Kai, after hearing Akane's advice, trained in the Illusion World. Only two days had passed by outside but several had passed for Kai and Akane. During that time, Kai fought with mock enemies that he created using the Illusion World's powers, and sure enough, what Akane had told him worked.

"I can't believe I didn't know about this before..."

Though it was true that Kai wouldn't have been able to use it in the war because his blood was sealed, just the knowledge alone was enough to use as leverage against his opponents. But, if angels had this sort of secret, it meant that demons should have it too, right?

And so, Kai spent more time inside the Illusion World. Gusion thought that he even decided to give up fighting. That is, until Kai showed up to fight looking better than ever.

"So you haven't given up?"

Gusion was going more disinterested in Kai by the day. The tricks that he saw during the bouts so far made him look for a bit, but that was it. There was no use for tricks if they weren't going to work.

"I can't give up."

Kai answered and began stretching. In truth, he had actually long since passed the need to stretch his muscles before battle. It was just a habit that never really left him.

Marchosias was just standing at the opposite end.

They were in an event hall of some sort, but everything was cleared. Tables, chairs, and whatever used to be here were moved someplace else. Gusion said he didn't mind the damage and allowed Kai and Marchosias to do as they pleased.

After Kai finished stretching, Gusion disinterestedly told them to start. If things went the way they have been for the past few weeks, then the two of them would fight for a few hours before Marchosias were to use his therianthrope form and before Kai were to use his wings, among other things.

However, unlike the past fights, Kai had no intention to make this last longer than it has to.

Instead of the six wings that Kai normally uses, he let out only his angel wings. Gusion and Marchosias looked at him and waited for what he was going to do.

"Awakening."

There wasn't a need for Kai to say anything, it was just a habit. Spells mostly needed to use their names to be last. While it was possible to do so without them, it cost more mana. It wasn't really a problem for Kai, but it was a habit that he built up over time. It wasn't easy to stop, so Kai just let it happen whenever.

And, the specific ability that he was going to use was called Awakening, but it was even more pointless to call out its name because it didn't have the same properties as spells anyway.

Gusion and Marchosias both frowned and saw Kai glow with a bright light. His wings that were already as white as could be began to glow brightly along with his body. There was a white liquid-like aura surrounding his body and his pupils slowly became white as well.

In contrast to his usual appearance wearing dark clothes, Kai looked like an angel that descended from heaven. When Akane first saw it, she couldn't help but exclaim out loud and excitedly prance around him. It was a weird experience, it was like she was looking at rare animals at the zoo.

"I don't know why nobody told me about this before... and it took me a bit of time to actually see how it works completely. And, I didn't know if it would work on a therianthrope demon so I had to test that as well."

Kai opened and closed his hands. It was still a pretty new form so it still took some time to get used to it. If this were a real battle, he wouldn't have any time to do anything but since he had the leeway, he took it.

Awakening—it was a form that both angels and demons had. By using it, all of their attacks towards each other dealt more damage than it normally would. It also provided them a boosted resistance against light and dark with angels having more resistance in the former and demons having more resistance in the latter.

It might've also been the reason that Kai's dark attacks against demons on the same level as him were almost ineffective and even those a class lower than him could withstand his attacks more. He just ended up using the other elements because he wasn't compatible with light as much as the others.

'But with this power...'

All of his attacks would be imbued by light.

"[Hell-Rending Palm]."

A beam of white light shot out of Kai's hand . It was fast—faster than anything a human could react to even if they trained their reaction time to the fullest yet Marchosias dodged it by turning his body to the side.

"Looks like I was right."

Kai grinned. He normally tried to hide his emotions during battle but there were just some that he couldn't hide no matter what. During their bouts before, Marchosias had never dodged so desperately.

"Do you really think that you can defeat me with something you learned just recently?"

Marchosias growled.

"I don't know."

Kai answered honestly. He knew about this form's weaknesses as well as its strengths. It was a high risk to just be using it considering what blood was flowing inside his body.

It also helped him realize it. The reason that he was weak with light was because he was a vampire and demon. They were races that clashed with the angels, there was no way for his angel blood to coexist with them properly.

Marchosias didn't hesitate anymore, he began his transformation. His bones cracked and his body grew. Starting from his limbs to his torso, then finally his head. His body grew and grew until he was an entire half a person taller than Kai. Fur started growing all over his body and his nails became longer and sharper.

He howled. It was a howl of challenge. He got on all-fours and charged at Kai. In response, Kai created a sword of light and slashed at Marchosias. At the same time, Marchosias clawed at Kai's chest.

Blood splattered everywhere. Kai's attack had cut Marchosias' thick skin that he was never able to cut before while his chest had giant slash marks. They were wounds that he would normally heal in a few seconds but let alone heal, the bleeding didn't even stop.

"You're serious about this."

Marchosias looked at the wound on his body, then at Kai's.

"I can't afford to waste anymore time here."

Kai healed himself using Greater Self-Healing. There was a green light covering his body. It would normally hurt him because of his vampire blood but now that it was suppressed, he could heal himself if he endured the pain.

In contrast, Marchosias couldn't heal himself. Werewolves healed faster than demons, but they weren't even near the realm of vampires or Kai's healing. The bleeding from Kai's attack had stopped, but that was it. The wound was still open and moving it would just worsen it.

For the first time in weeks, Gusion showed interest in their battle and looked at it closely.

