Kai lay down and tried to catch his breath. He was completely exhausted now, his entire body ached and his energy was at zero.
He had cultivated the Invisible King Torture Technique for almost twenty-four hours. But in Asura's Hell, several days had passed. During this time, he constantly faced the Envy King, trying to deal maximum damage to it. But even with the Astral Sacrifice Fire, nothing weighty came out.
The Envy King was drastically different from the Lust Queen. He was incredibly skilled in combat and military tactics. He seemed to be proficient with any kind of weapon, while reacting instantly to Kai's lunges, parrying his blows. But the scariest part was something else...
Previously, Kai had only fought him in the common grounds. But now that the fights were taking place in King Envy's personal domain, the danger had reached a whole new level! He could create weapons literally out of thin air! There was bone dust everywhere underfoot....
Under such conditions, it was almost impossible to fight. Not only was the Envy King manipulating his skeleton, constantly growing bones and spikes. Now he was endlessly creating weapons!
- Damn! How am I supposed to fight him? - Kai said to himself thoughtfully.
In a battle with such a formidable opponent could only help a careful strategy. But in order to prepare it properly, one must first study the enemy perfectly. And how can one study an opponent who wields countless variations of weapons?
- It seems impossible to cheat... Only endless battles, only endless practice! - Kai said firmly.
Right now, he was still lying down and withdrawing from cultivation, in parallel starting to absorb energy from outside.
"If this is the case... Then I need to study harder... I can only succeed if my learning speed is monstrous..." - Lying down and recovering, Kai thought.
After a minute, he finally got up from the floor and sat down in the lotus pose.
"Eyes of Suti!" - Kai thought and activated his ability.
He began to absorb energy at an incredible rate. Each time, he tried to find mistakes and tried to recover even more efficiently. It had already become a habit of his, he did this all the time. All of this went on for about an hour.
"Time to go back to Asura Hell!" - Thought Kai when he felt that he had already recovered enough.
Opening his eyes, Kai found himself back in the domain of the King of Envy!
- Gotta watch every move! Learn!!!! Learn every moment! Don't miss a single second! Eyes of Essence! - Shouted Kai to himself!
A few seconds later, the sounds of an incredibly fierce battle broke out again! But at this moment, Kai was no longer trying to instantly damage the Envy King. He was now studying him! Moreover, he was not only watching everything with his perception, but also with his Eyes of Essence!
.....
Coming out of the water, at the dictates of his thoughts, Kai's entire body was flooded with black fire. After that, he calmly took out his loose trousers and hair garter from his ring. He walked towards the fire, tying his snow-white hair into a careless bundle. At this moment, there was a chowder of vegetables and fish brewing, and a jug of wine standing nearby.
A month had already passed since the first battle with the Envy King. All this time, Kai had been fighting in Asura's Hell uninterruptedly. When he returned to reality, it would take him about an hour to regain his energy and then he would go back to the King's domain.
It was like this for about 5 days in a row, it seems Kessia's bloodline had affected his stamina as well. After only so many days, Kai felt that he was completely exhausted and would not be able to recover with energy.
He would give himself a break for a short nap, which was enough for his body to renew its energy. He also bathed and prepared food. Rest was an important part of training too. There was always a balance to be struck! Just with the monstrous regeneration rate, Kai could constantly be at his limit.
Because of the constant 'training' from King Envy, Kai progressed very quickly. At first, he would only retreat and watch all the different variations of the enemy's attacks. As time went on, he slowly began to attack, learning how the King behaved in defence. Kai was constantly coming up with different incredible counterattacks and unobvious angles.
In all situations, Kai ended up losing in the end, and ended up with horrific injuries. But he had become so used to it over the years that he didn't even pay attention to it....
Lately, Kai had begun to fight the King of Envy on equal footing. Now they took turns alternating between attack, defence and counterattack. The fight had reached a new level of intensity. There wasn't even the tiniest underestimation of the opponent!
- Hmm... Although I hadn't thought about it, my understanding of battle tactics had reached a new level. Now I feel like I used to just mindlessly jump here and there... - Kai was talking to himself.
