The moment Gehrman spoke ..
Amon’s eyes widened slightly as he felt the void tremble .. a vibration that spread across an enormous area.
"Gehrman’s Style .. Supreme Art: Blue World."
Gehrman unleashed a technique.
A monstrous pressure of aura erupted across the region ..
so overwhelming that Abraham Starlight, who had been pursuing them, froze in fear before retreating at full speed, escaping the attack’s range.
In less than a second ..
Across an immense radius spanning dozens of miles ..
A blue-tinted aura spread outward, releasing a terrifying wave of frost that froze everything it touched.
The ice surged in all directions, completely engulfing Amon, sealing him inside a colossal mass of Gehrman’s frost.
Abraham stood there, staring in stunned disbelief at the scene before him.
The mass of frost now covered an enormous expanse.
"When did he even prepare an attack like that?"
Releasing such a technique consumed a vast amount of aura and required time to set up.
Yet Gehrman had managed to unleash it while being relentlessly pursued by Amon, all while evading his attacks.
And speaking of Gehrman ..
He had already appeared before Abraham, walking alongside the towering glacier of frost he had created with his own power.
The Engineer didn’t look well.
He leaned against the icy monolith as he walked, using it to support himself.
"Hey... are you alright?" Abraham asked as he moved closer.
Gehrman raised a hand, stopping him.
"I’m fine... but we need to move away from here. This frost won’t hold him for long."
"Then what do we do?" Abraham asked, unable to see a solution.
Gehrman’s frost wasn’t ordinary ice .. it was denser than metal itself and carried a property that annihilated all living things upon contact with its target.
Abraham was certain that if he were trapped inside even a fraction of that ice instead of Amon, he would die instantly.
But even a technique like this could do nothing more than buy them time.
"He’s most likely at the peak of Stage Five of the SSS rank... maybe even beyond that. We can’t defeat him with what we have."
"Are you suggesting we run?" Abraham said, stating the obvious.
"If that’s the plan, I don’t think it’ll work against an enemy like this. He’ll chase us to the end of the planet if he has to."
Gehrman didn’t deny it.
"I know. And we’re not running."
He took a deep breath, trying to steady his fragile body.
"All we need to do... is buy time."
Hearing that, Abraham realized Gehrman truly was hiding something.
"So we just have to hold out, then..."
"Yes."
Gehrman answered curtly, as his body began to glow with a pale, sky-blue light.
"Thanks to Fulghor, who gave me half of his aura... I won’t suffer spiritual exhaustion. But physical strain is another matter."
Gehrman himself was surprised he had endured this long to begin with .. and the credit belonged to Fulghor’s power.
"Even though he only gave me half... that half alone exceeds my own aura reserves at my peak. It seems he hasn’t lost his brilliance, even after all these years..."
Fulghor the Planet—there was a reason he bore that title.
It came from the sheer, overwhelming quantity of aura he possessed—said to rival that of an entire planet.
Within the Shadow Sect, Fulghor had the largest aura reserves of all .. greater even than Nameless himself.
"It seems the Shadow Sect is nothing but monsters," Abraham muttered as he and Gehrman moved farther away from the glacier.
Then ..
Out of nowhere, without any warning ..
Both of them froze as a voice whispered beside their ears.
"Yes... I completely agree."
First came the voice.
Then, immediately after, they heard the sound of shattering.
Cracks spread across the entire glacier .. before it exploded violently, shaking the whole continent.
Before their eyes, dark aura expanded in all directions, engulfing the area as Amon reappeared before them.
"That was a fine technique. No one has ever managed to restrain me for that long," Amon said casually, as Gehrman and Abraham both readied themselves for battle.
"That long?! It hasn’t even been five minutes!" Abraham cursed, forming a far more powerful blade of light in his hands.
At the same time, Gehrman released his power once more, preparing himself.
They had to buy time ..
But Amon wasn’t an opponent who could be held back for long.
Even so, Gehrman didn’t retreat.
And once again, that intrigued Amon.
"What resolve... what loyalty," Amon said, taking a step forward as he spread both hands.
"The way you Shadow Sect warriors fight for your master is exactly like us demons, who fight for our king," he said, pointing at Gehrman.
"Even though your master suffered a humiliating defeat against our father, the Demon King, thousands of years ago... you still cling to him. I wonder .. where does such loyalty come from?"
In response to that question ..
For the first time since the battle began ..
Gehrman’s tone deepened, revealing a glimpse of his true feelings before Amon.
"You misunderstand something, vile demon," Gehrman said, stepping forward as well, the pressure he exerted increasing sharply.
"Do not lump us together with you. There is no resemblance between us."
"High-ranking demons follow Agaroth either out of fear, or because he simply granted them power. What loyalty are you talking about, when your king cares for nothing but satisfying his own desires?"
"Your king is a great warrior .. but a failed ruler. The fact that the Dukedoms of Hell refused to integrate into your so-called hierarchy is proof enough."
Within Helmond, demons were divided into factions.
Agaroth, the Demon King, held authority—but that didn’t change the reality that the Dukedoms of Hell still acted on their own will, refusing to submit .. figures like Gael or Maskith being prime examples.
"We are different from you," Gehrman continued, his voice heavy with conviction and genuine passion.
"We do not follow Nameless out of fear... nor out of love or admiration."
Saint Gehrman.
Fulghor the Planet.
They were warriors great enough to build nations on their own.
So why would beings like them follow Nameless willingly .. without him ever asking them to?
"Everyone Nameless revived... every warrior who joined the Shadow Sect... all of us have goals. Things we seek ..
things we couldn’t achieve on our own. Some of us died trying. Others simply failed."
Within the Shadow Sect, every single member had their own ambitions, their own buried wishes.
Some were simple.
Others were complex and heavy.
But none of them could fulfill them.
"Until he appeared."
Nameless came from nothing—and opened the path before them.
"We follow him, and we revere him... because he is the one who can fulfill those lost wishes, those stolen desires.
All of us placed our hopes and dreams upon him. We placed everything on his shoulders .. creating a weight no one in this world could bear."
"But he can. He bears it without complaint, without condemning a single one of us. In his eyes, we were all equal.
He carried our burdens and fought for us in the Great War thousands of years ago. That is why we will continue to fight for him. Death is nothing more than a cheap price to pay."
Gehrman was truly prepared to die.
This wasn’t a lie, nor a hollow declaration.
Amon understood that much.
But he didn’t like what he heard.
"You truly dared to insult my father in front of me... yes, you did."
Little by little, the pressure Amon released intensified drastically.
Gehrman realized it immediately ..
Amon was finally taking them seriously now. He was about to fight at full power.
"Nameless lost in the past. And even if he returned in the present—or the future—against the Demon King, his fate would be defeat every single time. No one in this world can defeat the demon king ."
"Nameless will die every time."
"Just as you will... now."
This time ..
Everything changed.
The air grew heavier.
Gehrman’s and Abraham’s vision blurred for a brief instant.
Then, in the next moment ..
BOOOOM!!!
Abraham heard an ear-splitting explosion right beside him.
When he turned ..
His expression darkened completely as he saw Gehrman’s body explode before his eyes.
"Die ... Saint Gehrman."