For the first time since the battle began, Gehrman and Abraham became the attacking side .. after having been forced into pure defense against Amon for so long.
"A bold move from someone as cautious as you, Gehrman... or are you preparing yet another surprise for me?" Amon shouted, clearly enjoying himself.
Gehrman was incredibly fast, erasing the distance between them in an instant as he struck with a fist saturated in frost aura.
Despite the speed of the attack, Amon saw it coming clearly and blocked it effortlessly with the back of his hand.
At the same time, Abraham slashed from a blind spot, attempting to exploit Amon’s focus on Gehrman .. but the demon deflected the strike just as easily with his other free hand.
Abraham’s light sword was immensely powerful, its speed barely perceptible—yet Amon caught it with ease, without the slightest difficulty.
"I don’t know what you’re planning," Amon said calmly, "but you’re taking a tremendous risk by getting this close. You know that."
Amon shifted into his combat stance once more, unleashing his flash punch again.
"From this distance... hitting you is inevitable."
Amon’s flash strike was far too fast to be perceived or slowed at such close range. In other words, Gehrman and Abraham would not be able to evade it the same way as before.
Instead ..
The two exchanged a meaningful glance.
Gehrman had a plan .. and Abraham understood it instantly, without a single word. He had been thinking along the same lines.
Amon launched two flash strikes at point-blank range .. one aimed at Abraham, the other at Gehrman.
But instead of attempting to dodge, a violent collision rang out, sending massive waves of aura that shattered everything around them.
"I see..." Amon said, his eyes lighting up—one could even say a wide smile formed beneath his mask.
What Gehrman and Abraham had done was counterattack instead of evading.
By surrounding themselves with barriers, they were able to determine the direction and trajectory of the blow .. then intercept it with a counterstrike.
Gehrman’s frost-ignited fist collided directly with Amon’s punch.
Meanwhile, Abraham swung his sword with the maximum possible output of aura toward the demon’s arm.
Neither of them could overpower Amon’s devastating aura output, suffering damage as a result .. but they successfully blocked the strikes without needing to evade.
"Come at me with everything you’ve got!"
The pressure of Amon’s aura surged violently. It was as if time itself had frozen as he moved both arms at terrifying speed, launching repeated assaults against both Gehrman and Abraham.
Both possessed extraordinary senses and astonishing reflexes .. but even they struggled to keep up with Amon’s relentless barrage.
The first wave alone inflicted damage on both of them.
One strike slipped past Abraham’s defenses, completely destroying the left side of his abdomen. As for Gehrman, he managed to mitigate the damage to a greater extent .. but his vessel was still harmed.
Fortunately, the injury did not prevent Abraham from continuing to fight.
He ignored the damage entirely and pressed on with his swords.
The three exchanged blows at extreme speed, and the aura feedback generated by their clash was nothing short of surreal.
Abraham was clearly the weakest among them .. but his presence alone significantly reduced the burden on Gehrman by drawing a portion of Amon’s attention and attacks toward himself.
Time, however, was not on their side.
Abraham would not be able to endure a battle that exceeded his level for long. The fact that he was still standing at all was nothing short of a miracle.
One could say this was due directly to his Absolute Manipulator ability, which allowed him to withstand inhuman levels of damage .. damage that no ordinary human could continue fighting through.
Gehrman had already expended an enormous amount of his frost aura, yet he had failed to affect Amon in any meaningful way.
In those critical moments, Gehrman’s eyes lit up as his mind began operating at an even faster pace.
"As expected... frost won’t work on him."
Gehrman scanned his opponent’s body, searching desperately for a weakness.
His frost was far superior to ordinary ice—but it still wasn’t enough.
"My frost can kill him .. if I can inject it into his body, the same way I did with Wesker... but to do that, I’ll have to breach his defenses."
Frost derived from fire-based beings was unique .. especially at Gehrman’s level.
If he could embed it within his opponent’s body, he could destroy him completely from the inside.
"To accomplish that... I have no choice but to use my temporal abilities."
"...But my vessel can barely handle the Ruler’s Hand and the Ring of the Body once..."
"Damn it."
Gehrman cursed, forcing himself to focus.
Earlier, the Ring of the Body, which had reconstructed his vessel after Amon destroyed it, had drained him severely.
Taking everything into account, Gehrman realized he could only use one more temporal technique.
Saint Gehrman possessed three world-breaking abilities .. yet so far, he had only been able to use one: Ruler’s Hand.
To affect an opponent like Amon, he would need to push himself further and unleash another ability of the same caliber.
"Hold on, Abraham!!" Gehrman shouted as he intensified his assault.
Abraham responded with fierce determination, continuing to advance despite the horrifying damage his body suffered with every clash.
Within mere seconds, his foot evaporated—then his shoulder .. then part of his neck .. and finally, half of his face vanished entirely.
Yet the Star of the Starlight family endured until the very end.
"As long as I can reduce the pressure and damage on Gehrman, it’s worth the risk!"
Abraham was certain that the blue-eyed man had a plan.
His role in all of this was to lessen the burden Gehrman had to carry.
Every punch directed at Abraham instead of Gehrman was a gain for them.
And Abraham pushed that logic to the extreme .. the damage he endured was utterly inhuman.
The momentum of the battle escalated dramatically.
The three of them became like living war machines, moving at insane speed ..
Gehrman from the right, Abraham from the left ..
And Amon at the center, receiving everything they hurled at him.
Although the demon was the one cornered by this formation, up to this very moment he had not taken a single point of damage .. quite the opposite.
Within mere seconds, he had crushed his opponents in a horrifying and tragic manner.
Amon was overwhelmingly superior, yet he never once eased the intensity or tempo of his assault .. and the reason was simple: their eyes.
Whether Abraham or Gehrman, neither of them showed even the slightest sign of defeat or retreat.
Instead, they continued throwing themselves into that hell, enduring everything without hesitation.
In those brief moments... Amon was genuinely glad he had come to Earth.
"I’ve had my fill... and it’s time to end this battle."
Amon decided to bring everything to a close, and based on that decision ..
The flow of his aura shifted for a single moment, preparing for his next move.
Just one moment.
But that was enough for Gehrman to finally act.