Kai stared at the student he saved.

He didn’t only save the student, but also the student’s father.

Now, the father was on the ground, unconscious, making it easier for the student to bring him to safety. But instead of being grateful or saying thank you, the student demanded that he do more.

Sacrifice more.

Even his eyes reflected nothing more than a cold, pragmatic certainty.

One who really believed it was Kai’s duty to sacrifice himself.

Another student came from the side; he physically pivoted Kai toward the opposite direction and shoved him forward. "Go on, then. Flare out your mana and run," the student demanded. "Or do you want innocent people to die?"

Kai was baffled.

He was completely at a loss for words.

Since it was their families’ lives who were on the line, they should be the ones doing the much-needed distraction, not Kai. But somehow—like they were on an agreement before arriving at the hive—they forced the responsibility onto Kai.

"What are you saying...?" Kai rasped.

"Our duty as Angels is to protect mankind," One student said—with a dignified tone, as if he was speaking with honour. "Our lives solely belong to mankind as a whole. Do your duty, or you’ll be going against what we’re trained to do."

"But how is it fair that I’m the one becoming a distraction?" Kai argued.

"A Lesser Angel arguing against Angels? You must be out of your mind."

"Do you expect us to have you protect our families? Just run the other way. Be the distraction, at least until we bring the innocent people to safety."

"You’re wasting time. Do you want these people to die? Because the academy sacrificed your sister, and now you want our families to die, too? Such selfishness from a Lesser Angel will certainly guarantee punishment from the academy."

Kai snapped his head left and right, finding more and more students joining in.

No matter how unfair this was, everyone was pressing on him.

And seeing the purple slimes attacking the innocent people—devouring limbs without killing them first—Kai gritted his teeth. He turned the other way and ran, not forgetting to unleash his mana along the way.

He’s not doing this for the students.

Just for the innocent people who can’t defend themselves.

Swoosh—!

Kai ran to a more secluded area, away from the crowd of people, while flaring more and more of his mana. All purple slimes that caught the scent of his mana—almost instantly abandoned what they were doing and charged towards him.

In a minute, there was a big group following behind him.

Each one bounced up and down as fast as they could, trying to catch up to Kai.

"Stay back!" Kai’s arm swept through the air—gesturing wildly for the approaching group to change course. "Head for the inner area! You will find Angels there; they can protect you! Grab anyone you see and don’t stop running!"

People steered clear of him and where he was going.

Being a Supernal meant more vitality, so the purple slimes completely focused on him.

It was a good thing, as the stranded and wounded people could get away without trouble.

Kai leapt onto a rooftop and scanned his eyes around.

Even though the monster landed in the area, the purple slimes were spreading fast. Devouring one person not only charged them with more power, but they also multiplied. Such an ability made the spread faster.

"I need to draw them all to me..."

Kai hesitated.

Not because he was afraid of going against these purple slimes, but because doing that would mean exposing his abnormal amount of mana. No professors were present, but there were other students, and from his interaction with them earlier, they weren’t entirely on his side.

Emanating more mana would only mean drawing more trouble to him.

"Should I...?" Kai swept his gaze to the other side—to the other students. "Do I want to help them that much?"

"Kai—!"

Just then, Kai heard someone call his name.

Not too far away, sprinting through the street were Dorian and Bryan. Both of them came right on time. "Split up!" Kai shouted at them. "Flare your damn mana—and drag the purple slimes away from people!"

Almost instantly, Dorian transformed into his monster form and made a sharp turn.

Bryan also split up, though he did it reluctantly.

From the rooftop, Kai watched the other purple slimes, sensing their mana, and went to follow them. He didn’t need to use more of his mana thanks to them. No need for him to expose more of his power than he already had.

"Kyaaah—!"

Kai snapped his head down and saw a middle-aged woman cradling a boy.

Across from her, a man had his entire body enveloped by the purple slime and devoured.

He lowered his stance to dash in, but something was already beside him.

On reflex, Kai snapped his gaze to the right—right in time to see three purple slimes stacked atop one another. They rooted themselves into the roof—and their upper bodies elongated in unison; then it whipped in a brutal arc.

The blow slammed into his back with crushed force.

Kai was sent down from the roof, crashing into a house and cracking the wall on impact.

He landed on his feet; teeth gritted as a searing burn spread across his back.

