Recognized

Rei jerked his hand even harder. It seemed he suddenly got unparalleled strength for a moment and got himself free from Sou's grasp. Sou rolled back and regained his footing.

(Not bad.)

"What the fuck are you spouting?"

The atmosphere became heavy. The aura around Rei became dark and fierce.

The Hols family's face turned pale in fear. The child was not moving, just observing with an emotionless face. The wife tried her best to hold onto herself and the man's face showed absolutely no reaction, only fear. Lia closed her eyes and started to tremble. Lily quietly wrapped Lia in her arms like she used to do whenever Rei became like that in front of Lia. Hellen just sighed deeply and placed her hand on her forehead.

Sou glanced at the audience and saw the sinking faces.

"Well, mom didn't believe too and slapped me silly but afterwards, she believed me."

"What?"

"..."

"Show me your face."

"After the fight."

"Why?"

"You are gonna get so jealous that you can't focus anymore after seeing my handsome face. After all, I am not unruly like you." Sou said scoffing.

(Fuck that was cringy.)

"Cheeky brat..." Rei clenched his fist and exuded even more of his dark, cutting-edge aura.

(Woah... he doesn't compare to Drago or Kakund but he sure is one of the strongest humans I've met. Hmm... can I defeat Drago now? Kakund was an idiot but if he used his brains, then I would have a tough time, but Drago... meh, it's not worth thinking about that now.)

Fwoosh!

"What are you spacing for?"

Rei's fist was right in front of Sou's face. It was obvious that Rei's speed has increased unnaturally.

(Using mana now, are we?)

Sou disappeared instantly at the face of Rei and he was left in awe at the speed Sou showed.

'I never thought that someone could match my speed...'

"Not bad, dad."

Rei gave Sou a death glare, enough to make anyone's soul shiver in horror. But Sou didn't mind it.

Rei took off his gear and threw it to the side.

"What? Giving up?"

"Let's fight without these things."

"Not gonna say anything about the usage of mana?"

"It's allowed."

"One more thing."

Rei gave Sou a sharp look.

"Tone down that aura of yours. You are making the audience feel uncomfortable." Sou said pointing towards palpitating people in the seats.

Rei's turned his head and ignored everything except Lia who was trembling in fear. Rei's eyes widened at the sight of his daughter frightened by him. Rei's eyes trembled and he quickly withdrew his pressure. Only then did the audience start to loosen up a bit.

Bam!

A punch drove into Rei's face which made him squirm in pain after falling to the ground.

"Arghh!"

"I am going all out. Don't blame me."

(I don't wanna kill him so let's not use mana and let's not give my best too. But let's try to entertain the audience a bit.) 

"Ha, haha... you called for it."

Rei got up and rushed at Sou with a barrage of fists and Sou tried hard to block all of them, especially the mana ones. As the fight went on, a smile, a small one though, appeared on his lips. And Sou let out occasional laughter during the fight. Soon, the battle which looked like it will destroy the whole facility turned into a beautiful dance with their aura and fists clashing with each other to flow out sparks of beautiful colours and paint the arena in incredible art.

"W-What's with their fight? It was so destructive just a moment ago and now it looks... so beautiful."

Mrs Hols witnessed the fight with disbelief. She looked at her husband's astonished face and then turned to the duo at the arena.

"Beautiful..."

Lily and Hellen nodded in response and Lia looked at the duo with sparkly eyes.

"Papa! Brudher!" Lia screamed at the top of her lungs, yet the fighters didn't listen.

'Ah... this is a feeling I lost a long time ago... Even if he is not my son, at least, my heart was able to make such a beat thanks to him.'

The battle proceeded to the climax. Both of them created some distance and panted heavily.

"Huh... is that it?"

"How are you... not tired...?"

"Just because." 

While Sou was completely fine even after this intense "workout", Rei was struggling to catch his breath.

"Monster... Beautiful monsters..." Mr Hols grabbed his head and started to mutter incessantly.

"It's about time we wrap this up," Sou said, straightening his back.

"One shot?"

"Yeah, sure." Sou shrugged.

"I am not gonna hold back anymore," Rei said with a smile.

"You won't survive otherwise."

The ones watching them couldn't make out what they said or what they intended to do, but they knew something was about to happen by their faces. Everyone held their breaths. Lia's eyes sparkled even more brightly at the scene.

They were pretty far from each other. Sou and Rei both took one of the feet back and brought their clenched fists to their waists, taking their respective stances. They both knew what the other was going to do by the blaze in their eyes.

"You think you can outmatch me in speed?" Sou inquired.

"I am using mana, you know?" Rei answered

"Heh."

(Let's see what my old man looks like when he puts his all.)

Fwoosh!

Boom!

(Let's end this now.)

Ferocious winds raged around the arena. Everyone was shaken by the clash and could feel in their bones what just happened. 

"What the..."

The eyes of the Hols family almost popped out at the sight. Hellen's face brightened and Lily just smile warmly. Lia... doesn't need any explanations.

Sou's fist was deep into Rei's cheek and Rei's into Sou's maskless cheek.

... silence.

"Pfft! Hahaha!! Not bad kiddo! It's been so long since I had such an amazing fight. If you weren't impersonating my son, I would have surely taken you as my sparring partner." Rei laughed hard. The hostility that was clearly being shown towards Sou was no more, only pure pleasure and happiness came from within Rei.

Sou would have easily defeated his old man with little effort, but for the sake of having fun, he decided not to. 

"Take a look at me old man." Sou slightly punched Rei. 

Rei took a glance.

"Ah..."

Water... that was what Rei saw. Water was blocking his view. It was only for a glance and he wanted to see more but he could see because the water was blocking his view.

"Ah... I... I guess my eyes are... sweating..." Rei embraced Sou without saying anything. Only pure affection radiated from Rei.

"Oi Lily- When did she go there?!" Mr Hols turned to Lily's side to ask something but noticed that she wasn't in her seat and quickly turned his head towards the arena and saw Lily reaching out for Rei and Sou.

Lily embraced both of them from behind and shed some tears. Lia also rushed and threw herself at them screaming, "Me too!"

.

.

.

(Guess this is my new home...)

***