*Sclopt!*

A disgusting noise was made as Nathan sliced a grim reaper in half, blood spewing on his face as he flew away from the grim reapers that attempted to avenge their comrades.

Nathan, who was covered in blood at the moment, ignored the stench and asked Kronos, 'How many of them are there?'

[There's about… 15 left.]

'I've made some progress.'

[The 15 that are alive are the stronger ones.]

Nathan was about to reply when his eyes narrowed as he ducked, narrowly dodging Kilgore's scythe which sliced off some hair.

Nathan turned around and attempted to slice Kilgore in half, but Kilgore then teleported to another location.

'This guy was made for ambushing others.'

With enough preparation, Kilgore's ability was nigh-unstoppable for foes of his level.

Nathan then turned to his right, forced to lock scythes with another grim reaper, which he quickly broke by overwhelming said grim reaper with his magic.

'At this rate, they'll tire me out before I can kill that lunatic… I'll kill them first.'

Nathan closed his eyes and decisively activated his Power of Time, giving him a large boost in speed, before going on the offense. The sudden change caught the grim reapers off guard due to Nathan being on the defensive the entire time, but they quickly recovered from their surprise and attacked him with more vigor and caution.

Of course, that did nothing to Nathan, who slowly killed them off one by one, picking them like apples on a tree. Kilgore, who noticed this, interfered with Nathan's plan and protected his underlings.

"Going after someone's subordinate when you can't beat him? That's pathetic! Pathetic, but smart!"

Was that a compliment or an insult? Nathan could not tell

Though that didn't matter, as Nathan didn't bother giving a reply as he continued flying around the cavern, firing spells at the grim reapers once in a while to interrupt their formation.

That was when Nathan noticed that something was off.

'...There were 8 grim reapers chasing me… I only see 6.'

Nathan's eyes hardened as he raised his awareness. That was indeed a good decision as a moment later, the two missing grim reapers appeared right in front of him and attacked him. Nathan's response to this was to overpower them with his enhanced body, and just as he was about to finish them off, they disappeared and reappeared somewhere else.

'... That's the lunatic's ability, no?'

Nathan turned around and glared at Kilgore with a questioning look, and Kilgore smirked without explaining anything.

Though that was a good enough explanation for Nathan.

'He hasn't been idle through the months at all… Kronos, give me a boost.'

[Got it.]

Nathan closed his eyes and activated an enhanced Power of Time with the help of Kronos, stopping time in the area around him. His action suspended the grim reapers in time, except for Kilgore, who noticed the sudden change of the flow of demonic power and broke free of the time-stop after a second through overloading his magic in the area around him.

Though that was enough for Nathan. A second was all he needed to massacre the grim reapers that hung in time right behind him.

He sliced them all in half and continued flying as a second later, time began to flow as normal as the grim reapers died without realizing what happened.

'There's only 2 left, excluding Kilgore.'

Nathan then turned around to face Kilgore mid-air, and this time, Kilgore had a grim look on his face as he realized what just happened.

Nathan was about to say something to Kilgore when said person suddenly changed for the worse and started laughing like a lunatic. His mood swings were even worse than a baby's.

"Fantastic! You've evolved so much within a few months!"

"...You don't care about your subordinates dying?" Nathan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Subordinates? Nah, they ain't mine. Borrowed them from Lord Thanatos. He won't care if a few of them die anyways."

"..."

Nathan was speechless. What was he supposed to say in this situation?

"Great job! I like you, Agares. I really do!"

"... I'm not into men, sorry."

"Doesn't matter. I can change."

"I'm okay. Thanks for the offer."

The back-and-forth banter continued for a minute until it was broken by Kilgore's, or more accurately, Thanatos' subordinates.

The two grim reapers that somehow used Kilgore's power appeared right next to Nathan, one on the left and the other on the right, as they prepared to bisect him.

Though Nathan had long already expected this. He noticed that the space around him was twisted a little bit, and he kept his guard up. The fact that the two grim reapers took longer to teleport than Kilgore did also helped, as he had plenty of time to react to this.

Nathan slowed the time down in the small space around him as he twirled his scythe in a circle, decapitating the grim reapers as he darted away before the blood hit him. He didn't need more blood on his face.

Kilgore watched all of this with an impassive gaze as he finally sighed, "I thought my distraction would work there. Too bad those idiots were slower than a slug. Oh well. Guess it's my turn now."

