Chapter 550: Elion Vs Patriarch Crimson
Tessa’s mother stood off to the side with her arms folded beneath her chest, the amusement that had been plastered across her face for most of the morning still lingering at the corners of her lips.
She looked between the two men one final time.
"Since neither of you seems willing to behave like a reasonable person, I will make this simple," she said. "The moment I say the fight is over, it is over. Understood?"
Tessa’s father grunted.
Elion nodded.
"Understood."
"Good."
The woman raised one hand, and the atmosphere inside the dojo changed immediately.
The teasing expressions of the surrounding clansmen disappeared as they focused entirely upon the centre of the room.
Even Tessa had stopped trying to hide her embarrassment, her eyes now fixed nervously upon her father and Elion.
She had warned Elion that this might happen before they decided to come here.
The patriarch’s flaming red aura intensified.
Heat rolled across the dojo in visible waves, making the air inside uncomfortably hot.
Elion tightened his fingers around the wooden sword.
Tessa’s mother dropped her hand.
"Begin."
BOOM!
The floor exploded beneath the patriarch’s feet.
Elion’s eyes widened.
The man crossed the distance between them almost instantly, his fist already hurtling towards Elion’s face before the splintered pieces of wood beneath his feet had even finished leaving the ground.
’Fast!’
Elion twisted his head aside.
The fist passed so close to his cheek that the wind pressure alone felt like a slap.
He immediately retaliated.
The wooden sword flashed upwards towards the patriarch’s ribs.
The older man twisted his torso and the blade missed by less than an inch.
Elion continued the motion, rotated his wrist, and brought the sword down towards the man’s shoulder.
Tessa’s father raised one forearm.
THWACK!
The wooden blade struck his arm hard enough to produce a violent crack.
Elion’s brow twitched.
The man had blocked the sword with his bare flesh. Before he could pull back, a massive hand closed around his wrist.
"Got you."
Elion’s pupils contracted.
The world suddenly spun.
Tessa’s father yanked him forwards, twisted his hips, and hurled him over his shoulder with such ridiculous force that Elion briefly lost sight of which direction was up.
BOOM!
His body smashed into the wooden floor hard enough to crater it.
Several of the clansmen winced.
Elion had barely registered the pain spreading across his back when another fist descended towards his face.
He rolled aside.
BANG!
The patriarch’s knuckles punched straight through the floor.
Elion sprang to his feet and slashed towards the side of the man’s neck.
Tessa’s father ducked beneath it and drove his shoulder into Elion’s chest. The impact felt like being rammed by a charging beast.
Booom!
Elion was sent flying.
He crossed nearly half the dojo before twisting in the air and landing on one knee, the soles of his boots scraping loudly across the floor.
A grin spread across the patriarch’s face.
"That all you have?"
Elion wiped the corner of his mouth with his thumb, and a thin streak of blood stained his skin.
His own smile slowly appeared.
"Not even close."
He kicked off the ground, and the two collided again.
’Starfall Requiem!’
The wooden sword became a blur in Elion’s hand. A burst of rapid slashes, into a thrust, into a feint, and then into a reverse slash.
He chained the movements together without pause, attacking from increasingly awkward angles while forcing the patriarch to either block or retreat.
At least, that was what should have happened.
Instead, Tessa’s father seemed almost insultingly comfortable.
He slipped beneath the first slash, parried the thrust with the side of his palm, allowed the feint to pass harmlessly before his face, and then stepped directly inside the range of Elion’s final attack.
His elbow struck Elion’s ribs.
CRACK!
Elion’s body folded around the blow.
The patriarch followed with a backhand, and Elion raised the wooden sword horizontally.
BANG!
He was blasted sideways.
His feet left the ground again, and he crashed through one of the low weapon racks along the wall.
Wooden staffs and practice swords scattered everywhere.
"Elion!" Tessa shouted.
He immediately pushed himself up.
"I am fine."
He was, well, mostly.
His ribs felt as though someone had taken a hammer to them, but nothing seemed broken. His body was sturdier than normal after all.
Despite that, the air had been knocked out of his lungs, and unfortunately, Tessa’s father gave him no time to recover.
The man charged again, red flames beginning to coil around both his arms.
Elion’s eyes sharpened.
So far, the bastard had barely used magic. The thought had barely formed before a flaming fist appeared directly in front of him.
Elion crossed the wooden sword before his chest.
BOOOOOOM!
Fire erupted across the room.
The impact sent him tearing backwards through the remains of the weapon rack and into the wall behind it.
The reinforced wooden panels cracked violently.
Smoke rolled from Elion’s clothes.
Before the patriarch could follow, Elion thrust one hand forwards.
"Water Bullet!"
Several condensed spheres of water appeared instantly, shooting across the dojo like rapid bullets.
Tessa’s father raised both arms.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The first exploded against his forearm, the second struck his shoulder, the third caught him directly in the chest, and the fourth smashed into his face.
The man was finally forced backwards.
Elion appeared through the steam created by the collision of fire and water, swinging the wooden sword with both hands.
The patriarch turned.
His fist moved.
Elion saw it coming, so he changed the sword’s trajectory at the last moment, attempting to slide around the punch.
The man’s knuckles still struck the middle of the blade.
CRACK!
The sword snapped cleanly in half.
Elion stared at the shortened piece of wood in his hand.
Tessa’s father grinned.
"That toy was never going to last." His fist continued forward.
Elion barely raised his arm in time to block it.
BOOM!
Pain exploded from his forearm to his shoulder as he was sent spinning through the air like a rag doll.
His body struck the floor once, bounced, struck it again, and rolled several times before crashing against one of the dojo’s support pillars.
The entire pillar shuddered as Elion slid down it. He simply sat there for a moment, staring at the broken sword still clutched in his hand while catching his breath.
Then he tossed it aside.