From the moment Kai realized that it was Alex who had beaten Talitha, he immediately knew what this was about. It was about Bree. He must have recognized Talitha as Kai’s servant and pieced things together.

Pieced that the bucket of flowers was going to be given to Bree.

And that made him lose it.

Kai was certain that Talitha was really careful in everything she did.

She needed to be cautious as she’s surrounded by Angels, and getting into an altercation with even one of them might cause her to lose her life. It was strange for her to bump into someone, as the buckets of flowers aren’t that big.

It could be an honest mistake.

Kai was leaning toward believing that she made a mistake.

But it was Alex who had beaten her, and that changed everything entirely.

He must’ve stopped when he was pulling too much attention.

Even though the grey-masked Angels wouldn’t care about a mere servant dying, the students, those with living families—would turn hostile towards him if he killed Talitha. After all, she could be one of their family members.

And that’s why he stopped without being able to destroy the buckets of flowers.

Everything made perfect sense.

Kai wanted to teach him a lesson, but he should at least take a safer approach to this.

He couldn’t be the first one to attack.

Fortunately—knowing that this was all about Bree made taunting Alex easy. All he needed to do was poke around Bree’s topic, and that’ll be enough to send him off. After all, he was furious from seeing the buckets of flowers alone.

Having to hear Kai rub his advantages with Bree would certainly make Alex go feral.

And it did.

"Lesser Angel!" Alex roared; veins bulging across his neck and mana flared from his shoulders as the rage overtook him. "You bastard!"

Kai watched as Alex charged towards him.

Mana was swirling around his legs, showcasing that he had used an imprint to boost his speed to make this dash. But Kai could still perceive his movements. Still not impressed. Compared to Lion, Alex is still far lacking.

He didn’t move until Alex threw a punch straight at his face.

And when he finally moved, it was immaculate.

Kai tilted his head a fraction, and the straight punch sailed past harmlessly—obsolete before it ever had a chance. Then, he threw a punch of his own. A single, devastating blow to Alex’s stomach that detonated through the air like a thunderclap.

He used Dark Discharge into that punch, and the vicious energy blast burst from Alex’s back.

Such a strength forced Alex’s body to bend.

Blood burst from Alex’s mouth in a crimson mist as his pupils dilated in shock.

His body sagged, and his chin collapsed onto Kai’s shoulder as if he was surrendering.

Inside, he kept repeating the fact that he was fighting a Lesser Angel. No Lesser Angel across the entire world has ever been as strong as an average Angel. Any decently strong Angel will certainly demolish a Lesser Angel.

And Alex believed himself to be in that category, yet the punch folded him in half.

That kind of shock was paralyzing.

Kai stood strong, carrying Alex’s broken weight without acknowledgement. Then, he turned his head enough for his lips to graze Alex’s ear. "Did you think that beating me in that sparring match meant something?" His whisper was almost gentle. Almost. "I was wounded badly that day. Exhausted. Half-dead. And you mistook that version of me as the real me."

He paused coldly, and then grinned. "It’s an illusion, Alex. I’m far stronger than you."

Bam—!

Kai drilled his fist further and threw Alex away.

Under the other students’ gazes, Alex skidded across the ground and splattered blood against the cobblestone floor. One of them snapped out of his daze and rotated the guitar, holding it in a way he held a club.

"How dare a Lesser Angel act so arrogantly! You’re dead meat!" He roared.

But as he was about to charge, Kai already dashed straight at him.

Gritting his teeth, the student swung the guitar in a horizontal arc, aiming to smash Kai’s head with it, but only found air. Below, Kai already got close and personal, and he stabbed a finger into the student’s chest.

"Deep Slumber."

Swish—!

"What are yo—?"

Before the student could realize what was going on, a large amount of mana seeped into him.

It overloaded his Divine Locks and sent his eyes rolling back before dropping unconscious.

Kai has an immense amount of mana.

Even Professor Hera was shocked to learn that he has almost four hundred points in his mana stat, which must also mean that he has equal or even more mana stat than the Supernals of an Olympian God.

Possessing such a huge amount of mana made him a powerhouse.

Normally, Deep Slumber could only be used to devour others.

Now, as long as he charged enough mana into the Legacy Skill, he could shock others with it and knock them unconscious—like the way he did right now. Kai’s lips curled into a smile as his eyes locked onto the other students.

All of them were startled to see Kai take down one of them easily.

Despite being an Angel, they were all above average.

