“Hah… That scared the life out of me. Good thing I reacted fast.”

Inside the deep-blue sphere of solid ice, Aya panted, still shaken. The roar of thunder and lightning pounding against the spherical ice shell continued to ring in his ears.

The instant the lightning struck, he briefly activated the Law of Time, buying himself a moment to react. While Dad countered the Law of Time, Aya used the opening to put up his defenses and reinforce them by freezing the movement of every molecule—even every atom. That was the only reason he could stand firm under the thunderous assault.

But what should he do now?

Dad’s lightning came from the storm clouds. After absorbing the entire tsunami, those clouds had swelled to several times their original size. There was no way Aya could clear them out in a short time.

The only workable option was to find Dad and take him out directly.

“But if I couldn’t beat him when we were fighting up close from the start, there’s definitely no chance now…”

Aya sighed softly, then looked up again.

Ugh. Guess he’d better wait a little longer. He was practically untouchable in here, anyway.

Aya slowly steadied his breathing and tried to get himself back in shape. The string of fights had taken its toll. He wasn’t seriously injured, but his Magic and Chi were in disarray, and his internal organs and circulation had been badly shaken up.

He’d better use this chance to recover as much strength as he could. Once the lightning stopped, he’d figure out a way to find Dad.

But a moment before Aya could enter a meditative state, he suddenly stared at the empty space in front of him, his face twisting into an expression of utter disbelief.

A pitch-black rift appeared out of nowhere, floating in the middle of the ice-shell barrier. It looked completely out of place.

“Listen, son. Hiding in a turtle shell and letting yourself get beaten up isn’t a great strategy.”

Antikas’s voice came from the rift. Two hands pushed its sides apart as if opening a pocket.

Aya reacted just as quickly. The moment those hands reached out, he controlled the Law of Space and tried to close the tear from the other side.

“Hey, hey, hey! Are you trying to tear your own dad’s hands off, you little brat?!”

Antikas seemed to panic for just a moment—but only for a moment. “...Ha, just kidding.”

Closing a rift in space was already harder than tearing one open. And against Antikas, an old hand who’d been at Holy Rank far longer than Aya, Aya’s understanding of the Law of Space didn’t even come close.

“?!”

The rift, which had just begun to close, was ripped open again. Antikas leapt out, and in the cramped space inside the ice shell, Aya had no time to dodge.

“Come to think of it, you like using this move too, don’t you, son? It’s not that powerful, but it sure looks cool.”

Antikas grinned, signaling the end of the fight.

“Dragon’s Breath!”

Beyond the towering storm clouds, the others watching the fight were still waiting for the outcome. The clouds completely blocked their view, and the chaotic flow of elements and lightning disrupted their spiritual senses. Even Tiran had no way of knowing what was happening inside the storm, since Aya had just cut off their telepathic link through the contract.

“Huh? Someone’s coming out… Oh! Aya?”

A figure shot out of the clouds like a cannonball. Their body tumbled wildly in the rushing air, but they were moving incredibly fast. They must’ve taken a powerful hit.

His white hair caught the dazzling sunlight high above the storm clouds, making Aya easy for Tiran to recognize.

“Looks like we have a winner~”

The golden dragon beneath Tiran spoke in a gentle voice, then quickly flew toward the direction Aya was falling and positioned herself beneath his path.

“Miss Tiran, would you mind catching Aya?”

“Oh, leave it to me!”

Standing up on her mother-in-law’s back, Tiran stepped back with her right foot and spread her arms. She caught Aya securely, then took three steps backward to absorb the momentum still carrying him.

Though he’d been sent flying, Aya was still conscious. “Lady Tiran?”

“Your beloved knight, and no one else.”

Tiran winked, then quickly glanced ahead to check her mother-in-law’s reaction. Good—she didn’t seem to have heard.

“You look pretty beaten up, though. Are you okay, Aya?”

“He only punched me once… Ow, ow, ow! Put me down. We’re not done fighting yet!”

Aya tried to save face, but the moment Tiran started to lower him, he grimaced in pain.

“You really are pretty badly hurt. But you can heal yourself, right?”

Tiran felt awful for Aya, but there wasn’t much she could do when she didn’t know any healing spells.

Come to think of it, where had Uncle Antikas gone?

The thought had barely crossed Tiran’s mind when another figure shot out of the storm clouds and landed on Miss Ruko’s back. “Yo, brat. You’ve realized how big the gap is between us, right? You’re still too young!”

“Cut the crap! I haven’t admitted defeat yet!”

The moment Aya finished speaking, Antikas flashed over to stand in front of Tiran and Aya, who was lying in her arms. With a wicked grin, he poked a finger into the wound on Aya’s arm.

“Aaaah! Get lost, you bastard of a dad!”

Aya tried to kick Antikas away, but the movement tugged at his other wounds and made them hurt even more.

“...I give up, okay? I give up!”

“Sigh. It’s not every day you get to see your son, and you beat him up the moment you meet. That’s just too much.”

In the end, Aya gave up struggling. He threw out an arm and let his legs go limp, giving up on getting any treatment. Miss Ruko, their temporary platform, turned her head and gave Antikas a reproachful look.

“Sorry, honey. How about we have a full seafood feast when we get home tonight?”

Antikas threw his arms around Miss Ruko’s long neck, rubbing his head against her as he scratched a soft scale near its edge.

“Mmm… Ah~ F-fine, I’ll forgive you this time. But don’t fight our son again, okay?”

The scratching seemed to feel so good that Miss Ruko let out a soft, pleased hum and wriggled. She nearly knocked Tiran off, catching her completely by surprise.

“There are other people here! Could you at least give us some warning before you start throwing off sparks all over the place?!”

“And I’m the one you should be apologizing to, you bastard of a dad!”

Tiran and Aya protested at the same time.

“Tch. Fine, I’ll bring you along too.”

Antikas turned to stare at Aya for a while, then reluctantly agreed.

I really do hate this bastard of a dad. Damn it!

“Senior Aya, please don’t move around so much. Holy light heals very well, but if you keep moving, your wounds might reopen…”

The little Angel, who’d volunteered to treat Aya, tried to stop him.

The little Angel and Doris were faster flyers than Tiran, so they’d gone closer to the storm clouds earlier. They’d only just returned and seen Aya after his defeat.

“Waaah! Is Big Brother okay? Doris can use healing Magic too! Do you need help? Do you need help?”

“Could you not stare over there with that worried look while you say that?!”

Tiran glared at the girl in annoyance and shifted Aya a little to the side.

Come to think of it, this girl was only in her teens, even by human standards. Was it really okay for her to be thinking about having kids all the time?