Chapter 205: Two Against One
Damas crashed to one knee.
His hand clamed over his bleeding neck, attempting to stop the rush.
Fiery blood pulsed between his fingers relentlessly, and his face was a mask of pure shock and disbelief. He had nearly been decapitated by a Lesser Angel. Had his body been a bit weaker— and that moment a few seconds ago would be his last.
It would be a lie if Damas said that he wasn’t angry right now.
That the beatdown he was about to deliver isn’t personal.
Considering that they were seniors, he thought he would take it easy against Kai.
And that was a big mistake.
"Hargh..." Damas choked on his own lifeblood. He reached into his pocket with his other hand and took out a small vial. It was an emergency healing vial that he had saved for moments like this. He drank it without hesitation.
Forced to drink his healing vial by a Lesser Angel bruised his ego.
But his bleeding neck is the utmost priority right now.
Makos landed right beside Damas, looking down at him worriedly, "Are you still fighting?"
"Give me a moment," Damas coughed out blood a couple of times, and spat to the side. "I let down my guard and almost died. Don’t do the same thing. I don’t think he has been truthful towards us."
"He was already suspicious from the start, most likely." Makos nodded.
It was clear that Kai was not a Supernal of Moros.
Even though the color of his Halo was ash-grey, his abilities proved otherwise.
Naturally, the two believed Kai was lying to them.
"Don’t lose him." Damas pointed ahead.
Makos whipped his head toward the crash site and spotted Kai already in motion, sprinting away with Panas slung over his shoulder. His winged boots hammered against the cloud floor hard, and with each step, the winds flapped harder, faster.
And when the lift finally caught, Kai shot skyward like a bolt loosed from a crossbow.
A snarl formed on Makos’ face as he launched himself into pursuit, the axe heavy in his grip as he realized Kai wasn’t that easy to deal with at all. Perhaps he wasn’t good enough to defeat a Noble Star Beast, but he was accustomed to fighting another Supernal.
It was true that Angels were trained to be the monsters of mankind.
Even the Blood Rite and the Culling of Nonentity that followed were proofs of that.
But those obstacles weren’t perfect.
The academy intended for the new Angels to learn fast how to survive, fight, and kill others through the Blood Rite, yet these expectations only work on High Angels and Angels who are at the upper echelon of the new batch.
Other Angels, the weaker ones, only learned their place and how to flock to the strong.
For Kai to act with such ruthless decisiveness, attacking with killing intent from the get-go, meant the Blood Rite had done its work on him. Perhaps too well. It had sculpted him into a master of combat against other Supernals, which was how he could do what he did.
Swoosh—!
Kai ran.
Inside, he was also surprised that his attack managed to land a fatal blow to Damas.
Even from earlier, Damas had always been alert.
Not once had Kai ever seen Damas lower his guard. But the Dark Discharge was too fast, too startling in its first encounter for anyone to fully brace against. Even so. Even with a strike that should have been flawless, Damas survived.
How did he survive that? How is his skin so thick? His Patron God isn’t a Divine Beast.
Kai clicked his tongue in displeasure.
He already poured a lot of mana into that attack, and yet the energy arc could only cut through a few inches into Damas’ neck. He won’t get another chance like that again—so it’d be perfect if Damas died right there.
"That way!" Panas pointed forward.
Kai nodded and moved even faster.
Right now, the best way to protect Panas is to bring him to the nearest compound.
Makos and Damas wouldn’t be able to kill Panas there, as the consequences of doing so would be the same as killing someone on the academy grounds. The punishment would be severe, or even outright deadly.
It’s the best way to protect Panas, but Kai has another thing in mind.
Out of nowhere, the world darkened.
Something loomed over them despite flying at incredible speed—Makos was above them. His bulk was silhouetted against the blazing sun, and the heavy axe was already raised and poised to split the world into two.
Kai’s teeth pressed together hard.
He twisted his body mid-air and raised his Blood-phantom Scimitar right as the axe came with devastating force. His free arm wrapped around Panas, hugging the boy’s small stature right against his chest, and they crashed into the cloudy ground together.
It was a hard fall that no normal human could survive.
Especially not a boy no older than ten.
But Kai’s back absorbed most of the impact, and his body cushioned the fall for Panas.
Yet the fall still knocks the air out of his lungs, leaving him breathless. And the aftershock that followed shuddered through his spine, his legs, and his bones. Makos has the divine bloodline of a Divine Beast, a Supernal of Minotaur, so the strength behind that blow was nothing short of monstrous.
Kai felt his arms were numb briefly.
A fleeting deadness that faded almost as fast as it came—Reckless Hardening.
