A few minutes before the bodies of Laila and the others were casually thrown into buildings in Fuera.

"M-Mika...?"

With Excalibur being stuck in his right thigh, Gerard turned back to his senses as he fell to the ground.

"Hngh!" he groaned in pain.

"Bear with it for a little longer." Mika said, catching him in midair before Gerard could hurt himself from falling down.

"W-what’s going on here...? The last thing I remember was-"

Gerard’s head was aching as he tried to remember the last moment before he underwent the demonization.

"Cindy. Stay near him." Mika stated, glancing at Cindy who hurried over to them.

In the meantime, the other four demons flew above Sowa who was on the ground.

"How do you intend to fight us now without Excalibur?" Sowa wondered, chuckling sarcastically.

"..."

Mika let Gerard down gently and then headed to Sowa and his four comrades.

He drew his silver sword and took a deep breath.

His gaze appeared sharper and more blank.

"Stay on your guard." Sowa immediately declared sternly.

"Hm? Why-"

Xervian regretted his carelessness at that moment as Mika teleported himself behind Xervian.

"?!"

He managed to react just in time to Mika’s sudden appearance and was about to counterattack, however, from his point of view, it looked like Mika abruptly increased his overall speed as he slashed Xervian across his body multiple times.

"Ack!" he groaned.

Then, Mika applied light on his blade to finish him off but simultaneously, the others tried to attack Mika.

"Tch! So he can use that ability as well...?!" Laila clicked her tongue.

"Watch out. If he can use teleportation and the Holy Spear, then we can assume that he can also manipulate time." Sowa explained to the group.

But when the demons got closer to Mika, they had to back off in an instant because of Cindy who blocked their ways by isolating Mika and Xervian inside ice walls.

"This bitch..." Laila scoffed with a cold glare.

She spread her wings and prepared to leap toward Cindy but that thought distracted her from the fact that Mika was still in the vicinity.

"Laila!" Sowa shouted.

From above her, Mika swung his bloody sword down on her.

"Ugh!"

She managed to avoid an instant death just in time but Mika still engraved his sword on her body.

The ice walls broke down, exposing the falling Xervian whose blood was leaking out of his body.

And again, Mika was about to finish the next one but this time, he was interrupted by Altra was faster than one would have expected.

He carried a wooden staff with him in order to help him walk but it seemed like the staff hid a blade as Altra drew it out.

The cut was shallow but he managed to land a hit on Mika.

"You may appear fast in our eyes but I’m still faster." Altra said sharply.

"..."

Mika activated Time Manipulation once more but even then, Altra moved fast.

The two were practically equally fast now and engaged in a fierce exchange of sword clashes.

"...?"

And soon, Altra had to understand that speed was everything he could compete with.

More and more cuts appeared on his body just like on Mika’s but the difference was that the cuts on his body were a lot deeper.

Fortunately for him, Time Manipulation reached its limit, allowing him to retreat for the time being.

Now, Serok switched spots with Altra and attacked Mika with his bare fists.

Mika simply sheathed his sword and raised his forearms, trying to block the incoming punch of Serok.

"!"

But Mika was slammed to the ground immediately.

While Altra’s speed was greater than expected, the same could be said about Serok’s strength.

"Surprised? In exchange for my life force, I receive a boost in my strength!" Serok proudly proclaimed as he flexed his muscles.

Mika, in turn, stood up and checked his arms.

Nothing was broken but he could sense a slight numbness and pain.

And while Serok smirked at Mika, Mika summoned the Holy Spear in his hand.

"Let’s finish this, Serok!" Laila suggested angrily.

She was behind Serok as she gathered dark matter in her hands.

Serok ran toward Mika and retracted his fist.

"Taste the might of 100 years!" he shouted as blood dripped out of his mouth.

"..."

Apathetically, Mika charged his spear with lightning and took up his stance.

"300 years!"

Serok coughed out more blood as his body received even more power.

"Now, die!"

He leaped toward Mika and threw his fist.

