The shadow under Chen's unconscious body grew wider and darker as Viper emerged from her [Shadow Realm]. Still unable to walk, Viper struggled to crawl towards Chen to check his condition.

Viper heaved a sigh of relief when she verified that Chen was still breathing, albeit severely incapacitated and close to the verge of death. Just as Viper was about to welcome the warm embrace of darkness herself, a rustling sound shook her back into reality.

It was Kazehito, whose body was extremely battered as he struggled to his feet, blood oozing all over his body. Kazehito panted as he barely tethered on the edge of consciousness, "Darn…he got me good. I underestimated you kids too much…not to worry, it all ends now!"

Whipping out 2 shuriken, Kazehito mustered all his remaining mana to imbue them with Wind magic before releasing them, using the last vestiges of his [Atmos] to guide his weapons to their respective targets.

Viper thought, "This is it. We did our very best and I've no regrets…" as she attempted to shield Chen's body with her own before losing consciousness. Just before the shuriken landed, Kazehito, whose vision was getting blurry, was confident that he saw both his shuriken broken in a single slash before his world turned upside down, the ground catching up with him rapidly.

The last thing Kazehito saw was his very own feet, to which he instantly thought, "I see…I'm dead." before he surrendered to the grasp of death.

The sound of a blade sliding through its scabbard could be heard audibly, before it ended with a characteristic "chink" sound. The owner of the sword was a masked woman, whose aura would have intimidated any sentient life in the vicinity.

Assessing that there were no longer any threats in the area, the woman drew a deep breath and exhaled slowly. As the woman's mask disintegrated into nothingness, her identity became clear. She was Akame, lieutenant to Red King Redmond.

Akame stood next to Kazehito's headless corpse, as she mumbled, "To create so much destruction in this forest, not to mention the amount of life-threatening injuries on both kids, I can only imagine how strong this man must be at 100%. You did well to halt him, Chen and Viper. Take a good rest, and leave the rest to me."

After resting both Viper and Chen against trees which offered decently good concealment before applying some medical ointment on their external injuries as minimal pain relief, Akame quickly took off, promising silently in her heart to her fallen comrades that she would accomplish the mission, and come back in one piece.

Kai took a few seconds to regulate his breathing as a humongous, smouldering crater lay before him, the aftermath of his [Narukami Blade]. He held a tiny sliver of hope that his opponent was finished, but all of that came crashing down when he could barely make out a figure slowly getting onto his feet amidst the dust.

It was Ikari, who had lost his right arm from Kai's destructive spell. When the dust cloud finally settled, Ikari stared straight into Kai with intimidating eyes before giving a devilish grin. Kai instantly understood his predicament. Ikari was no more, and in his place stood the very foe he feared most, Amon.

Amon cackled, "You're pretty good, kid. Not many people can brag about taking an arm off me, except that cursed Redmond, of course. Tch, it's going to consume quite a bit of mana to regenerate this arm. What a pain."

Amon grunted as he focused his mana into the stump where his right arm used to be. To Kai's horror, within seconds, a fresh arm popped out of the stump, flesh rapidly wrapping around it such that it was as good as the original.

After testing his new arm out with a few swings and gripping motions, Amon stared at Kai once more before complaining, "Man, I really can't afford to spend all this mana on just healing, though my body really hurts." Kai was stumped to see that Amon's severely burnt body was regaining its past vigour but he could not recklessly charge the seemingly off-guard Amon.

After all, the opponent before him was the real deal, a Chaos General who single-handedly wrecked the #4 Saint, Green King Warren Gaia. Kai had initially aimed to finish off Ikari before Amon could surface, but now that he had failed, the only viable option left was to delay Amon for as long as possible till reinforcements arrive.

Kai analysed his situation carefully. Right now, he was running low on both mana and Demonic Energy. Even though the latter could be recovered at a much faster rate, in lieu of the fact that he'd just used [Demonization], a technique which pushed the uptake of Demonic Energy to the limit, Kai simply couldn't utilise any more Demonic Energy for the time being.

