Horns sprouted from the Guardian's head. Then spikes began growing out in a row along his spine, and behind his elbows and on his knees.

His nails grew longer into claws, and his skin started becoming darker than the blackest obsidian.

Syriong turned and looked at Kairos directly. Then, he closed his eyes for a second. When he reopened them, his irises have been replaced by green flames.

Hellfire.

Though they had encountered a devil once before, this is the first time the guys saw a humanoid form, and they felt by their instincts that the world is ending. It is a feeling born within the souls of men when they place their eyes on a full devil.

All life would be slaughtered by this being that could no longer be called human.

Syriong did not attack Kairos' group immediately. But instead, he reached for the Phantoms that are near him. With a speed that no one could react to, he almost instantly appeared next to them and grabbed the double S practitioners one by one, stuffing them into his mouth.

The guys looked aghast as they saw his jaw elongating unnaturally to fit his 'food'.

The Phantoms, that is a group of death warriors who are prepared to serve their Emperor unto death, fled for their lives without a shred of bravery.

Even if they are ordered to walk into a rain of arrows or a lake of fire, they would not bat an eye and go forth. Yet, when they faced this devil that transformed from Syriong, they felt their souls screaming from within them, with a dire need to get away.

"I will teach you to dare to raise a hand at me" The devil spoke in a voice like glass grating against glass.

Though his words show that he is still thinking like a man, and precisely the words that Syriong would say, but his voice made them feel a dread that came from hell.

When they heard him, the Phantoms cried out, "D...don't kill me!"

They could feel that if Syriong got to them, not only would they die in the flesh but their souls would not escape either.

Almost everyone has heard stories of the devil races since young. Powerful beings who could take over any person's body. Eats living flesh, loves blood and delights in tortures.

And those gobbled by a devil would have their souls trapped within the devil for all eternality.

The Phantoms and Kairos as well had heard about these. But before seeing one with their own eyes, they had all believed that devils were mere myths, and the ability to trap souls forever, a lie.

Now with Syriong before their eyes, even without verifying any souls are trapped, they felt that own souls, within themselves, feared this devil and only wished to run away as fast as their legs could take them.

The Phantoms did not know this, but Kairos' group had heard from the spirit wolf about these beings.

Devils are spiritual beings that came from another world. When they came to this place, they taint the soul of their host and turn the flesh into something that could manifest their race's powers. Unlike the residents of this world that feeds on solid food, the Devils are parasites that prey upon souls.

The Devil Turning Pill that Syriong took was an infamous drug, which contains a weakened lesser devil trapped within. Once consumed the user's soul would be instantly tainted, but because the weakened devil could not take over the soul of the host, and it would provide devilish power without taking over the mind.

While all these happened before their eyes, Kairos' side stood resolutely facing Syriong. They were not as frightened as their enemies are and merely watched as the Phantoms are slaughtered. After all, this is the second time they had met a devil, and when compared with the devil's fragment from the Black Forest, they realised that what Syriong had turned into is weaker.

That's nothing~ this is only a lesser devil.

Aisa answered after peeping into their thoughts, though none of them minded in this situation.

"What rank is the devil sealed in the forest?" one of them asked curiously, but it was Kairos who replied, "Definitely something very high ranked even in the divine realms."

Then he gently shook his hand which the Thunder God's ring is worn on.

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To be honest, even the deities themselves knew that sealing a devil is an imperfect plan. Few Seals could last the decay of time, and their effects will eventually wear down.

At the very least, Kairos could confirm that the deities find it harder to slay a devil than to imprison one. If that is not the case, no one would be risk sealing one only for it to break loose one day.

The only other possibility to trap a devil instead of vanquishing it, besides the difficulty to do so, is because the deities wished to make use of it when the time comes. But in that case, the Thunder God's ring would not have landed so easily on Kairos' hands.

And the fact that the divine artefact, together with the devil in the Black Forst, is found in the mortal realm probably means that the deities did not wish to risk keeping a sealed devil within their divine realms and threw it into a mortal Empire's domain.

"He's coming" Alan announced, preparing his weapon calmly.

They have quietly watched while Syriong tore through the Phantoms, taking down almost half of their numbers, over 200 men, within only 10 minutes.

He, if it is still fitting to call him 'he', decimated the Double S rankers like a scythe mowing down wheat and grew stronger with each kill.

Then, he strode over towards Kairos.

Everyone calmly took out their weapons but otherwise shown no fear.

