"『Berserk』"

Immediately, the blood rushed to his head. His thoughts were clouded and his vision was blurry. It felt like he was teetering on the edge of his consciousness.

At that moment, he didn't think about anything else. There was only one word occupying his mind: fight.

Kei's body grew. His height didn't dramatically increase but his body mass definitely did. His muscles that could be considered just right began to look as big as a person's head. He looked like a barbarian warrior who fought with nothing except his body—making him a huge chunk of muscle.

"?!"

Nerio was alarmed and immediately retreated. Neri, however, wasn't so fortunate.

Kei, with his massive hand, held Neri's head and with extreme momentum, crashed her down into the ground below.

It was an instant defeat. She didn't even have time to react or cry out before she lost consciousness. Kei raised his beefy arms and was about to end it but Nerio shot a few explosions at his back, causing him to turn around and switch targets. Once more, he lowered his body and prepared to leap at Nerio.

She was prepared and managed to dodge again. She also fired several attacks at him during the short passing. However, it only seemed to further fuel his rage. Kei leaped immediately after landing and he managed to almost catch Nerio that time. She was sweating bullets.

'What a ferocious technique...!'

Nerio bit her lip. She could already surmise what transformation Kei had undergone. Perhaps, in exchange for his mental faculties, he was given immeasurable amounts of power.

But it wasn't just that. The more she attacked, the stronger and stronger he became. She couldn't just allow herself to be killed so there was no way she could stop attacking.

Then again, could she somehow appease this beast in human skin?

A hundred different thoughts passed through Nerio's mind in a short time and after thinking about it, there was no other way.

Her eyes scanned the battlefield as she dodged another one of the rampaging Kei's attacks. She soon found her sisters and then began to move towards them. If Kei had been in his right mind, he would be able to see what she was planning, however, he wasn't.

Soon, Nerio was only a little bit further away from Ene.

'Just a bit more...'

Nerio was getting tired from dodging all of Kei's attacks as he went faster and faster with each leap. Not only that, Kei looked more and more irritated at her. If she didn't do something soon, he'd pound her into mush.

"AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!"

Kei roared. It was so loud that Nerio had to cover her ears, a voice that wouldn't come from a normal person. He raised his arms and then buried them into the ground. He took a huge chunk of the ground causing Nerio to become pale.

He threw the giant rock like he was throwing some paper. Nerio managed to narrowly dodge it but Kei was relentless. Big and small rocks, he began throwing more and more. Nerio was cut in many places, and she couldn't help but create a barrier of darkness to cover herself.

Immediately after she put up the barrier though, a giant hand passed through it. Her irises contracted and she managed to dodge it in time. The barrier of darkness that was set up to protect her from the rocks was broken apart by Kei's hand alone.

"..."

Nerio gulped. His power had climbed to the peak of S-rank, there was no way she could contend with him in his current state. She wanted to run, but there was no way she would abandon her sisters.

Kei stared at her as if he was looking at a piece of meat. And, considering the situation, she definitely felt like it as well.

There were suddenly multiple presences that sprouted in the vicinity. Nerio looked around and saw reinforcements coming in and she couldn't help but smile.

"Buy me some time!"

It was an order that was no different than telling them to commit suicide. However, the demons only hesitated for a second before charging at Kei.

"RAAAGHH!"

Kei roared and intercepted the incoming demons.

Nerio floated higher into the sky and then raised her hand. A small orb of darkness appeared. She poured more mana into it and made it about the size of a head. Then, she poured even more mana into it and it was now as large as a watermelon.

She paid no heed to the agonized screams and the sounds of battle going on below, all of her focus was on the ball of darkness.

By the time most of her mana was sucked into the ball and sweat was wetting her clothes, she had finished. She wouldn't be able to fight if this failed, but it was most likely able to eradicate Kei, even in his current state.

Just when she descended and was about to throw her attack at Kei, Mars' presence disappeared. Her eyes jolted wide open and she immediately looked at his last known position but the moment she did, a woman appeared in front of her.

Nerio had confidence in her appearance. Among all of the women in the kingdom, while she may not be the most sought-after, she was definitely one of the choices that only the most upper-class of the demons could even dare think about. However, the woman in front of her with her silver hair and glowing heterochromia eyes was so beautiful that she wouldn't dare raise her head in a contest of beauty. She bit her lips and snapped away from her thoughts.

Nerio quickly moved to dodge Erina but unlike Kei, she was still in the right state of mind. She closed her fist and the moisture in the air surrounding Nerio froze and became a trap that locked her body in place. With her opponent disabled, Erina hit the side of her neck so hard that Nerio fell unconscious and dropped down to the ground below.

As for the orb of darkness, Erina redirected it into the sky where it created a massive explosion. The shockwave was strong enough to force everyone on the ground on their knees. As she was in the sky, she wasn't exempt either. She crashed into the ground and if not for the armor she created at the last second, she would've been really injured.

"Kei."

