While it could have been a good thing that the demon could only see movement, Kai knew that it was not.
He was always fond of performing feint attacks and trying to trick his opponent. Like, performing a movement with his wrist only to end up doing something else.
But since the demon could only see movement, that was all it could focus on. If Kai attempted to trick it, it would end up realising and reacting to it much quicker than the average beast.
So that meant that Kai had to come up with another method to best the beast.
And to be honest... His mind was drawing a blank.
The demon was stronger, quicker, had more advantages and to top it all off, it was Evolved.
All of the Evolved beasts he had encountered had been outrageous in their own way. The Veiled of the Dark Side had their invisibility, the Depth Dweller would have been a horrible foe to face if Kai hadn't gotten lucky, and the Winter Serpent probably could have killed him in a single attack if it hadn't gotten burnt to a crisp by the Divine flames they were protecting.
And this Demon was no different. They had their frostbite attacks and a sort of domain that had trapped them.
It was looking rough to say the least.
Of course, Kai also had his own advantages. A wide variety of skills, the ability to weaken the demon by a little, his fused state which increased his stats tremendously.
And if things got worse than they already were, he could give all of his stats a 2× boost using Ignition.
But Kai didn't want to do that, not while it could leave Cecilia unprotected afterwards.
And that was another advantage of his.
Kai was not alone.
Although Cecilia may not be too useful in the current situation, maybe something would change. Her Mana Threads were decently strong by now, so maybe she would be able to set up a trap.
Staring at the demon, Kai took out a Mana potion and quickly downed its contents. His Mana had dropped a little below half, so he had to make sure he always had enough of it to sustain his transformation and skills.
He had a thought of consuming the strength potion that was in his satchel, but he decided to hold off on that for now.
Flexing his claws, Kai waited for Esurient to float to his side before making any move. The Ruby blade slowly decended to his level before shivering in anticipation.
Then, the two of them shot towards the demon.
Esurient started spinning, building up speed and momentum in an effort to be able to cut into the demon's body. Before, they had found it difficult to cut into the abominations surprisingly sturdy flesh, but if they were to keep spinning then they would most certainly be able to..
Using Mana Surge, Kai imbued every inch of his legs with newfound power. He felt them throb as a crater formed in the snow where he just stood, bits of the snow getting flung into the air.
Kai reached the Demon first, aiming to slash its arm off, but the Demon reacted rather quickly. It countered by knocking Kai's arm away with its elbow and aiming a kick at his stomach.
Esurient managed to stop that hit from landing, it's body threatening to sever the creatures leg just before it pulled away.
What followed was... rather strange.
Even though it was a 2 v 1, Kai did not feel like they held the advantags. The Demon, despite the fact that it had never had any sort of training, was incredibly efficient in hand to hand combat.
It wasn't a regular fighting style though, it was barbaric, feral. The Demon knew where to land its attacks, and it knew how to cripple its opponents.
In fact, as the battle progressed, it was almost like it was getting better at fighting.
Just what sort of abomination was this Demon?
Luckily, Kai and Esurient were just barely able to hold it off, but no matter how well they could hold it off, they couldn't dodge or block every one of the Demon's attacks.
Slowly but surely, the frostbite kept accumulating on Kai's body. It was mainly his torso that was affected, due to the fact that was where the Demon had landed the majority of their attacks.
It was a little harder to breathe, like he was sucking in dry ice, and his reflexes had slowed a little.
But something shocking was happening at the same time.
Despite the fact Minor Restoration was the only skill in his arsenal that could handle the external frostbite and the frostbite that could make its way to the majority of his internal organs, Soul Flame had actually burned away the frost when it began seeping into his veins.
It also happened when it tried seeping into his heart. Soul Flame was somehow rejecting the intrusion of the frostbite, albeit it was only doing so in very select locations.
It was a pleasant surprise though. Kai wasn't sure if it was because of his Mana Vein Enhancement, or his Flame of Hope, but it helped to make the fight a little more bearable.
