“F-father?” Kline stammered after hearing his father's challenge.

“Kline, you know how two souls communicate?” Kline exhaled a sigh as he remembered the lesson his parents had drilled into him.

“That two souls can only truly communicate through combat or love, preferably both.”

“Exactly, my beloved boy. I was always hesitant to talk to with such methods focusing on my fatherly love. But now I wish to hear your soul’s warrior.”

Frank gave a beaming smile that radiated pride as much as light as he gestured to the palace courtyard. The class looked to where he was gesturing and could see a few servants cranking handles around what they had assumed to be a little turning circle.

Only for a thin ring to start to rise up. Approaching the ring, they could tell it was the standard distance of a sparring circle. It spoke volumes to how much the Rabbiton clan valued combat skill to have a sparring circle that could be raised for use. Most families would’ve just had a chalk circle in the corner of their property.

“Kliney, please don’t indulge your father too much,” Emily said as she rested a hand on her nervous-looking son. “You know how your father can be.”

Kline could only nod in response. His father had always been the sort to talk with his actions rather than his words. It was why he always greeted Kline with a great big hug. While he could easily say he loved his son, he would prefer to prove it to everyone.

“Can we get a referee?” Frank asked to which Alex stepped up.

“I will step in if the fight gets too out of hand. Kline, try not to hurt the old man too much.”

“Oh cheeky, I like you even more… Son, ignore your teacher… Come at me like I need to die.”

“Honey, if you lose, I will show your friends all our baby portraits of you,” Emily added, motivating Kline even more.

Kline swallowed an audible gulp as he stepped into the ring, stretching and rolling his joints. This was something he had learnt from Alex when he was being trained personally by him. That flexibility wasn’t just movement but stretching your joints to enable broader movement.

Even after his freedom from the Kindergarteners, he kept practising the stretches Alex had shown him. He wasn’t anywhere near his teacher's flexibility, but Alex had assured him he would be there before he knew it.

“Bak Stah’ber, can you ring a bell to start us off?” Emily asked, turning to a sinister-looking man in butler garb.

The class looked at the man in surprise, having not noticed him till Kline’s mother had spoken to him. The Bak Stah-ber family were some of the most desirable families to have serving as servants. While they had the general appearance of traitorous bastards who’d backstab you at the first opportunity. They were, in fact, some of the most skilled and loyal servants on the Dark Continent.

“It would be my pleasure, ma’am,” he said as he took out a butler's bell and gave it a little ring.

With the fight started, Frank swung his fist in a wide punch that had been smoke signalled as the telegraph had yet to be invented for use in this instance. Kline seeing the obvious strike bent his knees and leant backwards, letting the fist harmlessly glide over him.

As he prepared to deliver a counter, he saw his father had begun a sweeping leg strike mere moments after the punch that he only now noticed. With his balance already compromised, if the strike hit, he would fall flat on the floor, which would be death in a real fight.

Focusing mana into his calves, Kline pushed off the ground avoiding the sweep and landing comfortably free of strikes. His father now was entirely open for a counter-attack which he was only more than happy to deliver.

Coating his hand in a baffle field using a bracelet Yuu had made for the class so they could freely use the light circle method. Kline cast a stunning spell that would make the nerves throughout a person go haywire.

With his hand charged with the attack, Kline went to slap his father against the arm, only for him to swiftly manouver out of the way and create space between them.

“Magnificent, my boy… you use your slim figure to your advantage. I cannot speak to how proud I am of you!!”

“If you are proud of me now, wait till you see this!! Come forth, for I seek the greater beyond!”

A bright flash of light burst from behind Kline as the large form of Manny the Manticore appeared within the ring. Frank looked at the magical beast and tilted his head in confusion.

“You adopted a kitten?”

“I AM MANNY THE MANTI-” Manny’s prideful tirade was interrupted by Frank bapping his nose with a rolled-up bundle of paper he had taken out of nowhere.

“No bad kitty mortals are talking.”

“Did… did he just bap a manticore on the nose?” Daisy asked, refusing to believe what her eyes were telling her.

“Frank has always been a bit iffy with pets. Kline would always try to adopt every hurt little creature he saw—everything from snails to birds that crashed into a window. We had to have a funeral for every one of them when they inevitably died. Poor Kliney was a weeping mess every time.”

“MOTHER!!!” Kline whined, turning to look at his mother, who was revealing yet more embarrassing parts of his childhood.

“SON, NEVER TAKE YOUR EYE OFF AN ENEMY!!!” Frank shouted as he moved to close the distance between them, only for his punch to be blocked by Manny, who proceeded to try and smack Frank with his tail.

“I SHALL NOT LET MINE MASTER COME TO HARM!!!”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“I have dibs on that job, kitty,” Frank replied as he wiped a thin trickle of blood from his mouth. Walking over to the manticore, seemingly ignoring the threat the beast posed, he sidestepped its strike and lifted the monster by the scruff of its neck.

“Now, little kitty, this is not playtime, so you’ll have to wait outside the ring,” Frank said as he walked to the edge of the ring and dropped Manny outside.

“YOU THINK I WILL NOT RETURN TO THE RING TO PROTECT-”

“Manny, stop… you are outside… it means you have lost.”

Manny froze midstep, hearing Kline's command. To a familiar, the words of their master were like the gospel from the gods. To disobey would be the height of sin.

“Glad to see you honour our traditions… My heart swells even more with pride, my boy.”

