Both sides remained frozen in place as they had an intense stare-down, as each person sought to find an opponent whom they could exploit best with their strengths. Finally, Kai was the first to break the silence, as he jumped towards Psycho, eager to rip him apart with his [Lightning Blade]. Psycho merely stood calmly as he concentrated telekinetic magic in his hands.

Adeline rushed in behind Kai, as she sought to back him up against Psycho. However, her path was blocked by Erik, who introduced himself as he smashed the ground before her, "I'm Erik of the Chaos Legion. Adeline, right? I've heard quite a bit about your Luminos Ability, [Perfect State], you would make a decent harvest. Let me test the upper limits of your ability!"

Erik leapt quickly towards Adeline, his fist coated in black-coloured rock as he threw a punch at her gut. Adeline spun out of the way as the pair took their battle somewhere else in the forest. Relishing the excitement in the air, Jake, who casually licked the blade of his 2-bladed scythe, cried, "How fun! Come, let me taste all the blood you can offer! The weak should be culled first, since they don't provide enough excitement!"

Jake jumped towards Jean, ready to execute her with a single swing. Shen instinctively readied his rifle and shot a mana-enhanced shot towards the man, who barely escaped with a nick across his left cheek as the bullet exploded upon contact with a nearby tree. Jake cackled, "The pain, oh, how delightful! I've decided, to give you guys a higher chance of winning, I'll take you both on concurrently! That should raise my satisfaction to the next level, mwahahaha!"

Jake dived towards Shen and Jean, as Shen led him away from the rest, keeping Jean close to him. The blonde woman who had previously crossed her arms unfurled them as she drew 2 scrolls from her sleeves. After infusing mana into them, she summoned 2 lifeless puppets that heavily resembled humans. Waving her hands like a conductor, the puppets flew towards Warren, as concealed blades along their limbs appeared, ready to cut Warren into two.

Before the puppets could reach Warren, the twins Julian and Julia jumped before him, blocking the attack with the swords as they said in unison, "We're your opponent!" They pushed back the puppets with their relentless assaults, forcing the puppeteer to focus all her attention on them.

As the twins brought their opponent away with them, Warren remarked in his altered voice, "Let's settle this elsewhere where we can fight to our hearts' content, Amon!" Amon grinned as he nodded, before both leapt an incredible distance away.

As battles heated up all over the Green King's abode, there were only Keane, Rachel and Jonathan from Nirvania and 2 more individuals from the Chaos Legion left at the original site of confrontation. The mysterious stalker murmured beneath his coat, "To come face to face with the legendary assassin 'Killer' Keane. It's an honour for me, Ghost." as he bowed respectfully, removing his bow-hat while placing a hand on his chest simultaneously.

Keane appeared slightly taken aback when he heard that name, but regained his composure quickly to reply, "No, the honour is mine to meet you, Ghost, aka 'Phantom of Death'. Back in the heyday, your reputation wasn't inferior to mine and in fact, I dare say that when it came to assassination, you're definitely more scary since you can kill without leaving a single trace. You're the true culprit behind the Crestville Massacre right?"

Jonathan and Rachel expressed shock as Keane continued, "On that fateful day, I'd really wanted to avenge Rebecca's death, so I confronted the Crestville Family, the family which she had married into. I knew this marriage was arranged and Rebecca didn't have a choice due to the dire financial situation of your family then, Rachel.

As such, I knew Rebecca wasn't happy with her marriage life as she was treated worse than a servant, having to entertain their every whim and fancy. Nonetheless, whenever I visited her on behalf of the Old Master, whose body was in poor condition by then, Rebecca would always assure me that everything's fine and she was doing well. Her death was simply the final straw.

I had nearly killed them all for their callousness, especially that husband of hers who dared to raise his weapon against me. However, I remembered my promise to Rebecca to never kill anyone out of spite ever again, so I stopped my hand and walked away."

