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Villain: TPOD, Chapter 241
🕑 Added 2022-10-20 17:47:00 +0000 UTC"Begin!"
Celine's voice came from far away, but neither Keith nor Venessa rushed forward.
The two of them kept taking a good look at each other, and Venessa suddenly smiled before shrouding her body in a crimson flame.
"Let me see how strong you are." She proactively said, making her intentions clear, and Keith could not help but shake his head and sigh.
She was not going to hold back. And he did the right thing by bringing everyone here.
Venessa's smile brightened up when she watched her son's eyes change to their Amethyst colour. His body was soon shrouded in a black flame, and then he disappeared.
It was her instincts that came in handy, and at the last moment, she managed to block the kick that was aimed at her left side. However, the force behind that kick still pushed her away, several meters away, and before she stabilised herself, she received another kick from behind, which connected with her Aura Shields and sent her flying several meters away.
She had felt the burnt of the force this time as he nearly managed to break past her Aura, and her eyes dangerously narrowed in seriousness.
The third time Keith attempted the same move by teleporting behind her, he miserably failed as a majestic crimson dragon erupted from Venessa's body, protecting her, and at the same time, a terrifying flame lunged at him.
Keith wisely flipped backwards, narrowly escaping, and gaining distance, but then he shot forward again, summoning his own Aura Beast Avatar which was a wolf.
The two Aura Beasts clashed, resulting in sparks of their Auras and a dull explosive sound that thumped the hearts of the onlookers.
Whilst the two of them engaged in hand-to-hand combat, their Avatars, as if having a mind of their own, clashed against each other.
It was unlike anything the girls had seen before, and only Amelia seemed unsurprised by it. It was only possible after passing the Primal Desolation Realm, and she could do it too but had never tried it.
However, just like everyone else, she too was invested in watching the battle. It was already clear that Venessa was holding back on them when they had challenged her, and seeing the gap between their powers, she felt a little uncomfortable in her heart.
Keith was visibly better in techniques, both attacking and defensive, but Venessa was a little faster and much stronger than him, which made up for the difference.
Every time they landed a hit on each other, their Aura Beast Avatars chipped away a piece of Aura from their opponent, and so far, the Dragon was overpowering the wolf.
"I must say, I am impressed, Mother," Keith spoke as she expertly dodged and blocked her attacks.
She was much better than he has expected, very skilled in the art of hand-to-hand combat. But what truly impressed him was how much control she had gained over her Special Physique.
Though he had not seen it with his eyes yet, he was certain that Venessa could now successfully use the first Sun of the Nine-Yang Divine Physique. It was something that Ye Tian had failed to achieve even in his final gambit.
"And you lack strength, My Child." She playfully replied, which made him grin at her words.
"Brace." He warned her right before darkness engulfed her, completely shrouding them both.
Venessa found herself unable to see anything other than her Aura, and to her discomfort, there was no sound in this place too. It was eerily quiet, but she got no chance to dwell on her thoughts as she sensed her Aura defence getting pierced from behind her.
Before she could react, she felt a kick land on her back, and it knocked the breath of out her lungs.
She groaned in pain, but no voice came out, and then she was attacked again and again, which forced her to reinforce her defences and use more of her Aura.
However, it was only a few seconds later that she realised Keith's intentions. He was just going to wear her out like this if she did not break out of this void.
Unleashing the rage that had been building up in her heart, she exploded the crimson flame that covered her body, and soon it started eating away the Darkness, allowing her to gain freedom.
Or that was what she believed until she saw the room again and her eyes quivered when an army of dozens of hounds and feral creatures, made out of Darkness, rushed at her from all sides.
No matter how many she eradicated, there just seemed to be no end to these creatures of Darkness, and eventually, they overpowered her when a few grabbed onto her Dragon Avatar and then black creatures started merging with each other, binding her in shackles that she could not shake off.
"Shall we end it here, Mother?"
She raised her head and found Keith smiling at her from a distance, and she could not help but smile too.
"I haven't enjoyed a fight in a long while." Her smile brightened.
Keith narrowed his eyes when he watched Venessa's eyes change to a similar shade as his, and then he sensed the change in the crimson flame that he had managed to suppress with his Power of Darkness.
The cage and shackles of Darkness binding her were eaten away by this new crimson flame, and though it was hard to visibly see the difference, Keith could tell that it was no longer the same as before.
He could sense something from that flame, something very dreadful, and he did not need it to be answered by the system to understand what it was.
A moment of surprise nearly caught him off-guard, but at the very last moment, when Venessa's flame-covered fist was about to connect him, he used his Spacial Powers to teleport to a safe distance.
He kept dodging her attacks, and though he was doing it successfully, he was not smiling anymore.
