The gunshot exploded inside the small room.
The sound echoed sharply off the metal walls.
For a brief moment everything went silent.
Amitesh blinked.
:Ahh… this girl actually shot.'
He felt the impact on his head as his body swayed slightly.
Looks like I really need to start wearing an iron helmet.
His vision tilted as he slowly began to fall.
From Agrata's perspective, the bullet had hit him directly in the head.
She watched his body collapse to the floor.
Thud.
Amitesh lay there without moving.
Agrata frowned slightly, still keeping the gun aimed at him.
"…That was easier than I expected."
But something about the situation felt strange.
She had seen people get shot before.
Usually there was blood no panic.
But the man on the floor looked almost… peaceful.
Then suddenly—
Inside Amitesh's mind, Raktbeej's irritated voice appeared.
"You really enjoy getting shot, don't you?"
Amitesh's thoughts answered lazily.
'It wasn't my fault.'
Raktbeej scoffed.
"You could have dodged that."
Yeah… but then she might have screamed.
Raktbeej sighed deeply.
"Sometimes I truly question your survival instincts."
Meanwhile, Agrata slowly stepped closer to the body, suspicion growing in her eyes.
Agrata cautiously stepped closer to the fallen body.
The gun was still aimed forward, but her movements had slowed. Something about the scene felt wrong. There was no blood. No twitching. No final breath.
Just silence.
She leaned slightly closer and looked down at Amitesh's face.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then—
Amitesh's eyes suddenly opened.
Agrata gasped and jumped backward so fast that she lost her balance and fell onto the floor.
Her gun almost slipped from her hands.
Before she could even process what she had seen, Amitesh's body began to move.
Slowly.Very slowly.First one leg bent awkwardly then the other.
His hands pressed against the floor as he dragged his body upward in an unnatural, stiff motion, like a corpse forcing itself back to life.
Agrata's eyes widened in horror.
Amitesh kept rising slowly, his head tilting slightly to one side as if his neck were stiff.
He pulled himself upright piece by piece.
From Agrata's perspective, it looked exactly like a zombie standing up from the dead.
Her heart began racing.
No...
Her thoughts spiraled.
'No, this can't be real.I shot him… I clearly shot him…'
Amitesh finally straightened his back and lifted his head.
Agrata felt a chill run down her spine.
This has to be a dream.
Her fingers trembled around the gun.
'It's just a dream… it's just a dream…'
Amitesh slowly looked down at her with a blank expression.
Then he casually brushed some dust off his clothes.
"Next time," he said calmly,
"try aiming somewhere else."
Agrata's fingers slowly loosened around the gun.
Her breathing became uneven.
Her eyes were still locked on Amitesh as if she were staring at a ghost.
Then—
Her body swayed and she collapsed.
Thud.
Unconscious.
Amitesh looked down at her lying on the floor.
"Looks like she really got scared."
"Anyone would be scared after seeing a dead man stand up."
Raktbeej's voice echoed calmly inside his mind.
Amitesh snorted lightly.
"Fair point."
But the next second—
His legs suddenly felt weak a strange dizziness hit him.
"…What?"
He lifted a hand and touched his head.
Warm liquid covered his fingers.
Blood.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
That's strange…
He staggered a step.
"Why is this happening again…?"
The room began to spin as his vision blurred.
Amitesh tried to steady himself, but his body refused to listen.
His knees buckled.
Thud.
He fell beside Agrata.
Inside his head, Raktbeej went silent for a moment.
Then—
"…Interesting."
Slowly… very slowly…
The bullet embedded in Amitesh's skull began to move.
A faint cracking sound echoed.
Tick.Tick.
Then—
Pop.
The deformed bullet pushed itself out of the wound and rolled across the floor.
Dark blood spread quietly beneath Amitesh's head.
Both of them now lay unconscious in the silent room.
And the night was far from over.
---
Thunder Thorns sat in a loose circle around the dim lantern, the weak light flickering over their faces as the quiet night stretched around them.
Leon leaned back slightly with both hands inside his coat pockets, studying the man across from him with narrowed eyes.
"Are you sure you didn't throw that fireball, Jon?" he asked casually, though there was a hint of suspicion in his voice.
The man immediately frowned and leaned forward, irritation flashing across his face.