Erina called Kei out after she landed. She could see that his pupils were already gone.

"...His Innate Ability awakened as well."

Kai had told them about their Innate Abilities—but not their own. Erina was made aware of everyone's Innate Ability except her own. The same went for the others. It was to prevent them from striving for that particular Innate Ability and end up being unable to break through their limits to seek a higher power.

It wasn't dangerous to awaken an Innate Ability beforehand as information about it would flood the wielder's brain as soon as they acquire it.

Kei's ability,『Berserk』 allowed him to boost all of his abilities in exchange for the loss of his mental faculties. This included his sense of pain as well. In exchange, the amount of power he could wield was proportional to the amount of damage his body had taken and is taking. In his prime, Kei could even give Kai a run for his money.

However, everything had a weakness.

While 『Berserk』 did get stronger the more damage Kei took, there was a certain threshold. If the damage he took went past that threshold, the ability would automatically cancel itself.

Erina took a deep breath and stretched her arms out to the side. Fans made of ice formed themselves in her hands and she began a dance. It used mostly her upper body while her lower body made supporting movements. It was an elegant dance, slow and careful yet appealing.

The mana she had was mostly dried up, there was no way he could defeat Kei in her state. That's why she was using this method that she had devised.

"...Spirits of ice, please lend this one your power."

Suddenly, lights appeared all around Erina. Cold air was also forming and wrapping around these various lights. The moisture in the air was crystallizing and forming various shapes.

It was a dance to appeal to the spirits. To borrow their power.

With the spike of mana in the air, Kei's attention turned towards Erina and he immediately sensed the danger. He roared and was about to attack Erina but the spirits surrounding her were faster.

She pointed both of her fans at Kei and all of a sudden, dozens of lesser spirits—ones that can only be seen if they want to be seen—charged at Kei.

"Freeze his body!"

A lesser spirit landed on Kei's body and his arm was frozen. Kei stopped for a second before he broke it with his other arm. Just after that though, more and more lesser spirits landed on his body and froze it so much that Kei couldn't move, even with all the muscle on his body.

Greater spirits like Reo could only be seen by certain people, but lesser spirits can't be seen even by those people. There are two ways for greater spirits to be born. One would be to be made by the elements or the Spirit King himself, and the other is for a lesser spirit to be given the power by a greater spirit.

The only way a lesser spirit can be seen is through spirits of higher powers than them, and if they choose to reveal themselves. The dance she did was just an offering, along with a portion of her mana to attract the spirits. Alone, a lesser spirit may not have much power, but in great numbers, they could prove even more terrifying than a greater spirit.

"Calm... down!"

Erina infused Immortal Ki in her hands and launched an attack through the ice and Kei's body. It didn't pierce through him, but it did send a wave of mana inside his body that jolted him awake. The bulging veins on his body slowly began to recede and all of the muscle on his person was returning back to normal.

Just a few seconds later, the ice broke and Kei fell down unconscious. Erina caught him and then used whatever was left of her power to stop time and get away.

"Kuh..."

Akane sucked in a breath and deflected Kai's sword. If it was the Kai from before he absorbed Emi's mana, they would've been almost evenly matched in terms of power. Now, however, Akane could only imagine what it was like to be on his level.

"C-can't you go a little easier on me?"

"You were the one who told me to be as rough as possible."

"I know, I know, but..."

After facing Kai's strength head-on, she could see why his friends dreaded facing him. It was one thing if it was just his overwhelming power, but through his sword, Akane could feel all of the years he's tried to hone it. Even with part of Azrael's experience added into the mix, she still couldn't take advantage of his flaws.

In the end, after a few more exchanges, Akane gave up. She was about to sit down on the floor but Kai picked her up—though she was covered in sweat.

"P-put me down! Quick!"

"It's alright, I don't really mind."

"Kai!"

"Just calm down for a bit."

Kai chuckled and kissed her on the forehead. Then, he made sure to walk as slow as possible back to the room.

For the past few days—at least, inside the realm, Kai was helping Akane with her rehabilitation. Her body was finally well enough to move around but she insisted on sparring. Though Kai didn't give in before and only allowed her to do some light exercise, he finally relented and accepted the spar.

Kai set her down on the bed and cooled her down with his magic, but not too much so that she wouldn't catch a cold.

"I wanna take a bath."

"Let me help you then."

"Kai, please... As much as I want to do it too, this isn't just my body right now."

"...Is that what you think of me?"

Kai made an exasperated sigh.

"As long as you don't want it to happen, even if it's for the rest of our lives, I wouldn't lay a finger on you."

"...Then, what if I do but I'm not telling you?"

"I'll be able to tell."

After giving her a change of clothes and making sure the bath was properly heated, Kai left Akane on her own and departed from the illusion world.

Once he opened his eyes in the real world, a knock came at his door.

"Sir Tullius, may I come in?"

A sultry voice of a woman echoed from the door. Kai frowned for a second before closing his eyes and changing his expression.

"Alright."