Kai was occupied with dodging Ikari's heavy blows, as Ikari's fighting style was reminiscent of taekwondo, with swift chops and roundhouse kicks. Kai didn't want to use his [Lightning Body] spell so quickly, nor his Luminos as he wanted to reserve them for last when he could land the decisive blow on Ikari.

Unfortunately, things looked grim for Kai as Ikari displayed no means of letting up, the consecutive blows hardly increasing his fatigue. Ikari taunted Kai, "I know you're holding back on your true power, but if you don't start getting serious soon, you're really gonna die, kid."

Ikari then twisted his body as though he wanted to perform a left hook aimed at Kai's right temple, his fist twisting slightly as well. Kai could immediately sense Ikari's foreboding intimidation which threw him off guard as fear had disrupted his concentration. Left with no choice but to block Ikari's incoming attack, Kai concentrated his demonic energy cloak around his right forearm in order to protect his face.

Suddenly, without warning, Kai felt a foot digging deep into his left waist, as he was sent reeling a considerable distance. The damage received was substantial, as Kai could feel a few broken ribs on top of blood oozing from the side of his lips as a result of internal damage.

As Kai remained in mid-flight, Ikari wasn't done with him as he quickly caught up with him, intending to strike Kai straight in the gut with his knee. Kai instinctively sensed Ikari's hostility and shielded his gut with his arms. Unfortunately, once again, Kai was taken by surprise, as Ikari landed a fierce punch on his face instead, smashing him into the ground.

Unwilling to allow the situation to snowball, Kai decided to put some distance between them, as he swiftly performed a back roll before leaping backwards. Unfortunately, before Kai could recover properly, Ikari was already aiming a forehand chop towards his neck, intending to snap it with the amount of force it carried.

Kai could only raise his right arm to block the attack, but once again, he was caught off guard with a sweeping kick that swept him off the ground, causing him to lose balance. Kai was then mercilessly struck in the gut by a rising kick which propelled him into the air. Finally, when Kai reached the top of his flight, Ikari swiftly caught up to him, concentrating all his Mana into one fist before smashing Kai in the chest with it, sending him plummeting rapidly to the ground.

Kai crashed unceremoniously, leaving a large crater in his wake as Ikari gently landed on the ground nearby. Ikari sighed, "Well, I thought the kid would prove to be a decent challenge, given how he'd defeated Psycho then. What a disappointment. Guess I would go wrap things up with the rest of his comrades."

To Ikari's surprise, he felt a shiver down his spine as Kai clawed out of the crater, his demonic energy even more intense than earlier as it clearly shrouded all over Kai's body like a wispy cloak. Ikari noticed that a white mask had emerged on Kai's face, covering his face entirely with the exception of his left eye, which was glowing blue.

Ikari recognised this power from Amon's memories; this was the same [Demonization] that Redmond used against Amon then, catching him off guard as Redmond's power levels spiked to exponential levels.

Though Kai's aura wasn't as intimidating as Redmond's then, it was still sufficient to put Ikari on guard. Moreover, the blue light which shone from Kai's left eye was something unknown to Amon as well. Kai disappeared in a flash, much to Ikari's surprise as he couldn't follow Kai's speed now unlike earlier, where he could slip past Kai's [Red Lightning Blade]

Ikari realised that the more intense demonic energy surrounding Kai's body was converted to electricity by Kai's [Lightning Body] spell, propelling his speed to near light speed level as Kai landed rapid successive strikes on Ikari.

Though Ikari couldn't follow Kai's movements, he was surprised that he couldn't feel pain, despite Kai's vigorous movements around him. When Kai had finally concluded his barrage, he deactivated his [Demonization] as he took in a deep breath, regulating his breathing.

Ikari was stumped momentarily before laughing out loud, "You're really much weaker than I thought, hahaha! Displaying all that bravado but failing to even scratch me, what a fool!"

Kai calmly rebuked, "My [Demonization] isn't a waste of energy but simply a means to an end. You'll understand soon enough."

As Ikari attempted to take a single step, he realised that his body was completely immobilised, his muscles all undergoing spasms. Kai then revealed, "My aim wasn't to hurt you with this so-called "ultimate technique" of mine. Rather, I wanted to immobilise you so that there's nothing you can do to avoid my true attack."

Kai explained further, "You didn't feel any sensation or pain because I had only injected a minute amount of electricity with each strike. Bypassing your monstrous Mana armament was only possible by combining my attacks with my Luminos Ability, [Erase], that served to remove your armour in the specific points of injection.

After some time has passed, the minute electrical currents from all over your body would have accumulated and cause perpetual depolarisation of your motor neurones which control the movement of your muscles, resulting in their constant contraction and spasm. It's science which you don't have to understand, but fully experience instead."

Kai started to reminisce the days he spent in the Northern Wildlands, where he not only learnt to manipulate demonic energy, he also served as an assistant to the only surgeon there, a man named Stergen. Though a skilled surgeon, Stergen was a tough subscriber of the clan's beliefs, believing that half demons like them should learn to recover from their own wounds naturally, even broken bones or severe illnesses.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Thus, Stergen's role in the clan was basically limited to dealing with life threatening situations as well as complex surgeries. However, Stergen wasn't completely merciless towards those who didn't qualify for his treatment but were nonetheless in deep pain. After all he was an expert administrator of anaesthetic, though he didn't use chemicals like morphine.

Instead, Stergen used electrical currents instead, applying his extensive knowledge of the nervous system to artificially activate neurones involved in secreting endorphins, the body's natural pain reliever. Kai, who became his assistant simply because he was useful for recharging his special apparatus with Lightning magic, decided to learn more about this peculiar technique from Stergen, who begrudgingly taught him after the insistence of Redmond.

