"Do you really care about nobody...?" Cres wondered with a smirk as he got up after Mika made him crash through a thick rock.

"What if I threatened you with cursing people close to you? Would you still be calm?"

Cres tried to lure Mika into his trap.

He may be able to curse people, however, he had to fulfill a certain condition to activate his ability. And that would be to find out his target’s fear or insecurity.

"You talk too much." Mika stated bluntly.

Mika did not know about that condition but he still remained unresponsive to Cres’ questions.

With Excalibur in his hand, Mika swung it down on Cres who, however, dodged.

"!"

But when he jumped away, he sensed something long stabbing him from behind.

"..."

He looked down and saw the spearhead of the Holy Spear poking out of his stomach.

"H-how did you get behind me...?" he muttered strainedly.

Mika, who teleported himself behind him, pulled out the spear.

"Instead of wasting your breath on all these useless questions, you should rather answer my questions before you die."

Both their wings were spread as they looked each other in the eyes in the air.

"You want to know about Dreyar...?"

Cres had a faint smirk on his face.

"Then, how about a deal? Tell me what’s weighing your mind lately and I will tell you everything you need to know about Dreyar."

Suddenly, Cres sounded confident again.

"I see."

Mika relaxed his body a little.

"Just like I’ve said, I haven’t sorted out all my thoughts yet. But if you insist that much to know about these thoughts of mine, then I will try my best to articulate them."

Cres’ smirk widened.

The moment Mika uttered his fear, Cres could use his ability to place a curse on him which corresponds to the fear.

"It sounds ridiculous but I’m worried about Dreyar."

"?"

Cres looked at Mika flabbergastedly.

He wondered why an angel would be worried about a demon.

"He’s currently in the human realm and I’m certain that there’s no one capable of killing him but still..."

Mika clenched his fists.

"I’m scared that someone else has already killed him before I could do it." Mika stated with a threatening gaze that was filled with blood lust.

"Are you out of your mind...?" Cres murmured inaudible to Mika.

His jaw trembled as Cres slowly distanced himself from Mika.

"I-I can’t do this... I-I can’t win this...!"

Out of all the fears and insecurities he had learned about, that was the first time he heard of a person having such a fear. And obviously, he could not use his ability as that so-called curse would turn his fear and insecurity into reality.

In other words, he would have been responsible for the death of Dreyar.

Thus, he turned his back on Mika and was about to flee.

"Where are you going? Isn’t it your turn now?"

Mika appeared right in front of Cres.

He grabbed Cres’ head with one hand.

"One last question..." Cres said nervously.

"No."

Mika let go of his head and used his hand instead to punch him in the face.

"Even if I would tell-"

Using the spear, Mika slapped Cres to the ground.

"...you about Dreyar-"

After descending quickly, Mika stomped his foot on Cres’ face.

"...would you let me live...?"

"Stupid question."

Cres could finally move his head after Mika stepped back.

"Of course not."

He summoned Excalibur in his hand and was about to stab Cres with it.

"Tch...!"

Cres avoided the attack just in time by rolling away.

He got up with struggle and glared at Mika.

"If that’s the case, then I have nothing to say to you...!"

Mika sighed.

"You wasted a lot of my time."

"Not my problem... Maybe I would have given you your information if you’d promised me to let me live...!" Cres mocked him.

"I’m not dumb. Just like I can’t trust the word of a demon, you can’t trust the word of an angel."

Cres smiled slightly and nervously.

"But enough chitchat now. We both know what we have to do now, right?"

Cres readied his fighting stance.

"I order everyone who was cursed by me..." he muttered.

"Kill yours-"

But before he could finish his sentence, Excalibur stabbed him.

"!"

He widened his eyes.

"Do you think I’d let you do as you please in my presence?"

Using time manipulation, Mika managed to throw Excalibur in time.

And with it now being stuck in Cres’s abdomen, he could not use his ability until it was pulled out.

"AAARGHH!" he screamed in agony.

The pain was amplified due to it being Excalibur.

Cres could not pull it out himself because no one aside from the owner could wield Excalibur.

"Are you even an A-rank?" Mika wondered genuinely.

But Cres did not give a reply as the pain had all his attention.

The truth was, Cres was indeed an A-rank but a low A-rank. Even if he and Vira shared the same rank, he was leagues weaker than her.

"Let’s end this now."

Mika drew his silver sword.

On that, he focused lightning and light. He did not stop even if the blade amassed a lot already, blinding everyone in the vicinity.

Even from afar, people wondered what the light was.

"...!"

Cres obviously noticed that but he had struggles walking.

Then, Mika unleashed a sword strike even though Cres was away from him.

The blade may not touch him physically but because of the lightning and light on the blade, the combined energy tore apart everything in the direction.

The strike left a large trail behind and even passed through the thick forest.

"..."

Open-mouthed, Cres stared at the clouded sky which was parted.

He could not move anything anymore.

"Still alive?" Mika asked apathetically, staring down at Cres, whose lower body and left arm were missing.

Mika pulled out Excalibur.

"I understand why you acted like you wouldn’t care about those villagers’ lives..."

Blood flooded out his mouth as Cres talked weakly.

"It wasn’t because you didn’t care about them but because you were confident that you could take me down before I could harm them..."

Mika did not confirm it.

"You know... I’m cursed, too..."

"Funny, right...? A demon, who curses innocent people, to be cursed as well..."

He chuckled lightly even though that hurt his throat.

"My curse forces me to curse others... If I didn’t do so, then I would have died..."

Before his eyes closed, Cres only saw the image of an uncaring Mika raising Excalibur.

"Damnit..." he muttered self-deprecatingly.

In his opinion, Mika was abnormally strong.

Cres met a couple of S-ranks in his past before he landed in the human realm. Those S-ranks were obviously the strongest demons, however, in his last breaths, Cres started to doubt if those S-ranks were capable of fighting Mika.

But in addition to that, he had another thought.

"Forgive me, my liege..."

It was a far stretch but Cres could not help but wonder how a fight between Mika and his liege, one of the few transcendental beings, could look like.

Unfortunately, he could not finish that fantasy of his as Excalibur cut off his head from his body.

"..."

As if nothing happened, Mika simply turned his back on Cres and walked away.

He looked at his palm. Closed the palm and opened it again. That motion was repeated a few times.

"I think I’m slowly getting used to this." Mika murmured slightly surprised.

Because of the sixth and last installment given to him by Mikaela, his body experienced multiple changes. Mainly, his strength increased by a lot and his senses sharpened, too. He also had much more knowledge of the heavenly relics and learned how to use them in different ways.

There were many things but Mika had to get used to them first in actual combat.

But the results from the confrontation with Cres made it clear to him.

Mika was a lot stronger now. Therefore, he could not help but wonder what levels he could reach after finally getting used to his body.

It was possible for him to exceed a semi-transcendental being like Shira. Thus, the stage he could potentially reach would be the transcendental one.

A realm that only less than a handful were able to reach. Currently, there were three:

The Almighty One.

The Demon King.

The Nightmare in the Sea.

"..."

Mika sighed.

Instead of pondering about things like that, he should focus on the things in front of him.

First, he had to visit the village and heal the people there. After doing that, Mika would head back to Fuera where he had to report back to Olivia.

Following that, he could put things into motion and pursue his current ambition which would be to kill Dreyar, the S-rank demon.

And to do that, Mika and his new squad would spread across the world to find any clues about Dreyar which would most likely entail confronting and subjugating demons.