"...!"

"Happy to see me?"

Kai stood in front of the Soul Thief. Though his body was tattered beyond belief, it didn't decrease the imposingness of his person.

"Y-you're seriously underestimating me too much! You think I can't take you on in that state?!"

The Soul Thief howled with laughter.

"Then, why are you trembling?"

"..."

The Soul Thief looked at his trembling arm and was in shock.

"D-don't fool around with me!"

The Soul Thief took a dagger from the desk and threw it at Kai but forget killing him, it didn't even pierce his skin.

"Are you finished?"

Kai stepped forward. Each step was heavy and blood dripped from his wounds but his expression didn't change in the least.

"Eek! Defend me!"

Ten figured shot out of the shadows and launched attacks at Kai but none of them got through the barrier surrounding his body.

"Gravity."

THUMP

Everyone in the room was suddenly forced down on the floor. An invisible pressure weighed upon their bodies.

"Agh...!"

"You only have one puppet able to injure me, and that puppet is currently being held back by her friends."

The Soul Thief forced himself to look at Kai.

"So you've figured out her identity."

"There's nobody else who it could be. I'll be having you return Akane."

"Return? Ha! I did take her soul along with thousands of others but you slaughtered them! What gives you the right?"

"You're right."

Kai stepped forward and the gravity multiplied severalfold.

"I don't have the right, but do you?"

With each step, the gravity became stronger and stronger until the Soul Thief could do nothing but howl in pain.

Kai raised the Soul Thief's body and used two skills.

"[Mental Pressure], [Soul Aura]."

"AGGGGHHHHH!"

Kai exerted pressure on both his mind and soul, parts that would be the hardest to defend for any normal person.

The Soul Thief's eyes were already rolling into the back of his head but Kai didn't permit him to faint.

Using Mental Pressure, Kai was able to force the Soul Thief to stay conscious while he's being tortured.

"Let's take a peek then, shall we?"

The Soul Thief looked at Kai as if he was encountering the worst demon in the world. Kai stretched out his hands towards the Soul Thief's chest or more specifically, his soul.

"No, no!"

Although the Soul Thief tried to resist with all his might, he could do nothing in front of Kai's power.

"No matter how many you control, it doesn't matter if they're weak. Though a thousand ants may impede a lion, the lion won't fall."

Kai's finger penetrated his soul at that moment.

"AAAAAGHHHHH!"

Excruciating pain. It was the only thing the Soul Thief could feel. As someone who hadn't truly trained his own soul, he had no defense against soul attacks.

To him, it would feel like getting cut by knives all over his body without dying.

'I will find it.'

Kai plunged his hand deeper into the soul as he vowed.

...

"[Twin Dragon Assault]!"

Yoko used her technique accompanied by her innate ability. She no longer needed to use Nimble Footwork and Fast Movement together. Her innate ability could trump both of them combined and provide less strain.

"[Ice Wall]."

The angel stepped back and raised an ice wall to block Yoko.

"[Icicles]."

Erina used Fragile Steps and arrived past the wall ahead of Yoko and launched an attack.

The angel swung her arm and a pillar of ice covered Erina's path.

"Yoko, do you feel it?"

"Somehow."

Though it was faint, they could feel something with each of the angel's attacks. They couldn't tell what the feeling was, but they felt its familiarity strange.

Erina and Yoko continued to fight the angel in a deadlock. In reality, they could've killed her since they were working together but because of Kai's instructions, they were forced to hold back.

"We've met her before!"

Erina blocked one of the angel's attacks and fired a stream of water at her.

"Freeze!"

The water traveled faster than ice. Once it touched the angel's body, Erina froze it in an instant and trapped the angel.

Unfortunately, just a little bit of ice wouldn't be enough to hold her back. The angel finally revealed her wings and flapped them to escape.

"Danger. Retreating."

"Don't even think about it!"

Yoko moved faster than the angel could escape.

"『Celerity: A Tenfold Dash』!"

With speed surpassing sound, she used the wall as leverage and reached the angel in an instant.

"Threat...!"

