Under the watchful eyes of nearly every soldier and attendant on the Vanthar estate, father and son stood at the center of the training field.
The morning was heavy with expectation, the usual hum of early morning training and warmup exercises that filled the air next to the barracks was instead silenced as everyone gathered for a spectacle unlike any other. Even so of the maids and house servants ignored their morning duties to be present for this event.
The crowd ford a wide circle around the entire length of the large training field that usually fit the entirety of the 150 mbers of the Iron Marquis’ personal retinue, their whispers subdued as they observed the two combatants.
Lassim stood with his halberd already summoned and resting lightly against his shoulder, his posture casual, yet ready. The runes etched into the weapon glowed faintly.
Across from him was his father, Everard Vanthar, the Iron Marquis, adjusting his grip on his bastard sword as he gently twirled it between his hands. The blade, ornate with fire infused rune symbols along its edges, released small bits of fla as it moved.
Egelina stood near the forefront of the crowd at a position that put her in the middle and perfect sight line to see them both, her erald gaze steady but edged with unease.
Beside her, Gryphon crossed his arms, yet his smirk spoke to the excitent he was trying to hold back. The soldiers shifted restlessly, their eyes darting between the two figures on the field, caught between admiration and apprehension. It was rare for the Iron Marquis to show off his skills so fully since there hadn’t been any portals in recent days or other kingdoms attacking. At least, not to the extent that required his presence as a Marquis of the kingdom.
"You can still back out, Father," Lassim said with a faint smirk, spinning the halberd in a lazy arc before planting its butt into the earth.
Everard chuckled, his fiery orange eyes narrowing. "You show up radiating enough spirit pressure to make my guards ready to die, and you think I’d back down now?" He rolled his shoulders, his fiery aura flickering to life for a brief mont, sending a wave of heat rippling across the field.
Egelina’s brow furrowed, her arms crossed tightly. "Everard, don’t push him too far. He’s still our son."
Everard glanced toward her, his expression softening for a heartbeat. "I’ll be careful," he said, though his tone carried a hint of mischief as he turned back to Lassim, "But this is important. A father tests his son—not to break him, but to make sure he’s ready for what’s out there. Plus, despite us being the sa cultivation level, he’s hardly got the experience I do. I’ll not harm the boy too much, my love."
"Here we go," Gryphon muttered under his breath, shaking his head.
Lassim rotated his cultivation slightly, releasing a faint thread of his spiritual pressure. The storm-like energy coiled around him to a small extent, the air thickening with the tang of his fused mana’s lightning, water and spatial elents—an odd combination of dew, ozone and the burnt, irradiated dust of the void.
His stormy eyes t Everard’s fiery gaze. "Good. Ready when you are, old man."
Everard’s grin widened, and his cultivation erupted to life. The fiery pressure slamd outward, washing over the crowd like the opening blast of a furnace.
Above him, his constellation ignited—it held the sporadic and odd tendril qualities of a blazing inferno, shifting and roaring flas. Though it was the standard kind of constellation that all other Spirit Ascension stage cultivators had. It was blurry, the brightness and finer details of it were mostly left up to the onlooker’s imagination as well. Yet, even still, the fire constellation seed to pulse with life, showing the visualization and imagery of heat and light as though it sought to consu the sky itself.
In response, Lassim rotated his cultivation further, his aura coming a tiny bit more to life. Dark clouds swirled into being above the field, crackling with lightning.
His Leviathan constellation erged, her massive, serpentine form dominating the heavens above his head. Every scale shimred with an eerie iridescence and detail, its crimson eyes glowing with a feral intelligence.
The crowd fell silent, their attention locked on the duel as the two combatants began to circle each other.
The shock to the crowd that the appearance of his constellation caused was not small. Both of his parents and Uncle Gryphon held a sad frown on their faces as they recalled the previous night’s conversation regarding his constellation.
Not willing to dwell on it further, Everard moved first.
The Iron Marquis surged forward. His bastard sword, wreathed in a burst of fire, swept through the air in an arc, releasing a wide-reaching [Fla Surge], one of his signature attacks for slaughtering waves of Abyssal demons.
The ground beneath his feet scorched black as the wave of fire surged along in its path towards Lassim.
Lassim braced himself, spinning his halberd with fluid precision as he activated [Lifestream Aegis]. A soft, dark blue and sparkly water enveloped him, like the waters from the whirlpool of his inner heart world, buffering the wave of searing heat that reached him. The molten fire smashed into the protective barrier, sending ripples of energy through the air before breaking apart into harmless embers.
"That’s more like it," Lassim said with a smirk, stepping forward at a casual pace.
Everard didn’t reply.
Instead, he pressed forward with an unrelenting assault. He pivoted on his heel, his bastard sword cutting a wide arc around him as he unleashed [Inferno Circle], a whirling blast of fire that surged outward in every direction.
Another quintessential technique of the Iron Marquis’ that the soldiers and guards recognized. Everard’s attacks all followed the idea of killing as many enemies with a single attack as possible and pushing forward along with the heat.
The flas licked at Lassim’s personal disciple robes, the defensive enchantnts flaring to life briefly, forcing him to activate [Storm’s Dance] to dodge upward and above the scorching ring of fire.