"First of all, call me Agni," he said while a faint spark flickered briefly between his fingers before fading, "because if you call me Jon again, the next person speaking will be you with a burned face. And second, I didn't cause that fireball, and even if I did, why would I bother hiding it from you people?"
Kai, who had been quietly observing the exchange, finally spoke as he crossed his arms and looked toward the dark distance where the glow had appeared earlier.
"He's right," he said calmly, his brows slightly furrowed in thought, "but the fireball definitely happened, and that can only mean one thing. Someone caused it for a reason, either to distract us or to openly challenge us."
Leon tilted his head slightly while glancing toward the horizon, considering the possibility before asking, "So you're saying someone already managed to sneak inside?"
Kai shook his head slowly while maintaining his calm expression.
"I'm not saying that someone has already infiltrated our camp," he replied thoughtfully, "I'm only pointing out a possibility, although considering our history, my possibilities tend to become reality more often than people would like."
Agni smirked faintly and leaned back again, amusement appearing in his eyes.
"Well, if even one of your possibilities turns out to be true," he said lightly, "I suppose you'll still claim it as a successful prediction."
Before anyone could continue the conversation—
Bang!!!
A sharp gunshot suddenly tore through the quiet night.
Agni immediately stood up, his relaxed posture disappearing as his eyes scanned the dark camp.
"Did you hear that?" he asked with clear alertness in his voice, his gaze shifting between the buildings. "Where did that come from?"
Leon turned his head toward the storage area with a serious expression.
"That sounded like it came from the gun storage."
Agni's face hardened instantly.
"Whose shift was it to guard that place tonight?"
Leon opened his mouth to answer, but before he could say anything, Kai's hands slowly clenched into fists and the calm expression on his face disappeared, replaced by a dark realization.
"It's Agrata's turn."
The air around them suddenly felt much heavier.
---
Amitesh was drifting in and out of sleep when suddenly a bucket of freezing water was thrown onto his face.
He jerked awake instantly.
"Agh—!"
He gasped for air, coughing as water ran down his face and neck. His head throbbed and his vision blurred for a moment.
As his senses slowly returned, he realized his hands were restrained. Cold metal handcuffs locked his wrists around a thin iron pole behind him.
He blinked several times, trying to clear the water from his eyes.
A pair of boots came into focus.
Someone was standing right in front of him.Amitesh slowly lifted his head.
Kai.
Before Amitesh could even speak—
Thud!
Kai's boot slammed into his face.
The force snapped Amitesh's head sideways, and a sharp taste of iron filled his mouth as blood spilled from his split lip.
Kai calmly stepped forward and crouched down. His hand shot out and grabbed Amitesh's hair, yanking his head upward.
"Listen carefully," Kai said in a cold, controlled voice, his grip tightening. "I don't care how you got here, and I don't care what you want. All that nonsense can wait."
His fingers tightened even more in Amitesh's hair.
"What I want to know," he continued slowly, "is what you did to Agrata. She's still unconscious."
His voice lowered, turning dangerously quiet.
"And if anything has happened to her… I promise you I will show you why some people start believing that death is the easier option."
Kai then removed his sunglasses.
Amitesh's gaze instinctively moved to his eyes.
One eye was sharp and green.
The other was completely white, a long scar cutting across it.
The eye was clearly blind.
For a brief moment, Amitesh stared silently.
Oh… so that's why he wears sunglasses even at night.
A faint smile appeared on Amitesh's bloodied face.
"So kind of you," he said hoarsely, "to explain everything so clearly."
Cold water dripped slowly from Amitesh's hair.
His head hung forward, blood still drying at the corner of his mouth. The metal cuffs around his wrists clinked softly whenever he shifted.
Kai stood in front of him, arms crossed, his expression dark.
For a moment, the room was silent.
Then Kai spoke.
"Let's try this again."
His voice was calm, but the anger beneath it was obvious.
"What did you do to Agrata?"
Amitesh didn't answer.
He slowly lifted his head instead, blinking once as if the question had bored him.
Kai's eyes narrowed.
"I'm not asking twice."
Amitesh let out a weak cough, spitting a little blood onto the floor.
Then he looked up at Kai.
"Strange."
Kai frowned.
"What?"
Amitesh tilted his head slightly, studying him.
"I expected you to start with something more creative."
Kai's jaw tightened.
"You're tied to a pole, bleeding, and barely conscious," he said coldly. "You're in no position to judge my interrogation methods."
