"So that's... Mana..."
Aric's eyes reflected the vibrant color enveloping his father's frame, the plasma crackling quietly like a calm campfire.
"It's so beautiful..."
Those words escaped his lips as beheld the one thing he now realized that he wanted more than his father's recognition.
[Has he lost his mind?]
Andreas tilted his head, understandably so, Aric's reaction was nothing short of unusual, it would not be a stretch to call it abnormal.
[Has he not yet realized that he won't leave this forest alive?]
Andreas sucked his teeth and glared at his son.
[I wonder...]
"... How many more swings until I can have that."
His thoughts escaped his lips once more, and instead of fear, Aric was envious of his father. And he realized that he now longed for the embrace of Mana more than his mother's warmth.
"You scourge of Lythan, how dare you to dream in my presence?"
"There is no future for you. Only darkness."
Andreas spat and glanced at the Knight cleaved in half, whose blood was soaking the forest bed.
"I admit that I underestimated you, to think that you would defeat a Knight who is at the Augmentation Stage with pure physical prowess..."
"... How monstrous."
Despite his calm exterior, Andreas was deeply troubled by Aric's feat, which is quite literally impossible unless one's body had been strengthened by Mana.
"I'm monstrous?"
"... Seriously?"
Ba — Dump! Ba — Dump!
Aric's heart began beating like a war drum, his usual command over his emotions waning with each pulse.
His breath grew hot, like the breath of a Drake, his pupils constricted like the eyes of a Frostveil Lynx.
The emotions buried over years began seeping to the surface, like vast quantities of deadly methane compacted beneath a kraal.
"I have lived my whole life trying to please you!!"
"Even when I spent all those years living like damn dog, I still held on to the memories of you!! I still had hope that you loved me!!"
"Why?! Just why do treat me like I'm garbage?! Huh?!"
"I never asked to be born like this!!"
Aric roared, and clenched the hilt of his blade so tightly that his callouses began popping, pus dripping toward the butt of the sword.
"You can neve —"
"Shut your mouth!!"
"You and your stupid family can go to hell!! I'm not dying in this place!!"
"Aaah!!!"
Ta! Ta! Ta!
[!!]
Aric roared and charged toward his father like a stallion in heat, leaving deep footprints on the earth below.
[Such speed!!]
Clang!!
Andreas easily parried the blade that was aiming for his neck, sparks filling the air as a result.
[Such strength!!]
Andreas exclaimed inwardly and watched his son twist his waist, applying even more strength to the edge of his blade.
Step!
Andreas performed a sidestep, and his son's sword whizzed by his left side, a gust of wind following shortly after it, rustling the canopies above.
Seeing the opening, he swung his sword down diagonally, aiming to cleave his son from his left shoulder down to his right hip.
Fwosh!
On pure instict alone, Aric arched his spine backwards, and the tip his father's blade grazed the fabric on his chest.
[Such form!!]
"Argh!!"
And without wasting a single motion, Aric utilized the momentum garnered by his evasion and performed a backflip, effectively creating space.
[Such technique!!]
But...
Crackle!!
[!!]
As he raised his gaze, he saw a sharp knee clad in Mana tearing through the space in front of his nose bridge.
POW!! Crack!!
"Urgh!!"
Craaassh!!!
He was immediately sent flying, crashing through two tree trunks and finally stopping on the third, the sound of the impact akin to that of an earthquake.
"Cough!! Splat! "
He spat out blood, his nasal bone completely broken, allowing a river of blood to gush forth from his nostrils.
Step... Step...
Andreas slowly walked toward Aric, the Mana dancing around his body simply refusing to release him.
"Do you see it now? The disparity between those chosen by Mana, and an anomaly such yourself... You scum of Mankind."
"Even Demihumans, those filthy creatures, are adored by Mana..."
"What kind of an existence are you then, if you are lower than even them?"
He furrowed his brows and glared down at Aric, as though he were piece of excrement stuck to the soles of his feet.
"I said shut up!!"
"Aaah!!"
Aric roared and charged at his father once more.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The two exchanged blows, scattering deafening echoes throughout the forest.
"H-how was he able to stand after that?!"
Cried one Knight as they spectated from a safe distance.
"I know right? Even with a helm, I don't think I would have survived that blow."
Another chimed in, each of them slightly shuddering at how frightening the boy in the reflection of their eyes was.
Clang! Clang!
[Such tenacity!!]
[Such ferocity!!]
[Such a talent!!]
Andreas shouted inwardly, those words echoing across the chambers of his temple as he deftly parried his son's onslaught.
"What a waste!!"
"How dare you inherit the Lythan affinity for the sword when you lack Mana?!"
"Is this a joke from the gods?!"
Thud! Pow!
"Argh!!"
He struck Aric's jaw with the butt of his sword, and sank his knee into his abdomen a split second later, leaving him gasping for air.
"In that regard you are as talented, if not more than Esau, how dare you?! It is wasted on you!!"
Andreas roared like a madman.
"Huff... Cough! "
Aric struggled with standing, his legs quivering like that of a newborn fawn.
[Lythan... Affinity?]
[How dare I...?]
[No... How dare you?!]
Aric's eyes became bloodshot, and he balanced his staggering frame against the trunk.
"Do you know how many hours I spent a day training?! Huh?!"
"And you're telling me about some stupid fucking affinity?!"
"Look at my hands!! These are the fruits of MY labor!!! Not your stupid bloodline!!"
Aric roared and raised his palms, showing the grotesque callouses that adorned it.
His bloodied face enhancing the ferocity in his eyes, like that of a cornered, feral beast.
"... What?!"
Crackle!!
Andreas audibly gnashed his teeth and condensed his blade with more Mana and prepared to swing it.
"Die, you damn sc —"
"Hisss!! Enough, I specifically requested a live sacrifice, did I not?"
A voice that seemed to violently caress the soul echoed from the canopies above, freezing Andreas in place.
Thud! Thud!
Andreas and his Knights immediately collapsed to their knees in a fluid manner that seemed practiced.
"Forgive me, oh ruler of the forest, for I have defiled your sacrifice."
Andreas said, his voice quivering and his words shocking the bloodied Aric.
[What is happening?]
Aric slowly raised his wobbling head up at the treetops despite his senses warning him not to, and there he beheld...
[!!]
"Hisss!!! I sense that he is indeed your first born son, how strange you Humans are."
"... To sacrifice your offspring for mere pebbles, Hisss!! "
... Aric's eyes widened, the 15 meter long creature in his eyes resembled a serpent, but with tightly conjoined emerald scales and a scalp of full of a multitude of sharp horns.
Its eyes were a bright reptilian yellow, and on either side of its scalp were what resembled extremely large fish fins.
[What... A sacrifice?]
Aric's lips quivered and he glanced down at his father.
[Ah... So that's what he meant when he said my death will nurture Esau's future!]
"Grit!! You're crazy!! I won't —"
Whip!! Thwack!!
At an almost imperceptible speed, the great ruler of the forest, the Basilisk King, struck Aric's head with the tip of its tail, instantly rendering him unconscious.
"Enough of you... Hisss..."
The Basilisk lowered its tail and wrapped it around Aric and claimed its prize, raising his limp body into the canopies above.
But even as his unconscious frame was being pulled toward the fangs of an ancient serpent, Aric's grip on the hilt of his sword never once loosened.