Jonathan was confused and asked, "If you weren't the one responsible for their deaths, then who was?" Keane closed his eyes and answered calmly, "The answer is right before you. The only person I know in this world who could kill people without leaving a trace of themselves while purposely scattering my traces all over the place is you, Ghost."

Ghost laughed heartily before explaining, "That's absolutely correct! The Crestville Massacre was all masterminded by me, hehe. It would have been perfect had 2 things actually transpired; one, you were the person who really killed them all, and two, you had accepted our offer to join the Chaos Legion when we extended our timely hand of assistance in your darkest hour as you were hunted by City Guards all over the Capital.

Instead, I had to dirty my hand and you chose to surrender stupidly! However, all of that's in the past now and there's no turning back, so why don't I reveal something even you don't know, Killer? In truth, your precious love Rebecca was killed by yours truly, hahaha!"

Keane clenched his knuckles furiously before he calmed himself down, "You did all this just to recruit me into your fanatical little organisation? You got to be joking!" Ghost replied coldly, "Nah, I'm dead serious here. You were really talented and it was such a waste for a man of your calibre to be simply a butler.

Hey, I actually tried to nudge you in the right direction by killing Rebecca and even getting Marian over there to manipulate Rebecca's husband into attacking you in order to provoke a heavy retaliation from you as you gave into your pent-up bloodlust. However, you stubbornly resisted every attempt from us to groom you into the ultimate killer in the new age we're ushering under Lord Astaroth! Such a pity."

Rachel could bear no longer as she charged towards Ghost, screaming, "You monster! How dare you toy with the life of my sister!" Rachel jumped into the air, conjuring a heavy great sword above her head as she swung it down on Ghost.

Before the sword could reach its target, Ghost's last remaining companion with the turban jumped in between the two as he placed his palm against the sword. The blade instantly began to rust and disintegrate, turning into metallic sand that was carried away by the wind.

The intruder said monotonously, "The name's Mehmedi. I'll be your opponent, little lady." Rachel cursed impatiently, "Darn, I can't get past without beating him first!" as she conjured another 2 swords in both hands, preparing to engage her new opponent.

Keane ordered Jonathan, "You go and help Rachel, I can take this guy alone." Jonathan nodded reluctantly as he rushed to join Rachel to fight against Mehmedi. Ghost remarked, "Pretty confident, ain't ya?"

Keane replied resolutely, "A better assassin doesn't make a better fighter. I'll win this duel for sure, to avenge Rebecca."

Kai's [Lightning Blade] was repelled by Psycho's [Telekinetic Barrier] surrounding his fist, as sparks flew erratically all over the place. Kai snarled, "Your Enigma Ability won't work on me, Psycho!" Psycho replied calmly, "Neither would yours on me." as he disappeared in a flash, to Kai's surprise.

Kai barely pushed Psycho's punch away from his gut as he performed a flip over Psycho's head thereafter. Kai muttered, "What was that? It felt like Master's supersonic repulsion." Psycho declared proudly, "Do you think I would solely rely on my Enigma Ability against my enemies? Over the past few months I have been developing my telekinetic abilities as well, giving me full control over forces in all directions, augmenting my physical abilities to the next level."

Kai snorted, "Stop bragging and let's get on with this! [40mm Lightning Particle Cannon]!" Kai shot a beam of condensed electricity at Psycho, only for him to extinguish it with a clap as he murmured, "[Bidirectional Clamp]."

Before Kai could react, Psycho stretched his arm towards Kai and clenched his fist, shouting, "[Omnidirectional Vice]!" Kai instantly felt as though he was being crushed by a Titan's grip as he resisted with Lightning magic. Kai quickly activated his Luminos, muttering, "[Erase]." The invisible force crushing him disappeared immediately, but to Kai's surprise, Psycho appeared instantly before him, throwing a punch augmented by his [Telekinetic Barrier] at Kai's gut.

Kai instantly spat blood due to the power of Psycho's punch but Psycho didn't stop there. Once his punch had sunk deep into Kai's gut, Psycho yelled, "[Kinetic Blast]!" as a wave of telekinetic energy shot from his fist, propelling Kai high into the sky as he received more damage from Psycho's follow-up.

