Kill the Sun-Chapter 297 Returning to Home... Part-3.

"Well then, it's about time we get going; we have troubled you guys for quite a while…"

Ashtel stretched out his hand to bid farewell. Ryul stretched out his hand in response and said,

"Haha, it doesn't bother me at all… If the world may allow it, let's meet someday again after retirement…"

Ryul and Ashtel nodded at each other and took their hands back.

Link and others also arrived and stood beside Ashtel and Jin while Ryul backed away a bit.

Link and others waved their hands to Vanya and Al as Ashtel opened a portal for them to enter the spaceship.

One by one, they all entered and left. Ashtel gave a last nod to Ryul before finally entering the portal and leaving.

The spaceship immediately took off, and after gaining a certain height, it immediately flew away at a tremendous speed.

"Sigh~ they are gone… Forget it... You two, let's go train to lighten the mood. I will look over your training personally today…"

Hearing Ryul's words, Vanya and Al's moods immediately brightened up, and they happily went to train and improve as they promised to.

Maybe the next time they meet Link and Rio, they will have improved a lot.

…

Inside the space ship, main hall.

"Okay, you guys are free to do whatever until we reach back home. Enjoy your free time…"

Hearing Ashtel's words, everyone started to disperse, but then Riya raised her hand as if she wanted to say something.

Ashtel tilted his head in confusion and inquired.

"Hmm? What's the matter, Riya? You have something on your mind?"

Riya immediately nodded her head and glared at Link angrily.

"Link bullied me! He ate all my candies, and then he was flirting with the elf princess right in front of me! I want justice for my candies!"

Link was taken aback by Riya's words.

"W-what the!? I was just having a casual talk with Vanya-"

But before Link could continue talking, Ashtel's glare made him stop.

"Hoh… You dare bully the girl who has been recognized by me? It seems that an improvement in strength has made you feel quite arrogant these days. how amusing…"

"Well, let's see if you can still behave arrogantly in front of someone stronger…"

An insanely strong pressure suddenly appeared, sending a chill down everyone's spine.

Even Jin was shocked by the sudden change in the situation, and Link, who was at the center of it, was immediately pushed to the ground with insane force.

The whole spaceship seemed to have slowed down for a moment under that insane pressure.

Rio's eyes narrowed in an instant as his grip on the sword hanging around his waist tightened.

[Sword Intent: Maximum Output!]

[Handling!]

Rio shot out like a cannonball and barely managed to black out the punch that was just about to hit Link's defenseless head.

*Boom!*

A massive shockwave was created, which directly caused a massive crack in the spaceship's floor.

*Cough!*

Rio coughed up a mouthful of blood, and his hands trembled like crazy as he barely stopped that punch from landing on Link.

"Hoh? Why are you getting in the way of a father and son's personal matter?"

Under Ashtel's intense glare, Rio's eyes didn't flinch at all, and he replied in a firm voice,

"I sensed the killing intent… you were just about to kill your own son?"

*Clap!**Clap!*

Before Rio even noticed, Ashtel was already walking away while clapping his hands.

"Good! I wanted to test how much you two have improved; Riya gave me a proper reason for it…"

"Don't mind me, I was just trying to see if you guys will show enough camaraderie while fighting an unbeatable force or not…"

"And you passed with flying colors… Brilliant!"

After saying that, Ashtel left with a satisfied smile on his face. However, before leaving, he added,

"Also, don't you dare bully my soon-to-be daughter-in-law next time, or I will really beat the sh*t out of you next time, Link…"

Once Asthel left, Liam and others collapsed on their knees as their legs became soft after withstanding that insane pressure.

"D*mn! What was that about!? I thought I was a goner…"

Liam wiped the sweat from his forehead and stared at the place where Ashtel had retreated.

"That was a test… He was testing my abilities as well as whether I would save Link or not… It was a crafty test…"

Rio's words made everyone feel quite shocked.

It seems that even after they all worked hard to become strong, only Rio passed the test, and others weren't even able to move an inch under that overwhelming pressure.

Rio glanced at the unconscious Link and thought about himself.

'Not only that… He warned us all not to be too arrogant after winning the competition… I guess I now know why Link said that Ashtel's teaching methods are very strict…'

While the students were in a state of confusion, Jin shook his head and said,

"Uh, don't take it to heart, everyone; I will have a word with him about it later…"

After saying that, Jin flew away in the same direction that Ashtel had gone.

…

Infirmary.