Amitesh smiled faintly.
"That's what you think."
Kai stepped forward and grabbed Amitesh by the collar.
"Enough games."
His grip tightened.
"What. Did. You. Do. To. Agrata."
Amitesh didn't resist.
Instead, he looked directly into Kai's green eye.
"You really care about her."
Kai's expression hardened instantly.
"That's none of your concern."
Amitesh hummed softly.
"But it explains the panic."
Kai's hand tightened further.
"There is no panic."
"Really?" Amitesh said calmly. "Then why did you kick me before asking the question?"
Kai's fingers twitched slightly.
For a brief moment, he said nothing.
Amitesh continued speaking slowly.
"You didn't even check if I was conscious first," he added. "You just attacked."
Kai released his collar suddenly.
"You're trying to provoke me."
Amitesh leaned his head back against the pole, looking almost relaxed despite the cuffs.
"No."
A pause.
"I'm trying to understand something."
Kai's eyes narrowed again.
"What?"
Amitesh met his gaze.
"If Agrata is only unconscious," he said quietly, "why do you look like someone already died?"
The room went silent.Kai stared at him.
Amitesh watched the reaction carefully.
Then he smiled again.
"Interesting."
Kai took a slow step forward.
"What's interesting?"
Amitesh shrugged as much as the cuffs allowed.
"You didn't answer my question."
Kai's voice dropped.
"You're not the one asking questions here."
Amitesh raised an eyebrow.
"Are you sure about that?"
Kai's patience snapped.
His fist slammed into the pole beside Amitesh's head with a loud clang.
"Stop playing with words!"
His voice echoed through the room.
"Tell me what you did to her!"
Amitesh stared at him for a few seconds.
Then he spoke quietly.
"I didn't do anything to Agrata."
Kai scoffed.
"You expect me to believe that?"
Amitesh shrugged slightly.
"She fainted."
Kai's eyes sharpened.
"From what?"
Amitesh smiled again.
"From fear."
Kai stared at him in disbelief.
"Fear?"
Amitesh nodded slowly.
"Yes."
Another pause.
Then he added casually—
"Apparently seeing a dead man stand up is quite shocking."
Kai's expression froze.
For the first time since the interrogation started…
He hesitated.
And Amitesh noticed it immediately.
His smile widened slightly.
"Now," Amitesh said calmly, "do you want to keep asking questions…"
"…or should we talk about how the bullet came out of my head?"
The silence in the room suddenly felt much heavier.
And for the first time since the interrogation began—
Kai wasn't sure who was actually in control anymore.
Kai suddenly grabbed Amitesh's right shoulder.
Before Amitesh could react, a sharp surge of electricity burst from Kai's palm.
A crackling sound filled the room.
Amitesh's body jerked violently against the pole as the current shot through him.
"Agh—!"
His muscles spasmed uncontrollably for a moment before the shock stopped.
Kai leaned closer, his voice low and dangerous.
"Listen carefully," he said, tightening his grip on Amitesh's shoulder. "I am not asking again. And if you're trying to make me angry, stop wasting your effort."
His eyes glowed faintly with irritation.
"Because I'm already angry."
For a moment, Amitesh only breathed heavily.
Then he slowly rolled his shoulder.
"Well… thank you."
Kai blinked.
"…What?"
Amitesh rotated his arm slightly, testing the joint.
"My shoulder was hurting earlier," he said calmly. "I must have stretched something when you kicked me. But that shock therapy actually helped."
He looked up at Kai with a faint grin.
"So… thanks."
That was the last straw.
Kai's expression twisted with anger.
His fist shot forward.
Thud!
The punch landed squarely on Amitesh's forehead with brutal force.
A dull bump immediately began forming where the strike landed, snapping Amitesh's head back against the pole.
Kai pulled his arm back again, electricity rapidly gathering around his fist, sparks crackling violently through the air.
This punch would not be the same.
But before he could throw it—
A hand grabbed his arm.
Leon.
"That's enough," Leon said firmly.
Kai turned his head sharply.
Leon nodded toward Amitesh.
"He's already passed out."
Kai looked back.Amitesh's head hung forward.
His eyes were closed, his body completely limp against the pole.
The room was silent except for the faint buzzing of electricity still fading from Kai's hand.
Kai slowly exhaled and lowered his fist.
After a moment, he stepped back.