Before Kai could get a breather, Psycho continued pummelling him with rapid, consecutive assaults from all directions as he flew in the air with his telekinetic abilities, ending his combo with a direct overhead kick to the face to send Kai plummeting swiftly to the ground. The ground crumbled upon impact as Psycho panted after his flurry of assaults.

Psycho muttered, "Huff, how do you like that? Your Enigma Ability only affects what you can see, so if my attacks are too fast, there's nothing you can do, hahaha!" Kai struggled onto his feet weakly, as blood oozed from all over his body, but especially his head.

Kai wiped the blood off his lips as he thought, "Darn, he really is too fast for my Luminos Ability to catch, and he hits hard too, breaking my mana armament so easily. Guess this is the perfect chance to test my Fusion Element."

Psycho cursed, "Die!" as he rushed towards Kai, ready to throw another augmented punch. Kai simply stood his ground calmly, mixing his 2 affinities together as his hands slowly rippled with white electricity.

Meanwhile, Adeline was not having an easy time herself, as Erik, who stood before her, was rather competent in close combat, putting her on the defensive throughout as she had to dodge an array of Earth-hardened punches and kicks. Adeline thought, "If that's all he got, I just got to lull him into a sense of complacency before springing a surprise, fatal attack on him using [Phasewalker]."

When the opportunity arose, Adeline quickly drew her 2 knives as she muttered, "Impeded by none, [Phasewalker]!" After she had dodged Erik's horizontal swipe with his right leg, she quickly phased through his body as she spun through him, solidifying her body once she had completely phased through him, landing a quick horizontal slash on the back of Erik's neck amidst her spin.

To Adeline's horror, she realised that she had merely decapitated a clone, which crumbled into soil thereafter. Adeline was stumped to see that there were now several copies of Erik, as he jested, "I know about your [Phasewalker] as well, and how it can't pass through things coated with mana. I'd purposely let you go through 'me' to catch you off guard.

Let's see you face against my army of [Earth Clone] soldiers, all who share the same appearance and combat abilities as me!" Adeline was stunned as summoning one [Earth Clone] was considered incredibly difficult, not to mention dozens of them. She gripped her swords nervously as the clones all raised their hands in a boxing stance, their arms all coated in black mana armament, ready to begin the slugfest.

On Shen's end, his opponent's berserk style confounded him to no end, as his enemy continued to swing his scythe wildly at both of them with scant regard to his own safety. Shen's opponent screamed, "I, Lord Jake, would slowly take my time to relish your pain, hahaha!" as his scythe swiped dangerously close to Shen's neck.

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Shen thought, "Is this guy truly crazy? I've never seen someone go all out offensively without any attention heeded to defence, not to mention that his attacks are not really aiming for my vitals. This is unlike most melee weapon users who usually seek to end the fight by striking a vital organ. What exactly is he up to?"

Shen's rifle was almost obsolete if he hadn't been training with it for use in close combat, as Jake's overpowering style closed whatever distance they had between them, preventing him from firing a good shot as he relied on his rifle Kata techniques instead.

Jake exclaimed, "You're pretty good, swinging that rifle of yours like a spear, not to mention the mana armament. However, can your mana armament best mine?" Suddenly, Jake coated his scythe with intense black mana armament as he swung it down without hesitation.

Shen instinctively knew that with his current mediocre level of mana armament, his rifle would be snapped in half together with him if he had took that attack head-on. He grabbed Jean's hand and jumped out of the way, narrowly avoiding a shockwave that tore through the ground and trees in its path with ease.

Jake commended, "You've good instincts. However, this only shows the insurmountable gap between us, and your inevitable deaths! Hahaha!" Jean whispered to Shen, "It seems that he has sights on you for now. I think it's time for us to switch roles, for you to focus on defence and I on attack." Shen nodded in agreement, as he focused harder to increase the mana armament over his weapon.

