"Hm?"

Kai walked to his bedside and found a letter on top of a drawer. It had a wax seal but no insignia, the sender didn't want to be found. After opening it, Kai raised a brow.

"The hostile faction moved pretty fast."

It was only a day after he dealt with the spy but they already sent him a letter to contact him. It wasn't a letter that was trying to rope him into their ranks, it was a threat.

"We know that you took away one of our shadows yesterday. This matter won't be forgotten so easily. Prepare your neck."

Kai read the letter out loud and after finishing it, he couldn't help but sigh. He sat on the bed.

"What the hell are these guys thinking?"

"I don't think they are."

"You can say that again."

Reo appeared in a puff of smoke. There were no eyes on them so it was safe for him to appear.

"Hm? Haven't you gotten stronger?"

"So you finally noticed... It started when you reached SS-class, my power steadily climbed and now I'm around your level as well."

Kai stared at Reo for a bit while thinking.

"Don't you think it's about time we get you a body?"

Spirits could possess certain bodies that could help them in the physical world. Most spirit users don't have the knowledge to make one, however. When Reo first told Kai about a spirit body, he didn't expect much. But with Kai's current level of power and knowledge, he should be able to make one.

There was only so much a spirit could do without a physical body. Spirit Assimilation was a skill that took a lot out of both the spirit and the user so it wasn't efficient to use in a long-term state.

"Hmm... I do think that it'll be difficult to you to face the demons in your current state. You aren't too proficient in light magic and you don't have Immortal Ki. Even if we assimilate, we could only hold back the most powerful demons for a few minutes."

"You got that right."

Having already experienced the battles with demons as an SS-class in the past, Kai knew that he wasn't their match. Not even with the help of Reo.

"...Alright. Let's go build a body. Luckily, the Demon Continent has some good materials that we can use to build a body made of darkness."

"Hold your horses a bit... I still have to meet up with others."

"That won't be a problem, the materials aren't that hard to acquire. I can even acquire them myself if we really need to. The hard part is forging the body, do you know about how humans work?"

"Well... a bit."

Having studied anatomy in school before, Kai could just recall his memories. Though, there was still the problem of what he didn't know.

"It doesn't have to be the most detailed, but it should have everything necessary for a human."

Kai wanted to ask a question but stopped himself.

"The organ you're thinking about is optional."

Reo managed to guess what he was thinking of and decided to say it immediately.

"Okay then..."

Somewhat relieved, Kai talked with Reo about what he needed to find and where he could get it.

Same day at night

"They're already here?"

Kai set down the book he was reading and took off his glasses. He didn't really need them but it was just suited to the atmosphere.

"Looks like they have an S-class with them. Likely a baron. Reo, it's time to go. [Spirit Assimilation]."

Purple smoke traveled into Kai's orifices and he hid both his face and body shape with clothes and armor. The living metal he always carried around wrapped his body in a different pattern than before, just to hide his identity. Though, it was likely unneeded.

Kai disappeared from his room instantly and teleported a little bit away from the hostile faction's troops. How were they able to get past Agurys' security? Or was he the one to let them inside in the first place? It didn't matter whichever it was, what Kai needed to hadn't changed.

"It's a bit of a pain, but I'm not allowed to kill the baron just yet."

After getting into position, Kai channeled his mana and removed his presence.

It was time to hunt.

...

"He should be in that room, right?"

"That's what they said."

Demons were gathering around near Kai's room. There were fewer of them than when they entered the estate because the others were left to deal with the spies that could affect their mission. After stealthily sneaking across the trees and paths in the way to Kai's room, they positioned themselves by the window.

One of them peeked inside to check for Kai's presence and after seeing the bedsheets have someone inside of them, he opened the window slightly. Then, he took a cylindrical object out of his pocket, and after taking something off the cap, he threw it inside.

Some weird, near colorless gas, started coming out of it. The demons waited for a minute or two before opening the window wider and letting the gas-free. They made sure not to inhale the gas as much as possible and entered the room. With their weapons at the ready, they aimed at the bed.

A demon removed the blanket swiftly and prepared to thrust his blade into the person under the sheets but...

"What is this...?"

Just as the words left his mouth, a strong gust suddenly hit the room. The demons who were watching the bed all closed their eyes on reflex. It was just an instant, but when they opened their eyes, one of their companions disappeared.

"Who's there?!"

The demon shouted but another gust of wind followed and another one disappeared. There were quite a few of them who came here, but two of them disappeared just like that. They didn't even manage to put up a fight or yell out, it happened in an instant.