The Blood Rite rooted out the weaker Angels, leaving only the moderately strong and strong.

Being alive meant they were above average, and yet Kai took one of them easily, which should be impossible. Some of them would even argue that there are High Angels who couldn’t take them down as easily as Kai did.

However, the shock didn’t last long.

Each one of them was used to fighting, so their minds shook off the shock in seconds.

"Damn Lesser Angel!"

"Know your fucking place and fall!"

Two charged forward, moving with intent, with raised arms like boxers.

Both dropped to the ground without even throwing a punch as Kai moved even faster, cutting the distance between them with a dash—and tapped his index fingers against their foreheads at the same time.

Dark mana coiled around his fingers as if it was eager for its next victim.

It burst forward as Kai avoided a roundhouse kick, letting it slip past his head—and tapped the next student at his sternum. Kai grabbed the third student before he could fall, using him as a meat shield against the last two students.

From behind the meat shield, he could see the confusion behind both of their eyes.

Not knowing how to attack Kai with their friend’s body on the way.

Kai tossed the unconscious third student to the fourth, and charged at the fifth.

He exchanged a few blows with the fifth student; there was more resistance, as this one had learned martial arts and seemed to have the Legacy Skill that helped him in close-quarter combat like this one.

But he was too focused on Kai and didn’t see the black star behind his left leg.

A black needle shot from the black star and stabbed the fifth student’s leg.

"Erggh!"

He grunted in pain and lost his concentration.

And that’s all Kai needed, as his fingers managed to reach the fifth student and knock him out.

Kai wasted no time and lunged at the fourth student, sweeping his legs from down under and stabbing a finger to his forehead before using the Deep Slumber. In a span of a few seconds, all five students were unconscious on the ground.

From the side, Alex raised his gaze and was surprised to see his friends on the ground.

All of them belonged to the Auric Cabal.

Stronger than the average students, and yet none of them stood a chance against Kai.

It’s a level of combat power that shouldn’t be possible for Kai to attain throughout his entire miserable life as a Lesser Angel. And yet, he has that power right now, and seemed to be more than capable of exerting more.

That kind of realization also summoned the crippling sensation of dread.

Alex began to second-guess his entire existence as an Angel.

"You’ll be hanged for this!" He roared, eyes bulging with the wrath incited from the savage humiliation he suffered from losing this badly to a Lesser Angel. "All of us are Angels, and you are a Lesser Angel. If the academy knew about this. If the academy knew what you did, it would side with us! You’ll be executed publicly! Do you understand?!"

Kai didn’t answer instantly.

Instead, he straightened his back and patted his clothes like what he did was nothing.

Since he had come here to confront Alex, he already thought about this.

And frankly, there’s nothing Alex could do.

"Let me tell you something, Alex," Kai said while checking whether his clothes got ruined or not, but fortunately, it doesn’t. He then turned to face Alex, who was confused as to why, even with that threat, he didn’t seem to be panicking. "In the Blood Rite, I killed a very important High Angel. For me to be doing that, you’d think I’d be executed. But no. Do you know what the academy did?"

He stopped, letting the silence envelop the area as he waited for Alex to answer. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

But he had no answer.

At this moment, Alex didn’t know where Kai was going with this.

"Instead of killing me, the academy sent his entire family to me and had me execute them all. Their reasoning? Because losing to a Lesser Angel is a disgrace," Kai chuckled, finding that moment hilarious beneath the grimness. "Even if that High Angel survived, I reckoned being beaten by me would also mean his death. After all, I’m supposed to be at the bottom. And the academy hated anything that doesn’t align with their bubbled vision."

"What...?" Alex swallowed harshly; his throat suddenly turning as dry as a desert. "No—that can’t be right."

"Does it?" Kai smirked, and anyone could hear the confidence in his voice.

Realizing his situation, Alex shuddered at the prospect of having him and his entire family executed by the academy. Not to mention, the darkness around seemed to be pulled towards Kai as if he was a magnet, shrouding his presence in darkness.

It made Kai look like a demon that could control the dark.

’I heard Roan avoided the Lesser Angel because he was scared,’ Alex’s heart pounded inside his chest. ’I thought it was bullshit, but now...’

Seeing Kai’s appearance right now struck him with terror; the kind that froze the body.

"Now, you and your friends lose to me. Badly. And there’s a witness," Kai pointed at a figure watching from the backyard—Abigail. "I might be hanged for doing this, yes, but what about you? Do you think you’ll survive? Do you want to gamble and see what would happen?"