CHAPTER 198: A DEEP HATE

"I can’t deny it... you’ve surpassed all I expected, but you are nowhere near defeating me," Norman said, pointing the axe at his son. "However, I’ll give you a choice: give up being an explorer, and I won’t kill you here."

"Why the hell would I ever give up?" Davi shot back, gasping, his eyes blazing with fury. At the same instant, he activated Supernova, beginning to concentrate mana into his hand.

"What is it? Now that you realize you can’t win, are you going to beg me to leave you alone?" Norman asked with an arrogant tone.

In the next instant, Norman vanished in a blur of motion, advancing with terrifying speed toward his son. The air hissed with the force of his attack, but Davi managed to teleport, escaping the blow just in time.

Appearing right behind his father, Davi took advantage of the moment of vulnerability. His sword gleamed as it was wielded in a quick and decisive arc, the metal singing as it cut through the air.

Norman spun, managing to deflect the main blow, but he wasn’t fast enough to avoid the attack completely. Davi’s blade tore through the flesh of his shoulder, opening a superficial cut.

Davi, panting, kept his distance and smiled confidently.

"I have no power to talk to a corpse," Davi began to explain with an ironic tone. "Therefore, this is my last chance to ask about this before I kill you."

A solitary drop ran down the blade and dripped onto the ground, leaving a red trail amid the suffocating silence.

Davi held the sword firm, its tip pointed at his own father. His eyes burned with hatred, and his heavy breathing betrayed the fury that throbbed in his chest.

He would never forgive him. Never.

The only thing Davi wanted at that moment was to stain the ground with his father’s blood and win that fight.

Still, he wanted to at least understand the man.

"Didn’t you hate me for being weak?" Davi asked, gripping his blade tighter. At the same time, his mana gathered agitatedly in his other hand.

"I think you got two things wrong," Norman said with an irritated look. The lightning around him danced more intensely, and his eyes glowed slightly.

Norman advanced like lightning. In the blink of an eye, his fist sank into Davi’s stomach, stealing his breath and spreading waves of pain throughout his body. The boy’s vision blurred, and his knees buckled as a sharp pain took over his entire body.

Norman raised the corner of his mouth in a sneer, pointing his index finger as if dictating a sentence. His voice was laden with disdain:

"First... from my point of view, you are still not strong."

As soon as he finished the sentence, he activated his Thunder Axe ability. The air vibrated. The enormous axe in his hand was enveloped by currents of electricity. Wielding the weapon for the first time in the fight, he violently swung his enormous war axe.

In a devastating arc, the axe cut through the air with insane speed, aiming directly at Davi’s neck.

Breathless and still stunned, the boy should have been defenseless, but he clenched his fists and forced himself to react in time. He wouldn’t die so easily. Space distorted around him, and in the next instant, he was no longer there.

The axe completed its trajectory in a perfect spin, tearing the ground and ripping out fragments of stone, leaving behind a trail of destruction where, seconds before, Davi’s head should have rolled.

Even with his body still aching, Davi’s smile was crooked.

"If I’m so weak... why are you having so much trouble killing me?" he provoked, his voice hoarse but firm.

It was the cue he had been waiting for. All the mana accumulated in his body boiled as he released his Supernova.

But the man didn’t even flinch. With a cold gaze, Norman raised the axe enveloped in lightning.

"Is that all...?"

In one overwhelming movement, he split not only the ground but also the plasma blast in half.

But Norman still hadn’t realized. Davi was no longer there. The man spun by instinct, but it was too late. That initial explosion was just a distraction, a 20% shot of the true power the boy had concentrated.

Appearing in his father’s blind spot, Davi smiled confidently and extended his hand, releasing his Supernova with full power.

The subsequent flash was point-blank, engulfing the space between them in pure destruction.

The explosion swallowed everything around, the flash tearing the air as if the world itself would collapse. However, when the light dissipated, Norman was still standing.

His body was marked by burns and his skin was scorched, but his Thunder Cloak had protected him, preventing the wounds from being too severe.

The smell of burnt flesh mixed with ozone in the air.

The short silence was interrupted by a roar of pain and fury that echoed through the arena as he raised the axe, gleaming with thunder.

"DAVI!" he roared, his voice reverberating like thunder about to strike.

With a single blow, the axe cut through the air, sparking lightning in all directions.

"What is it, are you so irritated you can’t think?" Davi provoked, holding his sword firmly. "You haven’t even given me your answer yet."

"If things continue like this, you’ll die before you finish speaking," Davi added, firing a Fire Torrent in the man’s direction.

Norman immediately responded with his Thunder of God blow, firing a powerful lightning bolt that destroyed the Fire Torrent and would have killed Davi if he hadn’t dodged.

"The second point is that I never hated you just for being weak," he roared.

Gradually, his wounds began to heal as he activated his Accelerated Healing ability.

"Did you see the power of my blow?" Norman asked arrogantly. "That’s what I wanted: a son who could continue my legacy, so that my abilities would be remembered for generations."

He advanced with brutal speed. After being wounded, Norman was too irritated to hold back.

But this time, Davi managed to escape by teleporting once again. His body was increasingly able to react purely on instinct.

"The only reason I had children was to extend my own legacy, so that the God of Thunder would be remembered," he roared, recalling his nickname from his explorer days.

In his entire life, Norman had never loved or had any appreciation for anyone other than himself.

He chose Davi’s mother because she was genetically the most likely person for his children to inherit his powers. He even went to the trouble of pretending to be a husband and father for a while because that was the best method to get what he wanted.

"You and your brother... at most, are useful tools," Norman said, the axe sparking as it described another deadly arc.

Norman had always aimed to turn his family into a respected and powerful clan, and the first step for that was to have a recognized, powerful bloodline ability.

"Or rather... only your brother is a useful tool," he completed, spinning and landing a brutal kick. The impact sent Davi flying across the field, the air knocked from his chest as he collided with the ground.

"You, on the other hand, are just a nuisance... a failure who didn’t serve my purpose." His gaze glittered with pure hatred. "That’s why I hate you. It’s as simple as that."

Norman advanced, his body wreathed in electricity, his eyes burning with a murderous desire that seemed to scorch the air around him.

Panting, with the metallic taste of blood in his mouth, Davi stood up. The tone of his voice was low, almost a whisper, but firm:

"You are truly selfish..." He smiled, gripping his sword tightly. "It will be a good thing for the world when I kill you."