Chapter 206: Far Stronger than Anticipated
"You’re dishonourable, Lesser Angel."
Damas stated like it was a curse as his hand rested on Panas’ shoulder, massaging it slowly as if to remind Kai that he could crush Panas in an instant. The size difference between them was so evident that his hand was almost the size of Panas’ torso.
"You speak of honour when you’re holding a boy hostage?"
"Drop your weapon and surrender. If you murder this boy with your own hands, we’ll forgive you and won’t pursue beating you down. Do not believe the delusion of victory. You had your chance, and you failed to kill me. I won’t let it happen again."
His voice was deep and filled with warning.
In hindsight, he was warning Kai that he was now going to be serious.
But it was an entirely different thing inside his mind.
’He’s stronger than we initially thought. He’s in possession of a wide range of Imprints—and that’s a problem.’ Damas inspected the wounds that Makos had inflicted. Black smoke sizzled from them instead of blood oozing out. ’Another Imprint? Just how many Imprints—does this Lesser Angel have?’
On the far side, Makos rose to his knees.
The thrust had left a hole in his chest, and blood drizzled down to his pecs.
He’s a Supernal with the bloodline of Minatour, a Divine Beast; this wound should be nothing.
And yet, Makos remained on his knees, shaking his head as if he were losing consciousness or perhaps he was trying to rid himself of something that only he could feel. Either way, Kai somehow managed to keep this battle strictly a duel by attacking one with such force to deal a wound bad enough to take them out of the fight temporarily.
It was surprising that a new Angel like him was this adept at fighting.
But it’s not enough.
Kai was also wrestling with his own observations.
His eyes were fixated on the scar that ran across Damas’ neck, the one from his earlier attack.
I saw him drink a healing vial. How many does he have?
It was only a fleeting moment, but he saw Damas chugging the liquid from a vial.
No way that his natural regeneration would be able to heal an open wound to the neck—that quickly. Perhaps he has access to a Legacy Skill or Imprint that could bolster his regeneration, but Kai didn’t feel him using any mana at all.
He’s going to be more cautious now. Even then, the best option is to attack now while Makos is out.
A direct hit to the chest with the Blood-phantom Scimitar would most certainly infuse a great dose of the Fatal Whispering Wound. Makos would need to circulate his mana to stave all the whispering from the Furies.
Before he finishes, Kai needs to rescue Panas and reach the compound.
"Nevertheless... I refuse."
Swoosh—!
Kai moved with astonishing speed.
And in the same instant, the black star that had been hovering in the sky still, charging mana throughout the entire pause, also unleashed a thick lance of darkness. The dark lance split the air with a thunderclap, shattering the sound barrier as it descended.
It reached Damas first, forcing him to let go of Panas to block.
Kai followed with a horizontal swing—the tip of the scimitar narrowly missed Damas’ neck.
He didn’t care.
All he was going for was Panas.
His open hand shot out to seize Panas by the shirt and pull him away from Damas, but all his fingers closed on nothing. Wind and empty void remained where Panas had been. Kai’s eyes went wide.
Then, a pained wail cut through the air, and his head whipped to the side.
Across the cloudy expanse, Panas was on the ground, wailing while clutching his right arm.
Damas, in the nick of time, had kicked Panas away so that Kai couldn’t get him.
And that kick, though more like a light tap for a Supernal, was devastating for Panas.
It snapped his humerus, forcing a raw, painful wail to burst from his mouth.
Kai’s eyes widened at the sight of Panas on the ground, and his ears rang from the cry.
"Attacking me without hesitation? That’s bold." Damas commented as he landed on his feet.
He had threatened to kill Panas, and yet Kai came without much thinking.
But then again, Kai knew that Damas wouldn’t kill Panas. It was a fluke. He remembered what Asher said—that it would be a bonus if Grines died before killing and eating Panas. That knowledge was why Kai had attacked without a flicker of hesitation.
Yet that wasn’t what was on his mind right now.
Hearing the pain in Panas’ scream activated something in him. And he saw red.
"Raaarggh!"
Kai launched forward with feral intensity, with an enraged roar rumbling in his throat.
His roar echoed across the cloud-field.
For the first time, Damas grinned behind the mask. "Anger won’t help you win."
In an instant, his skin deepened to a deeper red, and scales erupted across his vital points—his chest, neck, and forearms. A living armor that gleamed under the sunlight. Kai closed the distance in a blink, scimitar singing through the air.
Clang—!
Steel met steel.
A clash. Another one. And then another.
Three exchanges in the span of a heartbeat, the friction made sparks that burst between them.
Kai pressed even harder—his blade a blur of dark mana and killing intent, as he used Dark Discharge in every slash he made. But Damas already learned from his mistake, never aligning the clash between their weapons with his body to avoid the energy arcs.
