Kael motioned for his stepmother to step off the concrete platform.
"Ah... looks like the beast’s poison made you a bit retarded too, hasn’t it? Hahaha." Sol flashed a mocking smile as he strutted into the arena, readying his sword with an arrogant flourish.
His eyes flicked to the weapon in Kael’s grip. "Where’d you get that spear? A little gift from Mommy? It doesn’t matter. I’ll put it to good use when I finish you off."
Normally, with only Selene around, Sol wouldn’t have dared speak to Kael like that.
But now that he had Luke, his trusted uncle, standing behind him, everything would change.
Both Luke and Selene had noticed Kael’s weapon. They could sense the power humming along its length, though neither could place its origin.
Where had Kael pulled something like that from?
Countless doubts churned in Selene’s heart, yet in the end she merely narrowed her eyes.
Her fingers twitched at her sides, and she stood ready to leap in and rescue Kael at the slightest sign of danger.
"Hahaha, I’m sorry if I disappoint you, cousin. Just know that this is personal." Kael’s lips curled into a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
Sol’s face twisted at his cousin’s confident words.
He wanted to end this in the most humiliating way possible, landing a single blow powerful enough to make Kael soil his pants in front of the entire crowd.
Steadying his sword, Sol unleashed an icy Qi that swept through his body in a frigid wave.
The air above the platform turned bitterly cold in an instant, frost creeping along his blade as his beautiful golden hair danced in the wake of the spiritual pressure.
He took a step forward, his blade slicing through the air toward Kael’s throat in a wide arc.
Eight more cuts of Qi trailed behind the sword like specters, shrieking as they tore through the wind.
Kael smiled, showing not the slightest trace of fear as he spun his spear up to meet his cousin’s sword.
A flaming aura wreathed the sharp tip as he partially activated the Seven Flaming Claws Spear Art, the heat crackling violently against the oncoming frost and spitting steam where the two met.
Sol had attacked with absolute confidence, but to his shock, it felt as if he had struck a wall of tempered steel.
His blade ricocheted off Kael’s spear with a deafening clang, sparks erupting around the point of impact and showering the platform in glowing embers.
A numbing jolt shot up his arms all the way to his shoulders.
The spear then whipped once around Kael’s body in a smooth, fluid motion, pushing the air outward and weaving a halo of fire that roared around him.
With that halo blazing, he lunged, forcing his Qi outward in a torrent.
The eight Qi slashes still chasing Sol’s blade came screaming in right behind it. Kael twisted between them mid-lunge, frost biting at his skin as they whistled past, and barely managed to dodge.
Even so, a confident smile plastered itself across his face.
"Kael, calm down and control your Qi! Don’t use it so recklessly!" Selene’s shout tore across the arena, concern overflowing in her voice as she sensed her stepson’s unstable Qi churning wildly inside him.
Kael, for his part, merely smiled maliciously, feeling the pain blooming through his meridians with every surge of Qi.
As long as it didn’t leave him crippled, he was happy!
"Damn it, where the hell did you get that strength, you son of a bitch-" Sol didn’t even have time to steady himself or finish his sentence, for Kael’s spear was already whirling toward him again in a blur of crimson fire.
He defended with difficulty, his blade ringing against the spear’s shaft again and again as he gave ground step by step.
Sweat beaded at his temples and trickled down the side of his face as he finally gauged his cousin’s cultivation.
Kael sat at the seventh stage of the Qi Formation Realm, a full layer below Sol, yet his foundation was nothing short of terrifying.
Where the hell had that come from?
Kael caught the shock etched across Sol’s face, and his smile widened.
That was the power of ten years of training stolen from a supreme genius, even if that supreme genius had been a complete son of a bitch.
Sol simply couldn’t keep up.
Kael took another step forward, his eyes shining.
Without the slightest regard for his own well-being, he fully activated the Seven Flaming Claws Spear Art this time, his meridians throbbing in protest.
He drove the Golden Spear of the Southern Dragon Emperor into the ground and dragged the burning tip across the concrete with a grinding shriek that set teeth on edge throughout the arena.
Then he ripped it upward through the air in one savage slash.
The fire surrounding the shaft roared to life, swelling far more intensely than before as it tore toward Sol, leaving trails of howling flames in its wake.
The heat washed over the stands and forced the closest spectators to shield their faces.
Sol tried to dodge, but it was already too late.
The flames twisted like a dragon’s claw mid-strike.
Though he escaped the blade’s reach, a vicious gash tore open across his body, a deep, smoking wound running from his groin all the way up to his chest.
The stench of seared flesh and blood filled the air.
The same blow split the arena floor in two with a searing hiss, the claw-shaped scar carved deep into the concrete.
Sol’s body went hurtling backward and slammed against the far wall with a thunderous crash that echoed through the arena. He slid down to the ground in a bloody heap, clearly in serious condition.
Kael watched it all with a smile playing on his lips, twirling his spear between his fingers.
Around the arena, the smirks and contemptuous looks from Sol’s supporters dissolved into stunned silence.
Yeah... it’s all shits and giggles until someone giggles and shits. Suddenly, everyone gets serious.
Kael was about to smile wider when an intense pain shot through his body, buckling his legs as blood rose into his throat in a coppery wave.
He dropped to one knee, a thin line of red spilling over his lip.
He had burned his Qi like a maniac, deliberately, to inflict an internal injury on himself.
Fortunately, it had worked!
Kael could already hear Selene’s worried voice cutting through the ringing in his ears.
As he lifted his head, he caught sight of her racing across the arena toward him.
Every frantic stride sent those huge, pale tits of hers heaving in a mesmerizing rhythm. The heavy, soft mounds launched skyward with each step, hanging at the top for a split second as if gravity had forgotten about them, before crashing back down against her ribs with an obscene slap.
They move in time with each other. One was still climbing while the other was already dropping, the pair swinging out of sync and smacking together at the center with every stride.
It was damn nearly impossible for Kael to tear his eyes away, pain or no pain.
It had been totally worth it!