Yoko didn't give her more time to react. She took her daggers and stabbed the angel's wings.

'They're hard!'

She had planned to pierce the wings but all she managed to do with her daggers was to make them bleed.

"That's enough!"

Erina stomped on the floor and sent a huge gust of cold air.

"Uhk..."

The angel's wings froze. It wasn't the outside, but the inside. Erina used the wounds that Yoko had given the wings to sent a gust of cold air inside.

It should be unbearably painful but it wouldn't last long, just enough to stop the angel from retreating.

Yoko reacted quickly and kicked the angel down. Erina followed her up by freezing the angel's limbs and wings.

Yoko conjured darkness and turned the ice black by stabbing her dagger into it.

"...I didn't know you could do that."

The ice was at least twice as hard as it normally was.

"Neither did I."

Yoko laughed slightly. Just now, her body moved on its own. Even she was surprised at what she did.

"With that, we've contained the angel. What do you think Kai plans to do with her?"

"Didn't he just spare her because she's a beautiful woman?"

"You might be on to something."

Erina and Yoko laughed. They had enough leisure to do so, the angel wasn't moving at all.

"Kai..."

All of a sudden, the angel spoke.

Yoko was the first to react. She felt a chill pass through her whole body and she raced to the angel's side.

"That voice...!"

"Kai... Kai...!"

Erina finally reacted. She had froze when she heard the angel talk as well.

"No, it can't be! She's been dead for years!"

"I know that!"

Yoko hit the ground so hard that it broke.

"That bastard... did he defile the Kuroshi Clan's graves...?!"

The reason Kai told them not to kill the angel. In truth, they had no clue as to why he had instructed them to do so but seeing how knowledgeable he was of the future, there must've been a reason.

"Haha... I never would've expected it..."

Erina lost power in her legs and she plopped down on the floor.

"?! Erina! The ice!"

Due to their emotions running rampant, they lost control of their own mana and the angel was set free.

The angel flapped her wings and sent both Yoko and Erina flying.

"Kai...!"

The angel—no, Akane looked into the sky with tears streaming down her eyes. Erina and Yoko could do nothing but stare at her with trembling gazes.

Akane spared them a glance before flying away. Erina and Yoko only managed to regain themselves a few minutes after.

"She's going after Kai!"

"We need to stop her!"

Though they figured out her identity, they still had a duty to fulfill. Kai had told them that of all the Soul Thief's puppets, only the angel, only Akane was capable of wounding him.

The two departed as swiftly as possible.

...

"There you are...!"

Sebastian took hold of what he was looking for and yanked it out of the Soul Thief's body.

"AAAAAGH!"

The Soul Thief's eyes rolled back as he screamed in pain and foam began rising from his mouth as he fainted.

"Finally..."

Kai held onto the flame-like soul of the Soul Thief and held it against his own chest.

It slowly began sinking into his skin. Kai grit his teeth in pain as he made it sink faster.

"Kai!"

Kai's eyes widened as he turned around. Akane ran at him and stabbed her wings into his body and out the other way.

A mouthful of blood was ejected from Kai's mouth as he looked down at Akane.

"Ha..."

Kai sighed and stroked Akane's head. Her eyes were unfocused but there were tears streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I'll save you now."

He couldn't save her in the past life and he didn't think he would be able to do so in this life. However, the Soul Thief's existence changed that.

Using his knowledge of the soul, Kai realized that elements and powers were housed not in the body, but the soul.

If they were in the soul, then he just had to take them.

Akane looked up at him in silence. Kai returned her gaze as the Soul Thief's power completely melded with his body.

"Akane... Welcome back."

Kai muttered as his hand phased through Akane's chest and separated her soul from the angel's.

Just as he managed to succeed, Erina and Yoko arrived and witnessed Kai being pierced by Akane's wings.

"It's alright."

Kai waved them off and looked at Akane's eyes that were slowly gaining focus.

"I'm sorry."

"...what are you apologizing for, idiot?"

"For being too slow."

"You got that right."

Akane laughed and pressed her forehead against Kai's chest.

"I'm back."

(Continental Animosity Arc Ends)