"What is that thing?!"

Erina didn't seem to be fazed by Kai being decapitated and focused on the shadowy figure but on the other hand, everyone else was shaking. Amelia was pale but she regained her composure immediately afterwards.

"It's... not an illusion but it definitely isn't real..."

Amelia muttered after recovering.

"That's right, this is because of his innate ability, 『Anguish』, he gave you mental images but not illusions. This is the limit of his ability when not gazing directly, that shadowy figure is what he uses to look at us."

Kai released some of his mana to surround the group, most of them collapsed on the floor in cold sweat while Yoko and Amelia were visibly pale. Erina didn't seem to be affected by the mental images at all.

At some point in time, Erina's right eye turned into a golden color which revealed the truth. The target of 『Anguish』 was everyone besides Kai and they were all given illusions of Kai being decapitated by the shadowy figure which actually had little to no combat potential.

"If... if this is its strength when not gazing at us directly... how strong would it actually be...?"

Natsumi could barely talk. If the illusion that they saw was just Kai being decapitated, they'd be shocked and scared of the enemy but they wouldn't collapse in exhaustion- not when they heard Kai's voice a few seconds after his head rolled. On top of the illusion that shattered their moral support, they were also given mental pain which stimulated their fear.

"...I suppose you all could last a second at being gazed at before wishing to die or at worst case, dying, that's why I'll handle him. I've already prepared countermeasures. He didn't target me because he knew something of that level can't affect me."

Kai set up a barrier at the door and waited for everyone to calm down. They needed to be in their peak condition for this, the shadowy figure continued to watch them with unblinking eyes but it was countered by Kai. Though it expended a ton of his mana, he could simply replenish it from the surroundings. It sounded simple but it was as easy to write mathematical formulas on one hand and draw a picture on the other. It required a ton of skill to expel and replenish mana like this. If an average magician's mana capacity was at a hundred, Kai was over ten thousand while the council was in the five thousand but in terms of magic power, Kai was at ten thousand and the council members were either on par or on top of him.

The amount of mana required to expel the aura for a second was at about five hundred but that wasn't all that Kai expended mana for, he was also maintaining the barrier to block the skeletons.

Erina was about to lend Kai his mana but was stopped.

"I have a lot more mana, focus on battle preparations."

Kai focused his gaze on Amelia who was obviously still shaken by the hallucination.

"Amelia, I need you to stay strong. I'm here, I won't disappear."

Pulling Amelia's arm towards him, he comforted her. Amelia, with her hundred of years of life has only Kai as a pillar of support, if Kai crumbled then who knew what Amelia would do.

Stroking her hair worked, Amelia calmed down but still had tears in the corners of her eyes. Undoubtedly, she was the easiest target for 『Anguish』 but Kai couldn't not allow her to participate, she was one of the only two who could damage the Immortal. There's a reason why Erina could learn how to manipulate Green Ki so easily, she's been dealing with life force ever since she was a child. Her silver hair was proof that she was manipulating life force, this was the side effect of her lessening her lifespan.

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If all goes well, she'd live up to her forties which was less than the life expectancy of this world. A mage lives longer than the average human because of their mana, most of them live up to eighty or ninety, Fifth was still lively despite being at that age, this was proof. Of course, Kai wouldn't allow this to happen no matter what but it wasn't too late to cure her. In fact, it became beneficial that she mastered the technique to borrow the power of the Eternal Frost, this allowed her to manipulate Green Ki after only a month.

But in terms of manipulating lifespan, Kai was many times better at her but no matter what he did, he couldn't manipulate Green Ki. Kai achieved the realm of the Gods in his previous life but never did he manipulate Green Ki, he used the powers of Gods to damage other immortals which placed him at a disadvantage against those who could imbue Immortal Slaying Ki in all of their attacks.

Immortals, Gods, fifth-class Demons and Vampires had an infinite lifespan so using Immortal Slaying Ki had little harmful effects on them. Of course, when they use it too much, there's always the chance of damaging their life force rendering their lifespan into mortality. They'll still live long but they won't live to the ends of time as they originally would have.

"Pull yourselves together, we can't stay idle here."

Kai let out another burst of mana to completely dispel the effects of 『Anguish』 but of course, the inflicted mental pain was already there and still lingered in their hearts but as expected of them, they weren't too naive. They quickly regained themselves and began to stand up albeit slow.

The people he assigned to stay at this floor, Kei, Date, Natsumi, Umi, and the empress' ten guards stayed behind and took their positions. Umi and Natsumi stayed by the stairs while the rest were scattered on the ground floor. When Kai saw them ready, he gestured for everyone else to move.

During the trip to get to the Immortal, it was silent and peaceful. The shadow that was following them disappeared but didn't linger down on the ground floor, it appeared that the Immortal was going to face them directly. They quickly went to the throne room where the Immortal was by following the blue roses and with Kai's [Soul Call]. The Immortal's soul was at a different level compared to the rest, it was evidently stronger and could even crush Kai's soul which has been tempered by two lives but that was only natural, the Immortal has lived for hundreds, thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of years.

Two guns appeared in Kai's hands as he kicked the door open with a bang.

"Brutish act but seeing as how you are the one who led everyone, it must also be you who set up this ambush. I must praise you for your quick-decision making and power to actually do all this. The various kingdoms' armies were prepared in two days and it looks like they even prepared to fight against undead. Even if it was a time of war, there would be at least a week of preparation yet they only took two days, how strange."

The Immortal, Fate Shion said as he brought the blue rose near his nose.

"Of course, don't underestimate humans."

"I can tell you're not human yourself."

Hearing that, everyone aside from Erina, Amelia, and Yoko's eyes changed. Of course, it wasn't fear or disgust, it was simply shock. Even Natsumi wasn't told that Kai was part demon and part angel.

Normally, this is the part where Arat would take the stage but Kai said it himself, he'll take the front, nobody go ahead of him no matter what.

"I can't quite tell what it is but you're at least part human, by birth it seems though there seems to be another part mixed in which even I can't tell just like with that girl over there."

Kai released a huge amount of mana the moment Fate's eyes glanced at Amelia which made him look back.

"I see, the mana is gathering around you as you release it. This is quite strange, even I can't replicate such a feat... Well, no use brooding over something I can't have. I'll give you all two choices, join me or die. I want to extend my hand to only the man in black armor but humans always have the strangest emotions, caring about others more than themselves so this is a form of compromise."

Saying so, Fate released his mana which overpowered even Kai's. This wasn't a simple amount of mana, Kai was S-class yet his mana was overpowered so easily.

"I don't have mana that can replenish itself indefinitely but I have too much to expend that even if I wanted to, I can't."

That was natural, his mana capacity has been expanding for thousands of years.

"Judging by the amount being replenished and what you're expending... I have at least a hundred times your amount of mana."

Hearing that, everyone's faces changed. Even Kai himself was inwardly shocked but he didn't let down his guard.

"Well, your answer?"

Fate stretched out his hand.

"I refuse."

"...I see."

Fate had cold eyes as he looked at Kai before retracting his hand and then blowing on the blue rose whose petals scattered around the room. There were a lot more than a hundred petals which came out of that single rose. Then, they floated around the air and pointed themselves at Kai's party, the edges were sharper than before.

"Then, die."

Whistling through the air, the petals shot towards Kai's party.