The next morning, Erina had breakfast at Kai's house peacefully but unfortunately, it was short-lived.

Yoko opened the door and had a distraught face and was breathing heavily, it was obvious that she had ran here.

"Yoko?"

Erina worriedly went over to her and gave her a cup of water. Yoko immediately drank it.

"Trouble...! Akane didn't come home yesterday! I ran into her parents while they were searching for her!"

Kai stood up immediately and headed outside.

"Wait, Kai!"

Juro tried to stop him but when everyone saw his expression, they froze. It wasn't shock, it was fear. They were scared of the expression Kai was making but it wasn't his expression that froze them in fear, it was the air around him. If an enemy were to see him like this, they'd probably wet themselves. Kai unconsciously used [Soul Aura] to its limit.

Kai walked with clenched fists and the surrounding wind suddenly became fierce and even the rocks around Kai were shaking. He was releasing his mana.

Kai bent his knees and jumped, the jump was so strong that the four of them had to close her eyes because te dust and wind were influenced by that simple jump and what was left from Kai's place was a small crater.

In the air, Kai wore the red cloak and his mask.

"I'll fucking kill you all if even a hair on her is harmed."

Kai swore as he chanted magic to fly with wind.

"[Flight]."

Kai sped forward and left a shockwave with his launch. He used [Soul Call] to find Akane's soul the moment Yoko told them about it. He couldn't sense her, she was out of range. But when Kai used [Flight], he immediately found her in the patriarch's mansion along with the guys that he had knocked out yesterday.

After a few seconds, he was at the patriarch's mansion. He expended quite a bit of his mana but that wasn't important to him right now.

"One, two, three, four..."

Kai kept counting as he walked through the doors.

"There he is! Take him down!"

A person holding a great sword attacked Kai from overhead.

"Nine, ten..."

Kai held the great sword with one hand and yanked it off the man. Then he vanished and appeared directly in front of the man as he gave a kick to his chest. The kick sent the man flying over to the wall and left him stuck there.

"Go at him together!"

Three archers shot at him from above and three people holding spears charged towards him.

"Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen..."

Kai vanished from the spot where the three spears and arrows intersected and appeared directly behind one of the spearmen.

"Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two..."

Kai spun around and hit the first man with the back of his forearm which sent him flying towards the other man. Then Kai appeared next to the final man and punched the top of his head and he fell to the floor leaving a crater.

Kai's eyes appeared demonic especially with the mask as he faced the archers.

"Thirty-three, thirty-four..."

He jumped and kneed one of the archer's face which sent him flying to the wall.

"Damn, use your knife!"

The nearest archer did as the one behind him instructed and took out a knife and began to slash at Kai. But with calm movements, Kai dodged each slash with a narrow margin. He only used simple movements like stepping to the side or placing his other foot in the back to change his position but he dodged each attack without fail.

"Fifty-one..."

Kai punched the archer with the knife and sent him flying all the way to the end of the hall.

"I'll kill you!"

The other archer leaped towards him but when he was near, Kai raised his leg and made a vertical kick straight to the man's chin and left his head on the ceiling.

Kai then kicked the floor which sent him back to the first floor then again which sent him underground.

"What!? How did he get here, call back the men from the doors!"

He appeared in the middle of a group of mages. The rocks that fell from above knocked out two of the mages.

"Sixty-three, sixty-four..."

Kai raised his leg to waist height and spun at an unbelievable speed. He kicked all the mages in range in the waist and prevented them from moving.

"There he is!"

Some men holding swords, spears, and shields ran towards him.

"Seventy-one..."

Kai appeared in front of one of the shield wielders and blocked Kai's kick but...

"GAH!"

The man holding a shield was easily sent flying and knocked down the guys behind him.

"Seventy-three..."

Kai stretched both his arms and punched sideways and hit the other shield wielder's faces. They were also sent flying to the walls.

Then, Kai vanished and appeared behind the group that was knocked down, his hands sparked in flames. Then he took a punching position where it would give him the maximum punch power. And his fist didn't hit a single one but instead, the flames on his hand were fired like a flamethrower and burned everyone in front of him.

