Despite saying that, it seemed that Laiex didn't want to talk too much. He prepared to attack Zaos again before the blood could dry, and it wouldn't stop bothering Zaos's eyes. Zaos sense of depth got messed up now that he couldn't keep one of his eyes open. When he tried to clean it, his father mercilessly attacked with swords and aimed toward his left eye. Zaos couldn't block all the attacks with a single hand, so he had to give up on that.

"What happened to the knights' honor?" Zaos asked while he was retreating and having a hard time blocking the attacks.

"You are no longer a knight. You are a criminal. I don't have to be chivalrous against you," Laiex replied.

"Nice excuse," Zaos said. "Well, you don't have to be chivalrous after all. You are plenty chivalrous during the last decades where you served a king that gave the order to capture newborn babies and kill their families and didn't say anything. You are chivalrous like a beaten dog!"

  Out of rage, Zaos enhanced his sword with magic and then used Wind Blade. The wind-wave was blocked by Laiex's swords, but he still suffered some light wounds on his arms from the pressure.

"Sorry, I got too worked up," Zaos said. "I promise I won't use that kind of attack again. It won't be fun if I defeat you like that, after all."

  Laiex' expressions darkened, but then he frowned when he saw Zaos closing his eyes. He didn't want to believe that Zaos was crazy enough to fight like that. Even for a taunt, that was just too much. However, Laiex recalled that in some reports of the missions that Zaos participated in, he heard that his son had some uncanny sensory skills. Like he could see someone, even if that someone was behind a door.

"What are you waiting for?" Zaos asked. "If you are that scared of attacking someone who closed their eyes, I can fight with just one hand as well."

  Laiex wasn't the type to fall to most of the taunts, but even he had a limit. Being looked down on by his son was more than he could take, so Zaos could see the anger appearing on his face. However, Zaos decided to stop there, and he used that chance to clean the blood from his face. Laiex dashed to prevent that, but then he saw Zaos swinging his sword from a standing posture and with a single arm. Laiex didn't give up on the attack and only moved to the side since the attack was much slower than usual. He dodged the attack… or so he thought… his left shoulder still got hit bit it. When he looked to the side, he noticed that Zaos spun his sword to the side and then increased the length of his attack and hit him with the cutting side of the sword.

  The attack didn't cause much damage, but it had been powerful enough to break Laiex's stance and force him to bend his knee. Even with his eyes closed, Zaos prepared to punch his father, and since he knew that he probably had enhanced his fist, he decided to block it with his crossguard. However, the real attack came from his left side. Zaos kicked Laiex' left side and made him roll on the ground for several meters. 

"You said that magic in combat wasuseless… what about now?" Zaos asked. "Well, I also used some mind games to catch you off guard, but that also counts."

Zaos was pretty sure that his kick had broken his ribs, but Laiex got up so quickly that he couldn't help but wonder if that was true. Only the slightly annoyed expression on his face made Zaos confirm that he really caused some damage.

"Now we are even," Zaos said, and then he cleaned the blood from his face. "Or maybe not."

Zaos dashed and attacked Laiex with the horizontal swings, his father still managed to block them, but he did that on his left side every time. His face contorted in pain. As expected, the sword could decrease the vibration upon impact, but it couldn't completely nullify it. Not to mention, Laiex wasn't using his legs anymore to move, so the power of Zaos's attack seemed more powerful.

After blocking so many attacks, Laiex's face was blue to the pain, and he fell on his right knee. The broken ribs probably pierced some of his interior organs, but he refused to let the pain make him fall. He was as stubborn as an ox. Zaos looked around, and he saw the knights that he had brought mainly had fallen by the hands of the assassin. Zaos couldn't explain how since he couldn't see her swinging any weapon.

"It is over," Zaos said. "I can't say that I am feeling much guilty about that, but my bad for lying. Drian still is alive. I just said that to piss you off. Are you happy now?"

Although Laiex's expression improved a little bit, it wasn't that much. Besides, it looked like he still wanted to fight. Some people were so stubborn that not even death had the patience…

"I dislike you quite a bit, but despite everything, you are my father. I can't kill you," Zaos said. "There are things I am willing to do against my enemies, but I can't become as disgusting as them, and killing you would only make me feel that. Disgust toward myself. So… go to sleep for a while."

Zaos raised his sword and then swung down after spinning to the side. Laiex tried to block the attack, and he probably would have succeeded if Zaos hadn't hit him with the side of the weapon that couldn't cut anything. Laiex's eyes spun when the sword hit his head, but he resisted. Zaos had to do that three more times before he finally fell unconscious.

"What a stubborn guy…" Zaos said and then sighed.

As soon as Zaos finished the fight, the assassin approached with her head down. She was breathing hard, even though she didn't receive any damage after defeating forty knights.

"Let's go," The assassin said.