Yet, Levi didn’t retreat or show any concern... he spun his staff faster while channeling concentrated aetheric energy into it.
A green light was emitted around the shaft, forming a mesmerizing spinning halo... Each bullet that struck the halo was caught, contained, and bent out of its original path.
Then, he pulled a backflip on a spatial blade that was about to slice him in half while still spinning the staff... in midair, he swung his staff in the direction of the blue clouds surrounding him.
Phew! Phew! Phew!
The bullets broke free from their containment and pierced the blue clouds they had emerged from!
The spatial links reacted instantly as the bullets reappeared in front of Yanhuan... yet, even when Yanhuan was weakened, his senses were sharper than ever.
Following his instinct, Yanhuan crossed his arms with widened eyes in front of his face and chest... the blue scales hardened, vibrating nonstop as they absorbed the spatial damage. They blocked the blasts just enough to protect his vitals.
That moment of defense was all Levi needed.
He stepped forward and delivered a sharp round kick to the bottom of his glowing green staff. The staff took off like a missile, passing through a nearby blue cloud and emerging directly in front of Yanhuan.
It slammed into his guarded arms with an immense force, driving him backward... but all Levi required was direct contact.
Levi snapped his fingers with an indifferent expression, and the concentrated aetheric energy around the crown reached resonance!
What came after resonance?
Booooooom!!
The explosion illuminated the arena as it blasted Yanhuan off the blue cloud he floated on, hurling him into the arena dome!
Baaam!!
His back smashed against the leaves’ barrier, causing the entire dome to shudder, but remain strong.
Yanhuan coughed another mouthful of blood as he slid down the dome, smoke rising from his heavily injured body... even then, Yanhuan was still barely conscious.
As he was falling from the sky headfirst into the spatial storm, his transformation retracted, exposing his eyes behind the blue mist that had hidden them earlier.
His vision wobbled as the world spun around him... the cheers of the crowd became distant, altered by the ringing in his ears... oh, how he wished to be deaf again.
Alas... he listened to the crowd’s cheers after his brutal defeat. But what hurt him the most was the notion that his father bathed in their cheers as well, knowing that it was a hit to his ego like nothing else.
Personally, Yanhuan wouldn’t have cared as much about getting humiliated or defeated... but, when one was raised by a monster who accepted only victories... defeat was no longer a simple option.
That’s why his earlier defeats against Levi hurt him so much, as that was the first time he suffered such a crushing and humiliating defeat... it was so bad, he could never forget the disgusted look his father gave him when he heard the news.
Yet, through the tearing blue mist around his face, his eyes moved on their own, scanning the stands.
’Father...’
He searched desperately, ignoring the pain burning through his entire body... he didn’t look for praise, understanding that he wouldn’t have gotten any even if he won. Still, just one sign. One step forward. One look of worry. Anything that said he mattered to him.
Then he saw him... his father was already standing. He was neither rushing toward the edge nor calling his name. Not even looking at the arena anymore.
He was turning away from the fight, adjusting his robe, and then calmly walking out of the stands as if the match or his son’s condition no longer interested him.
As he was falling, Yanhuan still felt his heart drop harder than his body ever could.
’He’s leaving...’
His breath caught in his throat... his eyes burned as hot tears slipped free, carried away by the wind as he fell... he couldn’t stop them. He didn’t want to... for his heart had shattered beyond repair.
’So that’s it... I lost, so I don’t exist in his eyes... ha, ha... sob... sob...’
As the ground rushed closer, memories forced their way into his mind as a last-ditch effort to help him break free of his father’s control.
He thought he was going to remember at least one heartfelt memory that they shared... alas, all he remembered was a small room, cold floors, and long nights waiting by the door.
A younger Yanhuan standing straight... he was bruised and shaking, hoping for approval after harsh training until his hands bled.
But... nothing.
Another memory... him showing a small achievement when he was no older than five years old, eyes bright with hope as he went to show his father.
But... all he got was a glance... no words, and definitely no praise.
Yanhuan searched deeper as he grew desperate, trying to find just one warm moment... one smile. One hand on his shoulder. One night, his father spoke to him like a son.
He drew a blank.
Only orders, expectations, and disappointment.
’I was never his son... just something to mold... something to use, and later discard...’
All those years... all that pain, for naught... he had been breaking himself again and again for a man who never once looked back.
As this thought took root in his mind and broken heart, Yanhuan felt nothing but emptiness in his chest.
’I’m tired...’
Yanhuan closed his eyes at last, tears still slipping out as he gave up resisting the fall... he no longer sought his father to save him or show him love... he no longer wanted anything from him.
For he had realized: he was always a discarded son, even when he had lived alongside his father for years.
’I was a piece of shit to others just like my father was to me... at least, one of us got an ending they deserved...’
As Yanhuan had already accepted his fate, his mind rejecting the idea of being saved by anyone... believing himself unworthy... a soft breeze brushed against his face.
His fall suddenly stopped as strong arms wrapped around him. He felt warmth, and the solid rise and fall of someone else’s breathing. Then, his nose was assaulted by the harsh smell of cigarettes.
’Someone... caught me?’
Yanhuan tried to open his eyes, thinking it was Dominic... but his vision blurred as he struggled to look up, to see who it was. All he could see was a shadowed, out-of-focus face with a black beard.
’Why...?’
He tried to ask, but his voice wouldn’t come out... the world faded before he could see more, his body going limp in the stranger’s arms... then, his consciousness slipped away at last while the arena roared on, unaware that a boy had lost more than a match... he lost his family.
With his father’s back turned, the last fragile string binding him to his family was cut... Forever.
But unbeknownst to him... he had gained another.
"Feng Ling... I thought you said that you have severed everything related to your bloodline," Dominic said with a small smile as he approached Feng Ling, who was carrying Yanhuan down to the arena... smoking a half-lit cigarette.
"I did," Feng Ling replied, and then gazed at Yanhuan’s tired face with a soft look... "So did he."