Paired with the immense power around him and the ongoing storm acting as a suitable background, it really felt like a deity had descended.
Nox was inexplicably reminded of Li Daiyu's description of a higher power.
Everyone gripped onto their weapons so hard that their knuckles paled, body subconsciously trembling from the appearance of this strange man from the sky. The rain plastered their hair and clothes against their skin uncomfortably, but no one bothered with these trivial details as they tracked the red eyed man's movements.
The swirling red portal behind Amon died down, winking out of existence. He stared down at the crowd below him, waiting with a baited breath.
His red eyes widened in amusement, grinning down at his audience. "What, is my appearance so good-looking that you lost your ability to speak?"
Everyone: "….."
Claude glanced up at the sky coldly. It seemed like Bai Yu's death was more impactful than he estimated. That damn old fox must be chortling in hell. He turned to look for Nox from his position in the crowd, starting at the blank look in his eyes.
A moment later, it vanished without a trace and his eyes regained their clarity, but his expression was off by a few degrees. Claude frowned, looking at Li Zemin who was behind him. "Did you finish yet?"
"You have to give me more time for something like this," Li Zemin complained under his breath, eyeing the floating man in the sky uneasily.
"Hurry up." Despite the urgent words, there was no fluctuation in Claude's voice. Li Zemin sighed, continuing to tinker with the item in his hand. At the very least, he could get their group out of this- if his ability would work faster. He silently lit a candle for his future self, already seeing the endless items he would be forced to replicate.
Amon landed on the ground in front of Bai Yu's corpse. He lowered his head, black bangs covering his eyes.
No one could tell what this man was thinking, but when he lifted his head again his expression remained indifferent, lips curved up as if the death of his subordinates had nothing to do with him. Through some unknown means, he was shielding himself from the rain.
"Who killed him?"
The question sank in the silent crowd.
So Jiwoo involuntarily tensed, but he couldn't move easily without Victor's support. He hid a bitter smile in his heart. The reason why his ability wasn't well-known was because the backlash of such an ability was simply too taxing, leaving him as defenseless as a newborn tiger cub. The Mind Soothing spell imprinted onto the disk held by Victor was one of the only ways he could regain his sanity while in his berserk state.
When no one answered his question, Amon narrowed his eyes in displeasure.
A man close to the Calamity swayed unsteadily on his feet, feeling like he might faint from fright at any second. He heard a small shuffling movement behind him, breath quickening in panic when he realized that people were edging away. He attempted to follow along, only to stumble over a corpse, sending him sprawling at the feet of the Calamity.
"Oh?" Amon scanned the man's appearance, a sneer forming on his face. Although he was a good-looking individual with clear, defined features, his twisted appearance made him appear more like a villain. "You're not sending yourself to Death's door, are you?"
The man whimpered, leg twitching uncontrollably. A moment later, a mortifying wetness was felt against his leg.
Amon's expression twisted further at the rancid smell coming from the man. "Since you want to die so much, I'll grant your wish."
"No, no-!"A sword materialized in Amon's hand and he decisively cut off the man's head, kicking it aside. Internally, he complained. While this world held an abundance of Chaos energy, the people were weaker than expected.
There were gagging sounds in the crowd as they witnessed the head roll past them, faces pale with fear and trepidation.
"You still responding to sights like these?" Amon asked in surprise, displeasure written across his face. "No wonder Bao Tsu died. Turns out he was keeping such weakings around him."
No one tried to tell him that other Serpents were also a part of the crowd.
Blood red eyes scanned the crowd, stopping on a particular individual. His instincts told him this one was interesting.
Nox frowned as black boots stepped into his vision, lifting his head to greet this Calamity. He tightened his grip on Lei's hoodie in warning, hoping that the teenager wouldn't do anything rash.
"You, what's your name?"
A pause. "Nox."
"Did you kill Bao De?"
"His name was Bai Yu," Nox corrected reflexively, ignoring the subtle jab from Lei's elbow..
Amon rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Did you kill him or not?"
"No." Nox replied firmly, looking to the side of Amon's face.
Something glinted in Amon's red eyes, but they quickly swept to search for their next prey, brushing off Nox's strange expression as fear.
