Chapter 76: The sky…
Teon’s frown worsened, the deep lines on his forehead contorting into a violent scowl as he glared at his son through the haze of smoke.
’This fucking idiot... why is he being so stubborn?’ he thought.
Meanwhile, outside the building, Yeon grunted heavily, his chest heaving as he slowly pushed himself up from the floor, which had shattered upon his crash.
His clothes were covered in thick dust and sharp glass fragments, his body aching from the violent impact that had ejected him from the grand reception hall.
He had been flung completely out of the building earlier from the sheer force of Leon and Teon’s initial collision.
He gnashed his teeth in intense, burning shame, clutching his throbbed temple as he thought in disbelief, ’I can’t believe... I got knocked out from just that.’
For someone who pridefully viewed himself as the family prodigy and the rightful heir to the guild, being rendered unconscious by the mere residual force of a clash was an unbearable, humiliating blow to his massive ego.
There were a few other players lying around him on the pavement, completely motionless and still knocked out cold from the sheer violence of the blast.
That first collision had simply caught them completely off guard, hitting them with such sudden, absurd momentum that they had been flung out before they could even understand what happened.
Nobody had anticipated that Leon possessed enough raw power to strike Teon with S-rank force, leaving the surrounding onlookers entirely unprotected when the shockwave tore through the room.
Some of the players were still conscious though, lying on their sides or leaning against wrecked vehicles as they looked towards the building with heavy, ragged breaths.
Their eyes were wide with terror, their bodies trembling as they listened to the deafening rumbles and violent explosions continuing to echo from deep within the guild.
Yeon had been rather unlucky during the sudden blast, as he had landed heavily on his head before he even had time to raise his arms or deploy a defensive barrier to defend himself.
The sudden, awkward impact against the curb had instantly knocked him out, depriving him of the chance to witness the opening moments of the duel.
That was the sole reason why he got knocked out so quickly.
He dragged himself to his feet and looked towards the guild headquarters, which was now almost completely unrecognizable compared to the pristine, majestic skyscraper that had stood just minutes ago.
The proud facade of the Roaring Lions empire had been turned into a apocalyptic ruin in the blink of an eye.
The expensive, reinforced glasses that were on the front of the structure were now completely shattered into millions of tiny pieces, carpeting the entire courtyard in reflective dust.
And deep inside the gaping hole where the entrance used to be, there was thick, dark smoke billowing outward into the sky, crackling faintly with golden sparks and the intense, terrifying heat of an ongoing S-rank war.
Even through the thick, swirling smoke billowing out from the ruined entrance, he could still see the distinct outline of Leon’s blade burning ferociously with brilliant golden flames.
The radiant holy fire pierced through the dense haze of dust and ash, casting a sharp, flickering glow across the shattered plaza and illuminating the interior wreckage of the lobby.
He felt a cold, sharp chill run straight down his spine at the terrifying sight, his breathing hitching in his throat as he thought, ’Just what the fuck... is that sword?’
The pressure radiating from the burning golden weapon made his skin crawl from dozens of meters away, filling him with an overwhelming sense of dread he had never experienced before.
He had never heard of or read about a weapon like that in his entire life, and he was quite versatile on all types of weapons, equipment, and ancient relics across the continent.
He prided himself on his deep knowledge of high-rank gear, yet this blade completely defied everything he knew about magical armaments and hunter weaponry.
No matter what type of weapon it was, though, it didn’t change the terrifying fact that he had just seen Leon clash head-on with his father and even overpowered him!
The undeniable reality smashed through his remaining denial, forcing him to accept that his outcast brother had just shattered an S-rank defensive technique with a single, raw strike.
In his eyes, his father had always been the sky he had to reach in the future—an untouchable, supreme peak of power that represented the pinnacle of human strength.
And now, Leon had already reached that sky when he himself wasn’t even halfway there yet, completely shattering his pride and making all his years of praised talent look like a pathetic joke.
He gnashed his teeth in bitter humiliation, pushing the overwhelming feeling of inadequacy aside.
’Damn it... mother... I hope she’s okay...’ he thought. He remembered seeing her before the explosion, knowing that she was also extremely vulnerable to the terrifying shockwaves tearing the building apart.
Dark gray-black swords suddenly appeared in the air around his legs, before merging together seamlessly, forming into something like a sleek, metallic surfboard beneath his feet.
The dark construct hummed with dense energy, levitating a few inches off the ruined pavement.
Its edges looked quite weird, like they were disappearing and reappearing in the air.
Yeon hopped on the dark surfboard, surging forward and dashing straight towards the burning building at rapid speed.
He cut through the ruined courtyard like a black streak, desperate to breach the smoky entrance and enter the fray to save his mother before the entire structure collapsed onto her.
[S-Rank Talent: Void Blade Forge]
That was the name of Yeon’s talent, which allowed him conjure blades from the ’void’ in the air, and combine those blades to form whatever he wanted.
Before he could get to the front entrance, though, Leon suddenly raised his burning blade high above his head, bringing it down with force and stabbing it deep into the ground!