The twins were fighting rather evenly with the puppets, as the puppet defended against their elementally enhanced swords with their arsenal of weapons such as chainsaws and hidden blades, all coated in mana armament.

Julian remarked to his sister, "There's no point fighting these lifeless weapons! We got to go for the head, that woman!" After performing a fierce swing with his sword of flames that consumed his opponent in a huge tongue of flames, Julian quickly jumped towards the puppeteer, shouting, "[Inferno Wave]!"

A huge swath of flames erupted from the arc of his swing, rushing towards its intended target. To his surprise, the woman before him had simply disappeared into thin air, and before he realised it, the puppet that he was previously facing had bear-hugged him from behind, cutting into his flesh with blades lining its forearms.

Julian quickly emitted flames all over his body to break free from the grip of the puppet, narrowly avoiding the needles that shot forth from its mouth. Julian rejoined his sister, panting, "What was that all about? How did that puppet recover so quickly?"

Julia replied, "I don't really get it either, but all I observed was that woman suddenly teleporting to the puppet I was fighting and subsequently, you were frozen in mid-air for awhile, giving her other puppet time to approach you from behind."

The woman laughed hysterically before explaining, "I was so caught up in being entertained by this show that I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Marian, and these two are my beloved puppets Elmo and Bernie.

My dream is to perform the greatest puppet show amidst war and destruction, just like the flower that blooms in the battlefield, its petals painted with delightful, crimson blood. My Enigma Ability, [Marionette], allows me to manipulate objects, but more importantly, puppets and even people. These puppets are the best, since they are organic based after all."

Julia asked nervously, "Organic based? What's that supposed to mean?" Marian replied coolly, "You guys thought that these puppets are made of wood and metal right, judging by their array of weapons within their bodies? However, the truth is, these puppets are carved from the corpses of my 2 ex-boyfriends who callously dumped me for whores!

Thus, I killed them and preserved their beautiful bodies for all eternity, dancing for no one except me, hahaha! Organic puppets are the best, for they can house Enigma Abilities extracted by Erik's [Extraction], allowing me to wield more than 1 Enigma Ability at any one time, hahaha!"

Julian muttered, "That explains how she did all those feats earlier, it's like fighting 3 Enigma Ability users at once, where all are linked to one mind! This is madness!" Marian proudly declared, "I've decided! Seeing how strong and beautiful you siblings are, both of you would have the honour of being made my puppets upon your glorious deaths, rejoice!"

The twins adopted their respective stances as they braced themselves for a tough battle ahead, unwilling to become part of a madwoman's doll collection.

Elsewhere, Rachel cursed, "Get out of my way, you turban freak!" as she conjured multiple swords in the air with her Enigma Ability and sent them flying towards Mehmedi. Mehmedi simply dodged every attack as he touched the swords one by one, rusting and disintegrating them all.

Mehmedi muttered almost incoherently, "An Enigma Ability user with some skill in telekinesis, interesting. Just much weaker than Psycho, I presume. I, too, am an Enigma Ability user, nicknamed Rustman since my Enigma Ability, [Rust], simply rusts and breaks down every metal I touch with my bare hands. This makes using metal spoons a real hassle though, ha. Back to topic, you keep this up, you're gonna die, is that clear?"

Mehmedi then leapt towards Rachel with incredible speed, but before he could reach her, his face was smashed into the ground by Jonathan who struck with his [Scalpel Palm]. Before Mehmedi could respond, Jonathan lifted his body off the ground with a kick to the chin before unleashing a flurry of palm strikes.

To Jonathan's surprise, Mehmedi recovered quickly, blocking all his strikes with his own and even striking some of Jonathan's joints, albeit with little strength. Before long, Jonathan realised that he was immobilised and felt pain as he attempted to move.

Mehmedi remarked, "A third rate martial artist like you is boring. I've rusted your joints so you shouldn't be able to move. Now, get lost!" Mehmedi aimed a flying kick straight at Jonathan's face, its force strengthened by mana armament as it sent Jonathan flying back towards Keane, crashing unceremoniously into the ground near him.