As soon as he stalked off, Nox breathed a sigh of relief, wiping his face. The rain continued to pour down endlessly.
He had been wary of making eye contact, remembering how Verita gleaned the truth after she had forced him to stare into her eyes. More alarmingly, his vision had been completely dyed red from this Calamity's aura, immobilizing his body in place. He decisively turned off [Eye of Themis].
Amon only took a few steps to his left. So Jiwoo was the next victim.
"You look weak," Amon criticized, glancing at the stoic man supporting the shirtless young man. He clasped his hands behind his back slowly, enjoying the wary stares they see giving him. "But my intuition says… that you are the one who killed Bai Zu."
So Jiwoo couldn't stop the shiver that ran through his body as crimson eyes pinned him in place. It was like he was being stared at by a beast, something wild and unhinged that would hunt its prey to the end of the earth.
A slow smile spread across Amon's face.
Yes, he found the right one.
Lei could describe the situation perfectly in a few words. A beast will naturally recognize another beast. Unfortunately, So Jiwoo was the weaker beast. She glanced at Nox from the corner of her eye, raising her eyebrows slowly as a question.
Nox frowned, giving a minute shake of his head.
Amon whistled through his fingers, barking out a command. "Primo! Bring me that body."
One of the blood red hounds obediently appeared, dragging Bai Yu's corpse over with its sharp teeth. Amon patted its head, "Good job."
The crowd's expression shifted minutely, eyes frozen on the obedient hound. If any of them had ideas about overpowering this man before, then now they didn't dare to even breathe loudly, remembering the brutal deaths of their companions from the pack of dark red hounds.
Nox watched as Amon flipped the corpse over to press his hand against the faded black symbol on his back.
It quickly shrank down to fit the size of his palm then disappeared. As Amon withdrew his hand, Nox spied the same mark etched onto his palm, visibling becoming a few shades darker after absorption.
Then Amon turned to So Jiwoo with his palm presented upward, a smirk making the corners of his mouth curve. "I'll give you the same offer I gave him since you managed to kill him. Work for me and you can achieve much more than what you'll achieve in a lifetime."
"No." If So Jiwoo had still been in good condition, perhaps he would have answered the question more tactically instead of outright rejecting the proposal.
"No?" Amon raised a dark eyebrow, face heavy with amusement. "You will regret it."
"I stand by my answer."
The offered hand slowly dropped down, red eyes glowing subtly. "I'll let my dogs feed on everyone here, but you can have the honor of dying by my hand."
In the next second, a piercing whistle rang through the air.
Primo's ears perked up, releasing a loud howl. The blood hounds that were obediently still moments ago echoed the call, lunging for their prey eagerly now that they've been given permission.
Nox and Lei were pushed back by the crowd of people fleeing in panic, fighting against the natural direction of the tide to reach So Jiwoo and Victor. Kuna leapt out of his shadow, perching himself on Nox's shoulder as little claws dug into his skin.
Amon struck out with his sword leisurely, sending Victor onto the ground as his legs buckled from the force.
"Truly a weakling that can't protect himself," Amon mocked, swinging his sword again. "Maybe it's a good thing you didn't accept my offer."
Victor grunted as the second sword strike numbed his arms.
So Jiwoo staggered to his feet, shoving a healing crystal at his chest. The crystal was rapidly absorbed, a healing light spreading across his body, repairing most of his internal injuries.
So Jiwoo felt pained that he had to use such a high level item, but he had no other choice now.
He released his ability again, ignoring Victor's startled shout. "No!"
Amon grinned, his canines bared. "Everyone under me only has one thing in common."
He met So Jiwoo's attack head on, observing the glowing marks on So Jiwoo's face. He leaned closer to the other man, eyes glinting in ruthless amusement as he told the unconscious beast.
"They want to live."
"By any means necessary."
The two disappeared in a blur, exchanging a number of invisible blows.
Nox reached Victor first, helping him up. "You should guard against the hounds. Lei can help you."
Seeing Victor open his mouth to protest, Nox quickly interrupted, "You're in no condition to fight a Calamity," he told him bluntly. Whatever pressure Amon had used, it directly broke Victor's non-dominant arm.
Lei patted Victor's back. "It's important to make sure the hounds won't interrupt their fight."