The Retribution Ending Fragment had tempered his body for this exact purpose. In a situation where protecting someone became the only path forward—his durability surged alongside his stamina to an elevated level.
He was a shield before he was a sword.
Swish—!
Kai opened his eyes and saw a growing dot.
In an instant, he rose and then shoved Panas hard, sending the boy skidding clear across the cloudy ground, and then he lifted both hands to the scimitar as Makos descended and brought the axe down again.
The impact crushed Kai to one knee.
And the clouds underneath him spewed outward.
"You’re strong, Lesser Angel. I can’t take you lightly anymore."
"I’m flattered!"
In that exact moment, Makos’ body swelled, and actual horns grew from his forehead.
His strength rose rapidly, and Kai was slowly getting overwhelmed.
Energy screamed through the point of contact, raising up his arms, and Retribution activated in response, doubling his damage output in a surge of retaliatory power. Kai tilted his blade, and the heavy axe slid off with a shriek of steel until it buried itself into the ground.
He leaned in to strike.
Makos retreated a step, enough to avoid the slash, but Kai pressed forward relentlessly.
His free hand shot out—two fingers channeled with an enormous amount of mana for a mere Awakened Supernal to gather and stabbed them into Makos’ chest. Deep Slumber was used, and the mana shot into Makos’ mind and stunned it.
Or at least, the drowsiness should’ve flooded his mind and stunned Makos.
But Kai’s frown deepened as nothing happened.
"Is that supposed to hurt me?"
"What...?"
Normally, this would have opened a window—a split second to strike. But not against Makos. As a senior Angel—and also a Grade-3 Awakened Supernal—his mana reserves rivaled Kai’s own, so the trick that should have given Kai an edge simply fizzled out against him.
Makos kicked Kai squarely in the chest and swung again.
In the nick of time, Kai parried the incoming axe and forced his body to move.
He redirected the axe to the side, ducked in and down, invading Makos’ personal space, and leaped up, hammering his left fist upward in a savage uppercut that caught Makos squarely beneath his chin.
The energy from Retribution doubled the force of his punch.
Bone met bone.
And the impact surprisingly lifted Makos’ heavy body off the ground and hurled him back.
It hurts him.
Noticing Makos staggering from the blow, Kai didn’t hesitate. He drove his scimitar into the cloud ground and spun sharply, churning the clouds into a violent spiral. In seconds, the area vanished behind a rolling smokescreen of marshmallow clouds.
Makos lifted his gaze and spun the heavy axe in his hands.
The blade whistled through the air in a theatrical display of violence.
His eyes swept the clouds, searching and probing.
Kai had vanished into the vapor, and for a few seconds, Makos played the hunter’s game.
But then, realization hit—Kai could be escaping again.
Decisively, he lunged forward with a snarl, the axe stretched outward, and then he swung in a horizontal arc with enough force to carve a massive chunk—from the clouds. Midway, his axe hit something.
Hit steel—the spark that exploded against the white made it clear.
Makos’ eyes flashed with predatory delight. Found him. Found Kai.
A laugh escaped his mouth as he pulled the axe for another swing—harder this time, enough to blow Kai out of his pathetic cover. But movement flickered above him. A shadow loomed behind the swirling clouds.
A massive shadow.
In his half-human, half-minotaur form, Makos stood nine feet of muscle.
Yet this shadow rose taller still. Much taller.
As if knowing that he was stunned at the sight, the shadow moved. A massive hand erupted from the violent spiral of clouds and slammed into him like a giant crushing an insect. Makos felt the force, and it surprised him.
It was enough to put him on one knee, his axe arm pinned, and his spine compressed.
Kai burst from the front—a blur of darkness and killing intent.
Dark Discharge sheathed the Blood-phantom Scimitar in absolute black as he thrust the blade straight at Makos’ heart. The sharp tip met resistance and then cut through. But the thick skin stopped it from plunging deeper, and Makos’ big body made the length—from the surface of his skin to the heart deeper.
Kai clicked his tongue as the energy blast that followed launched Makos backward.
His body tumbled across the cloudy ground, carving a trench through the mist.
Before he could stop rolling, the black star that had been hovering above since the fight began pulsed with sudden, lethal light. A volley of dark lances rained down. Thick and sharp needles speared from the sky in rapid succession.
Each one struck Makos mid-tumble, hammered his body—and drove him further and further away until he vanished into the distant cloud banks.
Kai straightened.
His chest heaved up and down while the black star still glowed overhead.
Perion stood at his side, but Kai dismissed him quickly as the harsh sunlight was draining his mana too fast to keep him manifested. The battlefield fell quiet. Kai turned to scoop up Panas and press on toward the nearest compound, but froze mid-motion.
Behind him, Damas already stood beside Panas with anger in his eyes.
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