Chapter 118: Duel with Father [Part-2]

The battle continued as Neo kept dodging his father’s fists again and again, though he couldn’t dodge every one of them, and some of the punches hit him on the stomach and chest, pushing him back. It only made him concentrate more on the movements around him, as his senses expanded to the surroundings and focused entirely on the faint sounds and the air around him, by which he could feel every movement.

Neo suddenly felt a lightning strike from exactly above him, falling straight towards him with incredible speed.

He didn’t get much time to react. He gathered a large amount of mana, forced it into his legs, and burst out from the place.

*BOOOM!*

The lightning hit the place where he had stood just a second ago, but it was not the end. More lightning began to fall simultaneously, forcing him to keep his motion constant, and as he kept dodging with his eyes closed, he suddenly felt the hair on his spine rise.

He immediately channeled his mana while focusing on a single thing.

[Nine Heavens Dragon Ascension Art: First Ascension!]

Frost began to spread along his skin as the lightning struck his body perfectly. The dust spread out around him, covering the area.

Cassian looked casually from the side towards the dust clearing slowly, and Neo stood there unharmed, without even the slightest hint of a wound on his body.

A flicker of surprise appeared on his face, which immediately changed into a calm and prideful look.

"So it’s true that you actually awakened the bloodline power on your own... Well done."

Neo stood there as the frost began to spread around his feet, and he finally opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings, his blue eyes sparkling with energy, as he felt stronger and freer than before.

He looked at Cassian with intent. He knew that the earlier lightning was just a few drops from the lake of what his father could do, so he decided to stop holding back completely.

The frost began to spread around the field, making the floor glitter like a frozen lake, layer after layer of thin ice covering the ground until the entire training field was wrapped in a pale-blue sheen. The temperature dropped sharply, and Evelyn, sitting in the seat, let out a small gasp as her breath turned into white mist in front of her face.

Cassian glanced down at the ice spreading beneath his boots and raised an eyebrow, a faint smile curving his lips. "Using the field to your advantage, huh? Interesting. Let’s see what you can do with it."

Neo didn’t answer. He bent his knees slightly, and with a thin sheet of ice forming beneath the soles of his boots, he pushed off the ground and glided across the field like a blade sliding over polished glass. With the gravity around his body adjusted slightly to reduce the friction, he was no longer running but skating, his figure cutting through the cold air with a speed far greater than before, and the smooth surface let him change direction without needing to plant his feet.

He circled around Cassian at a fast pace, his silver hair streaming behind him as he drew wide arcs across the ice, never staying in one place for more than a second. Cassian turned slowly, tracking him with a calm gaze, though his hands remained behind his back as if the sight of his son racing around him was nothing more than a pleasant show.

’Don’t just rely on your eyes. Feel the air, feel the pressure. He will only move when he thinks I’m not ready.’

Neo suddenly changed his direction, cutting sharply inward and shooting towards Cassian’s blind side, his fist coated with thick frost, aiming straight at his father’s chest.

Cassian didn’t even turn his head. His arm moved on its own and blocked the punch with his forearm, a loud crack echoing across the field as the frost shattered against his skin. But Neo had already expected it, and he used the force of the block to spin around, sliding behind his father and sweeping a low kick towards his ankles, which was followed by another punch from the opposite direction.

Cassian raised his foot lightly to avoid the kick and tilted his body to the side, letting the punch pass by an inch from his cheek. "Good. Your movement is much better than before. But you are still thinking too much with every attack."

Neo gritted his teeth and kept moving. He slid away again, and this time he spread thin threads of frost along the ground behind him, leaving them like hidden traps across the surface of the ice. As Cassian stepped forward to chase him, the threads suddenly rose from the ground and wrapped around his boots, freezing them to the floor in an instant.

"Oh?"

Cassian looked down at his frozen feet, and for a moment, a look of genuine amusement crossed his face. Then he flexed his legs, and a surge of lightning exploded around his body, shattering the ice into countless fragments that scattered across the field like broken glass.

"A clever trick, but it will take more than that to hold me."