Jonathan helped himself weakly off the ground, 'Darn, I got careless again! One more time…" Jonathan quickly increased the flow of mana within his body to dissipate the rust on his joints as quickly as possible, before leaping back into the fray.

Keane and Ghost stood motionless, each waiting for the other's next move as they ran calculations within their heads. Without warning, Keane took action first, activating his Enigma Ability [Immobilisation], which Ghost avoided by using a [Flash Step] to get behind Keane. Keane blocked Ghost's knife stabs with [Twilight], as the 2 exchanged a series of fierce blows.

Just before Keane found the perfect chance to use his [Immobilisation] again, Ghost suddenly disappeared into thin air. Keane frantically searched around, surprised that he couldn't detect Ghost at all with all his senses.

Ghost's voice echoed throughout the battlefield, "Your Enigma Ability, which is dependent on sight, is useless against mine, Killer. My Enigma Ability, [Spectre], turns one into a literal ghost that is invisible, intangible and undetectable. If you can't see me, you can't bind me, which means the odds are now in my favour, Killer!"

Keane replied, "We'll see about that, plunge into darkness, [Twilight]!" Keane's tanto immediately emanated darkness as it covered Ghost, removing all his senses instantly. Ghost whistled, "Wow. You officially made this a stalemate, Killer. Now we both can't hurt each other, since we can't find each other, hahaha!"

Keane thought, "This really is pointless. The only way to hurt that son of a bitch would be on the counter, when he materialises to attack. The only person with such good reflexes near here is…" Keane shouted, "Jonathan, let's switch opponents! Your abilities are more suited to fight an opponent that can only be hurt on the counterattack!"

Jonathan wheezed, "Huh? What're you talking about? Isn't that Ghost guy the murderer of your lover?" Keane replied stoically, "As much as I want to end him personally, the mission is at stake here. I entrust my vengeance to you, Jonathan!" Jonathan nodded as Keane instantly deactivated his weapon, switching positions with Jonathan.

At the furthest end of the abode, the most intense battle was under way, as explosions marked every clash between Warren and Amon. Warren thought, "Such raw destructive power, he has no finesse at all in his attacks, but they are still very effective, forcing me to infuse so much mana into my [Vine Armour] to withstand his attacks. If this is going to be a competition of strength, I can't afford to let this drag on for too long."

Warren quickly placed both hands on the ground, shouting, "[Bamboo Spears]!" as large, sharp bamboo shoots emerged from the ground and impaled Amon. To Warren's surprise, the attack only grazed and lifted Amon off the ground, his mana armour too thick to pierce through.

Warren shouted, "If you have so much mana, I'll just have to drain it all, [Emergent Bind]!" Suddenly, a gigantic tree emerged from the ground, its bark shooting several tendrils that drew Amon into it. Amon laughed, "What's this pathetic restraint? I'll just blow it up, as I did to your barrier! Argh!!"

Amon's mana pressure started rising exponentially as the ground below him shook in response to his huge display of power. However, the shaking soon stopped as Amon found himself still bound to the tree. Warren said calmly, "Don't underestimate my Sage-tier spell [Emergent Bind], it's developed against simple-minded yet insanely strong louts like you.

The tree would only grow as you feed it with more mana in your struggle. Eventually, once all your mana is drained, you'll become part of the tree, a beautiful source of life and a marvel sight to behold. Don't you feel honoured to be part of such a grand scheme?"

Amon's face now turned deadpan as he bellowed, "How dare you, an insignificant being, trap me like this! I'm the Chaos General of Wrath! My rage is insatiable and impossible to bind! Aargh!" Amon's mana pressure rose again, this time far greater than before as Warren stood stumped.

The tree which Amon was bound to began growing rapidly to the extent that cracks eventually surfaced on its bark before it exploded into pieces, releasing Amon. Amon panted, "Huff…to push me to such an extent, this old man is really dangerous. He's really worthy of his title 'Green King'."

