"Why the surprise?" Gehrman said casually as he stretched.
"Didn’t you say it yourself? People like me always keep a trump card hidden."
He then pulled open his robe, revealing his chest.
Right there—was a blue, clock-shaped ring, its hands frozen in place.
Amon recognized it instantly.
"So it’s your temporal ability..."
"Correct," Gehrman replied, stepping back into the confrontation.
"I’ve heard about it from my elder brother," Amon said, laughing softly. "But I never thought it was this powerful..."
He chuckled again.
"Powerful enough to bring you back from death."
"Don’t be foolish," Gehrman replied coldly. "There’s no such thing as returning from death. All I did was freeze time for my body at a specific point—and I can return to that point whenever I wish."
"In other words, I never died."
"...Hoh? Remarkable."
Amon was genuinely impressed.
Gehrman’s temporal abilities were no joke—this alone made Amon take him far more seriously.
On the other hand, Gehrman was far from fine, no matter how well he hid it.
’ I hoped I wouldn’t have to rely on temporal abilities and could settle this with frost alone... These powers place an enormous strain on my vessel.’
His gaze dropped to various parts of his body .. cracks had spread everywhere, damage was visible throughout, and a strange substance, similar to blood, was leaking out.
’Against an opponent like this... victory is impossible without them. But what choice do I have?’
Gehrman turned his eyes toward Abraham.
’Abraham is strong—but exhausted. His attacks won’t pose a real threat to Amon, even though uncovering his technique was impressive.’
As Gehrman was lost in thought, Amon took a step toward him, focusing on him fully now .. the greater threat.
Gehrman didn’t retreat an inch.
’ To survive this, we need to buy time until the wheel of death begins to turn... but I don’t know when that will happen.’
’ In other words... I have no choice but to endure this demon for as long as possible. I must not die—and I cannot allow him to take Frey or Abraham.’
Gehrman clenched his fist, forcing a strained smile onto his face.
"What a nuisance..."
He wondered—
When was the last time he’d been cornered like this?
The first thing that came to mind...
The battle against a certain demon...
’ Since the fight against Crimson... and now against his brother—if he truly is his brother.’
"Are you done planning?" Amon said calmly. "Because I’m attacking now."
He extended his hand.
"Watch out!!" Abraham shouted. "That strike is insanely fast!!"
"I know," Gehrman replied.
His eyes lit up with an intense blue glow as he spread his aura in a perfect one-meter radius around himself in all directions.
At the same time, Amon launched his attack.
His fist moved ..
Too fast to be seen.
Too fast to react to.
Gehrman knew this better than anyone.
And so .. he immediately flooded that one-meter radius with an enormous amount of frost aura.
Drawing upon the vast reserves of aura he possessed thanks to Fulghor, Gehrman released the densest frost he could muster..
Not as solid ice...
But as an overwhelming, suffocating mist of condensed frost.
As he did so, Amon’s lightning-fast strike came again .. aimed straight at him.
Almost instantly, Amon’s fist finally entered the frost domain.
The attack was overwhelmingly powerful, piercing deeply into Gehrman’s icy field with ease—until the fist stopped right in front of his face.
But at the very last moment ..while the world around them seemed frozen by sheer speed ..
Gehrman tilted his head aside by the narrowest fraction of a second, evading the blow by a miracle.
Using the remaining momentum, he immediately launched a counterattack .. but Amon blocked it effortlessly, retreating at once.
All of this happened almost instantaneously.
From afar, Abraham watched in stunned disbelief.
And what shocked him the most... was the fact that Gehrman had evaded that attack at all.
"That bastard... he actually surpassed the speed of that strike!"
"No—he didn’t," Amon refuted immediately, his voice carrying both surprise and excitement.
"You weren’t faster than my punch... you slowed it down!"
"Heh... barely," Gehrman replied with a laugh, resuming his defensive stance, wary of any sudden assault.
Amon prepared to strike again.
"That frost domain wasn’t meant to block my attack—but to slow it down! Just enough for your speed and reflexes to evade it. How clever!"
Gehrman had deliberately shaped his ice into a non-solid state.
Had it been solid, Amon’s punch would have simply pierced through without losing any speed.
But by turning it into an extremely dense, gas-like form, the strike was affected by the supercooled field—slowed ever so slightly, just enough for Gehrman to dodge.
It was the result of lightning-fast thinking from the Shadow Sect’s foremost strategist.
"Let’s continue!"
Amon surged forward at full speed, while Gehrman exhaled another cloud of frost, reinforcing his simple—yet effective—domain.
The two moved at terrifying velocity, with Gehrman evading each strike by a hair’s breadth.
Meanwhile, Abraham rushed in to provide support, now fully understanding what Gehrman had done.
The moment Abraham appeared behind him, Amon spun around instantly.
"Fool! You won’t be able to evade it like he did!"
Amon unleashed his flash strike—but Abraham answered with a terrifying grin.
"And who decided that?"
BOOOOOOM!!!
Out of nowhere, a massive explosion erupted as Amon’s fist collided with an invisible barrier.
Though it pierced through, Abraham managed to dodge in time and slashed his sword at the demon’s side.
Amon blocked the blade with his free hand .. but Gehrman followed up with a swift blow, sending Amon flying backward.
Amon recovered almost immediately.
When his gaze returned to Abraham, he finally realized what had happened.
"He... replicated Saint Gehrman’s method using his own technique!"
Amon’s conclusion was correct.
Abraham’s barrier was Dawn Barrier, but he had drastically compressed it, wrapping it tightly around his body.
In this reduced state, the barrier no longer possessed enough defensive power to fully stop the attack—but it consumed far less aura and, more importantly, bought Abraham time.
When Amon’s fist struck the barrier, an effect similar to Gehrman’s frost domain occurred .. the punch was slowed just enough for Abraham to evade it.
"Hahahaha!! What entertaining enemies you are!!" Amon roared in delight.
Both Gehrman and Abraham were sharp, perceptive, and exceptionally intelligent.
"You’ve exceeded my expectations, Abraham. I didn’t think you’d successfully imitate me in such a short time," Gehrman said.
Abraham responded immediately,
"There’s no point in praising me. We’re still at a disadvantage. So far, we haven’t dealt him any meaningful damage."
Abraham was right—and Gehrman knew it well.
The engineer’s eyes gleamed as his mind raced, searching desperately for a plan.
’According to Alexander Rybak... Amon possesses a world-breaking ability of terrifying power—so great that Rybak was defeated the moment it was used.’
’Rybak was powerful enough that even I would have struggled against him at my peak... In other words, that demon’s world-breaking ability is so overwhelming that once it’s used, the fight ends instantly.’
’That’s the worst possible scenario.’
’But—there’s a key detail. He hasn’t used it yet. Which leaves two possibilities...’
’Either he sees no need for it and believes he can win without it...
Or—his ability carries severe risks. A backlash. Inevitable damage. Something that prevents him from using it unless absolutely necessary.’
Gehrman’s reasoning was based on what Alexander Rybak had once told him.
That alone was enough for the blue-eyed engineer to form near-certain hypotheses.
For a moment, the first possibility seemed more likely .. but Gehrman leaned toward the second.
It was instinct .. born of experience and countless past battles.
And he decided to gamble on it.
"Cover me, Abraham!" Gehrman shouted as he charged forward, Abraham following immediately.
Amon assumed a combat stance, welcoming them with a grin.
"So you’ve finally decided to attack! Let’s see what you’re capable of!"
The three surged toward one another, detonating tons of SSS-tier aura.
Against the 11th-ranked High Demon—
The battle finally reached its most critical turning point.