The moment the ice shattered, Neo felt a sharp pressure above and behind him at the same time, and his body moved before he could think. He dropped low and slid forward just as a bolt of lightning crashed down onto the spot where his head had been, followed by a second one which struck the ice beside him, throwing him sideways. Neo rolled across the frozen floor, using the momentum to rise back to his feet, and then he ducked again as a fist cut through the air above him with a sound like thunder.

’I can feel it. I can feel his attacks before they land. It’s not perfect, but it’s working...’

Neo let the sensation guide him. He weaved between the strikes with his eyes half-closed, shifting his weight on instinct, and every time a punch or a lightning bolt missed him by a hair, his movements became a little smoother. The gap between his father’s attacks and his own responses became smaller and smaller, and slowly, he began to find the rhythm hidden inside the storm.

On the seats, Evelyn leaned forward with her hands clenched over her knees, her eyes wide. "Brother is so fast, Mother! He is dancing on the ice!"

"He is certainly improving by the minute," Sylvia murmured, though her fingers were gripping the edge of her seat. "Cassian is not even holding back as much as he said, is he?"

Nora didn’t say anything. Her violet eyes tracked every movement of Neo’s body, and her hand, resting on Yuki’s back, had stopped moving entirely.

On the field, Neo took a hit on his shoulder from a lightning-wrapped fist and was thrown across the ice, skidding for several yards before he stopped himself with his hand. He panted, wiping the sweat from his forehead, and looked at his father, who was standing in the same spot with an unbothered expression.

’The First Ascension alone isn’t enough. If I keep going like this, he will only keep adjusting, and I will run out of stamina long before he does.’

He raised his head, and his blue eyes sharpened with resolve. Even if his father was holding back, this was a rare chance to test how far his own power could go, and he was not going to waste it by being careful.

"Father, I’m going to use something stronger now. Please don’t be careless."

Cassian’s smile widened a little, and he finally brought his hands from behind his back. "Come, then. Show me what you’ve got."

Neo closed his eyes for a second and reached deep inside himself, pushing past the First Ascension, and the knowledge of the scripture flowed through his mind like a memory he had already become one with.

[Nine Heavens Dragon Ascension Art: Second Ascension!]

A blinding radiance burst from Neo’s body.

Pure, shimmering starlight surged beneath his skin, flowing through his veins like liquid light, and it spread rapidly through his entire body until his figure was enveloped in a dazzling glow. The frost on the ground reflected the light in every direction, turning the whole training field into a sea of glittering stars, and Evelyn covered her eyes with a small cry while Sylvia remain still, looking at him.

When the light settled, Neo opened his eyes again. The restraint he had shown until now was gone, and a cold, focused look had taken its place, his gaze burning with a single, unwavering intent.

Cassian’s expression changed for the first time since the duel had begun, his eyes narrowing as he felt the pressure radiating from his son’s body. The lightning around him crackled louder, as though responding to the challenge.

"So this is the Second Ascension... You have really come a long way."

Neo didn’t reply. He simply bent his knees, and then he vanished.

Starlight trailed behind him like a comet as he shot across the ice at a speed far beyond what he had shown a moment earlier, and by the time Cassian turned his head, Neo was already in front of him, his palm glowing with a concentrated burst of light, striking straight at his father’s chest.

Cassian crossed his arms in front of him and took the blow head-on. A deafening explosion rang through the field, a shockwave of light and lightning spreading outward and shattering the ice for dozens of yards around, and Cassian was pushed back several steps, his boots carving two long lines into the ground.

For a moment, there was silence.

Then Cassian lowered his arms slowly, and on his forearms, a faint trace of burn marks could be seen, small but undeniable. He looked at them for a moment, and then he began to laugh, deeply and genuinely, as the lightning around him roared like a storm gathering strength.

"Hahaha! Excellent! To think I would receive a mark from my own son so soon... It has been a long time since I enjoyed a fight this much!"

Neo felt a chill run down his spine as he saw the excitement in his father’s eyes, because he understood that he had just awakened something that he might not be able to put back to sleep.

’Ah... I think I just made it worse.’

Cassian took a step forward, and the ground trembled beneath him. "Now, Neo, hold on tightly. I’m going to be a little more serious as well."

Neo swallowed hard, tightened his stance, and let the starlight blaze around his body once more, as the two figures prepared to collide again in the middle of the shattered frozen field, with the real battle only just beginning.