Simultaneously, Mika threw the Holy Spear with all his might.

"?!"

However, before the spear could hit him, a bright portal appeared and sucked the spear in.

"Serok!" Laila screamed in despair.

Serok did not make a sound when the spear came out of another portal, which was right above his head, and pierced him vertically.

The spear disappeared immediately after skewering him.

"You will pay for this!!!" Laila yelled with tears in her eyes.

"Laila!" Sowa shouted, trying to bring her back to her senses.

However, the desire for revenge for her two fallen comrades consumed her already.

She gathered enough dark matter and launched dozens of dark arrows from her hands.

"Di-"

She was so focused on Mika that she forgot about her surroundings.

That allowed Cindy to sneak up on her and stab her from behind with an ice blade.

"You again...?" Laila muttered weakly as she turned over to her.

The dark arrows dispersed before they could hit Mika.

"?"

Mika sensed Altra coming after him again with his blade.

Because of the cooldown of his Time Manipulation ability, Mika had no choice but to evade Altra for a little longer as Altra was superior to Mika in terms of speed.

"!"

However, he could not move from the spot as something grabbed both his legs.

"I can’t let you tarnish the reputation of us A-rank demons further." Sowa stated sharply.

His head and hands emerged from Mika’s shadow on the ground.

But it was not the right time for Mika to wonder what kind of ability that was as Altra closed in on him.

"Tch."

Mika tried to adjust his upper body in order to evade a fatal injury.

"...!"

Altra stabbed him in the left shoulder after missing Mika’s chest.

"Hm?"

He wanted to pull his sword out but failed to do so.

"A-rank...? It’s been a while since I’ve concerned myself with your way of scaling your might among yourselves..." Mika stated tensely.

He grabbed Altra’s hand which was holding the blade.

"I’ve spent the last two years fighting your kind until I lost count of how many I’ve killed... Now, it doesn’t matter to me if you’re B or A-ranks... In my eyes, you should be nothing compared to that person..." Mika elaborated.

The image of Dreyar flashed in his mind.

"This damn..." Sowa muttered offendedly.

Mika summoned his spear.

"Altra!" Sowa shouted when he noticed that Mika was about to pierce him with the spear.

"You never learn, huh?" Mika sighed.

Instead of Altra, Sowa was pierced.

Mika used the same method as when he killed Serok and pierced Sowa vertically, starting from his head.

"Sowa- Argh!"

Altra fell to his knees after Mika crushed his hand.

"..."

Mika casually pulled out his bloody spear and made the portal disappear.

He pointed the spear at Altra’s chest.

"This power isn’t normal anymore...!" he complained, sweating from the pain.

"That’s exactly what I wanted to achieve."

Following those blunt words, Mika increased the spear’s length which put a hole into Altra’s chest.

"Is it over...?" Cindy murmured.

She was in disbelief.

She knew that Mika was ridiculously strong but seeing his strength from up-close was a different experience.

"..."

Mika stared at Sowa’s head and hands which were still stuck in the ground despite being dead.

His gaze was directed to the castle and then to the corpses of the other four demons.

"We will head to the others and help them." Mika said.

"B-but what about him...?" Cindy asked, looking at Gerard who got accustomed to the pain of Excalibur.

But he was still breathing raggedly and sweat rolled down his face.

"I will deal with him later." Mika answered as he picked up the corpses.

"W-what are you doing with their bodies...?"

He gathered them all in one spot.

"Come here, Cindy. After I’m done, I will teleport us right to them."

Cindy walked over to him but still stared nervously at the motionless bodies.

"..."

Mika cracked his body and rotated his arms as if he warming himself up for something.

The bodies were piled up and Mika’s gaze and body were directed to the castle.

"Y-you don’t mean to tell me that..." Cindy stuttered as she broke into a cold sweat.

"This distraction will enable us and the others over there to launch a surprise attack on them." Mika explained.

Then, he grabbed Laila, the first on the pile, like a ball.

"Be ready, Cindy."

And the rest was history.