However, even if it was a little more bearable, it was still a lost cause.
Every blow the Demon landed made Kai expend more Mana to prevent the Frostbite from spreading, it also made him lose more and more HP.
Snarling, Kai lowered himself and aimed a tackle at the Demon's waist, but it easily reversed it and instead tackled Kai to the ground before climbing on top of him.
Kai could only curse as the Demon managed to successfully pin him to the ground, its body surprisingly heavy and good at holding him down.
Kai's eyes widened as he watched the thin line that represented the Demon's mouth curve ever so slightly upwards into a sort of demented and cursed smile.
Its hands wrapped around his throat, beginning to choke the life out of him as Kai thrashed beneath it.
And it wasn't just the choking, it was also the fact that the frostbite was slowly seeping into his throat, slowly freezing his oesophagus, threatening to make Kai take his last breath.
Kai thrashed beneath the Demon, his entire body burning as it was boosted with the full power of Mana Surge. This was the strongest he had ever been if he didn't include the two times he had fused with Failure, but it was still no use.
The flames surrounding him had even gotten stronger, Flame of Hope having deemed himself desparate enough to grant him the extra boost.
But no matter how hard Kai fought back, he was slowly losing his strength. Whenever he hit the Demon, it would simply coat the wound with a thick layer of impenetrable ice, a trick it hadn't even used up to this point, making Kai realised just how badly he had messed up.
And the flames were no use either, they were in perfect equilibrium with the power of the frost, both of them nullifying each other.
Slowly but surely, Kai's attacks slowed and got weaker, his mind slowly growing dull.
He was going to die.
He had already nearly gotten frozen to death once, and he had survived with a lot of luck and a little bit of planning, but he couldn't do that again this time as he knew that as soon as he went into Wraith Mode he would die anyway, considering the frost had some ability to damage him anyway since it had damaged his soul.
This was the end.
Kai didn't want to die, of course he didn't, no one did, and yet, he couldn't help but be more angry at himself rather than be terrified about the fact his entire life was going to be over in the next few seconds.
He had gotten cocky. He had believed that just because the Demon was a lower level that it would be an easy fight, but what sort of thinking was that?
That was probably what every beast thought when they saw him.
Ah... How stupid.
Truly, what a horrible way to die, slowly being turned to a statue of ice while being strangled. Kai had already had enough of ice back when it nearly killed him the first time, but turns out fate had a different idea in store for him. How-
Suddenly, Kai's eyes widened as he saw something moving behind the Demon, he saw-
"E-Equilibrium!"
Gripping into Esurient with all her might, the blade and Cecilia both shone brightly, both of their bodies engulfed by a radiant multicoloured light.
With all her might, Cecilia thrust Esurient through the Demon's chest, straight through its soul, making its grip on Kai's throat grow weaker.
And weaker.
And weaker.
And weaker.
Until, eventually, its grip was no more and it fell onto the snow beside Kai, its body lifeless, its soul fully extinguished.
Kai coughed brutally, blood, phlem and bits of ice coming up his throat and painting the snow beneath him red. Tenderly lifting his hand to his throat, he began using Minor Restoration on it.
Luckily, the balance had been shattered now that the Demon was dead. Before, the skill and the frostbite were stuck in an intense battle, neither being able to win over the other. But now that the Demon was dead, the healing skill was slowly gnawing away at the various parts of Kai's body that had been turned to ice.
But while that was happening, he looked up at Cecilia with a pained smile.
"So... Did you?"
Kai watched as her eyes slowly moved from left to right, as if reading something. He then watched as her eyes lit up, her mouth curving into a wide grin.
"I did! I leveled up! I reached level ten! I-"
The next moment, Kai's eyes could only widen in horror as Cecilia's eyes rolled back in her head, her body falling limply to the ground as she begin spasming, blood pouring out of her eyes, ears, mouth, nose, some even seeping from her chest.
And he could do nothing but watch as she suffered from the backlash of using Equilibrium.