It was not that she had an upper hand on him, but that Crimson Flame was a little too dangerous.
"Why Keith, scared to take a fist from your mother?" Venessa teasingly said after she found out that he had no intentions of blocking or replying to her attacks.
It was after he was trying to not come in contact with her flame, and she knew very well why he was doing it.
But then to her dismay, he simply stopped and grabbed her punch.
The moment their Auras came in contact, it took just a second for the crimson flame to start eating away his Amethyst Shields, and then the Runic Shields Amelia had placed on his body started shattering one after another, scaring the girls who could not understand how blocking a punch could do that to you.
To Venessa's relief, Keith finally teleported away, but when she was about to rush at him again, she crashed against an invisible wall.
She jumped backwards, and there was another wall there.
There were walls all around her, and she was caged inside these invisible walls now.
Narrowing her eyes at her son, she unleashed more of her unique Power, and everyone saw visible cracks appear in space around Venessa as her Crimson Flame flared up.
But then something very mysterious happened.
The invisible cage started filling up with Darkness, and though the crimson flame kept resisting it for a while, it was soon overpowered by Darkness.
It was only then that the girls saw the cage Venessa was imprisoned in. It was a cube whose sides were three meters long, and now, it was a completely black cube as it had been filled up with Darkness.
There was no trace of Venessa or her Aura.
Keith kept staring at the Spacial Prison for the next ten minutes until it finally started shattering and specks of crimson flame pierced through the Darkness, which he immediately recalled. He then tool a good look at his mother.
She was stubbornly staring at him, but her face was a little pale now. It was clear that she had expended a lot of her Aura and Mana to break out of that Spacial Prison.
He also saw what he wanted to see in her eyes, and the unbridled rage sent chills up his spine, prompting a light smile to creep on his lips.
She lunged at him, at a speed much faster than before, but he did not do anything to block or dodge it.
"I concede." He announced right before Venessa's fist was about to connect with him again, and his mother stopped mid-air and retracted her arm in confusion.
"Why?" She narrowed her eyes at him.
"Because I don't want to get hurt." He smiled at her, and his words evoked a smile on her face.
"I doubt you would get hurt."
"You over-estimate me, Mother. I am but a Mortal right now."
As his words fell, he carefully observed the change in her expression and the change in his crimson flame, and it proved another one of his guesses right.
The Power she tapped into intensified depending on the level of her rage, and now that she had calmed down, it was going away.
Though the System refused to tell him about his Bloodline, after observing the Powers of Minami and Venessa, Keith had narrowed down his guesses.
He was still not certain, but whatever the truth was, it was only in his favour, and so he did not fret much over it.
Another thing that immensely pleased him was seeing how capable she was in battle. And Keith knew that he did not have to care about her safety in this world as there could hardly be anyone who could harm her, and that included the Children of Destiny too.
"It was awesome!" Celine came running towards them and then happily hugged him, smiling brightly.
And the smart her only hugged Venessa after his mother recalled her Aura and the Crimson flame, and only when her eyes returned to their usual dark brown colour.
"You are strong! I was so worried when he imprisoned you in that cube."
"So was I," Venessa admitted without any hesitation. "But I would have liked it if he played with me for a while longer."
"You just wanted to teach him a lesson for imprisoning you in that cube." Celine giggled and then dragged her friend away. "By the way, what was it like being imprisoned in it?"
"Silent and Dark."
"Oh... Were you scared?" She playfully asked as she dragged her friend away, and then the girls surrounded Keith, some smiling, some curious, and others apprehensive.
"I am not challenging Mother to a battle again. She's scary." Rebecca pouted, and her words made everyone around her feel better.
"I heard that."
And they giggled when Venessa turned to look her way with a smile, and the blonde's face paled a little as a result.
Comments
hawkshe .
I'm somewhere between the readers. It was nice to get an idea of both their capabilities, but I feel like I didn't learn enough for the scene to be worth it, at least for me personally. Also, I'm with Tripp, it feels like Kieth only lost because he wasn't willing to do the sort of damage to her that would have resulted in his win. For example, if he could have attacked her while she was imprisoned in the cube he likely could have won with a sneak attack, but doing so while she was surrounded by his darkness may have hurt her more than he'd like. I also wouldn't be surprised if his time in the special forces is a double edged sword in this sort of spar since it's focused on lethality and so all his habits would be to go for the kill, but he has to fight his own ingrained battle instincts in order to not hurt his mother.
TrippMonster
I think the fight scene was fine. At least going by previous reading experiences most darkness type combat involves more lethal/assassination techniques so its obvious to me he would not be at 100% in a fight where he doesn't want to kill or maim the opponent. With the aura beast though I have a hard time believing a wolf can stand up to a dragon so I'm thinking its more of a Fenrir type wolf and it will end up with some type of God eater type abilities. Which if I'm right I'm excited for lol.
