Back in the circular hall, following Atticus’ brutal punch, Magnus’s hands gripping the chair handle he was sitting in tightened, cracks immediately appeared on the graphene made chairs.
It was obviuos to anyone watching that Magnus had controlled his strength a great deal; just a single clenching of the Paragon’s fist was enough to crush most things in Eldoralth to oblivion.
Magnus was trying so hard not to jump up and join in on the cheers for Atticus. This boy was making him so proud!
In fact he was angry, angry that he had to watch watch this fight with the rest of the Paragons.
He subtly cleared his throat, making sure that none of his actions were seen by the rest of the paragons. He had an image to maintain, after all.
But Magnus’s worries were for naught as each of the Paragons had their complete focus on the screens, a hint of shock coloring their features as their mind raced.
Since when did the Ravenstein family birth another monster?
The current main family of the Ravenstein family was a family of monsters. It was as if their entire lineage was blessed to keep producing geniuses.
Since they became the main family, in every generation, including the current one, they had never failed to birth monsters.
Magnus was one, Avalon was another, and now Atticus? That would be too much!
The other families had been glad that Magnus had married and given birth to Avalon late, but the same couldn’t be said for Avalon.
Avalon had married young. He was still young, and each of them in the room had no doubt that with his talent, sooner or later, he would advance to the Paragon rank.
If care was not taken, with the way every thing was playing out, it was possible that the Ravenstein family would have 3 Paragons simultaneously, a scenario each tier one family in the human domain completely dreaded happening.
Normally, the lifespan of Paragons in the human domain goes as far as 300 years, while the average time it took an individual to advance to this rank was at least 100 years.
Reaching the Paragon rank wasn’t something everyone can do, which was why each tier one family in the human domain tried their hardest to give birth to as many children as they can, as early as possible.
Because there was no guarantee that any one of their children would achieve the Paragon rank.
A tier one family without a Paragon rank wasn’t a tier one family; such a family would immediately fall without warning, with each of the other tier ones splitting their assets.
The highest number of Paragon rank individuals a family had ever gotten at the same time was two, and this was usually fine, as by the time a new Paragon was born, the old was usually old and didn’t have much time to live.
But from the current looks of things, the Ravenstein family would break the status quo, tipping the power balance in the human domain by birthing 3 Paragon ranks at the same time.
No one in the room had doubts that Avalon would become a Paragon rank. They had all initially been scared of Ariel too because of his talent, but they were all glad and had calmed down when he was killed.
But now, they had birthed another monster.
Each of the Paragons couldn’t help but turn to look at Magnus once again; but this time, many of them had a dangerous glint passing through their eyes.
Among the Paragons, the only one who, for even a second, didn’t take his eyes away from the screen was Aric.
Unlike what many thought he would be feeling currently, there was currently a huge grin on Aric’s face.
His eyes seemed to glow with intensity as a palpable aura subtly leaked out from his form.
Both of his hands were tightened into fists as his eyes bore into the screen displaying Atticus and Kael.
Anyone who knew Aric would immediately be able to tell that he was excited, very excited.
It was a reaction that would baffle many. Wasn’t his son just beaten? Why would he be excited?
WOOOOOOAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!
The cheers of the crowd below brought all of them back from their thoughts. They each turned their gaze back at the screens.
The fight wasn’t over yet.
…
Amidst the dense foliage of the forest, Kael’s painful coughs echoed as he coughed a mouth full of blood.
He found himself lodged in the upper reaches of a colossal tree, his body battered and broken, and the taste of blood lingering in his mouth.
Kael struggled to move. His whole torso was sending a whole wave of pain through his entire body.
‘Lightning?’ He pondered.
His body felt numb, the searing pain that coursed through his torso mimicked the aftermath of a lightning strike.
Shaking off the feeling of discomfort, Kael forced his aching body to move, inching away from the massive tree he was lodged in.
He fell down to the forest floor with a graceless thud, using his hands to stabilize his landing.
Coughing up remnants of blood, he cast his gaze upward, meeting the indifferent stare of Atticus, who stood a few meters away.
Kael pushed himself up.
He completely ignored the pain wracking his torso and cleaned the blood stains on his mouth.
His clothes surrounding his stomach were completely charred, as though they were burned. His neatly styled hair was in shambles with tree fragments lodged all over it.
Through out the unfolding scene, Kael’s expression never once changed for even a single second.
“Hmm,” Kael muttered.
Without breaking eye contact, Kael reached for his artifact, clicking on it and swiftly navigating to the ranking section.
Immediately seeing what he was looking for, Kael closed it, turning his gaze back at Atticus.
During all of this, neither Kael nor Atticus said a word to each other.
And then suddenly, Kael spoke, “You’re Atticus, right?”
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
