Ever since Nathan obtained his weapon, a scythe that he had named "Vindex", fitting of its purpose, Nathan has been familiarizing himself with it.

By familiarizing, Nathan meant training. Although the training was difficult, with the guidance of Kronos, who had used a scythe as his primary weapon in the past, Nathan's training was smooth.

[There's really no point in you training. In the end, after I bond with your body, you'd inherit all my experience regardless.]

'But this is speeding it up, no?'

[...Indeed it is.]

'Then that's fine. I don't intend on waiting to assimilate with you anyways.'

[Your revenge cannot wait? Revenge is a dish best served cold, you know?]

'It hasn't been… that long since Balher's death. I doubt that the grim reaper forgot about the incident. Anyways, I prefer my food warm, so that's fine.'

[...Do as you wish.]

Nathan continued adjusting and training with the scythe for the better half of the day, and he intended on doing so for the rest of the week. The reason for this is because he believed that he would gain sufficient skill due to gaining Kronos' experience, and other than that, he still remembered the contents of the conversation that the grim reaper whom he spied on had.

'"We plan on getting it in a week."'

That sentence never left his mind, even as he was forging Vindex. Even when he was training, those words kept repeating themselves in his head.

'They plan on getting something…but what exactly?'

[Who knows? Regardless, do you think it's really worth risking your life for something like this?]

'It's not risking my life. I should only be dealing with low class grim reapers.'

[You should.] Kronos agreed, [But will you? This could be a bait laid out for someone, and you're caught on it like a fish.]

'...You make a good point. This could be a trap laid out for someone. But I'm confident. I'm confident in my strength after making Vindex. And especially after that technique you told me about.'

[...There's a reason why it's a last resort.]

'Last resort indeed,' Nathan repeated, 'But it's still in my arsenal. If possible, I don't want to even think of it. At least not until I find a way to lower the side effects.'

[...Do as you wish. But in that case, I suppose that we should…intensify the training.]

As Kronos said that, Nathan got no warnings when the space around him suddenly distorted, pulling him into a vortex that caused him to feel dizzy. When all that was done, he found himself in a rather familiar area—the underground chamber of Athens. Though there was a difference in that the chamber was much smaller than wherever he was at currently.

*Tap!* *Tap*!

Nathan heard footsteps behind him and he turned around and faced a man with white hair and a beard. He had a rather youthful appearance compared to what his hair color would suggest. His face was ordinary with little wrinkles, and he looked like a middle aged man. He wore a tunic and held a scythe with both hands, and he gave off an ancient feeling when Nathan looked at him.

Nathan had a feeling that he knew who it was as he guessed, "Kronos?"

The man—Kronos smirked slightly as he twirled the scythe in his hand, before setting its base on the ground.

*Tap!*

Kronos tapped the ground with the base of his scythe, which Nathan got a closer glance at. The scythe had a leather grip and engravings all around its body. An unusual thing that he noticed was a small circle—a clock attached at its heel.

Though he noticed all those details, his mind was focused on something else—Kronos' action of tapping the ground. Nathan doubted that Kronos, who advocated efficiency above all, would waste his time doing useless actions.

Just as he was about to ask what was going on, Nathan suddenly felt as if a rope was tied around him.

"Try to use your demonic energy."

Nathan did just that. But that was also when he found a problem; he couldn't activate his demonic energy.

Nathan furrowed his brows as he then tried his hand at activating the Power of Time, but it yielded the same result.

"You…blocked my demonic energy?"

Kronos shrugged his shoulders as he played with his scythe, "Not exactly blocked. I just… modified the realm so that demonic energy wasn't part of the equation. Think of it like Ajuka Beelzebub's Kankara Formula."

"... You can do that?"

"Not in the real world, no. But in my world, I'm invincible."

"...Your world?"

"Hmm…A better description would be to say that we're inside my mind."

"... I see." That was somewhat comprehensible to Nathan. He'd watched Naruto before, after all.

"Well, that doesn't matter. What matters is how I'm going to train you. Just a heads up—you will not gain any progress in your powers in the real world, all you will gain is experience."

"That's fine. I only need to polish up on my skills anyways."

"... Then let us begin our performance."

[It's time.]

'...Yeah. It was in…Rome, right?'

[I believe so.]

'Can you do a sweep of the area?'

[... A sweep of the area? In Rome? Are you suicidal? Do you want everyone to know where we are? In that case, you might as well send a signal saying 'A Devil is here!'] Kronos immediately rebuked Nathan's idea, considering it to be a stupid thing.

'No! Not in Rome of all places! I meant Venice! I'm not that stupid!'

[...Worry not, I believe you.]

Nathan was about to reply just as Kronos said to him, [Teleport over to Venice. We'll waste our time here in Italy if we stay any longer.]

Nathan immediately did so, and as he arrived in Venice, Kronos immediately did a sweep of the area.

As the energy wave swept through Venice, Nathan's vision was suddenly filled with a lot of glowing white light, but amidst the sea of white light, he could see a few pitch-black ones.

[10 low-class grim reapers, a few middle-class ones, and I believe that's it. Still, it's best to be careful. They might have concealment methods.]

'The see-through ability is useful…' Nathan realized how useful the aura-identification ability was, and he was about to ask Kronos how he did it, but he decided to save it for later.

'Help me conceal my magic.' Nathan did his pre-infiltration preparations, and when he felt that he was ready, Nathan headed over to the grim reapers and stalked them from afar.

The grim reapers moved around Venice in no particular patterns, in a half-hearted attempt to shake off pursuers. Of course, Nathan stuck on them like a parasite throughout this.

Eventually, the grim reapers stopped their erratic movement and headed for the outskirts of Venice, and Nathan was forced to follow from even further behind due to the lack of buildings around them.

The grim reapers walked up a hill, and Nathan noticed one of them charging their magic in front of a tree, and the next second when the magic was released, a portal opened in front of them.

Nathan narrowed his eyes as he sped up as much as he could without making a commotion, and after a few breaths, he narrowly entered the portal just before it closed.

Nathan looked around as he took note of the pitch-black environment he was in, and he noticed that something was off.

Very off.

Nathan then froze as his surroundings were suddenly lit up by torches, illuminating where he was.

Nathan was currently in a cavern. Not just any normal cavern. A cavern with hundreds of grim reapers surrounding him.

"Kekekekekeke!"

Nathan heard a person's laugh as he stiffened, finding the voice familiar. He summoned Vindex as he turned around to face the source of the laughter.

There he was. Standing (flying) above all the over grim reapers that surrounded Nathan. The source of Nathan's hate.

"Did you really think that we never noticed you spying on us in Italy of all places? In Venice? Oh, you poor fool," Kilgore erupted with maniacal laughter, "You fell for such an obvious trap!"

'Kronos… what are the chances that I get out alive?'

[...]

That was a good enough confirmation for Nathan.

Nathan then closed his eyes as he took a deep breath, silently activating all communication methods that he had—such as the bracelet that Ajuka made for him.

After he did that, Nathan's grip on Vindex tightened as he looked up at Kilgore.

Nathan relaxed his body, before lunging forwards into the sea of grim reapers.