From the outside he now looked like some crazy old hermit....
- In the last fight I hit him hard! He'd be back to his roots by now! Hehehe... - Kai laughed evilly, sipping his wine.
In the last fight, Kai went for a very risky exchange of blows, but the King of Envy was a bit faster. Because of this, Kai stumbled into a bone sword that pierced through his heart. But if he was able to perform this attack more lightning fast... Then he would have chopped off the King's head with one blow!
The intensity of the battle had reached a level where every strike from both of them was deadly. The one who misses first will die!
A slight bloodlust could be read on his face right now. It actually came from the constant fighting. Also, Kai had forgotten to restrain his killing intent at all. Since he was here alone, it was completely unnecessary.
- I'll finish this wine now... And I'll go blow your head off... Hehe! - When Kai said that, he drained his glass in a gulp and sat down in a lotus pose.
A moment later, the King of Envy was already forming in front of him!
- Shall we begin? You've been boring me for a while now... - Kai said with a calm smile.
Boom! - Kai's energy instantly peaked, sending a wave of air in all directions.
Kai's face was perfectly calm, but his eyes seemed to express bloodthirstiness on his very instincts! It seemed as if faint writing showed in them. In fact, no one but Kai could see it. He activated the Eyes of Essence.
Bang! There was a second explosion! The Astral Fire of Sacrifice had now erupted!
As soon as it happened, Kai instantly rushed to attack!
It didn't take long for the Envy King to rush in as well. In both of his hands, two huge hammers with long handles instantly formed. Each of them was the size of almost the height of the King himself.
He realised that Kai was not to be let close to him. Such hammers combined destructive power with a large area of effect. And he was not to be fooled! In the hands of the King of Envy, they were no slower than swords!
Jin! Jin! Jin! Jin! - A series of sounds and flying sparks rang out.
Blocking such hammers was useless! Cai also didn't want to swing his body too much to dodge, as every millisecond was important. He would only deflect slightly and strike with his dagger. Kai purposely struck tangentially, in order to offset King Envy's strikes. In this way, he minimised his movements in space, which were used for dodging.
Kai was constantly trying to get closer and shorten the distance. But just as, he decided to get even closer, the King kicked the ground! At that moment, a blade flew out of the bone sand! But the King didn't stop, he immediately and deftly kicked it, sending it flying!
The blade flew straight into Kai's throat! At such a short distance, it was impossible to dodge!
Now, Kai watched as if in slow motion as the flying blade approached his neck!
Five centimetres... Four... Three... Two... One! At that moment, the point began to enter Kai's throat. He felt it slowly cut through his neck, entering his throat and piercing his oesophagus! After a few more milliseconds, Kai felt the second wall of his oesophagus begin to break through as well! Just a little more and his vertebrae would be fractured! Instant death!
"Now! The Dance of the Shadow Marks!" - Shouted Kai in his thoughts, instantly transporting himself behind his opponent's back.
At this moment, both of King Envy's hands were delivering a direct hammer strike to finish Kai off! Such a strike was impossible to instantly stop! This was the situation that Kai had been expecting all along. In this fierce battle, he was only waiting for one lucky chance! That was all he needed! And finally, it happened!
Kai's dagger flew from above the Envy King's head with incredible force, heading straight for his head! Kai's entire body was burning with black fire!
- Goodbye! - Kai shouted, and at that moment, Kai's punch went into King Envy's head.
- King Envy's head exploded like a ripe watermelon!
And Kai's inertia flew down and hit the ground.
- Kgah! - Kai grabbed his neck, from which blood began to gush out!
Everything that had happened earlier had taken milliseconds! It was so fast that Kai didn't even have time to bleed. The bleeding had only started now, but that was no longer a problem.
In the next moment, King Envy's body exploded, turning into bone dust and rushing into Kai's body!
- Graaaaah! - Giving a weak cry for a second, Kai shouted, coming back to reality.
He had endured a similar feeling, like the energy surging through his heart after defeating the Queen of Lust. Except now, it was happening to all of his bones.
And just like the previous time, after a minute, it was over....