Okay~ It's Aisa's turn!

As all of them had been waiting, the small dragon jumped out of Kairos' robes and landed neatly before the devil form Syriong, and gave it a cute snarl.

If he had not discarded the last shred of his humanity, he would still have a chance. After enduring the attacks of two upper realm artefacts, he chose the easy way out and paid it with his soul. Now that he is no longer bound to Gaia, Aisa's restriction against him is lifted.

Syriong jumped backwards at her appearance and put up his guard at once. As the ex-guardian of the realm, he could not recognise what type of dragon is before him. But he knows that it is a being of an ancient and powerful race, worthy of his caution even after he has turned into a devil.

He looked at its gleaming white scales and golden runic emblems on its body and felt an oppressive feeling. Syriong couldn't tell why, but facing Aisa made him feel like running away, though he has transcended his mortal shell.

"Why did this boy not summon this dragon before?

... And why didn't he summon it when I was killing the Phantoms?"

A bunch of questions entered his mind as he observed his opponent. But even a dragon is too late now to change the situation about.

After having reaped so many souls, Syriong could feel the power within himself increased far beyond a hundred-fold of his previous human form.

What he did not know is that Aisa could not actually help Kairos and the guys directly in this realm. But because the Guardian has now transcended into a being of a higher realm with the aid of the pill, she is freed of her bindings. Yet she did not immediately take action against Syriong, allowing him to kill the Phantoms that she could not touch.

In a way, Aisa had made use of a loophole within her constrain and lowered the number of enemies for Kairos.

While the devil squares off against the dragon, the guys held their weapons cautiously.

They did not plan to use it against the devil, for they had been counting on Aisa, and their attacks would not have stopped Syriong.

Instead, the reason they prepared their weapons is that they realised that the Phantoms did not retreat.

Kairos whispered under his breath, "You guys think that the Phantoms could be ordered to take Jones back even if they die?"

"It's possible" Jones replied. Even when he attacked to kill, he could feel the foes he crossed blades with are only focused on recapturing him. This thought convinced himself, and Jones continued saying, "I did not feel their bloodlust. Or rather, I think they are restrained from killing me."

His deduction was correct, but he did not know that not only that these Phantoms do not intent to take his life, but they are also trying to save him from Syriong.

However, these men stopped a distance away, forming a circle around their targets.

It wasn't because that Kairos' team had taken out their weapons, but rather the devil is behaving oddly, prancing around instead of continuing its approach. It was an odd scene that caused them to halt and trying to figure out what is the deal before their eyes.

Of course, if Syriong had attacked at full speed, not even the fastest Phantom is certain to be able to save Jones. But, not only did it approach slowly, it is walking around in a way as though it feared something.

The reason the Phantoms are all stumped is that somehow, none of them can see Aisa.

It is not the first time that Aisa had concealed herself from others. Even from the beginning, she had chosen to stay hidden within Kairos' robes instead of running about, unlike her lively character.

When she played hide-and-seek with Old Ye, she had also ensured that none could see her. Even for the sharpest eyes, she will only appear as a flicker of shadows. When she covered the skies with her sacred ocean technique, she had made sure that it is not visible to the mortals.

Therefore right now, only Syriong and Kairos' team could see the tiny dragon.

Facing a lesser devil, and one that is weakened to be sealed in a pill, Aisa could actually prevent Syriong from seeing her.

Her divine form has a much higher spiritual level than any immortals, and concealing herself from this devil that is not even as strong as Old Ye, wouldn't cost her even a fraction of her power. But what's the fun in defeating a blinded foe?

Kairos~ Aisa will defeat it now okay?

"Umm, yep... I'm counting on you" Kairos cheered her.

Yay~ Aisa will also be teaching you martial arts at the same time, so pay attention okay?

"WHAT? You're allowed to teach me martial arts?!" The boy is thoroughly shocked. Didn't she always avoid helping him so that he wouldn't become dependent on her?

Well, because Kairos has unlocked the first stage of awakening his Veritable Sight, Aisa is allowed to teach the first stage martial arts which accompany the Origin Cultivation!

"It comes with martial techniques?!"

Kairos had spent most of his time as a practitioner fighting without martial techniques. It was only recently that he began to invent his own, as well as pick up some skills from here and there. He had not expected that his Cultivation Method had Martial Techniques!

But, thinking through things, it is more puzzling for the Origin Cultivation not to have fighting arts.