The younger Vanthar reappeared just outside the edge of the blast, his halberd crackling with lightning as he retaliated with a series of simple [Thrusts]. The speed of Lassim’s movent technique caught his father off guard slightly as each strike flew downward. His fused mana, spiraling toward his father in a powerful combination, but the iconic lightning sprite fish were held back and no where to be seen.
Everard didn’t flinch. He slamd his blade into the ground, activating his infamous [Blazing Bastion], the technique the bards wrote about when he defended the caravans all those years ago and made a na for himself, gaining the title of Iron Marquis—A defender of the Aurora Kingdom that refused to retreat, holding the line all by himself.
Pillars of fla erupted around him in a protective ring, absorbing the incoming attacks in a fiery explosion that rocked the training field.
The onlookers gasped as the sheer intensity of the heat caused the grass to curl into ash. Most were all fire elental spirit warriors of the family, to fit the family arts the best, but even then there was still quite the effect on each of them.
"You’re not going to wear down like this," Everard growled, his fiery aura intensifying as he charged forward again.
His movents were deceptively fast for his size, his sword carving through the air. With each swing, he unleashed [Scorched Earth], fiery slashes that raked across the ground, leaving trails of molten ground in their wake that tore into the training field.
Lassim t the attack head-on, his halberd spinning in a defensive blur. He didn’t even bother with [Lifestream Aegis] as he’d gotten used to his father’s attacks and parrying them through their short exchanges so far.
Sparks of fire and lightning and fused mana that gently disturbed the spatial threads in the air—but not tearing them—flew as their weapons clashed.
The ground beneath them trembled under the force of their strikes, but all of the onlookers held on without stumbling.
"You’ve got strength, old man," His swirling and stormy eyes glead with amusent as he said, "But let’s see how you handle this."
With a surge of fused mana, Lassim swept his halberd in a wide arc, releasing a scaled-down, approximately 5% of potential power, [Storm Slash].
Totally left out of the attack once more was Lassim’s lightning sprite fish as well, yet the spiraling tempest of lightning and water surged toward Everard with strength, cutting through the already scorched earth of the training ground with a high-pitched screech as it moved.
Everard planted his feet firmly, his fiery aura flaring as he activated [Blazing Bastion] once more. A wall of molten fire erupted before him, clashing against the storm with a deafening roar. Lightning filled steam billowed into the air as fire and fused elents present in the attacks collided, obscuring the battlefield in a thick, swirling mist.
From within the mist, Everard’s voice rang out like a battle cry. "[Fla Surge!]" The ground beneath him erupted with fiery energy as he charged forward, never the kind to retreat, his sword blazed brighter than ever.
Using the sa attack from earlier, he swung the blade in a wide horizontal arc, releasing a wave of fire that tore through the mist and forced Lassim to leap back.
Lassim landed lightly, his stormy spiritual pressure coiling around him as he adjusted his stance. "Not bad," Lassim admitted, his halberd crackling with renewed energy. "But you’re going to need more than brute force to keep up."
Everard grinned, his fiery eyes narrowing. "This brute force of mine is what wins wars, boy. Let show you."
He slamd his sword into the ground, activating [Double Scorched Earth]. A massive wave of fire erupted outward in a devastating pulse, scorching the earth in every direction. The sheer force of the attack sent debris flying and caused the onlookers to shield their eyes from the blinding light.
Lassim reacted instantly, activating [Storm’s Dance] to evade the inferno. The bits of storm swirling around his feet as he disappeared in a blip, reappearing behind Everard with his halberd poised to strike.
With a swift movent, he unleashed a precise [Thrust], aiming to catch his father off guard and end the duel.
Everard twisted at the last mont, his battle instinct honed as the alarm bells rang in his mind and spiritual sense. His blade barely intercepted the attack with a shower of sparks, "You’re holding back," he growled, his fiery aura flaring with renewed intensity. "Stop playing around!"
Lassim hesitated for a fraction of a second, taking another [Storm’s Dance] step backwards to create distance.
"Are you sure about that?" he asked.
Everard straightened, his fiery aura radiating heat as he locked eyes with his son. "Show everything you’ve got, Son!"
Lassim sighed, but then a small smile crept onto his face. He really did want to beat his father in the duel and show how powerful he’d grown, even if it was only just a little bit, it’s what he really wanted. His grip tightened on his halberd as he apologized, "Alright. Hold on and sorry in advance everyone."
The air grew heavy as Lassim rotated his cultivation fully for the first ti. The Leviathan constellation above seed to darken, becoming more life-like its crimson eyes glowing brighter.
The storm clouds that had taken up residence above the field, suddenly expanded to a width of 10 kiloters, their swirling mass blotting out the sun and plunging not only the estate, but all of Swallowtail Mountain City into an unnatural twilight. Rain began to pour torrentially from the heavens.
The weight of Lassim’s spiritual pressure slamd down on the field, pressing against everyone within a one-kiloter radius. Soldiers staggered under the oppressive force, so falling to their knees.
Gryphon’s usual smirk faltered as he steadied himself, his expression turning serious. Even Everard’s fiery aura flickered, the heat struggling to maintain its dominance against the tempest.
Lightning crackled through the storm that floated above, seeming to fall from the sky and join his spiritual pressure—like the storm recognized him as part of itself and sought to join up with him—as Lassim raised his halberd, the weapon glowing with spiraling fused mana.
Iridescent lightning fish sprites appeared to swirl and school around him as they darted through the air, their playful movents contrasting with the ominous storm falling from the sky.
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