Under Stergen, Kai, whose medical skills were atrocious, became minimally proficient in knowledge of the nervous system, where he learned about the various types of neurones and neurotransmitters they secrete to communicate between neurones to pass the message down.

Apart from use in the artificial secretion of endorphins, Kai picked up a more practical application of such knowledge with regard to combat; the perpetual secretion of acetylcholine due to constant depolarisation of the neurone terminal, the neurotransmitter governing movement. Without regulation of the amount of acetylcholine to allow both contraction and relaxation, muscles won't be able to move, leading to paralysis, which is what had happened to Ikari.

Without speaking further, Kai started to concentrate a rather huge mass of normal electricity in his right hand, before compressing it into a refined sphere that covered his hand completely. Ikari could tell that the amount of Mana within the lightning sphere Kai was holding wasn't a small amount, on top of the fact that Kai had refined it to the extent that its power and sharpness were not to be belittled.

However, such an attack, though comparable to a high Grandmaster tier spell sufficient to tear through Ikari's Mana armament as of now, probably wasn't enough to kill him, at most mutilating and disabling one of his limbs.

Thanks to his possession of Amon's attributes on top of his own, Ikari knew that he could easily recover from such an attack at the expense of a hefty amount of stamina, before retaliating with a counterattack far stronger than before thanks to his [Evolution Armour]. Ikari theorised that he should be able to move if he survived Kai's next attack due to the regeneration of his damaged and debilitated muscles.

Ikari then taunted Kai, "Hahaha, you really got me there! Come, now's your golden chance to finish me off, since I'm completely at your mercy. Come on, what're you waiting for, you chicken!"

To Ikari's surprise, Kai merely glared at him before releasing the huge stream of electricity into the sky above him, the electric currents dispersing rapidly among the clouds. Ikari was stunned speechless momentarily, as he couldn't believe that Kai would simply throw all that mana to simply intimidate him.

Ikari roared, "Ha, I really can't believe that you've just sent all that painstakingly refined electricity of yours into the sky instead of me! Are you really that foolish? Or do you have so much confidence to defeat me that you can afford to expend all that mana for nothing?"

Kai remained unperturbed, as he merely whispered, "This is only a small investment for a big return."

Ikari stopped laughing when he saw what had transpired from Kai's spell. The sky above him had rapidly turned darker, the clouds becoming extremely supercharged as electricity rippled amongst them. Kai explained, "The electricity I had sent into the sky was simply a catalyst to promote the formation of cumulonimbus clouds, which voltage is far higher than what I could ever muster with a limited amount of Mana."

The reason why Kai couldn't use Red Lightning was that the disintegrative properties of demonic energy would destroy the clouds required to propagate his initial amount of electricity, thus he deactivated his [Demonization] straight after immobilising Ikari. However, Red Lightning could serve an alternative function, as a lightning rod to direct natural lightning from the skies as both types of electricity carry opposite charges that attract.

Kai discovered this quirky yet interesting phenomenon during his training in the Northern Wildlands, where thunderclouds were a common occurrence. As he learned to use demonic energy as a fuel to generate Lightning magic instead of Mana, Kai noted the increase in frequency of lightning strikes near him, which would have gotten him if not for his Luminos which enhanced his visual reflexes.

Kai slowly started to experiment with natural lightning from thunderclouds after discovering the ability of his [Red Lightning] to attract natural lightning. Within months, he had learnt how to control his [Red Lightning] adequately such that it served as an effective remote control to direct natural lightning towards his desired location.

Of course, Kai paid the price of getting zapped by lightning bolts frequently, but thanks to his increased tolerance to electric shocks as a side effect of his [Lightning Body] spell, he was only slightly charred, not to mention that this served to raise his electric tolerance one notch higher.

Back to the present, Kai merely raised his hand before murmuring to himself, "Though this probably wouldn't get rid of Amon permanently, it would at least throw a wrench into the plans of the Chaos Legion, whatever they are up to."

Ikari started to panic visibly, as the skies continued to rumble ominously while he helplessly stood immobile. As fear and helplessness started to choke Ikari, an insidious voice resonated within him, "Hehehe, this sensation's pretty familiar isn't it? No matter how strong you are, remember how helpless you felt when your entire village turned against you, your beloved wife included? Before fate, you're merely a cog in the vast universal machinery!

However, there are forces that can transcend fate, the very forces that shaped the being of this universe! To tap onto this primordial power, all you have to do is release the shackles that bind your true potential and let it all out without restraint. Give into your rage, and rebel against the unfairness of fate with all your might!"

Left with no choice, Ikari conceded to the wishes of his inner voice, releasing a primordial howl just as Kai lowered his hand while muttering, "[Narukami Blade]." The thunderclouds above Ikari flashed instantly, discharging all its electricity down onto the ground below. Everyone within a 50km radius was blinded instantly by the humongous lightning bolt that took the shape of a gigantic sword which pierced the ground, tearing through it effortlessly while desecrating all caught by its cracking electricity.

After recovering from the initial flash of unnatural lightning, Adeline and Akame instantly understood the gravity of the situation. Akame proposed, "Adeline, that attack earlier was Kai's, and it's a technique he would only use against the strongest of foes. We should split up now and support the two task groups still out there to ensure their safety before supporting Kai thereafter. You with me?"

Adeline agreed, "Understood, I'll head towards the mountains, as the pair there are known to be extremely reckless. You go get Chen and Viper, okay?" Akame nodded as the pair left the command post, taking off in opposite directions.