Before Amon could react, a gigantic dragon made of wood collided against him, propelling him into the air. It was accompanied by another 2 [Wood Dragon Bullet] spells that smashed into Amon's flanks as they brought him high into the air before releasing him. Amon, whose mana armour was much weakened from the attack earlier, was slightly hurt by this attack with bruises all over his body as he fell uncontrollably to the ground.

To Amon's horror, he realised that Warren was missing. In his place stood a humongous [Forest Sentinel] who resembled a Buddha which retracted one of its huge palms, ready to strike the falling Amon. Warren cried from within, "I think it's time to end this! Just to be sure, I've covered the entire palm with innumerable [Explosive Buds] to increase the power of my attack! [Titanic Gaia Palm]!"

The giant pushed its palm out far quicker than expected, the speed increasing its destructive power further. Upon successfully connecting with Amon's body, which is only about the size of an ant as compared to the giant's palm, the [Explosive Buds] detonated, creating a tremendous shockwave that rushed forward, desecrating everything in its path as its power could be felt by everyone within the abode.

Warren panted, "So much destruction, there's lots of work to be done once this is over. Forgive me, my dear plants." Just as Warren was about to deactivate his [Forest Sentinel] form, he was horrified to see Amon emerging from the smoke, albeit bleeding profusely from severe injuries all over his body.

Amon said weakly, "You have my respect, old man. To hurt me this badly is an astounding feat, you know? First, you reduced my fighting capabilities to the minimum and next, you even managed to bring me near death. So this is the power of one of the 4 Coloured Kings, ha. Now, it's my turn."

Warren cursed, "Darn, an attack that could desolate an entire army could only do this much against a weakened Chaos General? I just have to finish you off with another attack. [Titanic Gaia Palm]!" Amon smiled and declared, "Nah, it's your time that has come, [Revenge Counter]!"

Warren was blinded by an ocean of red mana before his attack could reach Amon, as Amon's attack consumed Warren's [Forest Sentinel] completely. A shockwave even stronger than Warren's own was a result of Amon's attack, devastating an even larger area and even caused an earthquake to shake throughout the abode, stunning everyone present as they struggled to maintain their balance.

At the end of the attack, Warren laid on the ground weakly, as he struggled to get up despite his severe injuries. Warren muttered, "Darn…such power, got to stop him before he goes for the rest…" Amon mercilessly stomped on Warren's little body, causing the tiny old man to vomit blood.

Amon shared, "This is my Sin, [Vengeance]. It allows me to store up the power from all the attacks I had received from my enemies, regardless of damage received, and return it in full to them, on top of my own power, of course. Every Sin has a price, so I have to fork out payment now."

Amon withdrew his knife and stabbed his right chest with it, drawing blood as he slashed himself across the chest. Warren wheezed as he enquired, "Sin? What kind of Enigma Ability is that?" Amon laughed before replying smugly, "Sins are superior to Enigma Abilities, but in return, a price has to paid.

Each of the Seven Chaos Generals are wielders of their unique Sin, as we seek to spread the will of our Master, Lord Astaroth, across all lands. Enough said, even without my Sin, I can kill you right now before going for the rest."

Warren struggled to free himself, but it was futile as Amon began charging up his left fist, ready to deliver the finishing blow. Warren closed his eyes, full of regret that he wasn't strong enough to protect his fellow young Nirvanians from such a dangerous foe.

Just before Amon could land his punch, suddenly, he saw a flash of red as he saw his arm flying off. "Argh!" Amon screamed in pain as he grabbed the bloody stump of what remained of his left arm. He quickly backed off from the newcomer, who was dressed in a black cloak armed with a long sword coated with something similar yet different as compared to mana.

Amon cried in pain, "To cleave through my subconscious mana armour and take my arm so easily, who are you?" The man rolled back his hood to reveal a man with long black hair with streaks of red hair near his fringe.

The stranger spoke calmly, "Well, I can't afford to let you kill a good friend of mine. My identity is not really a concern of yours, but if it makes you feel better before you die, I'm Redmond, the Red King."