*Swish*

"Eh?" Jevil confusedly glanced at his left.

There was only an empty space there, in the place which his left arm should be.

The world seemed to slow down at this moment as Jevil stared with his eyes wide open at Itsuki that effortlessly stood up from the ground which she had been struggling to stand again just a few minutes ago.

"Wha- urgh!" Jevil groaned in pain the moment he saw his bloodied arm twitching on the snow beneath him.

Blood gushed in streams from his chopped off arm.

Without delay, Jevil swiftly moved his right hand towards the injury and forcibly grasped it to stop the continuous bleeding.

He had an ugly expression on his face as he looked up at Itsuki that was calmly glaring at him.

Her helplessness and despair look on her eyes completely disappeared without a trace. There were only calmness and cold eyes staring straight at Jevil's eyes.

"How..." Jevil asked through his gritted teeth. He couldn't believe he was mistaken. There was no way. From his experience and knowledge, her special ability should have a time limit, Jevil couldn't understand how he was wrong.

"That's quite a wonderful expression you have there, Jevil." Itsuki's ice block face cracked, forming a charming, but cold, smile when she saw the ugly expression and confusion of Jevil's face. She couldn't help but admit to herself that she quite enjoyed the sight of Jevil's face right now.

Her hatred toward Jevil wasn't something small at the moment. She hated him to the bones. Because of his betrayal, her name, and probably her family's name would be tainted.

The Reef Faction would never miss the opportunity to make troubles to the Ocean Faction, and Jevil just gave them more than enough ammunition to close the gap between both factions ever since Ocean took the lead after Reef's disaster at the Ark Outpost.

They had finally the lead, something to rely on to push back against the Reef Factions, but all this was lost now that Jevil messed up everything for the Sumeragi family.

"Heh." Jevil snorted as he released his right hand from the fresh injury.

His hand was drenched with the crimson liquid that slowly slipped through the holes between his fingers.

"Ah!" Jevil clenched his fist tight.

A fire sprouted from his clenched fist, immediately evaporating the blood that was present there.

His eyes flashed before he directly moved his burning hand toward the wound.

*TZZZZS*

Jevil gritted his teeth while maintaining himself calm despite the intense pain.

The injury was swiftly cauterized and so stopping the intensive bleeding.

The smell of burnt flesh reached both Itsuki and Jevil's nostrils.

Jevil remained indifferent and more focused on the pain he was suffering while Itsuki frowned as she watched what Jevil was doing.

She was impressed by his pain tolerance, but this wasn't something good for her.

To take some information out from him they surely need to do specific physical actions that involve a lot of pain... torture.

But if Jevil were this resistant to pain, the method would be less effective.

They could go with a more prolonged plan to slowly influence and destroy his mental state, but it would take too long, they need the information as fast as possible...

The pain was way too huge that it definitely took a toll on Jevil's mind. He was angry, very angry.

He was angry at himself for falling into Ferris's plan. He was angry at losing his eye. He was angry at falling into Itsuki's trap and losing an arm. He was angry with the world, with the universe, with everyone and everything.

Rage slowly clouded his eyes. Hatred and fury engulfed his mind. The only internal voice that could be heard was the loud resonating chant that kept repeating inside his mind.

"You were right about the time limit, Reiketsuna's special ability really has it. Unfortunately for you, it wasn't closer to the time limit. It was all just a scene, an act. To end this nonsensical fight as fast as possible, I have no qualms in using some underhanded methods, even though I despise using it." Itsuki calmly explained what happened earlier. She was unaware of the changes happening inside Jevil.

[Kill her! Kill her!...] The voices chanted, taking over his body. [Remember the pain, remember all that they had done with you, with your family. Remember it all. Focus your hatred and kill her, rip her, tear her apart!]

Jevil's eyes flared open.

"And..." Itsuki was about to continue speaking when she realized something wasn't right.

Jevil was way too silent.

When she looked at his eyes, she felt a chill down her spine.

She never saw him like that.

It seemed like he became an animal which only instinct right now as to kill her.

Beastly reddened eyes focused on Itsuki's body. Eyes that gleamed with malice and desire to kill. The bloodthirst and killing intent was so strong that Itsuki felt light-headed when she was hit with the first wave.

Not only his eyes reddened, but his skin also started to become red. The increase in the bloodstream caused his chest to go up and down as his breath rushed.

From his body, steam could be seen leaving his skin.

The high temperature made Jevil's sweat completely evaporate.

At his uncountable injuries made by Itsuki, bubbles popped left and right as his blood literally started to boil.

The temperature rose exponentially around him even though there was no heat source next to him. His gauntlets were turned off; there was no fire burning at his hands.

Seeing the particular situation Jevil was in, Itsuki unconsciously tightened her grip over the sword. Even though looked a lot stronger and mad than before, her Reiketsuna's special ability was still activated, her mind was cold and calculative at the moment, searching for a way to strike Jevil the fastest way possible.

Just as Jevil was about to lose control over his emotions, mind, and body, he heard a voice of reason deep within his conscience.