Without waiting for another of their comrades to be erased, the remaining demons jumped out of the window they came from and positioned themselves back to back. Because there were a lot of them, they formed a circle and watched each direction carefully.

"Two—no, three of us were taken down?"

The baron, their strongest, an S-class, counted their members before the operation, and looking at their formation now, three were taken down in less than a minute. Not only that, one of the members that were taken down was positioned pretty far from the room.

Suddenly, there was another burst of wind and there was a hole in their formation. One of them was taken down even in the presence of the others.

"H-how is it so fast?!"

Even in the presence of the baron, they couldn't catch sight of their enemy at all.

"Show yourself, you coward!"

The baron yelled and raised his magic power. It didn't matter if they were going to be discovered, he couldn't hold back or all of them would be wiped out. While he could accept losing everyone who came with him, there was no way he was allowed to die.

Unfortunately, all that managed to do was trigger a reaction with their opponent. Another gust of wind followed by two of them being taken away as well. There were now five of them left, less than half of their original number.

"Tch!"

The baron clicked his tongue and covered his entire body in darkness. Then he made it explode outwards, making sure that the other demons wouldn't be hit.

Did that slow it down somewhat? The baron managed to catch something with the corner of his eye. Another one of them disappeared, but he was closer to catching the enemy more than ever. If this enemy had to take them down with a cowardly tactic like this, then speed was probably the only thing going for them.

"...! I see you!"

Maybe it was because he got used to the battle, he managed to catch sight of their opponent before any of them were taken down. There was an explosion of darkness, along with smoke and dust.

"Go look at the body—"

WHOOOOOOSH

The baron closed his eyes when he was attacked by a burst of wind, far stronger than the ones that had appeared before.

When he opened his eyes, there was nobody else but him.

"A-ah..."

The baron finally realized it. It was a realization that made his entire body shudder. Their opponent wasn't taking them down one by one because it was their only way of winning against them, whoever was attacking them was playing with them—like a cat with a mouse.

His legs collapsed and he fell on both knees. Along with a flash of lightning, Kai appeared in front of him with all of his skin being covered by armor.

"...Kill me."

The baron threw his sword between Kai's legs. He would've tried to fight as he was still in perfect condition, but the fear already made him no better than a cripple.

Kai took the baron's sword and raised it. The baron closed his eyes and prepared to accept his fate but...

"AAAAGH!"

The sword stabbed through his thigh, and through that, his calf. It had enough power behind it to nail him to the ground.

"You're going to be giving me some information."

"A-ahh..."

The baron couldn't speak through the pain. Kai slowly pulled out the sword, causing the baron to let out anguished screams.

'W-why isn't he afraid of anybody hearing us?!'

But wait, it was strange.

With all of the commotion they caused, it wouldn't be strange for the entire estate to be on full alert. Even if a hundred guards surrounded them right now, he wouldn't be able to think that it's weird.

If that was the case, then where were the guards? It's been minutes since they started fighting, and they had made no small amount of noise either.

"In the first place, your goal of trying to buy time for the guards to come wasn't going to work."

"..."

The baron could do nothing but clench his fists. It would be great if it all just ended there, but he was suddenly jolted by a sharp pain in his left leg. Kai finished pulling out the sword completely, but just as it left his body, Kai stabbed it back inside.

"We're going to have a private talk, and I hope that you'll be cooperative."

There was a helmet covering Kai's face, but the baron felt like he saw a devilish smile. The most devilish smile that could possibly exist in this world.

"We're still... very, very far."

Kazuki groaned as he looked at the map. They had already traveled quite the distance and managed to reach the next town, but forget a single town's distance... there were at least ten towns they had to go through.

By the time they got to the capital by traveling normally while working to build up money, it'd take a year, or at least close to it.

"Do you think Kai will be able to pick us up?"

Umi asked.

"Didn't he tell us before that his teleportation uses magic circles so he needs to have been to the places he wants to teleport to?"

Yoko was also feeling despondent and hung her head.

Kazuki was tapping his fingers on the map repeatedly.

"Yoko... what if you were to go there yourself?"

Yoko contemplated for a bit.

"Hmmm... I guess I could make it within a month. No, maybe I could reach it in a couple of weeks if I push myself? Though, what would I be able to do there?"

"You could tell Kai about our location..."

"And we would still have to travel back..."

"..."

Kazuki drooped.

"It isn't enough that some people are keeping tabs on us, we can't even go where we want to go?"

"Hmmm..."

Umi placed a finger on her chin and tilted her head in thought.

"...What if we fight the people spying on us instead?"