Briefly clasping his chest to illustrate how proud he was, everyone looked on and couldn’t help but cringe. The majority of the audience were teenagers, so seeing such overt displays of affection was becoming too much for their sensibilities.

“Ok, son, here I come… SONIC SMASH!!!” Frank vanished the moment he shouted and reappeared in front of Kline, his punch already on a collision course with Kline’s face.

Only Kline had survived training that would later be banned by international conventions. Easily sidestepping the punch, Kline remembered what his father had said. To show him the skills he had developed. He still needed to show one particular set of skills.

“Hey, old man look at you go,” Kline began as he continued to manouver out of the way of the punches in a manner that made it look like Frank was actually purposely avoiding targeting him.

“Oh, so slow with that weak ass blow.”

“Cheeky little-”

“I am gonna show my power and skills,” Kline spun around, so he was now behind Frank with a clear view of his exposed back.

“The things that, when I succeed, will get me kills,” Kline held out his hand, conjuring a magic circle that would launch a bolt of ice shards at his father.

“I will admit this fight has been a frill!” Kline retreated back a few steps and finally launched his spell.

“But you need to chill!” Frank groaned in pain as a few ice bolts landed into his back, causing a few small cuts to appear and start bleeding.

“So you are showing your bardic skills?” Frank asked as he rose to his full height and turned to face his son; in response, Kline nervously nodded.

“Two can play at that game.” Frank’s mad smile unnerved Kline. His father had rarely spoken about the creative arts. It had always been his mother who had taught him about that subject, so he never knew if his father could even play an instrument, let alone weave verse.

“Kline, my son, my pride,” Frank began as he punched the ground.

“I know not why you hide,” standing back up, Kline had to contain a bolt of fear as his father was now holding a boulder he had ripped from the ground.

“I always proclaim your strength and skill,” he hefted the large boulder above his head, ready to throw it.

“I know if you were ever hurt, I’d become frightfully ill,” the boulder was now launched at high speed towards Kline.

“Your tongue is sharper than any sword,” Frank stood there and watched as Kline jumped up in the air and began running over the boulder as it passed under him.

“I know of no one I’d rather have by my side when I face the coming horde,” Frank finished his verse by launching a thumb-sized stone from his hand. As Kline was stuck in mid-air and had yet to master air walk, he was unable to avoid the coming hit.

The stone struck him clean in the chest and launched him backwards a couple of metres. But a couple of metres were all that separated him from being outside the ring.

“Game and match!!” Alex declared. “Victor Frank!!”

“My son, are you ok daddy is sorry if he hurt you!!!” Frank shouted in a panic as he rushed up to Kline and picked him up in a hug.

“My little Kliney, you have become so strong,” Emily muttered, looking at the hugging pair and joining in so Kline was sandwiched between the couple.

After a few minutes that were uncomfortable for the observers and even more so for the boy squished between the doting parents, the hug came to an end. Finally free, Kline took in a deep breath of air, no longer having his chest compressed.

“My boy, I am proud of you!”

“But I lost.”

“So? You only lost due to a rule of the ring. In a real fight, you would’ve been able to keep going,” Emily said as she pulled Kline into a side hug.

“Not to mention, you are not conceited. You maintained your focus throughout near the entire fight. You showed tactical awareness; even some veterans fail to do that. You are still young, but I have no doubt you would be able to succeed me if you so wish to!”

“Father?”

“Son, if you want to do something else, know this… we will be behind you all the way whether you want to be a bureaucrat, heir to our station or even the Dark Lord himself. We are with you all the way!!” Frank declared as he and Emily squished Kline in another group hug.

“Now go off with your friends and show them around. I need to have a word with your teacher,” Frank said as he gave Kline a little push on his back towards the class.

Watching as Kline led the rest of the class off to sightsee the rest of the family estate, Frank turned and looked at Alex. His smile never faltered at all, but there was something in his eyes that spoke volumes between the two men.

“I understand; I will keep him safe.”

“Good to know we can talk like true fighters.”

“So what was your ‘conversation’ with Kline like?” Alex asked, gesturing to the slightly damaged sparring ring.

“Interesting. He has a vocabulary that I never knew existed. I assume you taught him how to talk like that?”

“Yes, he learnt my way of avoidance fighting. I am not physically strong. But if a mage can cast a spell despite being assaulted, then they will win.”

Frank nodded in agreement. It was common sense that mages had to have enhancers to keep them safe so they would be able to actually cast their spells. It was why many anti-mage units were shock troops whose sole purpose was to disrupt a mage’s concentration and kill them.

“To think a mage could move like my boy did… would you care to-”

“I won’t, sorry… I’m afraid if we fought, you would not hold back, and this lovely home would be ruined. I’d rather not spoil Kline's childhood home.”

“Ah yes… well, I thank you for taking my son under your guidance… At first, I assumed you were exaggerating how much he had grown. But that little play fight told me enough to know he has sprung up the second I looked away.”

“As is the way of children, honey,” Emily added.

“Yes, the second you take your eye off kids, they become adults,” Alex agreed with a nod.

The three stood there for a few minutes, just watching Kline show his friends around the garden before eventually returning towards the gazebo to finish off the tea.

“One word of warning, Lord Alex,” Frank began.

“Hmm?”

“Lord Pride’s relationship with his son is tense at best. I’d recommend you keep an eye on that precious boy. His family often forget that the same pressure that can make a diamond also makes dust. I’d hate to see that precious boy break under his father's pressure,” Frank’s gaze went to Maxwell, who was helping Kline show off their ‘secret’ fort that was really a few old crates with a flag stuck to it.