This meant that Kai's strongest weapons remaining were his Luminos as well as the fusion element [White Lightning], where both could only be used sparingly given the amount of mana they consumed.

However, one silver lining in Kai's quandary was that Amon's [Evolution Armour], which he had acquired from Ikari, appeared to have an upper limit as observed through Kai's Luminos, assuring him that the monster wasn't truly invincible with the ultimate shield and spear.

Amon, noticing that Kai remained as still as a statue, teased, "Hahaha, has fear really gotten the better of you? I've yet to even begin and you're already scared stiff. Don't worry, I intend to take my time with you, to learn more about your techniques so that I can squeeze out everything your pathetic life has to offer. Let's start with some of my host's techniques as warm up!"

Amon leaped towards Kai who remained stationary, albeit calm. To Amon's surprise, Kai simply closed his eyes as Amon aimed a left hook towards Kai's right temple. Swoosh! The next instant, Kai was squatting down as he narrowly avoided Amon's right roundhouse kick.

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Landing on his right foot, using it as a pivot, Amon quickly twisted his body, prepared to perform a low back thrust with his left foot towards Kai's head. Crack! This time Kai dived to his right, as Amon's frontal chop split the ground before him.

Kai swiftly performed successive back flips to widen the distance between Amon and him, which was quickly narrowed by a single leap from Amon, who attempted a horizontal backhand chop towards Kai's exposed right flank.

In truth, Amon shot a left straight towards Kai's face. However, Amon's attack failed to connect as he drew air instead, since Kai had already accurately read Amon's intentions, stepping to his left to dodge Amon's punch.

The next thing Amon felt was a tingling pain in his left chest, as he stared momentarily into Kai's sky blue Luminos before realising that he had been impaled by Kai's [White Lightning Blade]. Kai cursed, "Darn, it's not deep enough!" before instantly retracting his right hand and retreating to a safe distance from Amon.

Feeling his warm blood trickle down from his wound on his chest, Amon gently brushed his wound using his fingers before licking them, grinning ecstatically thereafter. With a Cheshire grin on his face, Amon asked inquisitively, "I'm curious, how did you read my true intention? I'm pretty confident I perfectly replicated Ikari's [Tyrant Kempo], which was dominating you moments earlier."

Kai replied gruffly, "Hmph. Once I discovered the trick behind that style, with my Luminos, dodging your attacks are a piece of cake. I can't believe that I fell for such a simple trick more than once, the classic trick known as misdirection."

Amon smiled as Kai continued to explain, "Misdirection, or feints, are often used to get an opponent to lower his guard in the area which the user wishes to strike. Though extremely effective, they are often harder to use against experienced combatants, whose expertise allow them to see through their opponent's intentions.

However, your [Tyrant Kempo] is slightly different in one aspect from other feints. By utilising your immense mana pressure in your feints, you intimidate your opponents into buying into your trick, since they simply can't afford to receive an attack of such power if it wasn't a feint.

Your intimidation works best through sight, that's why I closed my eyes before you attack, only opening my left eye containing my Luminos just before your actual strike arrived, allowing me to dodge in the nick of time."

Amon clapped as he commended, "Very interesting. You're not the only one with an insight. Let me share what I gleamed from you in our short exchange. The reason why you were able to hurt me with that electric blade has to do with that left eye of yours as well, right?

I do possess Ikari's memories as well, and I'm fully aware of your Luminos Ability [Erase]. Using your [Erase], just before you struck, you removed a portion of my sturdy [Evolution Armour] to minimise resistance to your spell.

I'm impressed with the level of fine control you have over your Luminos Ability, but I've learnt through a painful lesson that knowledge is indeed power. By delaying my mana armament till after the activation of your Luminos Ability, I ensured that you couldn't do more than graze me."

Kai hissed silently. This Amon was far more dangerous than the Amon he'd encountered 2 years ago. Unlike his past, boorish self, Amon now had a calm, calculative side on top of his indisputable raw power. It seems like reincarnation with intact memories do make you a brighter person. Help had better come soon, or Kai would never live to the end of the day.

