “You are holding back,” he said once everyone had left.
    “I’m not holding back, I just have no need to use everything I am capable of,” Anessa responded calmly.
    “That is true, but it is not the whole truth. There is something that makes you pull back, and someday that might cost you your life,” the instructor told her. Anessa dismissed his words. What did he know? Already she could squash him like an insignificant pest. She knew that none of her instructors were truly her equals in terms of power.
     
    Anessa woke from another dream of her past. It had been more than a century since she had last thought about the beginnings of her training to become a Dai Sha, or Narrasak. Once, she had thought that he would be her Dal A’sha, a life partner, but that dream had ended terribly. She shook her head and stood up from the bed, going to the cleaning room. She had barely had the chance to finish when she felt a familiar mind in front of her doors. She sighed and moved to clothe herself.
    A few minutes later, Anessa stood across from Adrian, staring at him, still processing his words.
    “You were serious?” she asked incredulously. She hadn’t really believed him when he came to her quarters and asked her to come with him so that they can spar. The two of them were the only people in the large room on his ship, obviously designed for training, with various machines and training courses lining the walls. “You captured me. Does that not tell you all you need to know?”
    Adrian smiled at her, “I will not use the Sha. I want to spar with you, only using our physical abilities,” he said.
    “You are a better fighter than me,” Anessa said slowly, still not understanding the point.
    “I am not an idiot, Anessa, I felt your power when we fought. You weren’t fighting with your full capabilities; you were trying to capture me unharmed. We surprised you and outnumbered you, and we got lucky. I’m under no illusion that I could win a battle to the death if you had access to the Sha.”
    Anessa looked at him calmly, knowing that his words were true. If she had fought with everything she had, Adrian and his people wouldn’t have left alive. But then, she had needed him alive. She couldn’t have risked harming him before she had had the chance to interrogate him, and she had underestimated him. A mistake that she will not repeat again. “Then what is the point?” she asked.
    “Even without the Sha, you are stronger and faster; it is a good challenge for me. I can train fighting a stronger opponent. And you can learn more about my people’s way of fighting,” Adrian said. “Is that not the Shara Daim way? To always seek more strength, to reinforce your place at the top?”
    Immediately, Anessa realized that this was a great opportunity for her to learn. “Our way is that of blood and death. To become stronger through spilling our enemies’ blood,” she said.
    The two had touched upon their people’s philosophies only a bit, and Anessa had learned enough to know that the Empire’s way was far weaker. They valued the lives of lower creatures, and they even went as far as to uplift them, give them power that they did not deserve, and that made them weak as well.
    “You are not worried that I will kill you?” she asked.
    “You gave your word not to, but even if you did, what would it accomplish?” he asked, and then when she