Marchosias howled again and moved as fast as he could, he used his superior speed to swipe at Kai from the side but with his eye, it was easy to see through it. After being dodged, Marchosias became more irate and he attacked Kai in a flurry. When that didn't work, he began to run around everywhere and leapt from pillar to pillar. He also used walls if those weren't enough.

It looked like there was a giant black blur going everywhere at once and for once, even Kai needed to use his left eye to the fullest to see him properly.

But then, Marchosias' speed suddenly doubled and Kai only managed to see his afterimage. Though his reflexes managed to make it in time and land a hit on Marchosias as well, the damage on Kai was enough to make him spit out an entire mouthful of blood. He healed himself but the damage he sustained was too great to heal too quickly.

Not only that, Marchosias didn't relent and continued to attack. Kai had no choice but to lower his healing output and focus on fighting. He healed while he fought but in the end, he still suffered more damage than he was taking.

Kai blocked, attacked, and parried with his sword over and over but Marchosias' claws were really just too strong. In the end, they were both riddled in wounds from head to toe. If Akane were to see him like this, she might faint.

Kai chuckled.

What was he doing thinking about things like that in the middle of battle?

Marchosias became warier of him. What kind of psychopath laughed in the middle a serious situation where either of them could die if they weren't careful?

With his resolve set, Kai raised his left hand and another sword of light appeared. It was shorter than his other sword, but it was an intentional design. He wasn't that used to it but if he were to use two blades, this would be the most efficient way to do it.

"You're not going to make a shield or a set of armor—you're going to use another sword. Are you trying to commit suicide?"

"Save your sleep talk for when you're sleeping."

Kai fixed his footing and adjusted his stance. There was no use in blindly attacking like he was, they had a different set of weapons to them. If Kai didn't have any leverage to swing his sword, there wouldn't be any power behind them. Meanwhile, all Marchosias had to do was swipe at him.

His eyes turned blank. Strangely, his thoughts suddenly paused. He wasn't worried and neither was he trying to formulate a plan to win. It was a weird feeling, but it wasn't new by any means. He had experienced this many times before, the state where he thought about nothing except what was in front of him.

When he had killed the Immortal who had finally released his power, Kai had entered this state as well. It allowed him to accurately use the living metal and sense the Immortal Ki left by Amelia on one of them.

Gusion, for the first time since they met, had eyes of curiosity. It wasn't the mild curiosity he showed when he found out about Kai's blood, it was genuine curiosity, one that made him look like a child.

"Incredible, I didn't think a human could go into that state."

Marchosias was familiar with it as well and alarm bells began ringing inside his head. All the furs on his body stood up and he used every last bit of mana he had and powered up.

"Mind Zero, a state in which your body and mind are synchronized to the point that they're indistinguishable."

No matter how much training someone had, there was a limit to how fast they could react. The reason that everyone could fight at speeds above that was because of intuition and predictions.

"However, Mind Zero allows almost time difference between the brain and body, making it the most optimal state for combat..."

Gusion had a gigantic grin on his face but Marchosias was only getting more cautious by the second. This wasn't any time to admire his opponent. Kai could barely keep up with him before but if it's in this state...

The claws of his that were coated in darkness weren't enough anymore. He didn't care about the excessive use of mana, he wrapped darkness around his body and formed it in a way that if Kai so much as even neared him, he would get hit by spikes and blades.

Marchosias prepared to leap at Kai, but he disappeared before Marchosias even got into position.

"Where—?!"

Sphhhlt

Marchosias heard the sound of his flesh being pierced and looked down. Kai was there driving a sword through Marchosias' leg.

"You...!"

Marchosias swiped his arm. It would've ripped Kai in half had it hit directly but with inhuman reaction time, Kai bent his body and using the shorter sword, stabbed it into Marchosias' outstretched arm.

"Agh!"

On top of the wound itself, Kai also sent a burst of light through the tips of the blades and caused even more damage. Then, with fluid movements, Kai cut, stabbed, and pierced all over Marchosias' body. His limbs had holes were they mattered, causing them to fail him. His torso was wounded to the point that he couldn't move properly.

And then, finally, Kai finished by holding up one of the swords to Marchosias' neck.

The light returned to Kai's eyes and the Awakening faded. He was back to his usual self and the wounds that he sustained began to heal at an alarming pace.

He turned to Gusion and said nothing. Gusion was already looking at him with a smile.

"Very well, human! I will attend this conference you speak of."

For the first time in hundreds of years, he finally found something interesting. Who would have thought that a human had this much potential to grow? If he had even more time, would he be able to grow more than this? Many beings reached their limit at a certain point, even Gusion accepted that he couldn't become any stronger than he was.

The boy in front of him wasn't even twenty, he didn't have enough experience to truly say that he was strong. However, there was one thing that Gusion was sure about: Kai's potential had yet to be seen.

Marchosias' werewolf form disappeared and he collapsed as soon as he returned. Kai healed him using water. It was less effective but it was the only thing that he could use to heal demons.

After another day of rest, Kai set off. There was no need to hide his power anymore, from this point, he could act freely. With Gusion's support he would be able to go anywhere and with his identity as a human, the Peaceful Faction wouldn't antagonize him.

Word soon spread of Kai and the fact that he was a human.

Arata and the others were glad that they would be able to see Kai soon. And sure enough, their reunion wasn't that far off.

Kai had arrived at the heart of the continent with Akane—Goetia.