Ch:- 42 Celestial Descent

Reynolds parried a punch with his forearm which was coated with a thick layer of ice. Raymond packed really heavy punches with his earthen fist gauntlets equipped with spiky knuckles. They chipped away at his ice arm guard so Reynolds couldn't afford to keep up the hand to hand brawl for much longer.

His arms were already messed up from his first bout of physical combat. They still hurt but he managed to secretly heal them with his still-unknown-ability.

All in all, if martial arts was the subject of the test, he would be able to give some more effort. But that's not what was needed of him.

Overexerting himself would be a waste of energy but on the other hand "defeating" his father wouldn't do either. A swift victory was not what he was looking for, he was to prove a point, he was to show his absolute strength.

For once, he let go of his defence in the face of a coming barrage and with a sudden burst of unnatural speed, he jumped back.

He fired a beam of pure ice mana at the gap that was created between him and his father, freezing all the moisture in the swamp in the blink of an eye.

Raymond wanted to chase after him but the sudden hardening of the ground made him lose his balance for a moment on the slippery surface which allowed Reynolds to get away safely, stopping when he was at a safe distance from him.

Reynolds stood up straight. The chaotic mana around him came to a standstill as the infinite assembly disassembled. For a moment, everything became quiet. There was no rustling sound of the serene breeze, the murmuring of people from the pathway outside or the sounds of the maids who were busying themselves inside the manor.

Listening closely, they couldn't even hear their own breaths nor their heartbeats. It was like all the life force was sucked out of the entire planet. It was hard to point out if they were even in the world of the living.

It was creepy and haunting. There was this sick feeling in Raymond's stomach that he even forgot to keep the pressure on his son.

"Let's hope this goes well..." Reynolds whispered to himself as he eyed the sky above him.

Following the line of sight of his son, Raymond also looked up only to have his breath get stuck at his throat. His eyes widened to ridiculous proportions as he gulped his dry throat. Large beads of sweat rolled down his temples as he felt his legs grow weak out of sheer and primal fear.

From above him peered the vast darkness of space itself. The clouds swirled around ominously lighting up their immediate surrounding with silent lightning that also substantiated the sheer size of the phenomenon. The clouds rotated around like in a cyclone with its centre acting as a gateway to the dark void beyond.

The spectacle was awe-inspiring as well as fear striking at the same time. Raymond was getting severe goosebumps as he was made aware of how insignificant he was in front of such a cosmic event.

And then the sounds of the world hit him... the quiet around him washed away by a torrent of chaos as he was battered by the sound of raging winds and crackling lightning.

The ginormous view of outer space in the middle of it all was so overwhelming that he felt as if his soul was getting sucked in that bottomless pit of unknown fright, full of lonely chill.

"Don't give up just yet..." Reynolds said out loud, breaking Raymond out of his despairful trance.

"..." Raymond wanted to say something but he couldn't. His throats won't move, his legs won't walk. He was paralysed from fear as he stood in his position like a stiff statue. Only his eyes were telling anything about the terror he was feeling.

"... there's still more to come." Reynolds finished as he raised his index finger to point up at the sky.

Raymond stiffly turned his head towards the sky again when he heard the ghostly whisper of his son.

{Celestial Descent}

If the mana was chaotic earlier, it now straight up rampaging. The violent outburst of mana was now physically hurting Raymond.

It felt like the entire reality was shaking from the overload of energy as giant ice tendrils came out from that damned void.

The temblor became even more violent as the reality itself was rejecting whatever that was coming in through that void.

The tendrils thrashed around as if trying to break the laws that were restricting its entry itself.

It was an apocalypse the likes of which never seen before. Raymond couldn't do anything but see the world around him crumbling as the tendrils were tearing apart the ring of swirling clouds around the gateway and making the fracture in the sky even wider.

The last thing Raymond laid his eyes upon was the absolutely abhorrent figure of the thing that possessed those cursed tendrils before his vision went black.

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Or that's what he thought before he felt himself fall on his knees with a violent fit of cough as he struggled with his uneven breath. He felt the chill as his body was covered in his sweat. He couldn't make any sense of his thoughts, he felt like he was going insane before he heard the concerned voice of his wife calling out to him.

"Dear, are you okay? You suddenly stopped in the middle of the duel and fell to your knees before coughing violently" Darlene said with a soft tone.

Raymond undid his Earthen Draconian Armour spell and his dark rocky armour fell off.

"You are covered in sweat! Your shirt is practically dripping! What happened, do you feel sick? Do we need to call a doctor?!" Darlene gasped when she saw Raymond's condition.

Raymond finally managed to steady his breath under the comforting presence of his wife before lifting his head up and looking around.

Everything was fine. Everything was as normal as it should be. The sky was clear, there was no sign of storm clouds, the wind flowed calmly. It was as if what he saw didn't happen in the first place..... Now that he thought about it, what DID happen? He knew he was shaken up, but why... he couldn't quite remember.

Everything was muddled, his head hurt when he tried to remember it.

Then his eyes fell on his son, he was hurriedly walking towards them with a concerned look on his face.

That's when he realized, whatever happened to him had something to do with his son.

But... what did he do? He wanted to know. He wanted to ask him. But he was too mentally drained to think about anything now. He was done with what he was doing anyway. And he knew what he was to do next.

"I am okay Darlene. You don't have to worry for now. We will talk later. As for Reynolds' test... he passed. He is equipped enough to at least keep his own life safe. Now, it's up to you if you want to let him go or not." Raymond said as he looked at his son who cheered up a bit but still had this sorry look on his face.

[Reynolds' POV]

Phew, it seems dad's okay... I shouldn't have done that. I am lucky dad has a strong mental fortitude.

I looked towards dad who was still seated on the icy ground, being consoled by mom.

He needs some time to recuperate. I have already erased the memory of the illusion { The Terror of The Crawling Chaos }. He will not have any long-lasting effects.

I am also glad that dad didn't ask me anything about it. Maybe he is too tired to care? Well, it works for me.

Now, I only need mom's approval to start my journey.