The Tallest Tree
Don't put words in my mouth. I felt the fight was hollow and that combat wise Keith had more advantages both in experience technique and skill. Not that Vanessa was weaker than him. There's more to a fight than raw strength. Cultivation matters but so do the aforementioned components of combat. Keith was arguably the top operative among a superpowers elite military Black ops units. Vanessa can't compare. I have no problem with Keith losing, your implication is insulting to say the least. I do have a problem with him losing when there's no valid reason why he should, when the pre established world building gets warped just so that he loses. An inverse Deus Ex Machina. I mentioned it to the author to see if that was their intention when writing the scene or if perhaps I had misunderstood. The author cleared things up with regards to their take on things and while I disagree with some of the points raised I'm curious to see how things unfold.
jMori
I just wanted to chip in, I for one enjoyed the fight... Please don't turn this novel's fight scenes into a dragon ball, or those card fighting replica. Yes Keith has had a few years of military, but Vanessa isn't your typical house wife! Don't forget who her parents are, and she herself was already a cultivator while the original Keith was nothing but a worthless playboy... Not to mention Vanessa has fully awakened her bloodline, and I'm sure knowledge must be part of it... like with cats landing on their feet, no one teaches them it's just instinctual, or part of their bloodline if you will. If anything, I think Vanessa was under-performing during the spar. Granted there are many explanations such as her cultivation/soul/whatever being too low/weak to handle her pure bloodline and the fight ended at just the right time, avoiding her getting hurt for handling too much power that she's not ready for, or MC getting his behind handed to him, cause we all know if that happens many readers will pickup their pitchforks cause they don't like when MC's women are more powerful than him, even if it's temporary π
Fate-D-Ace
I would say the same thing again. 20 years of experience is still something that needs to be acknowledged. Perhaps you look at them from a Human point of view, but they are not Humans. Also, I feel like you have a wrong impression of the difference between their speed and strength. Venessa is not little, but a lot faster and stronger than him and her Reflexes are much better too. A single point in those values on Strength, Speed, and Constitution can make a difference between life and death. Yet, those advantages only allowed her to hold on against Keith, which shows how much better he is compared to her when it comes to the Art of Combat. About that last punch... He stopped a punch from her earlier. Do you remember what happened then? π Anyways, Keith did not want to continue the fight and he had his reasons. It will be explained when the time comes why it was necessary to end the fight right there. As for these Powers never been introduced before... like I said, these were just glimpses. Everything will be explained in due time. Over time, you will understand everything. It is fine if you find this chapter meaningless. Hope you will enjoy the next fight in the story. π€·π»
The Tallest Tree
It is pretty far-fetched yeah. It's' like comparing a navy seal to someone who has had karate practice as a hobby. Both are skilled but one will be more lethal than the other. The point I'm making isn't that you failed to explain their powers, it's that I feel that we've never been properly informed about their powers so when you write them I have no reason to care. We haven't spent any proper time fleshing out what they can do, so just slapping together a glimpse of their abilities means nothing, effectively. Again, maybe you're approaching at this from another angle and have your internal context giving a certain meaning to this scene but to me, I felt like I read nothing more than, Keith did some darkness stuff, Vanessa got mad and punched him, Keith for some reason couldn't take that punch or didn't want to, chapter over...
Fate-D-Ace
2 years of Military Training? And over two decades of Training? Is it really that far-fetched that Venessa can keep up with him despite being less skilled in hand-to-hand combat but being much stronger and faster than him? Then again, it was not what happened. Venessa managed to keep up with him thanks to her Bloodline Powers, and Keith pretty much owned her in the battle thanks to the edge he had over her in combat expertise. Nothing was meaningless. And the point was never to explain what was happening in detail. The purpose was to give a glimpse of their abilities, and I think I did a fine job there. If you were expecting that I would explain the Powers they used in this battle, then that was never my intention. Readers will get acquainted with their true capabilities as the story progresses. But there were more than enough hints in this chapter to give some understanding of their powers. As for the fight-scene feeling disjointed... Umm... It flows perfectly well in my mind, but I will give it another check after uploading the next chapter. Maybe I failed to write it properly.
The Tallest Tree
The fight scene felt pretty disjointed. I feel like we haven't got a good understanding of Keith/Vanessa's skills/spells so stuff just kept happening without any sort of narrative buildup. Not to mention how ridiculous it felt that Vanessa could keep up with Keith given his 2+ years of elite military training, yes she is stronger but he should be much much much more skilled as a combatant than she is. Idk it just felt like it was meaningless
