Descent of a God

Familial Spar

As my father desperately tried to block Jude's punch, the sheer force behind it overwhelmed his defenses. Despite the discrepancy in their body mass and size, the impact sent my father stumbling backward, forced to retreat several steps to regain his balance.

A mixture of awe and concern filled the air as we witnessed the disparity between Jude's combat prowess and our own. It was a humbling reminder of the vast gap that existed between us, both in terms of skill and power.

The previous exchange had merely been a preliminary test, a way to gauge each other's abilities. We had yet to unleash our full power, and it was time to rectify that.

My father's expression turned serious as he tapped into his true strength. Flames danced and flickered around his fists, forming fiery gloves of scarlet. However, his control over the fire element still showed signs of being a novice, evident from the wisps of steam emanating from his body. It was clear that some of his mana was being needlessly dispersed, indicating room for improvement.

Crackling electricity filled the air, sending sparks that made my hair stand on end. I channeled my mana, and currents of yellow lightning enveloped my form, ready to be unleashed.

Jude took a deep breath, gathering his own mana. Suddenly, gusts of wind materialised around him, creating a swirling vortex that encased his body in a mini hurricane.

"Come," he commanded, his face impassive.

I propelled myself forward with lightning speed, leaving a trail of scorched grass and upturned earth in my wake. In an instant, I blinked behind Jude, my fist crackling with concentrated electricity as I aimed for a powerful hook.

Meanwhile, my father, with his sturdier physique, unleashed a barrage of fiery attacks from the front, his flames licking the air with intensity.

However, much to our astonishment, Jude effortlessly halted our combined assault with just his two hands.

'How?' I pondered, bewildered by his seemingly insurmountable defense. Before I could process it fully, a powerful force sent me hurtling away, crashing onto the ground with a thud. Disoriented, I scrambled to my feet and witnessed my father facing the same fate, overwhelmed by Jude's skill despite them being at the same core stage.

A wide gap in their abilities became glaringly evident. The difference in their mastery of combat was staggering.

Driven by a surge of determination, I rushed back into the fray to support my father, but it was too late. By the time I reached them, the battle had already concluded, and my father had succumbed to Jude's superior prowess.

This time, I engaged Jude in a fierce clash of blows. His punches came at me with remarkable precision, but my assimilated body, enhanced by the electrifying surge of lightning, allowed me to evade them with minimal movement. Or so it should have been. Yet, his strikes possessed an uncanny unpredictability, a strange seamlessness that made them difficult to anticipate. The intertwining forces of lightning and wind propelled me backward, slowly pushing me on the defensive.

My mana, charged with the power of lightning, barely grazed him before I found myself defeated once again.

While I had managed to break through into the realm of deviant mages, I was still a novice in this new domain. There was much to improve upon, particularly with my lightning attribute magic. It was a realm unexplored for me, and my current proficiency was lacking. As for my ice attribute magic, it presented an even greater challenge. The manipulation of either element demanded an excessive amount of mana, most of which was squandered due to my inept utilization. Furthermore, I was bound by strict limitations on their duration of use—approximately three minutes for lightning and even less for ice.