Chapter 35
Taryu moved first, blitzing Lycurgus before he could even react, throwing him through the roof of the building through the air.
Lycurgus still had Weaver's spindle and began to change it into armor melding it around his arm before it could even reach his bicep Taryu appeared before him in the air holding a pose. With his head down and his left hand over his right as he brought it to his side he hovered in front of Lycurgus for a brief moment before unleashing a punch Lycurgus barely managed to block.
He rocketed past the outskirts of the village into the forest, bouncing off the ground on his first hit before slightly recovering himself. Taryu was right there trying to follow up with a left hook, but Lycurgus ducked and leaped backward.
They played this game of tag, Lycurgus dodging each punch and kick that cut down trees till he made his way to an open field.
Lycurgus was breathing heavily as sweat dripped down his chin and brow. He scanned the field around him. He recognized the area as Garric's Rest. At first, he found it hard to believe that they covered so much distance in what could only be mere seconds, then he looked at his father unfazed even though he spent most of his time in pursuit. He couldn't help but wonder if his father had the speed advantage.
Taryu studied the adaptation of weaver's spindle forming around his right arm, "If you give up now, you'll go home in one piece."
Lycurgus struck a fighting pose "And go home empty handed, nah I'm good."
Lycurgus launched himself forward, leading with a right hook that Taryu caught. Lycurgus pulled his hand back and as he did, he struck with his left, which Taryu also blocked easily, but Lycurgus wasn't aiming to strike but grab. He armed the back of father's beefy wrist and pulled both arms down as he launched a right kick skyward connecting with Taryu's chin.
Taryu stumbled back and grabbed his chin by surprise and stared at Lycurgus blankly, Lycurgus gave him no chance to recover. Launching another vicious attack striking again with the right, cleaning connecting. He threw a left which Taryu blocked and grabbed, but Lycurgus countered by spinning off his backfoot with a right elbow. Taryu pivoted away, pushing Lycurgus simultaneously to break the engagement.
Lycurgus stumbled a few steps before regaining his full posture. He had his back still turned to his father when he asked, "Are you ever going to get serious?"
They both moved to strike at the same time, Lycurgus with a kick and Taryu with a punch trading blows. Taryu stumbled while Lycurgus fell catching his fall with his hand and rebounding quickly to defend Taryu's strikes again.
They unleashed a flurry of blows, trading, and each scoring meaningless hits on the other as remained in the engagement. Neither could get a clean hit to knock the other down. To his surprise his father was not only fast but nimble, ducking and weaving most of his strikes and rarely ever blocking. In fact, Lycurgus was blocking more than Taryu, and he was starting to feel it.
He dodged a roundhouse kick and leaped backward to break the engagement, but Taryu quickly recovered and stepped toward him. Recalling this bout's first attack, Lycurgus pivoted to Taryu's backside and launched himself away.
Taryu leaped in the air doing a backflip as he came rocketing down with his knees destroying the ground. Lycurgus barely had time to dodge and recover before Taryu lunged toward him again to grab him.
Lycurgus ducked, dodging the grab, spinning, and landing a kick into Taryu's side throwing him of course. Taryu flew in that direction but smoothly grabbed a piece of rubble from his collision early and threw it at Lycurgus midflight. The rock shot at Lycurgus too fast for him to dodge and barely able to block.
The rock burst into dust on impact, creating a smoke screen for a moment. Giving Taryu just enough time to recover. He landed a fierce strike right into Lycurgus' gut sending flying through the air and landing a few meters away.
Lycurgus got up shakily while laughing. "There he is," he said as he wiped the blood from his mouth, his eyes piercing his father with childish amusement, "There's the Leviathan."
Taryu stared at Lycurgus, devoid of any excitement or even rage. It simply was drenched in the seas of melancholy.
Lycurgus readied himself, knowing that he couldn't simply trade blows with his father he thought back to the few hits he managed to land, it took repeated strikes that led to brief openings. Lycurgus finally stood up, 'He's completely convinced I can't hurt him.' He thought to himself.
"Well, you challenged me, yet I don't even need to use 1% percent of my power," Taryu said voice chilled and nonchalant.
Lycurgus gritted his teeth, 'Not even 1%? Has everything been a fluke?' Lycurgus shook his head no and refocused himself.
His next step launched him forward with a powerful jab. Taryu stepped forward and countered with his left elbow sending Lycurgus' arm skyward and throwing him off balance. He used the shift of momentum to lead into a back kick. Taryu deflected and reached to grab Lycurgus pulling him towards him and striking him twice, one to the face and the other to gut.
