A week had passed since summer vacation began, and since Luke had been staying as a guest at the Addams mansion. Unlike his previous vacations, he hadn't left the Addams estate. He adapted to living with the strange and peculiar family faster than he had expected.
He could even tolerate Wednesday's grandmother's foods, which looked like poisonous dishes cooked by a witch in her old, rusty cauldron.
The house was enormous. Although exploring it wasn't his primary goal, whenever he had nothing better to do, he would take a walk around, and he still hadn't explored all of it.
He believed that the mansion's interior was even larger than it appeared from the outside. It was like a labyrinth, with dozens of dark hallways and staircases. Moreover, during his explorations, he could come across deadly traps left by Wednesday long ago, or by Fester or Pugsley.
Luke learned that Fester wasn't home and that it was unlikely he would get to meet him, as he was on the run from justice—not the justice of the outcasts, but normie justice. Apparently, the man enjoyed playing a cat-and-mouse game with the normie police, or so Gomez had told him.
The mansion had a large yard, where there was a cemetery with the graves of the Addams ancestors. On the second day, Morticia gave him a guided tour, telling him which ancestors were in each grave and, most notably, explaining in great detail the ways they had died. The tour lasted over two hours.
His relationships with his girlfriend's family members had started off on the right foot and developed favorably, especially with Gomez. The man was very enthusiastic and easygoing.
Luke trained in fencing with him several times and was soundly defeated each time. Not even Professor Vlad, Nevermore's fencing instructor, had such mastery of the art.
He tried using his observation haki, but it was useless; he only managed to last a bit longer. For him to learn and make the practice sessions useful, Gomez had to hold back, which wasn't something he was particularly good at, especially when he got excited.
Luke thought Wednesday was skilled in fencing thanks to her mother, as the series showed Morticia as the captain of the fencing club. But the real master was Gomez, who taught both of them. He never liked Nevermore's style of fencing, though, because it had rules—he preferred death matches with no rules.
He also learned that Gomez possesses a dark aura. Luke found this out when he asked Gomez for a friendly sparring match. They had their practice fight in the mansion's large yard. This time, they used their auras instead of swords.
Luke wanted to gauge how strong Elliot Spellman, Sabrina's father, might become, as he was once a rival to his own father, John. Gomez was from that same generation, give or take a few years. Both came from families of psychics among the Big Six, so they should have comparable strength.
[Flashback]
"This spot's good. There's plenty of space. Let's see what you're made of, boy," Gomez said with a twisted smile, cracking his knuckles. Luke stood across from him about 20 meters away, having put some distance between himself and the Addams mansion.
Luke looked at Gomez with a strange expression. It was odd that a psychic adult with such a reputation would be cracking his knuckles and looking at him with an evil grin, like a villain from a low-budget movie.
'Let's see how far I am from catching up to Elliot,' Luke thought, doing a few light stretches. He trusted in his strength and his three auras. When he fought Atlas, he had used two auras, and victory became inevitable when he activated his third. Against the werewolf from the Kairia clan, he hadn't even needed to use his blue aura.
He shouldn't be too far off, right?
"When the coin hits the ground, we start, okay?" Gomez said, pulling a gold coin from one of his pockets. Luke nodded, and Gomez tossed the coin into the air.
Luke got into position, his eyes tracking the coin as it fell, spinning. Meanwhile, Gomez wasn't looking at the coin, standing in a relaxed stance.
As soon as the coin hit the ground, Luke shot forward from his spot. He flew at top speed, his feet just a few centimeters above the ground. Within a second, he reached Gomez.
Luke focused all the telekinetic waves he could muster into his right arm, clenched his fist, and struck toward his opponent. At the same time, he sent a mental command to Gomez, telling him to stay put.
With an unsettling calm, Gomez smirked as he vanished into a cloud of shadows just before Luke's fist could land.
The shadows seemed to consume him, enveloping him completely and making him disappear in the blink of an eye.
Luke's fist cut through the air, releasing an explosion of telekinetic waves in every direction. The ground beneath him cracked, and a gust of wind kicked up dust and dirt.
'How?' Luke thought, surprised that his attack had been dodged so effortlessly. He had used his maximum speed and even issued a mental command to Gomez, yet Gomez managed to evade it.
Neither Atlas nor the werewolf from the Kairia clan had been able to react to his flight-enhanced speed. Adding a mental command to stay in place would have made it nearly impossible for anyone to dodge or defend against the attack.
He recognized the technique Gomez used—shadow travel, the same ability Wednesday had used many times, though she couldn't launch herself with such astonishing speed.
Luke stopped analyzing as he sensed Gomez reappearing behind him, thanks to his expanded domain covering a wide area. He managed to turn in time to see Gomez raising a hand completely shrouded in darkness, so deep it seemed to absorb the light around it.
Before Luke could react, he felt an overwhelming force pulling his body toward Gomez. The darkness in Gomez's hand was generating a pull like a black hole, sucking in everything nearby. The air swirled around them, and the pressure grew intense.
Luke sent several mental commands to Gomez, telling him to lower his hand or stop, but nothing worked. He couldn't understand why his mental commands weren't effective.
Perhaps the man had protective artifacts for his mind, but typically, such artifacts add layers of protection to one's memories, not against commands from telepaths. Otherwise, the mind command techniques of blue aura users would be easy to counter.