This underground basement was large and proper-looking. It wasn't at all what you'd expect a basement to look like, this could easily pass for a house but not just that, there were still stairs leading down.

"Eighty-seven..."

Kai raised his leg and stomped down, he used flames during this stomp and sent a pillar of flame downwards which destroyed most of the floors. Kai dropped down and landed with a boom.

What faced him was the patriarch, Mikado.

"There you are, demon."

"Ninety-one..."

Kai wasn't counting by seconds, he stopped from time to time but he always continued from where he left off. The total time he took from the gates to here is about three minutes.

Kai's cloak was raising up like a huge wind blowing from below him. Then, Kai burst into flames.

"Such frightening amount of power."

Mikado mimicked Kai and released his own pillar of darkness from himself.

Kai appeared and aimed a punch at Mikado but Mikado leaned down and used the force of Kai's punch to redirect him towards the floor by hitting the side of Kai's forearm.

When Kai's fist headed for the floor, he twisted himself and his legs were about to meet Mikado's head but that was blocked.

"Amazing skill with no hesitation."

Right now, the two of them were covered in flames and darkness. If you looked from afar, you could only see two pillars of flame and darkness and silhouettes clashing inside.

Kai placed both of his hands on the floor and vanished and reappeared with his front facing Mikado then he sweeped his leg but Mikado moved back to dodge it.

"Hooh~"

Mikado leaked out a sound of surprise. But Kai didn't let that get to him and immediately leaped for Mikado.

Kai punched thrice in a second but each one was dodged by Mikado. Then a leg sweep from below but that was also dodged.

"Ninety-two..."

Kai's foot burst into flames and he kicked upwards. A wave of flames headed for Mikado but Mikado waved his arm and the flame dispersed.

Kai appeared in front of him again and punched, Mikado tried to block but Kai's fist vanished before he could block it. Mikado's eyes opened wide.

"Gah..."

He was forced to spit some saliva as Kai's fist landed on his stomach.

Then, Kai retracted his fist and landed with the other.

"Ninety-three, ninety-four, ninety-five...!"

He punched faster and faster and stopped only after twenty or so punches and then finished it by jumping and spinning and sending a kick to his chest.

"Ninety-six, ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine..."

The flame around Kai vanished.

Mikado had blood leaking from the corner of his mouth and roared.

"Take this you demon!"

Mikado's arm was covered in darkness and punched Kai with blinding speed.

But...

BOOOM

A shockwave was produced from the punch as Kai caught it with a single hand.

"One hundred."

Kai's voice was so cold that it sent chills down Mikado's spine.

"[Empyrean Flame]."

Golden flame appeared around Kai's other arm. Mikado tried to retreat but Kai's other hand held his hand so tight that the only chance he would have of escaping is if he cuts his hand off or knocks out Kai.

The golden flame spread around Kai's arm until it was up to his shoulder, it looked like some sort of golden armor.

"Die."

Kai punched super fast but to Mikado, the punch looked slow, very slow. But he couldn't dodge, not just because of the grip. He was frozen in fear.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

The entire floor that they were on collapsed- not, his fist was stopped. There was a man standing in between Kai and Mikado. Kai's fist and the man's palm was smoking. But the man's palm wasn't smoking because it was hot but because of the cold ice that had just melted.

This man is... the duke.

Kai identified him with his attribute. Only Erina, Kai, and the duke are able to use ice.

"Now, now... Can you let this old man go? I won't pursue you and I'll even return the girl that this old man has taken but in return, don't try and fight us. We both know that you're running on embers and I'd rather avoid fighting with a demon that can even force an old man who has devoted his life to getting stronger to quake in fear.

Just as he said that, Kai let go of Mikado and he fell down on his behind while panting heavily. His pupils were contracted and he was staring into space.

Kai stared at the duke for a few seconds before turning around while brushing his cloak and headed for the stairs downwards.

Then, a minute after that, another pillar of flame burst upwards and burnt all the floors again. Then, Kai leaped from floor to floor while carrying Akane.

"That boy is frighteningly strong."

The duke, Hyosuke looked at his palm that was burnt black.

"To be able to melt my ice at a lower class, what kind of flames were those?"

Hyosuke had a smirk on his face as he vanished leaving behind Mikado.