Lycurgus stumbled back, regained his footing, and sprung a high kick aimed at his father's head. Anticipating the block, he swung his other leg off the ground to perform a twisting downward kick. Taryu simply stepped forward and grabbed the other leg, simultaneously pulling him down into a knee that landed right in his back.
The force of the blow bounced Lycurgus up and Taryu struck him with a left straight that caught Lycurgus in his rib. Taryu grabbed Lycurgus' arm pulling him in toward an open palm strike to his chin that caused Lycurgus to stumble back and drop to a knee.
Taryu glowered at his son, his eyes filled with a mix of sorrow, pity, and annoyance.
"Lycurgus stay down, or better yet give up. Go with one of the chiefs before they depart for tomorrow and take your mother and brother with you. Please, you staying here will only make things harder."
Though Taryu's voice was stern it wavered with the faint effect of pleading, that lightly softened his voice.
Lycurgus heard the words and registered them slowly as he recovered from the dizziness he felt. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, anger beginning to fill his lungs. He clenched his teeth as his hands formed into tight fists. He rose slowly and as he did, he said,
"Why should we leave? Why should we live amongst people who are not our own? Because you, will it? Are you so stuck to tradition that you cannot oversee this one thing? Strike my mother's name clean! Use the strength you have to enforce your will! I'm tired of you acting like this is such a hard decision to make! How can one second you seem so remorseful and sad that we are banished, yet so steadfast in your decision to keep us so!"
As Lycurgus' voice reached its crescendo, he threw a punch at his father, finally connecting a solid hit for the first causing the Leviathan to take a step back. Thunder crashed through the skies as lightning danced in the clouds to its beat. Taryu looked up at the sky, watching a streak of light blink across the ominous grey clouds before the accompanying thunder sounded through the air. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, calming himself and gathering all his reasonings and logic before opening his eyes again and staring at Lycurgus.
"Kyden overheard us before your match against Taezu. He threatened to destroy Tiziano with the might of all the villages. Even if I wanted to accept you back I couldn't. The cost would be too great, even if we repelled the attack, we wouldn't have the strength to survive a full-on assault."
Lycurgus' face twisted with anger, "I thought you were stronger than that, the great Leviathan scared of a few men?"
In Lycurgus' mind, he knew his father's reasoning was sound, but it didn't quell the anger that was raging within him it only stoked the flames. The feeling of being unimportant, worthless, and weak culminated in bestial anger that consumed his senses, his logic, and all sensibilities. At that moment Lycurgus was the avatar of hatred and it was directed solely towards his father and his inability to change anything.
His tarmata swelled in his body and overflowed, becoming a visible hue of red seeped out of his body. He lunged forward and swung his right arm transforming weaver's spindle from its Kotegean form to its Tarsori form, slashing at Taryu's chest.
Taryu barely managed to jump back in time, caught off guard by Lycurgus' bloodthirsty attack. Lycurgus' vicious pursuit didn't let up, as he followed with an upward diagonal slash. Taryu dodged spinning away and worked to put some distance between them, but Lycurgus' speed had increased. Taryu couldn't dodge the blazing quick overhead slash Lycurgus attacked with, forcing him to release Tujira from its necklace to block the attack. Lycurgus pushed off from the clash moving Taryu back.
"Calm Down!" Taryu yelled but Lycurgus continued to advance, striding with full confidence and power as he unleashed another series of attacks.
Taryu remained on the defensive parrying and blocking all of Lycurgus's attacks, but Lycurgus didn't let up each strike growing in strength and speed, pushing back the stalworth defense of Taryu.
Lycurgus could feel a rhythm building as his rage put fuel into his swings, he could feel his fighting style evolving with each attack. His footwork became crisper and even though his father was still physically stronger, the timing of each strike increased his power to match that of his father's. The fluidity with each swing began to meld his motions into one endless strike.
They clashed and Lycurgus then pushed his father back. Stepping forward leading with an overhead right cleave, Taryu parried his attack. He placed his feet in the perfect position to recover, allowing the momentum of his blade to fully swing down, quickly stopping the blade, reversing the edge to follow through with an upward slash that knocked Taryu off guard as he tried to deflect it. Lycurgus maintained the momentum, completing the movement into a spin that allowed him to slash at the back of his father. Taryu turned around trying to face Lycurgus to defend, but he was too fast. He had stopped on a dime, knowing his father's guard would be open, halting his momentum to push himself inside Taryu's guard and bringing his blade down slashing directly across Taryu's chest.