Chapter 533 – Dance Of Hatred And Love

My father and I soared towards one another with our wings, and clashed with our blades. I used two katanas, while he used one single greatsword. Guns were useless here—even though my bullets were Chaos-charged, so was my father’s armor, and on a grander, more direct scale. After all, his comprehension of Chaos was still stronger than mine at my current stage. I doubted my bullets could harm him.

As my blades hit his greatsword, I could feel the devour effect of both our weapons taking place. He was trying to extract energy from my weapons, while I was trying to do the same for him. If I only had one katana, he would win for sure, but since I had two separate weapons, I was able to hold my own against him, and go on the offensive using my extra advantage.

Slowly, my father was pushed back towards the edge of the storm, but as if he had only been testing my skills earlier, he suddenly swung his greatsword forward with immense force, and shot out a crescent-shaped barrage of glowing red Chaos energy.

“Ngh!”

Unable to dodge, I blocked the hit with my twin katanas. I was sent flying backwards a few meters towards the edge of the arena, but managed to stop the backwards momentum just in time before getting cut to shreds by the tornado all around us.

“… You’re strong, Kai Kai,” my father said, pointing his greatsword at me. “But… not strong enough.”

On the contrary, I only smirked. “Heh… you talk like you’re so much better. If you were stronger, wouldn’t you simply be able to protect me from the otherworldly species, and wouldn’t have had to separate from your own son and wife?”

“Ngh…” My father groaned a bit. I grinned.

Emotional damage: successful.

Taking advantage of his momentary distracted state, I used Blink and suddenly teleported behind him, and cut down.

At least, that’s what I tried to do.

My blade was met with his armored bare hand, and before I could do anything else such as letting go of the handle, I was thrown down into the ground down below. 

“Agh-!” I cried in pain as my back hit the concrete rooftop, and I heard a crack in my bones. Probably broke it. No matter—it would heal in the matter of a few seconds.

Unfortunately, I didn’t not have the luxury of a few seconds as my father, not showing any mercy just like he said he wouldn’t, immediately followed up with a downwards drop cleave from the air.

“Tch-!” I quickly dashed out of the way despite the pain in my back, and just as it healed, an enormous crack appeared on the rooftop straight down the middle.

And then, the collapse.

BOOM!

I don’t know what was stored in this building before, but a series of explosions suddenly went off, and the building was sundered in two. The entire structure collapsed to the ground, concrete turned to rubble, items turned to debris and dust.

Naturally, this meant there was no longer any solid footing on the ground for us, and my father and I rose up into the air. He expanded the arena a bit to make up for that loss, but this meant we would constantly be using stamina and mana thanks to flying using our Chaos-imbued wings. It was no longer just a battle of wits and skill anymore—it was also one of perseverance and endurance.

“… Kai Kai. One final chance,” my father said, gripping his greatsword tightly, black, demonic wings flapping slowly in the air. “You cannot outlast me in terms of mana. This battle is already decided. Surrender now, and we can go back to being just simply father and son. I will eradicate magic from this world, and we can live as a family once more.”

“Heh. Family?” I scoffed, narrowing my eyes at him. “Will my mother come back if you eradicated magic from this world? I thought she supported my usage of Chaos?”

“That’s…”

“And yes, you’re right,” I continued. “I can’t outlast you in terms of mana. But all that means… is I have to defeat you before I run out!”

Like a red streak of lightning, I dashed forward and cut at him with my two katanas in a flurry of weak but rapid attacks, taking advantage of my dual-wielding compared to his singular weapon. Naturally, he blocked with his greatsword, taking all of my attacks head-on.

“Stop this, Kai Kai…! You are only wasting your own mana by doing this…!” He muttered through his midnight black casque, red eyes shining ominously. But I continued stubbornly, having my own plan in mind.

“Kai… Kai…!”

… Now!

Deciding it was enough, I suddenly backed away and placed the two handles of my katanas together, one above and one below. Instantly, the two weapons changed form, converging into a singular bow, and in one smooth motion, I nocked the arrow, charging it up to the maximum using a lot of mana, and unleashed the Chaos energy-imbued projectile.

“…!”

My father’s eyes widened as he realized what my goal was in the flurry of attacks just now, but it was too late. The arrow struck the same exact point all my attacks earlier had been focused on, and tore through his greatsword before striking him straight through the chest.

“…” He fell silent, still in a state of shock, as he realized how badly he’d been fooled in that final round. Then, he slowly fell downwards towards the ground as the tornado around us dispersed, and I immediately moved to catch him in my arms before bringing him to a different rooftop and setting him down safely. However, that didn’t mean the battle was over.

Never let your guard down, even when victorious.

I’ve heard that line from somewhere before, though I couldn’t be sure as it was a long time ago. Perhaps… it was my own father who taught me that?

Either way, that was not the point. I lifted one of my katanas and pointed it at his pierced chest, now slowly regenerating. He too had regenerative powers and wasn’t going to die from this, but I could finish him off right now if I wanted to.

But of course, he was my father. I wasn’t going to kill him.

Letting out a deep sigh, he dematerialized his greatsword to let it repair, and took off his helmet to stare up at the clear sky.

“… I’ve lost.”

I nodded. “So? Is this enough to convince you?” I asked, confident of his answer this time around.

But to my surprise, his response still was…

“No. I still believe you are too weak for the encounters that you will soon face.”

“… You’ve got to be kidding me, right?” I arched an eyebrow, thinking whether or not I would have to torture him or something to get him to finally give his approval.

“But…” He then continued, causing my ears to perk up once more. “… I will not interfere anymore, and instead do my best to help train you.”

I blinked. “Father…”

“However, before you do anything else… we must search for your mother,” he said, slowly getting up from the ground. “Recently, I’ve received news she was last spotted in Demon Territory, and was on the run for whatever reason.”

I frowned, putting away my swords. “Demon territory…? What was she doing there…”

“That’s my question,” my father replied with a sigh. “But either way, there is no time to waste. We will rest for today, then set off immediately tomorrow. Does that sound fine with you?”

I nodded. “But… uh, is it just going to be the two of us, or…”

“Ah, your… ‘friends’,” my father said with a wry smile. “They can come along if they like. Nael and Eve are definitely coming since they are familiar with the area, but my private jet has more than enough room for all of them.

“P-Private jet…”

He’s flippin’ richer than I am!

“Oh, don’t worry about detection issues,” my father said with a wide smile flashing all his teeth, along with a thumbs-up. “The plane has built-in invisibility and radar evasion properties.”

“Right… well, uh, I need to introduce you to them anyway,” I said, turning around. “Just don’t say anything weird, got it? I’ll tell mom if you try anything.”

“Haha!” My father laughed and slapped me on the shoulder, like a completely different person from earlier. “Relax, Kai Kai! I was able to resist Eve being by my side for so long. You see, your mother set a curse on me when we got married that prevented me from feeling love or lust for any other woman. I don’t mind.”

Yikes… that’s scary.

“A-Ahem… in any case, that’s not what I meant,” I clarified, clearing my throat. “I just mean… don’t say any weird stuff about me or ask them any embarrassing questions.”

“Don’t worry, Kai Kai! I am an expert at judging whether or not a girl is fine wife material!”

That’s what I’m scared of, dad!