"Strong wills can't be ordered by a weaker force," Gomez said with a slight smile, guessing what Luke was thinking about his mental powers.
After saying this, Gomez increased the suction power. Luke began to struggle not to be pulled in. He tried to fly backward, using all his telekinetic power to distance himself from Gomez, but it didn't work.
'If I can't escape the pull, I'll use it to my advantage,' Luke thought. He could use Shambles to escape, but he was always one to go on the offensive.
In that moment, instead of resisting, he relaxed his body and allowed the force to drag him toward Gomez. Simultaneously, with precise control, he generated a telekinetic wave explosion behind him, propelling himself forward at a dizzying speed.
Once again, he charged his fist with telekinetic waves, but this time his speed was enhanced by Gomez's pull, making the strike potentially more devastating given Newton's second law.
His fist was drawn toward Gomez's darkened hand. Luke, expecting a powerful collision as his telekinetic waves released, was surprised—nothing happened. The waves didn't dissipate into the air or explode in place as usual.
Gomez's black hand absorbed the waves entirely, as if it had devoured them. There were no vibrations, no shockwaves—just silence.
"Your drive is admirable, but also predictable," Gomez commented with a slight, amused smile.
Before Luke could react, Gomez struck toward his stomach with his fist. His speed was beyond anything Luke had faced before; he barely had time to create a telekinetic barrier, which shattered on contact with Gomez's darkened fist.
Gomez's fist sank into Luke's stomach, sending him flying like a human bullet. His body tore through the first tree, reducing it to splinters, but he didn't stop there. He flew several meters more until crashing into a second tree, which withstood the impact and halted his trajectory.
Luke hit the ground with a dull thud, his body aching and shaken as a metallic taste filled his mouth.
'Damn,' thought Luke, spitting blood and feeling the sharp pain in his side. He knew that at least a couple of ribs were broken, but thanks to a telekinetic barrier he had instinctively formed on his back, the impact hadn't been as damaging.
This was the worst situation he'd ever been in. Even when facing multiple or adult enemies, he'd always maintained a degree of control and emerged victorious. But now, he was being overpowered, and Gomez remained relaxed, not even appearing to use his full strength.
His mental commands and telekinetic waves didn't seem to have any effect. For the first time, he felt powerless.
'If I use Void Edge, I can win,' Luke thought.
Void Edge was the name he'd given to the ability he used to slice Atlas cleanly in half. If that attack could perfectly cut through mythical bronze, it should be able to harm Gomez.
The problem was that it required too much time to prepare. He needed at least thirty seconds of absolute concentration to condense the telekinetic waves to a critical level. His opponent wouldn't just stand still while the air around Luke's palm distorted from the waves.
It was like Goku's Spirit Bomb (Genki-dama), which required someone to buy him time to launch it. In his fight with Atlas, Luke had used his mental powers to trap him in an illusion, giving him enough time to unleash the attack.
The challenge now was getting close enough to Gomez to touch his head and cast the illusion. Unlike his mental commands, illusions might work since they affect the senses.
A few meters away, Gomez was calmly wiping a thin line of blood from the corner of his mouth. Absorbing Luke's telekinetic waves had come at a cost, but he was far from weakened. He observed Luke from a distance, a mix of admiration in his eyes.
'A true monster for his age,' thought Gomez, examining Luke from a distance.
Gomez had a deep understanding of prodigies. His little storm was a genius with a fighting ability far beyond her years. Yet, if he had used the same strength against his daughter, she would be in a worse state than Luke and wouldn't be able to inflict even the slightest damage on him, unlike Luke's telekinetic waves.
With a faint smile, Gomez watched as Luke stood up despite the devastating blow he'd taken. The boy's tenacity was admirable, especially seeing how he ignored the pain of broken ribs and the blood dripping from his mouth. But what caught Gomez's attention most was the dangerous glint in Luke's eyes, as if he was already rethinking his strategy.
"Let's stop here. It's just a friendly sparring match," Gomez said, approaching Luke with a relaxed posture. His tone was light, almost playful. "We're not in a death match where we throw out deadly finishing moves, right?"
Gomez knew that Luke had killed a gorgon with mythical bronze. That attack would be lethal even to him, though he was confident he could dodge it.
"You're right," said Luke, giving a small, embarrassed smile as he scratched his head, realizing he had been ready to launch a 100% lethal attack at his father-in-law.
However, his expression quickly shifted to one of indignation. Did Gomez say 'Friendly Sparring'?
"Friendly sparring!?" Luke repeated in a reproachful tone, frowning. "You nearly put me in a wheelchair with that punch! Luckily, I managed to slow myself down before crashing." He added, feeling the pain begin to settle in as the adrenaline of the fight faded.
"Hahaha, that's right! I forgot," replied Gomez, laughing heartily and scratching his head awkwardly. The fight had been so captivating that he'd barely held back his strength in that dark punch he directed at Luke.
At Gomez's carefree response, Luke left his anger behind. He was then carried back toward the mansion with Gomez's help.
He was treated by Eudora, who, instead of having an infirmary or anything similar, had a creepy laboratory. She gave him a potion with a disgusting taste and appearance, but it was highly effective. After only a few hours of rest, he was as good as new.
[End of Flashback]
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