Kilgore shrugged as he suddenly darted towards Nathan with a *BOOM!*, and Nathan responded by firing spells at him.

Kilgore agilely maneuvered through the air, dodging all the spells that Nathan had launched at him, and a mere second later, he was already in front of Nathan, who held his scythe in front of him as he blocked Kilgore's vicious attacks.

*Clang!*

Nathan and Kilgore locked blade and eyes with each other, before Nathan sent demonic power into Vindex, empowering it and extending its range slightly.

Nathan quickly used the enhanced Vindex to break out of the deadlock, before speeding himself up and slowing the environment down simultaneously, to which Kilgore responded by teleporting away.

[He's going to win if this goes on. You're running out of stamina. Do you have a way to counter it?]

Truth be told, Nathan did have a way that he could stop Kilgore's hit and run tactic. The only thing holding him back from employing this method was its costs.

'It's a last resort… but if we use it here, we could bear the price…'

[That's out of the question.] Kronos immediately denied. [Use that, then it's not just you who will die.]

'But that's only the case if there are enemies around us, right? If we're lucky, we can kill him quickly. And then we run away before the backlash hits us.'

[That's assuming you can use a teleportation spell in this space. Who knows what they had done to it? There are too many variables in this. Be more patient. An opportunity will come.]

'...Alright.'

[Good. Only use it when you're sure that you can't win. I'll amplify your powers, don't worry.]

Nathan and Kronos reached an agreement as the former closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before an almost transparent green hue enveloped his body.

Kilgore's sharp senses noticed this change as he immediately threw his scythe at Nathan, who dodged it easily due to the sudden boost of power that he received.

Nathan dashed towards Kilgore, arriving in front of him within a mere second, before slashing at the grim reaper.

Kilgore blocked the attack with vigor, matching Nathan's strikes blow for blow, but eventually, Kilgore slowly grew tired. His breathing became slightly labored before he stabilized it.

Nathan's sharp eyes caught this and he pressed on even more fiercely, waiting for the certainty that Kilgore's defenses would crumble.

Of course, throughout all of this, Nathan was also hiding his fatigue. The drawn out battle has taken a toll on his stamina, and it could even be said that he was even more tired than Kilgore. Though this was the case for his body, his demonic energy reserves was another story—with Kronos as its sponsor, his usage of demonic energy barely put a dent on his reserves. He could easily fight another 5 battles like this.

Nathan continued pressing onto Kilgore, using his enhanced body to pressure the latter. When Kilgore teleported away, Nathan would slow down time in that specific area in order to force Kilgore to use even more energy to break out of it.

At this rate, the winner was obvious.

*Clang!*

When Nathan and Kilgore locked scythes for the last time, Nathan was finally able to overpower Kilgore's defenses, flinging the latter's scythe away. Nathan prepared to decapitate Kilgore once and for all, wholly expecting for the grim reaper to teleport away, but against his expectations, Kilgore only smiled in relief as he closed his eyes peacefully.

That action setted off alarm bells in Nathan's head, as he immediately spread his senses throughout his surroundings to find a possible danger.

[Something's approaching fast from behind you!]

Nathan immediately listened to Kronos as he kicked Kilgore away and flew straight up into the air, narrowly dodging a black blur that drew a straight line towards his former location.

When Nathan looked down, he could feel the sheer pressure from the wind generated from whatever that...thing was.

Nathan guessed that whatever that was, it was much stronger than him. A second later, his guesses were confirmed.

A black, suppressive aura immediately spread out from his former location, and Nathan could almost feel it choking him. The sheer presence of whatever that was down there was nearly too much for Nathan to handle. His grip on Vindex loosened as he felt his legs turn into jelly. Chills were spreading through his body—as if he was walking outside naked on a cold winter night.

'What…' Nathan gulped as he asked himself, 'Am I supposed to do?'

[...You can't win against that.] Kronos lamented in a helpless voice.

This was the first time Nathan had heard Kronos sounding so helpless. At that moment, Nathan realized that he, and by extension Kronos, was just meat on the cutting board.

'...We have to use it.'

[I agree. Better use it now than later when your body can't handle the backlash.]

Nathan took a deep breath as he closed and opened his eyes.

'...Then let's get going.'

'Synchronization:—'

[—Master Clock]

From this moment on forth, Nathan was heading into battle with no expectations for his survival.