"Ugh.. my head hurts…"

Link opened his eyes and sat up on the bed.

"You are finally awake! I-I am s-sorry, L-link, i-I shoudn't h-have said t-that.. I d-din't k-knew.. h-he will d-do that…"

Tears fell from Riya's eyes continuously. She was thinking that Ashtel would just scold Link a bit, but even in her wildest dream, she never expected this to happen.

Ashtel was already looking for an opportunity to kick Link's a*s, and she gave it to him just when he needed it.

Hearing Riya's stuttering voice, Link just smiled.

"No… It's not your fault; I know why Father did that…"

Rio, who was sitting on the bed right beside Link's, immediately said it in his usual emotionless tone.

"He noticed that you lost because you were arrogant during the fight with me… Nothing gets past him…"

Link also nodded his head,

"Yeah… I created a technique to copy his 'authority' just to defeat you, but at the last moment of battle, I was overconfident… I thought I could win with just brute force…"

"I neglected the fact that you may pull some other tricks on me… That was my arrogance that stopped me right there… If it was a real battle, I would have died because of that negligence…"

"He sensed that mistake… and Father hates mistakes a lot…"

Link clenched his fist, and a new light of determination appeared in his eyes.

"Well, his teaching method is kind of… er, unique… I guess I know what I need to do next; he helped me not stray away from my path… Arrogance would have led me astray…"

Then Link glanced at Riya and wiped her tears with his hand.

"Haha, look at you crying like a baby… You know, even if you stabbed me to death, I won't blame you for it…"

Seeing that Link had forgiven her, Riya immediately hugged him and cried her heart out.

The stress and pain that she had been holding inside since those cruel training days had finally found an outlet.

She cried her heart out and fell asleep while lying her head on Link's chest.

Link rustled her hair with his hand as his eyes looked at her sleeping face with a bit of moisture in them.

'Sigh~, at least you are safe… I was worried about you for so many days. I am happy that you are okay…'

*Cough!*

"Can you guys do your lovey-dovey moments somewhere else?"

Lia clicked her tongue and stopped looking at Link and Riya. She glanced at Rio and asked in a calm tone.

"Are your hands okay now?"

Rio nodded his head and spoke with his usual expressionless face.

"No big deal; he didn't even use mana in that attack… It was just pure physical strength… Moreover, he likely held back a lot…"

Lia rolled her eyes at those words and said,

"But still, blocking an attack from an SS ranker... that's quite insane…"

Rio also nodded his head and said, in his usual emotionless voice,

"Well, I just moved on pure instinct when I noticed the killing intent… He likely wouldn't have killed Link, though, in my opinion…"

Rio used every ounce of strength to barely deflect and block that single casual punch from Ashtel, and yet he nearly broke both his arms from that one blow.

'Still… SS-rankers are insanely strong; he nearly got blasted off of the spaceship; he likely didn't even use half his strength…'

'I kind of know why they say that Ashtel Rex is the strongest man in the current era…'

…

Spaceship, a dark corridor.

"Are you sure you should be testing them this roughly?"

Hearing Jin's voice, Ashtel, who was standing while leaning against the wall, shook his head and said,

"Well, I was already expecting that Rio will defend Link… It was a test to see how much he had progressed after the award ceremony, and the result is satisfactory…"

"Also, this move from me will not only motivate Link and Rio to improve; it will make their whole team work harder, as they must have already realized how powerless they are…"

"They weren't even able to move an inch, even though I didn't even use 1/100th of my full aura…"

Hearing Asthel's words, Jin scratched the back of his neck and said in a hesitant tone,

"Well, still… You should try to be a bit more lenient on them; if Rio hadn't moved, you would have sent Link into a coma for days!"

Ashtel shook his head and said,

"No, that punch was a mere bluff; I wasn't really going to hit with that… Moreover, that punch might have seemed grand; I won't even consider that a casual blow…"

"But… I see your point; I will try to be more patient with them…"

Jin got the answer he wanted, so he left immediately.

But Ashtel kept standing there with an excited smile on his face.

'Not long now… a few more years, and I will have two excellent warriors to fight on equal footing…'

Ashtel is always ready for a battle; he wants Link and Rio to grow up fast and fight him freely.

'Well, if they want me to retire, they will have to force me away… I look forward to the day they will surpass me…'

Ashtel, standing at the top of the world, has never met any equals, so he wants to retire after a good and long battle with his students.

'Hehe, making your old man retire is going to be a very challenging task for you, Link…'

…