Chapter 557 - Who's To Say?
"Well, well, well. What do we have here? Two scions of the Doxon family, especially those so close to me engaging in a street-like brawl in the family territory.
Letting servants gossip about your brash behaviors.
Idiots" Kirill spat and with a wave of his hand, he separated the two with cosmic energy, and with what could be considered a gentle wave of Saint energy, he rendered the two of them incapable of mustering any fighting ability.
Followed with a threat he delivered with his eyes which made it clear that any attempt to still further muster any bit of cosmic energy would be rewarded with a strike they would most likely never recover from.
Then Kirill descended from on high to land solidly on the ground with his two hands behind him while both Ivan and Artyom glared at each other with an intensity that told their conflict was not over.
"Thank you father" Kohen said and Elian nodded briefly before rethinking the action.
Was he to nod along even now that he was not so sure he and his brother should be in the same camp?
Kirill rolled his eyes,
"Don't thank me. There is nothing I would love more than a self-implosion among your annoying parties, but there should be due process.
This is not a situation that should be forced.
Oh yes, it's not" he said with a wicked smile of enjoyment that matched Hal's before he looked over at the intensely glaring duo,
"I like a good competition. What fun is it if you two simply want the same things? No, you should disagree. It brings a much more fun dynamic into your so-called faction. If you want to even kill each other, by all means, go ahead.
That said, I don't want to see you dying in the Doxon family territory. At least not in such an anti-climatic situation where we have not even fully explored the interesting points of this newly born rivalry." He said to the two.
Kohen furrowed his brows,
"Father, that is... *sigh* Is this really what you want to say to the young ones? Is this how you want to encourage them to fight among themselves. To kill themselves?" He asked.
Elian by his side agreed with his words but once again was unsure if he was to nod along or keep rethinking his partnership with his brother.
Kirill shrugged,
"Why not? After discovering Hal was my dear daughter's only son, you tried to kill him, did you not? Did I interfere? No, I did not.
In fact, if you still try to kill him, I won't interfere.
Why then should I discourage your sons from battling to the death?
No, let them fight for the right to govern the Duchy if that is what they want but let them, at the very least, have the courtesy to still keep this sort of defining duels-to-the-death on hold until they have explored all options.
Options including but not limited to poorly planned assassinations that are usually doomed to fail." Kirill said.
Hal rolled his eyes behind the Ex-Duke.
He felt the shameless old bastard was just here to savor the dissolution of an alliance between his sons.
Also, Kirill's presence was something Hal could very well do without.
Hal had things planned out already and was never going to let either Ivan or Artyom die.
The battle was meant to end in a stalemate eventually.
The main purpose of the battle was just to show Artyom's ability to render Ivan's lightning blessing, the very thing that made Ivan the most special of the two and the one thing that was said to be unbeatable in the same cultivation realm, useless.
To show that Artyom was more than capable of governing the Duchy if the next duke was being chosen mostly on battle strength which was what it usually was chosen with.
He did not need the Doxon Ex-duke's arrival to make his plans a success because they already were and he definitely did not need the speeches that just told everyone what they already knew which was that Kirill Doxon was a terrible Grandfather.
Artyom straightened himself now that Kirill's powerful presence was no longer baring down on him and with one last glare at Ivan, he walked away. Heading away from the residence to better prepare his case and present an alternative to various parties in what used to be a joint faction in the Doxon family.
As he walked away, Elora followed after him and after a sigh at what he realized was probably a situation that would mark the first time he and his brother would not be on the same side, Elian walked away as well.
Both Ivan and his father looked over at Hal but while the expression of the father had nothing but an annoyance to show, that of Ivan had fear within it.
Fear he tried to hide but still surfaced a fair bit on his face nonetheless.
He was sure the only reason Artyom had been able to fight him to a stalemate was because of Hal and the mere thought of Hal being so capable, he actually imparted enough within Artyom in the space of a minute or so to make him so formidable was worrying.
No, it was frightening.
And as Hal watched the fear increase on the Doxon's expression, he worried he had overdone it.
'Oh well, this was never meant to be enough. If I was going to orchestrate a battle between Artyom and Ivan, a battle that would turn the Doxon family upside down, I can't rely on things following due course. Ivan will need a little help' Hal thought and could barely keep the enjoyment he was getting from this situation off his face.
Eventually, he decided to stop trying.
"Did you enjoy yourself?" Kirill suddenly asked him and Hal looked over at him,
"Absolutely" he said.
Even if he wanted to deny his enjoyment of the situation, he would not be able to, so why bother.
Kirill nodded with a smile,
"Aren't you going to say thank you?" He asked which confused Hal who wondered what he was supposed to say thank you for.
Before he answered though, the guards at the scene all left and so did Ivan who occasionally cast a fearful look back at Hal as he went over to his building to tend to his wounds and better plot a way forward with his father who was the only clear support he had at the moment.
When they were the only ones in the backyard that had, only seconds ago being a battleground, Kirill clarified his question,
"I doubt you wanted them to kill each other at least not from the get-go. I helped you bring it all to a stalemate. Otherwise, with the passion they were showing, someone was bound not to see the morrow."
Hal rolled his eyes,
"Don't tell me that. You and I both know you just wanted to see their faces and the dissolution of their relationship in person. Even if you had not shown up, their fathers would have interfered once things got out of hand.
Once they were no longer focussed on attacking me, that is" he said and walked past the Ex-duke to head out of the residence and prepare for the next part of his plans.
Before he was too far gone though, Kirill called to him,
"How did you do it?" He asked but when Hal opened his mouth to speak, Kirill interrupted to clarify his question,
"I mean how did you make Artyom capable of holding his own against Ivan. How could he render the lightning blessing useless?" He asked.
Hal shrugged,
"Who's to say I did anything?" He said and after a brief pause, the ex-duke allowed himself one more look if just mysterious grandson before he chuckled and vanished.