Damas remained composed.
Where Kai burned, Damas calculated.
He read Kai’s movements like an open book.
And gradually, the disparity in experience and sharp focus tilted the battle in Damas’ favour.
Damas found the gap between one swing and the next and parried the scimitar upward with a sharp, precise deflection. Kai’s guard opened. Both his arms were raised, leaving his torso vulnerable to any lethal strokes.
Grinning, Damas twisted his hip and drove his fist into Kai’s stomach.
It was delivered with such a force that the impact caved the stomach inward with a sickening crunch. Kai’s roar died in his throat, replaced by a gasp that held no air—and before he could recover, Damas danced.
Hermes was suddenly on his side, bolstering his speed.
He dropped his center of gravity, coiling low before exploding into a lateral slash that carved a deep gash across Kai’s back. A wet, ripping sound split the air—as Kai groaned in pain, but the attack didn’t stop.
He flowed through the motion and came from the other side.
The blade traced a bloody line across Kai’s chest in a spray of red.
Three more slashes followed in rapid, merciless succession, each one landing before Kai could fully register the last. Damas was a blur of scales and steel—his movements fluid as water and twice as cruel.
Kai defended as best he could.
His scimitar rang with each desperate parry that staggered him, but Damas in motion was a storm—hard to track and harder to stop. Then, instincts finally prevailed. Kai came to predict the next angle, felt the shift in the air, and swung back with everything he had.
The scimitar met Damas’ right as he materialized for another fatal stroke.
Damas’ arm came up to block, and the Blood-phantom Scimitar stopped dead in its tracks.
Stopped against the crimson scales.
Kai’s eyes widened, and then he clicked his tongue in frustration. Panas wasn’t being him any longer, and without someone to be in the way of these attacks, Retribution lay dormant inside him.
No doubled damage.
No surge of retaliatory power.
Had it been active and doubled his striking power, that slash would’ve taken the arm cleanly.
Damas, though caught off guard by the sudden slash, reacted with even fiercer instincts that had been honed through years. Like a snake, he parried the scimitar upward, twisted his body through the gap beneath Kai’s swinging arm, and spun, dragging his blade across Kai’s belly.
A grin crossed his lips as he felt the cut was deep.
Deep enough to end fights and almost deep enough to spill a man’s insides onto the ground.
Damas expected a collapse. Expected surrender. Instead, Kai was already upon him.
Ink-black eyes filled Damas’ vision.
He blocked the next slash with his forearm, but his eyes flared wide. The impact sank deeper into his bones than before. Kai’s attack was stronger. And it was then he realized coldly—that Kai was growing stronger with every wound he took.
It was the Reckless Ruin Ending Fragment.
Every wound was converted into bolstering his raw, physical strength.
Kai seized the momentum and unleashed a flurry of attacks. His speed had spiked. His strikes hammered down with a ferocity that hadn’t been there seconds ago. His new Ending Fragment had tipped the scales back to him.
During the start of the battle, his raw strength was below that of Damas.
Now, he’s slightly stronger.
Damas reluctantly gave ground, leaning away as he couldn’t find his rhythm anymore.
Kai was faster, stronger, and inexorable. He needed a new plan.
But anger stopped his retreating step; the realization sank into his mind that he was somehow being pushed back by a junior and also a Lesser Angel at that. It was humiliating. Damas, calm through every exchange until now, made a mistake.
He abandoned precision and swung wide—a desperate, area-clearing arc meant to buy space.
Splash—!
His eyes bulged, and pain lanced through his swinging arm.
Something punctured his arm.
Instinctively, he looked down and gasped at the sight of dark tendrils—that were sprouting from Kai’s wounds. A swirling tendril of darkness came out from the gash on his back, the cuts on his arms, and the slash across his chest.
Two of them shot forward and speared through his swinging arm mid-arc.
One stabbed his bicep, and the other stabbed his wrist.
The wide swing never landed. It halted mid-arc, snared by writhing black filaments. Damas’s eyes widened with the cold understanding of how dire his situation had become. He strained to break free—but Kai’s scimitar was already raised, murder burning in his gaze.
"For deliberately targeting a kid... Death!"
Swoosh—!
Kai’s muscles coiled inside his arm as he brought the Blood-phantom Scimitar down with all he had. He put enough force and mana into it to make sure that this slash would slice Damas’ body in two.
But as the blade was a few inches away, a vertical energy slash cut through the distance.
It gave only Kai the time to raise his gaze to look before it arrived.
Slash—!
A hiss escaped Kai’s gritted teeth. His body was wrenched sideways, and as he turned, he saw that his arm was knocked into the air, completely severed from his body.