But what he didn't notice—
Amitesh's breathing was perfectly controlled behind his closed eyes, a thought quietly surfaced.
Ouch…
That punch was really hard.
Kai stepped back, still breathing heavily, trying to cool the anger boiling in his chest.
Before anyone could say anything, Agni lifted one hand.
A swirling ball of water quickly formed in his palm, spinning like a tiny storm.
Without hesitation, he flicked his wrist.
The waterball shot forward.
Splash!
Cold water exploded across Amitesh's face.
Amitesh immediately jerked upright, coughing violently.
"Cough—! Cough—! What the hell, Jon?!"
He bent forward, shaking his head like a drenched dog while trying to breathe.
"Some of that water just went straight into my nose—cough—are you trying to drown me?!"
Agni froze.
His eyebrows slowly climbed upward.
After the Apocalypse, he had made it very clear to everyone that his name was Agni. He corrected people constantly, aggressively, and sometimes with fire.
Very few people still called him Jon.
Which meant there were only two possibilities.
Either this guy had known him before.
Or—
Agni narrowed his eyes.
"How do you know my name?"
Amitesh sniffed once shaking his head to remove some water from his face.
Then he smiled lazily.
"Oh, why don't you ask your sister behind you?"
Agni blinked.
"What—"
He instinctively turned around.
That was the exact moment something heavy slammed into him.
Smash!
Kai crashed straight into Agni like a flying sack of bricks both of them collapsed into a very undignified pile on the floor.
For a moment the room was filled with the sound of groaning bodies and tangled limbs.
"…Get off me," Kai muttered.
"You landed on me!" Agni snapped back.
They slowly pushed themselves up.
When they finally looked around—
They froze.
Rex and Leon were on the ground nearby.
Both of them were rolling back and forth in silent agony.
Their hands were tightly clutching the most sensitive region a man possessed.
Their faces had turned a shade of pale that suggested their souls had briefly left their bodies.
"Ugh… why…" Rex wheezed.
Leon simply made a long, suffering noise that sounded like a dying goat.
Standing calmly a few steps away—
Amitesh stretched his arms above his head.
The handcuffs that had been restraining him now hung loosely to his wrist.
He rotated his shoulders as if he had just woken up from a comfortable nap instead of escaping imprisonment.
"Ah… much better."
He cracked his neck lightly.
Then he looked at the group with mild disappointment.
"Honestly, you people really need to work on your security."
Kai stared at him in disbelief.
"…How did you—"
Amitesh raised one finger calmly.
"Rule number one of war."
He straightened his back lazily and brushed his hair behind his ear with an oddly dramatic flourish.
The gesture was slow.Deliberate.
And suspiciously elegant.
In fact, it looked less like a battlefield movement and more like something a woman might do while flirting across a bar.
Kai felt his stomach churn.
"Never trust the words of your enemy,"
Amitesh continued smoothly, clearly enjoying himself.
He paused just long enough to let the sentence hang in the air.
"…especially when that enemy is a prisoner."
A faint, irritating smile appeared on his face.
Then he added the final part.
"And never trust a woman either."
The room went completely silent.
Kai and Agni stared at him.
Even Rex and Leon paused their suffering for a second just to look at him.
Kai suddenly felt something rising up his throat.
Just pure, overwhelming nausea.
"…Why did you flip your hair like that?"
Kai asked slowly.
Amitesh blinked.
"What do you mean?"
"You know exactly what I mean."
Kai rubbed his forehead in disgust.
"I have seen many disturbing things since the Apocalypse."
He pointed weakly at Amitesh.
"But that… that was the worst thing I've witnessed today."
Leon, still lying on the floor in pain, raised a shaking finger.
"…Second worst."
Rex groaned beside him.
"…First worst."
Amitesh looked at the two men on the ground.
Then he looked back at Kai.
"…I feel like I missed something important."
Kai sighed deeply.
"Trust me you didn't and why did you hit them their?"
"Huh? Isn't it simple to nuterlise them."
"How can you hit them their are you really a man?"
"So what everything is fair in love and war and business."
"Alright then," Amitesh said with a dismissive wave of his hand, as if he were dealing with mildly annoying salesmen rather than armed enemies.
"So what's the plan now? Are you four going to get on your knees and surrender, or do I have to put in the extra effort myself?"
Kai stared at him for a moment as if trying to determine whether Amitesh was brave… or simply stupid.