Kai returned back to reality when Amon's mana pressure started rising tremendously, as Amon remarked, "Don't get me wrong. I may appear cool as a cucumber, but that's because I've learnt to express my anger through my actions. [Vengeance Gear]."

In an instant, Amon disappeared into thin air. Kai was stunned. This was neither Ikari's nor the old Amon's technique. However, it was a technique eerily familiar. When realisation finally struck Kai, Amon appeared instantly before him, aiming a downward slash towards Kai's head.

Thanks to the reflexes afforded by Kai's Luminos, Kai barely twisted his face out of the way, only to witness the spattering of blood accompanied by a flying left arm, which landed on the ground with a sickening thud.

For a moment, it was as though time froze as Kai struggled to process the sight before him. However, reality soon caught up together with an excruciating jolt of pain. "Argh!" Kai howled as he collapsed onto the ground, writhing in pain while clutching his bloody stump where his left arm once was.

Licking his fingers in delight, Amon sighed, "I'd wanted to get his left eye, but an arm would do fine as well. An arm for an arm after all, hahaha!" Moving next to Kai, who was still overwhelmed by pain, Amon nonchalantly sat on Kai's back before muttering, "[Vengeance Press]."

Amon's mana pressure skyrocketed immediately as Kai stopped screaming, the poor boy crushed by Amon's immense weight. After adapting to Amon's weight, Kai's groans gave way to silence, as the boy was resigned to death, the pain in his body numbing any fear.

Amon laughed uncontrollably, "Mwahahaha! Now you can't escape while I slowly torment you to death! If there's one thing I'm grateful to Redmond, it's that he taught me not to put all my eggs into one basket. Thanks to that vital lesson, I've truly mastered my Sin, [Vengeance]!

In the past, I had foolishly confined myself to reflecting all the damage I've absorbed back onto my foes, crushing them with sheer might and fury. Now, I believe that true anger is meant to be satiated slowly. What's the point of obliterating your foes in an instant and giving them a pain-free death?

Long-lasting torment is today's fashion statement for punishment, and the true panacea to quell the seething rage in my heart! Be glad that you get to experience it firsthand today, boy!"

Amon increased his mana pressure further as Kai resisted the urge to groan in pain. Kai swore that a few more of his bones were fractured under Amon's weight, with the ground below him cracking further under the immense duress.

Kai attempted to escape by flowing electricity through his body, in hope of shocking Amon so that Amon would release him momentarily. Unfortunately, Amon covered his body in some dark red hue which neutralised Kai's electricity.

Amon chuckled, "THIS is the full body elemental spell [Lightning Body]? I can't believe I was terrified when I first witnessed it in action. Guess I have to thank you for giving me the inspiration to create my new techniques in centuries, [Vengeance Gear] and [Vengeance Cleaver], allowing me to slowly release the power I've received from all those absorbed damage."

Kai winced when he heard Amon's declaration. His worse fears were confirmed after all. Amon's [Vengeance Gear] was based off his [Lightning Body] while [Vengeance Cleaver] was derived from his [Lightning Blade]. If Amon's speed could now match his, even if Kai was in perfect condition, considering Amon's overwhelming power and quicker recovery rates, Kai stood no chance against a monster of Amon's calibre.

Kai struggled to breathe under Amon's weight as he wheezed, "You b-bastard, what're you waiting for? Finish me off already, before you regret it."

Amon sneered, "What's the hurry? No one's coming to save you, my henchmen would eliminate anyone heading towards here after all, and even if my henchmen had fallen, your allies are probably too weak to pose a challenge against my newfound power.

Since we have a little time, while you are slowly crushed to death by my [Vengeance Press], why not listen to a tale? A tale of my great return and the heart-wrenching tragedy accompanying it, mwahahaha!"

Kai could only bear down in silence as rain fell from the dark skies above, as though the heavens was weeping for him and the countless others who have fallen under Amon's return…