Victor understood her hidden meaning and agreed after a moment of hesitation. He looked at Nox, "I'm leaving him to you." He handed over the silver disk.
Nox immediately stored it in his inventory, leaving the two to keep the hounds at bay as he flew at Amon, aiming for the small opening So Jiwoo made.
Pahhg!
Amon had a bewildered expression on his face as he touched the slippery surface of Nox's blade instead of metal. "What is this?"
He lifted his other arm just in time as So Jiwoo swiped towards his face, tearing into his skin. Amon ignored the dull pain, his attention distracted as the blood on the blade retreated, a small red animal appearing to release a wave of blood threatening to swallow him whole. He leapt backwards, avoiding the attack smoothly.
The fox landed on the ground in front of its master, growling in annoyance at the wasted move. "Chee!"
Amon stood still for a split second before laughing loudly, "I knew you were interesting!"
"!" Nox flew backwards, crashing onto the ground from Amon's sword attack. He rolled onto his feet, gripping his own sword in his hand tightly as he watched Amon's grin get wider and wide.
Kuna's tail lashed out in agitation for his Master, but he went to aid So Jiwoo who was closer.
"Come again!" Amon crowed, throwing So Jiwoo off with another wave of his sword. "Let's see how long you can last!"
***
"I finished it!"
Nox could vaguely hear Li Zemin's familiar voice shout triumphantly in the crowd. He whipped his head in that direction, vision spinning.
There was a cut above one of his eyes, forced him to see through a red veil of his own blood. As a result of his impaired vision, he was pretty sure more than half of his ribs on the left side were broken by now.
If not for So Jiwoo's current berserk state, the young man probably would've similarly collapsed like a marionette cut from its strings.
The blood on the ground continued to increase; mixed with the rain, it made it hard to get a foothold.
The perpetrator of all of this was currently dodging So Jiwoo's increasingly sloppy attacks, cutting him with his sword whenever he got too close.
Lei had occasionally jumped in to help, but even with her lightning attacks the trio was still easily pushed back. A portion of her purple hair had been cut off by Amon's sharp sword swing, causing her to curse at him every time she got close enough for him to hear.
He could vaguely see Li Zemin standing in a small circle clear of hounds and people, along with the missing Claude wiping out two blood hounds nearby. As soon as Li Zemin shouted and lifted whatever was held in his hands, Nox watched as Claude snatched it and smashed onto the ground.
… They were messing around now? Nox retrained the urge to gnash his teeth in rage as he listened to Li Zemin's mournful wail mixing in with the baying of the hounds.
But what happened next made him involuntarily freeze as a swirl of white magic rocketed skyward from the broken object, forming a mass of white flurries in the air.
White specks scattered onto the ground, freezing upon contact with the wet ground.
"Wh-what is this!?"
"It's cold!"
"Up there!" Someone else noticed the abnormality in the sky, directing everyone's attention upwards.
A cocoon of light abruptly exploded, revealing a giant white butterfly with translucent wings.
The commotion even caused Amon to pause in his chain of attacks, looking up at the monster in astonishment. His pupils dilated at the sight of the white butterfly. "No, if that's here-"
An icy wind brushed past everyone present, causing the crowd to shiver collectively. Most of them wore light, flexible clothes that didn't offer any protection against the cold.
Amon abandoned So Jiwoo and flew towards the butterfly with a roar. "Get out! You damn bug, this is my territory! If you summon your Master here I'll kill you!"
It was too late.
A light blue portal expanded rapidly in front of the sky, exuding frost into the air, sending the temperature of their surroundings spiraling down.
There were exclamations down below as people breathed out fog from the cold air.
Nox shivered in his jacket, his warm breath releasing a white cloud as he stared at the new portal without blinking. This pressure was even greater than Amon's appearance.
A pair of heavy boots appeared first, pausing as frigid blue eyes spied the chaotic scene down below.
Pure white hair, icy blue eyes were paired with a set of sharp features. He had on a long dark blue coat and heavy black boots not fit for their current surroundings. The man's stare lingered in Nox's direction, something flashing across his icy expression before his gaze drifted to Amon.
He stared at the troublemaker, displeasure clear in his eyes. A frown graced his face, "It seems like you've made a mess again."