Kairos is not about to leave Enki in the lurch after learning his skills. Without a shred of doubt, he is certain that the techniques he just received are all overwhelming. When compared with the arts that he had seen before, any of the ones Enki imparted is more than a match than the top arts of great clans and sects. But that assessment is only based on after the arts are completely mastered, and right now he is only at the stage of initiation.

Irrespective, to have received movement techniques, which Kairos' group so solely lacked, right at the time when they are escaping back to Saint Empire could only be said as a fortunate thing for them. However, judging from how messed up the state Enki's body is in, it is difficult to say if they had already provoked a stronger enemy than the Phrixus family. The enemies of a deity aren't something any mortal kingdom could withstand, much less a few kids.

Regardless, even if he has to stir the hornet's nest, Kairos is prepared to preserve the life of this new teacher he had just met. The gratitude he felt from learning martial arts could not be put into words. It isn't just because Enki is the first person willing to impart his skills to them, but also because in Saint Empire, masters and teachers are valued highly.

Learning a new technique could feed a family for life, save a person's life in battle, or create a future that would be otherwise impossible. Though Enki might be crazy, and may not even understand that Kairos would like to repay him, the boy felt that he has to do this for himself as well.

Under Aisa's instructions, he began to prepare an odd formation that he had never seen before, using odd runes drawn on the ground with a blade and piles of spirit stones to power it.

"Enki, hold on okay? Things will be alright now" Edward squat next to the man and whispered gently.

"Enki won't hurt anymore? Ha..hahaha!" He seemed to have believed Edward's words and his thick beard raffled as he laughed again through the obviously excruciating pain.

Once the preparation is done, they placed the now unconscious Enki in the centre of the formation and activated it with their Ki. The effect is immediate as a barrier appear to wrap itself around his body to protect him from the harshness of a dimensional shift. Then, before the ability fades, Kairos promptly activated his thunder god's ring and pulled Enki in.

Within the time-space container, the dying man began to freeze, not from coldness but by the stagnation of time. Checking that the vital signs had not faded, he breathed a sigh of relief. For now, he is safe.

However, once Enki is gone, the space they are in started showing signs of distortion and they saw glimpses of their foes right outside the boundary.

"Now what? I've counted 100 foes out there searching for us" Alan said as he started preparing his items for the coming battle. Avoidance is no longer possible.

The amount of people outside made them feel a looming pressure upon their shoulders. This is the same number as the black wind wolves that they faced before. The only differences are humans are way trickier to fight than beasts, and all are A rankers or above.

"What are you worried about? I'm itching for a fight, right Jim... and Jones?" Tommy asked with complete self-assurance, as if convinced with their coming victory as he cracked his knuckles and laughed. The others did not know if this confidence came with a trust in his own abilities, or because of Kairos who is leading them, but nevertheless they are all affected by his eagerness.

Tommy had been feeling rather depressed that even the palace guards were not enough for him to test his mettle. His gloves have been upgraded quite a bit by now, with the Frost Wolf Fang, Wind Hawk Talon and Lightning Wyrm's tooth. And he longed to give it a good test run.

Jim seeing him has already calmed down. He laughed and took out a dozen flying daggers, stuffing them into different pockets in his clothes, then he prepared two particularly larger hand-daggers, holding them in reverse, "Okay, I'm game!"

Jones shook his head a little, indicating he felt left-out, and looked at his friends, "Can't say I'm not excited to fight A rankers, but seems like you guys had quite a bit of experience without me already"

At Peak D rank, he had already fought against B rankers before, Kairos' 15 disciples. But, against A rankers, it will truly be a first for him.

"Jones, there is one guy you might be even more interested to fight against", Kairos placed a hand on his friend's shoulders, "The Guardian of the realm, Syriong, a triple S ranker"

When he said that, Jones couldn't help but tremble with excitement. The boys know him well enough by now that he somehow lacked a very core natural reaction when facing danger. Fear.

And instead, replacing that is a love of combat. The stronger his opponent, the more captivated he would become.

"Kairos, I better let you know right now, I had been unable to break past Peak D since the aptitude test. Somehow the land would not lend me its strength to break through this last step"

"Maybe... You're not born of this land?"

"That's what I think as well. The seal of the birth-land must be different... However, my physical rank has improved vastly. Though only the lowest grade at Huang, I'm now at Titan Rank"

The physical tortures Jones had gone through, along with his legendary Divine Asura Constitution, has improved his body from Beast Rank Xuan grade all the way to Titan Rank to be on par with Kairos. But, his improvement is incomparably quicker.

Unfortunately, they did not have the time to figure out how to get Jones to C rank right now , but knowing his increase in physical rank would be helpful for the coming battle.

"For our combat strategy, we will focus on breaking through their encirclement and create as large a distance between us as possible. I suspect that they have some tracing abilities on us to be able to catch up this quickly. Jones, Vouno and I will stop Syriong somehow while the soldiers will be left to the rest of you guys.

Edward, pay special attention to the princess. Somehow, she irks me, and attacking her could make a good distraction for us" Kairos thought for a moment and quickly gave them their core strategy, but during battle, anything could happen and they will have to react quickly to it.

"Hey Alan, take this", Vouno took out his time-space orb and threw it to him. That artefact is rather useless against someone who is at Syriong's level, but will still affect the A rankers nevertheless.

"Are you sure we would be enough to take down a triple S ranker?" Jones prepared the immortal rank weapon that Kairos made for him as he asked in a curious tone, his previous reluctance to use the weapon did not persist in this situation. In fact, they are so outnumbered and outgunned that it is foolishness if he continues to be stubborn on fighting without using it. But the curious tone of his question shows that even in this life-and-death situation, there is only curiosity in him.

"He was injured by us previously, we can only hope that he has not fully recovered, otherwise we have no hope at all" He replied quietly, then added with a message sent mentally to his tiny dragon, "Unless, of course, Aisa you are willing to help?"

Noooope, you can do it Kairos!

"Gah!"

Under Kairos' instructions, Jim, as if he is doing housework chores, began to walk around the perimeter and spreading the weakening dust. Meanwhile, the rest began their preparation. The others ate the cure to it then stood ready for the moment that the isolated space Enki created, completely vanishes.

With little things to do for preparation, an unnatural silence covered them.

"By the way guys, what level are your storm palm and other skills at already?" Kairos asked, trying to break their nervous spell even as the distortion of the space around them grew larger.

The arts are all categorised between their levels of mastery. Separated from the lowest to the highest, there are 5 levels of understanding martial arts and it starts off with initial mastery, followed by basic, core, superior and finally, perfected mastery.

The guys quickly disclose their current statuses, and it quickly gave each other a clearer picture of what is in their arsenal.