Percival never wanted to know his name, but now he knows.

Kaiser, the Mad Demon. He was apparently known as someone very powerful in the West, not that it meant much compared to the North or Elemental Masters.

The reason Percival didn't ask for his name was to not get any attachment to this guy, who will either be dead or escape for his life. Regardless, it was best to keep a distant relationship with one another.

“This meat is so good, you shitty teacher!” Kaiser devoured the arctic bear's meat with plenty of enthusiasm as he swore at Percival.

Knowing one's name doesn't automatically make two friends. With how crude and foul-mouthed Kaiser was, Percival didn't like him one bit.

Although he did his best to train him, it made the days more tiring mentally. He was struck with the urge to teach the arrogant outlaw his place in the world and often ended up striking him too harshly during a spar.

One thing that could be attributed to Kaiser's strengths is that he is tenacious. Even after going for years without actual combat experience with opponents of similar level, a few days later, he had become fairly capable. The style may be rough, but it's definitely effective. His combat senses are natural, and the abilities he had made him versatile.

In terms of being a warrior, Kaiser was decent.

However, in terms of being an Elemental Master, Kaiser proved to be sorely lacking.

It was very peculiar. With the exception of darkness, every element manifested from the user in the form of colored energy, and Percival wasn't even aware of the sole irregularity, so he couldn't understand why the aura has yet to show itself.

The power is there, awakened and active. Kaiser had even utilized the power of three different demons. However, he did not manifest an aura, and that upset Percival.

The Malevolent One may not have taught him anything regarding their powers, but he held enough knowledge of his own from being trained by Roddal briefly as well as watching the prodigious Elemental Master the Malevolent One was.

Percival had the power of destruction. He could destroy anything that came into contact with the purple aura. It worked extremely well, even on the auras of others. The element of destruction was in fact an opposing element for the four basic elements, which are composed of all creation.

However, if such power was truly that incredible, then the Malevolent One, who had destruction, darkness, and five other elements, wouldn't have lost.

In truth, elemental energies and their effects could be neutralized by other energies. As a result, the battle between two Elemental Masters would require one to master the use of aura, or they'd be left vulnerable to their opponent's attack.

Alice was an example. She was stuck in a loop created through the element of time, but once she had awakened her own element and coated herself with it, the Malevolent One couldn't use it on her.

Kaiser being unable to utilize aura is a major drawback.

“Finished eating?”

“Yep. I feel like I can kill you... I mean, beat you up.”

Although he corrected himself, the phrasing was still terrible. A vein popped on Percival's forehead, and the desire to beat him up was stirred.

“Luckily for you... I mean, for me, there is a change in plans. I have thought of a good training method.”

The cold environment didn't affect the two men, who were a native and an ice demon. It was still a hot summer, which meant the cold was at its weakest in the North. Of course, a normal person would freeze to death in under a minute, but the two could go around with thin clothes.

“What's the extent of your transformation abilities?”

Kaiser scratches his head, pondering the question. “What do you mean?”

“Do you just transform into a full demon, or can you transform just an arm, partially? What about two different demons at once?”

“I can transform an arm or leg. I'm called a Mad Demon, but I ain't advertising it, you know. Kept it a secret to avoid troubles.”

It sounded funny how a criminal with little regard for law and order would try to hide his powers to some degree. Surprisingly, Kaiser had a good sense of self-preservation.

Percival found himself nodding. “That was a smart call.”

Were he to become too known, it would be difficult to live in society. This would mean giving up the conveniences of society as well.

Although, considering his personality, that could fit him as well.

“Anyway, back to the subject. Did you try two forms at once?”

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“Nah, I don't go that far. Guess I will try it now.”

Percival watched as Kaiser looked intently at his arm. The forearm wriggled and quivered like liquid. Its snow white skin became cracked, with red emerging from the cracks. It looked like it caused great pain to Kaiser, who started to sweat—not a good sign as an ice demon. Nevertheless, he continued without complaint, wearing a stubborn expression Percival had seen throughout their spars.

However, a strong will and tenacious spirit don't guarantee success. Even as Kaiser groaned and struggled, the arm wouldn't transform completely.

“Dammit, dammit, dammit!”

“Try again. We will try it until you succeed.”

Something he struggled to accomplish meant a way to improve and connect with his powers properly. It was progress and a setback at the same time. Percival remained positive.

“You mean I will try while you watch,” Kaiser said sarcastically. “Whatever. It's super exhausting, so I wanna eat now to resupply the juice.”

He didn't seem to be lying. The transformation was somewhat undone in certain areas, especially the arm. Even though he could generate hot flames for a long time, that one attempt emptied him in seconds.

Percival looked around. They had already eaten lunch outside, which wasn't a challenge with Kaiser's fire. Although it was quite far from the cave, there were no beasts in the surroundings. It seems they would venture farther. The idea wasn't welcomed by Percival, as he didn't know this area as it was quite far from the village, an area he hadn't been to before.

