Teacher Pins Me Down

Shura utterly failed the verbal test in the end. Thankfully, teacher did not seem as disappointed as Shura feared.

"After your martial and spiritual tests, revise World of Warcraft with Raghav and then recite to me tomorrow, the first ten pages of the book," Master Vashisth ordered Shura, to which the demon prince pouted at first. Then, his eyes brightened all of a sudden.

"But guruji, what if I forget what I memorize?" Shura asked innocently.

Master Vashisth frowned. "Why will you forget? If you pay attention when you are doing your lessons, you will remember everything."

Shura smiled sweetly at his master, but his eyes glinted with mischief, "But I always forget everything when I look at guruji's face."

Master Vashisth immediately turned beet red, his eyes glaring holes at Shura. The students sitting at the boundary of the courtyard thought haish, even Shura is so afraid of teacher's cane that he forgets his lessons. But then, why is master so angry that his cheeks are becoming red like an apple? Shouldn't the teacher be happy that even his most powerful student is afraid of his cane?

Pa!

Master Vashisth brought down his cane and struck the ground beside him.

"If you fail to recite the first ten pages tomorrow, you will get ten of these." Teacher pointed towards his cane. Shura pouted again, but in his heart, he was all smirks and mischief. Little did the teacher knew that let alone ten, even thousands of these would not cause even one twinge of pain to Shura.

"Now, it is time for your martial and spiritual tests. And for that, you will compete with," Master Vashisth inhaled before continuing, "me."

Immediately, the courtyard was abuzz with excited chatter among the students.

Haish, Master Vashisth rarely combats with students! What blessed day is today that we will witness Master Vashisth in a combat! Prince Shura must be very skilled in martial and spiritual arts; why else would master volunteer himself? Huh, I can beat both in five minutes.

Master Vashisth cleared his throat loudly, and the chatter died down, right away, followed by a hushed, expectant silence.

"First fifteen minutes would be pure martial fight, where we would only use our physical strength and skills. Next fifteen minutes would be the test for tantric skills. Then, it will be the battle of Yantra techniques, and lastly, your talent for Mantra would be tested. During the test, neither of us can use a steel weapon. The only weapon allowed would be conjured tantric weapons. Other than that, there are no rules." Master Vashisth raised himself to his feet, and so did Shura. "Oh yes, put on your spirit shield. I do not want your father to hear that I killed you in a battle." Master Vashisth gave a faint smile of amusement.

On the other hand, Shura was full-on beaming, smiling ear to ear. He could not believe that certain dreams of his were coming true. He had been dreaming of this duel with his teacher since he had arrived at the gurukul. For one reason or the other, they would start wrestling, and then he would pin down Master Vashisth and restrain both his wrists with one hand and tear off his robe with the other….. If only those pesky students would leave them alone in the courtyard.

"Guruji," Shura said politely, "I do not fear for my own life, but I worry that the spectators here may get wounded from the spiritual blasts. Should we go somewhere else to spar?" Shura suggested, the image of innocence.

The master swept a glance at his students and then shook his head. "Do not worry about your friends. They must watch such fights sooner or later, and they can learn from your mistakes." Master Vashisth remarked nonchalantly and then walked up to Shura, the ground packed with mud underfoot.

Shura did some jumps and jiggles, and shaking to warm up his body. At one corner of the courtyard, the large sun dial showed it was nine in the morning, too early for an hour-long combat even for Shura, but he had had worse.

"Ready?" The master asked, his hands held behind his back, his face calm and serene. Shura bobbed his head.

For the first five minutes, no one made a move, Shura occasionally jumping and stretching at his own spot while Master Vashisth standing quiet and tall like a column of moonlight.

Eventually, growing impatient, Shura threw a punch that Master Vashisth easily evaded by leaning back, not moving one step. Shura already sensed Master Vashisth would be among the most skilled martial warriors he ever faced in his sixteen years. So, the regular attacks would not work, and he needed something crafty to pin down his teacher. He spun low, throwing his leg out to sweep his master's legs from under him.

The master anticipated the move and leapt up, and soon as his body rose in air, Shura lunged forward and grasped his legs, causing Vashisth to crash to the ground on his back. But, the master was nimble as a cat and strong as a bear. He sprang up and gripped Shura's neck in a chokehold, squeezing it hard. Shura released one of Vashisth's legs to grasp the arm around his throat. That slight opening was enough for Vashisth to move his leg away and turn the both of them around with him on top, and Shura restrained under him with his face to the ground. Shura did NOT like that at all; he did not like that at all.

All of a sudden, Shura's entire body began to shudder as a deadly rage came over him. He slammed his hand to the ground, and the entire ground shook, causing the pupils to shriek and leap to their feet. He slammed his hand again, throwing off Vashisth from his back and sending him flying to the other side of the yard. Shura then raised himself slowly to his feet, his eyes fiery red, his fangs protruding slightly from his mouth.

Vashisth lifted himself too, inhaling deeply, as his intense yellow striped eyes watched the fire demon closely. Not waiting a second, Shura stomped towards Vashisth, but before he could reach him, something tied itself around his leg before being yanked hard, and Shura came crashing down to the ground like a log of wood. His eyes blazed, but Master Vashisth only signaled towards the sundial that now showed 9:15. The fifteen minutes for the martial test were up.

That nudged Shura to remember where he was, embarrassed that in his outburst, he had let his demonic side show to the humans around him. To display your demonic form in public like that was frowned upon in this land unless it was a real battlefield. He reined in his fury and quickly returned to his human form.

The tantric test would be a walk through the park for him, Shura knew. No one on this earth was as skilled as fire demons when it came to Tantra and Yantra; it was common knowledge. Shura chuckled when he saw the sad-looking air flail around his leg and wrapped his hand around it. It immediately dissolved into air particles. For the next fifteen minutes, it was just the master conjuring one air weapon after another and Shura melting them away one after another. He did not conjure up his own air weapon to attack Master Vashisth as that would not be a fair match to him.

When it came to the Yantra contest, Shura could not believe his eyes. His master had transformed himself into the doe, the very same doe that he had hunted down the other night. His mouth watered instinctively, and transforming into his usual tiger form, he sprang at his master, aiming right for his juicy buttock.