The Phantoms began to murmur among themselves. Though Syriong lies dead on the ground, the impact they had received made these veterans fear to approach.

"M...maybe we should apprehend the fugitives right now?" someone advised the leader of the Phantoms, Duro.

"No, don't you see they could somehow slay Syriong? Approaching them is simply madness!" another argued against.

However, the decision of their next move lies with Duro alone.

They bartered and disputed on the matter, but their leader continued to keep silent.

The fear he had felt from facing the devil was beyond anything in this world, and not just him, but all of them are unwilling to experience that once again. Yet, their mission requires them to retrieve Jones even at the cost of their lives.

They are often sent to foreign lands to execute highly dangerous missions, and dying is something that is part and parcel of every job they take up. But it wasn't death that they are afraid of, but this crazed whimper that bubbled out from the depth of their souls and the persistent thoughts to flee.

"S...should we go?"

Duro finally noticed the others had been asking for his decision, and he replied weakly unlike himself, "No, we shall monitor them from a distance.

We can't be sure that Syriong is actually dead.

I've heard of devils coming back to life after grounded into dust. And we do not know what killed the guardian in the first place. If it could destroy such a powerful devil, it could wipe us out just as easily."

Kairos' group, however, felt a sense of relief after seeing the lifeless body on the ground. They prepare to bail before the Phantom come towards them, but with a guess, they could tell that the Phantoms are apprehensive.

As they turned to leave, suddenly a black shadow flickered over like a whip. A blast of sonic boom cracked from the speed of its blow, and it struck Kairos heavily on his back, sending him hurling forward.

The impact shot Kairos right into the ground, causing an enormous explosion of soil and propelled him deep underground.

The guys turned towards the 'attacker', half in shock and unable to respond, but what came into their sight was a thing from their nightmares. The lower body Syriong had stood back up, now restored to the waist its intestines wriggled and squirmed, seemingly having a will of its own. It was one of those writhing things which struck Kairos in the back.

Instantly, everyone's faces turned paled, even the Phantoms who are watching from far.

The guys' faces are even more ghastly. They could feel the power behind the impact, and it wasn't something any of them could survive.

"Kairos!" The guys screamed, finally reacting and they ran towards where Kairos had fallen. But Vouno blocked them with an arm, "Look," he said, pointing at Aisa who did not seem worried at all, "My son is alright."

They remembered that this small dragon had cried for Kairos when she thought he was going to die, but this time, she is merely waiting patiently.

They breathed a sigh of relief and waited together, and as they expected, a pair of hands dug through the loose soil as Kairos pulled himself out.

Two-thirds of his body is covered with golden runes that shimmered brilliantly. It wasn't the gold and black interchanging colours but a full golden.

*Cough*

"What just hit me?" Kairos asked while dusting off the soil on his robes. He patted himself down and realised a large tear at the middle of his back.

"Such a powerful strike! A third of the defensive technique that Enki taught me was depleted."

Titan Skin Technique + Origin's Body Tempering Runes = True Heavenly Armour

The True Heavenly Armour that fused with the Origin's body tempering runes could considerably raise his defence until even Enki strike only left a red line on Kairos' arm. Though Enki did not use much of his strength, even a casual slash from a dying deity was enough to leave a deep gash in the ground.

As a divine technique, it activated by itself to protect him from this unexpected blow, but with Kairos cultivation, he could only sustain this defence for a short moment. Yet, a single whip from Syriong destroyed a third of the technique instantly.

On the other side of where they are, they see the broken body of Syriong standing still while continuing its recovery.

The body hissed as a wet mess of blood vessels, nerves, and other gooey stuff covered the spine that is slowly growing.

Aisa ignored the hideous chunk of flesh, and instead bound over to Kairos on her short legs.

She sat down and looked at him with wide sparkling eyes, apparently waiting for his compliments.

Kairos~ I left a hundredth of Syriong's soul intact for you to defeat him. HEHE.

It will be good training for you~

"HEHE? ... Good training?! ... My goodness... Well, good luck brother" Jones exclaimed safely from afar.

The others also stepped backwards, but they continued to encourage Kairos to try fighting Syriong by himself.

"uhh... you guys... This is a devil you know? Aren't you guys at least a little bit worried about me?" Kairos complained.

"Nope~"

"Nah-uh."

"You'll be fine."

"Hmmm... actually, can I join in?"

"Hey Jones, you wanna die?"

"Okay, we'll leave it to Kairos."

"Yep, leaving it to you, boss. It's gross looking anyway."

Hanging his head, Kairos went forward and took out his Swallow.

The moment he came into range, it lashed out at him again.

Though Kairos had not yet learned the techniques Aisa taught, the methods to execute them is already in his head.

"Here goes... The Eternal Empyrean!" He muttered.

There is no need to shout out the names, but doing so somehow raised his the confidence.

*THWACK*

Unfortunately, just confidence could not help him succeed and Kairos' body flew backwards like a broken kite. The Eternal Empyrean is a physical defensive skill which is rather similar to the Formless Style's defensive stance and ought to be easy to pick up, but the difficulty of the art caused his first attempt to fail.

Because of the impact, a shimmer of gold covered his skin as the True Heavenly Armour activated again.

Having only half his body, and a hundredth of his soul intact, Syriong is still far too powerful for Kairos.

The runes on him that acted like protection talismans faded away by another third, leaving him with one last use. He could no longer afford any blunders or he would be easily cut apart by Syriong's mindless attacks. Yet, he did not falter.

"Another try then," Kairos thought. He charged forward, using the Lightning Flicker Body to dodge the whips at high speed, as his mind raced to replicate what Aisa showed him.

"To focus my strength on only one part of my body..." Kairos concentrated his attention on the attacks that are incoming and focused on protecting a single part of his body.

*THUMP*

A strike hit him right in the chest throwing him high up in the air.

"GAH!" he screamed. Even defending successfully with The Eternal Empyrean technique, the force behind the impact took all the air out of his lungs and made nearly caused his body to burst apart.

*BFFT*

Unexpectedly, a hidden a second whip struck while he is trapped in the air, and it sent him hurling towards the ground again.

This time, Kairos struck a hard rock at his landing spot, instantly crushing it to dust. The others looked in fear for him, but moments later, a figure rolled out of the dust cloud safely.

They looked as the remaining golden runes of his True Heavenly Armour fade away. In exchange for protecting him from injuries, it would take weeks to reform those runic symbols and restore their strength.

With his Ki barrier utterly useless against such unreasonable impacts, from now on, he is left solely depending on the Eternal Empyrean technique and cannot risk a single failure.

"Aisa, I'm going to try out the Astral Cataclysm!" He shouted and dashed in once again.

Kairos did not choose to practice on the side until he learned his techniques. With an opponent, he could speed up the process immensely, and he was not afraid of the risk.

In fact, endangering one's life in battle provides a great deal of benefits and Kairos needed as much catalysts as he could get to increase his cultivation ranking. A practitioner who survives such an ordeal would enjoy great improvements, one could gain a fortitudinous heart and valuable experience found nowhere else.

With all his speed, Kairos dodged the whipping guts that flew out at him, using twists and turns at the moment before impact. By now, Syriong's body has recovered till his torso, and when his head is formed, the devil would once again be ready to fight. At that time Kairos would lose his attacking chances.