"It’s acidic?" He groaned through the pain. "Why is everything acidic?"

Just not too long ago, the bigger fish-monster had a water affinity with an origin that made the water acidic. Now, the purple slimes’ bodies were also acidic, too. Suffering a big cut is better than pain like this.

Relentlessly, the three purple slimes came down in a rush.

Kai snatched a brick from the rubble near him, channeled Dark Discharge into it, and hurled it at the purple slimes. The moment it struck, a burst of dark energy erupted. All three of the purple slimes’ bodies boiled violently as the force launched them across the street.

He wanted to finish them off, but he remembered the mother and son.

Like a galloping horse, Kai ran to where those two were and arrived right in time.

Mid-lunge, the purple slime was intercepted—his hand closing around it before it could reach the mother and child. Pain flared through his palm as the slime’s body burned into his skin— forcing a low groan past his teeth.

He answered the agony with a merciless squeeze, crushing the creature to nothing.

"Are you okay?" Kai asked, flailing his hand to lessen the burn. "Hurt anywhere?"

"N-No..." the mother answered, but she checked her son again, who was no more than ten. "I-I think we’re fine."

"Head for the inner area," Kai pointed to the other end of the street. "Leave now."

Instead of leaving, the mother’s eyes trailed down to a gooey stain.

A stain that her husband was reduced to.

Just as Kai was about to say something, the group of purple slimes he was luring arrived. Five of them merged into one and became a big slime ball, while the three others behind them also merged and became a thick root.

The root latched onto the slime ball, spun, and hurled it straight towards Kai.

Kai reacted almost instantly.

The slime ball was hurled at him, but if he dodged it, the mother and son behind him—would also take the hit. He had no choice. Kai snatched a broken wooden stud, holding it with both hands, and used it to block the incoming slime ball.

It was to spare his palms from being burned again.

And surprisingly, the impact was strong, capable of pushing him backward.

He flexed his muscles, halting before he crashed into the pain.

But in that moment—something else stirred. As he struggled to push back the slime ball, Kai felt a surge of power seep into his arms as if the slime ball’s momentum had been absorbed and converted into raw power.

Kai realized it was the Retribution Ending Fragment.

It had activated.

He put his body in harm’s way to protect the mother and son, so it was activated.

It’s not mana or even energy.

Kai’s eyes sparked; the power provided by Retribution isn’t something tangible. It was solely power that can only be used to empower his next attack to the exact attacker that had sparked it in the first place.

Curious to try, Kai pulled back one arm and slammed his fist into the slime ball.

His knuckles sank into the acidic goo, and he launched the slime ball away.

Boom—!

Kai watched as the slime ball hurtled across the street, crashing into the far side before being swallowed by the slow-moving tornado. It had been a simple punch, and yet it had launched the slime ball with such force that it vanished into the storm.

"It’s better than I expected..." He clenched his fist and opened it a couple of times.

Once the power was used, it disappeared without a trace.

Glancing over his shoulders, his eyes fixated on the mother and son duo.

"Your husband is dead, but you still have a son," He said, trying to snap the mother out of her trance. "If you don’t run right now, you’d be putting your son in danger. Go. I will lure these things, and you run the other way."

Eventually, the mother nodded and brought her son away as Kai flared his mana.

He lured the purple slimes again.

Along the way, he helped nine people who were in hiding, got stuck under the rubble, or were cornered by purple slimes. Now, at this point—he had at least thirty purple slimes following close behind him.

Kai paused at a rooftop again, searching for more purple slimes, but there weren’t any more.

None of them remained in the area; he had already lured them all.

"Dorian and Bryan are doing well." He shifted to the commotion not too far away. "And the monster is still fighting Chester. I sensed mana belonging to Matilda and Bree there—they are helping Chester."

Kai nodded.

Since there are no more purple slimes nearby, all already lured away, it’s time for him to end them on his end and quickly help take down the Star Beast. He dashed away and leaped from a roof, landing outside the hive on the clearing before the settlement.

He turned and faced the purple slimes.

Despite not having any noticeable features, not even a mouth, Kai could still feel their hunger.

All of them were desperate to devour this slab of meat that had been running away from them.

Kai held the broken wooden stud in his hand.

It wasn’t a weapon; a far cry from the Blood-phantom Scimitar.

But in his hand, with the Perfect Slash Ending Fragment, anything he holds is a weapon.

"Come!"