“If you ain't gonna go bring meat, I will.” Seeing his hesitation, Kaiser spread his wings and flew ahead.

“Get down here, you idiot!”

Percival chased after him on foot, barely keeping up with him in the sky.

But he didn't need to chase him for long.

Because a fast tail, coming like a bolt of lightning, shot him down from the sky.

“This... utter moron!”

The North was the most dangerous place in the world.

Evident by the northern serpent, a giant snake with snow-white scales and a venom of ice.

Similar to a dragon, it was a monster connected to an element and was as powerful as an Elemental Master, if not more.

And now that beast is trying to prey on them.

Some rare beasts held a connection to a specific element in the same way dragons did. It only applied to a single element for their race, but that alone made them extremely dangerous.

It was actually the Malevolent One who had told Percival of their existence. He said they hid in the corners of the world, in places no human could set foot on. He called them cowards, claiming to slaughter them once he took over the world, the same way he did the dragons.

The only problem was that even he avoided them in his current condition.

For this reason, Percival didn't try to defeat the snake. He enveloped a purple aura on his body and sent projectiles of aura at the beast as he approached Kaiser.

The snake didn't waver. Deploying its energy to protect against the destructive projectiles, it charges forward with great speed.

Percival jumped sideways, getting farther from Kaiser but surviving without getting swallowed whole.

Drawing his sword, he let the energy coat it and create blades of destruction. Using all his might, he swings down his sword at the snake.

Clang.

As it was made of metal, the scales repelled the attack without much of a scratch. Although the defenses of aura are at a disadvantage against the element of destruction, it still managed to neutralize most of its capabilities.

Trying to create an opening, Percival continues to attack relentlessly. Avoiding the sudden charges of the snake, he jumps from ice block to ice block, striking whenever he can.

“It hurts, dammit.”

Kaiser had regained his consciousness, recovering from the wounds with his regenerative abilities.

“Turn into a fire demon and help! Be ready to escape!” Percival, who couldn't care less about his condition, shouted at him.

Initially confused, Kaiser quickly composed himself and turned into a fire demon, coming to Percival's side.

“Take this, stupid lizard!”

Shouting, a wave of blue flames was unleashed. However, upon coming into contact with the snake's aura, the flames were quickly extinguished.

“Not at the snake; burn everything around!”

“Then say it sooner!”

They argued amongst themselves in the middle of a life-and-death battle, but their coordination remained intact.

Percival knew Kaiser wouldn't be able to bypass the aura defense without an aura of his own, but he could use his flames to create a more favorable environment.

The ice and cold made it easy to exert more power for the snake. On the contrary, a warm environment would put it at a disadvantage. It was counterintuitive, as cold-blooded animals such as snakes were usually weak to cold, but then again, snakes were very similar to dragons. This could be the reason for their connection to an element.

Kaiser brings out a storm of fire and starts to melt the area with his blue flames. Unfortunately, maybe he was still exhausted from his previous attempt at double transformation, as the flames soon die out and he is left panting.

Did I push him too far? Percival felt sorry for a second before recalling who brought this mess onto them. But there was no time to look for who's guilty. They needed to survive.

“We can escape if I blind him...”

The eyes were every creature's weak spot. If Percival could hit that area twice and blind the serpent completely, it might even retreat on its own. The only problem was to overcome its fast reflexes.

Percival's speed was inferior to that of the snake, aura enchantment included. His mind immediately drifted to the Malevolent One, whose abilities were much more refined, and his strength matched his own without a special physiology.

How could one boost their physical strength so much? There was no answer, as the Malevolent One wouldn't share his methods with anyone, so Percival could only wonder.

Taking the purple aura, he compresses and condenses it. The energy of destruction is tinted thicker, causing the space itself to ripple.

The snake doesn't sit still. Feeling the dangerous power accumulating in a prey, it swipes its tail like a whip and sends a wave of icical spikes, hitting Percival and disrupting his focus.

“Damn Lizard!” Kaiser, who had regained some energy from the cold in the ice demon form, blasted a wave of frost at the serpent, which devoured it intently.

This only serves to empower the serpent, giving it more energy. But that was within Percival's calculations.

Amassing the destruction aura once more, he slashes the snake's mouth through the cover of the frost.

There was only one thing he didn't account for: he sucks at math.

Without warning, the northern serpent amassed snow-white energy in its mouth, blasting it like the breath of a dragon. The purple flying slash freezes and dissipates in the face of overwhelming elemental energy.

“I think I fed it too much.” Kaiser is coughing blood as his body got impaled by ice sharper than metal.

“You think?” Percival could barely talk himself as his exhausted aura couldn't put up a proper defense, pierced by the sharp blades.

Ice covered their legs, rendering the two immovable. The breath created a vast glacier, dropping the temperatures enough to affect a native like Percival.

The giant serpent eyed the two prey with delight.

Percival gulped ice shards. His short life flashed before his eyes.

Covered in snow-white energy, the northern serpent swallowed them whole.