"Do you honestly think," Kai said slowly, wiping a bit of dust from his sleeve while regaining his composure, "that it's that easy to defeat all four of us at the same time?"
Amitesh shrugged lazily, stretching his neck as though preparing for a casual workout.
"I don't know," he replied with a relaxed smile. "Maybe yes."
A brief silence filled the room.
Then Leon suddenly started moving.
He slowly pushed himself up from the ground, still wincing slightly as he rubbed the area that had suffered Amitesh's earlier attack. The pain was clearly still there, but the humiliation seemed to hurt even more.
"Oh," Leon said calmly while rising to his feet, brushing dirt off his clothes with deliberate patience, "let's test that theory then."
Rex groaned as he rolled onto his side, still recovering but determined not to stay down any longer.
Agni cracked his knuckles, faint sparks dancing between his fingers as a small flame flickered to life in his palm.
Kai stepped forward again, his expression now completely cold.
For the first time since the fight began, none of them looked careless anymore.
Four pairs of eyes locked onto Amitesh.
The air in the room grew heavy with tension.
Amitesh looked at each of them one by one.
Then he sighed.
Just the kind of sigh someone makes when they realize a meeting is going to take longer than expected.
"Well," he muttered while rolling his shoulders again, "I was hoping you'd choose the easier option."
He raised his hands casually.
Then he smiled.
"Guess we're doing this the hard way."
A few moments later.
The room looked like a small battlefield
broken wood from the pole lay scattered across the floor, and the dust in the air hadn't even settled yet.
Amitesh lay on the ground.
His breathing was uneven, his lips split and bleeding. Every inhale sent a dull wave of pain through his ribs, making his chest tighten.
One of his arms twitched slightly, but he didn't bother getting up.
Kai stood a few steps away, rolling his shoulder once as if shaking off the last of the fight.
"Well," he said with a faint scoff, looking down at the man on the floor, "did you really think you could win one versus four?"
His tone carried a mixture of irritation and disbelief.
"You're either incredibly brave… or incredibly stupid."
Amitesh didn't respond.he didn't even move.
From the outside, it looked like he had finally been beaten into silence.
But inside his head, things were much calmer.
'Alright… time to organize things properly.'
His mind began sorting information like a strategist reviewing a battlefield.
'First… enemies.
His gaze shifted slightly, barely noticeable.
Rex and Leon.
Both of them are first-tier elemental masters… around the fifth star.
Their control is solid, but predictable.
His thoughts moved on.
Kai…'
A faint pressure lingered in Amitesh's memory from the earlier clash.
'That guy is different.
Elemental Master, ninth-star peak of this stage.'
Almost ready to break through.
A quiet breath escaped Amitesh's lips.
Dangerous.
Then his thoughts turned to the last one.
'Agni…
A small pause.
Second star of the Element Gathering stage.'
Amitesh almost laughed inside his head.
Ironically… the weakest one here might become the most troublesome later.
His body remained completely still on the ground.
But behind the half-closed eyes—
His mind was calmly building a list.
Good.
Now I finally have a proper record of my enemies.
'But something is strange…
Amitesh kept his eyes half-closed, pretending to remain unconscious while quietly observing them.'
When I try to look at their meridians… I can't see them clearly.
'Normally, if he focused properly, he could see the flow of energy pathways inside a person's body. Open meridians appeared like thin glowing lines beneath the skin.'
But this time—
All he saw was light.
Rex… Leon… even Kai.
Their bodies looked like faint glowing silhouettes, as if someone had been wrapped them in a layer of energy.
That's odd.
Why can't I see their meridians?
Just as the thought crossed his mind—
A faint purple glow flickered before his eyes.
A translucent screen slowly appeared, symbols forming across it before a calm voice echoed inside his mind.
"Well… that is simply a limitation of the universe. When you concentrate kai into your eyes, you gain the ability to observe the meridians a person has opened, but that ability has a restriction. If your opponent has even one additional meridian opened beyond your own, their entire body will appear as a glowing mass of energy, which means you can confirm they are stronger in meridian development but you cannot determine exactly how many more meridians they have opened."
The purple text slowly faded.
Amitesh remained lying on the ground, still pretending to be unconscious.
Inside his mind, however, his thoughts continued calmly.
'So in simple terms…
If they're stronger than me… they just glow.'
Amitesh almost sighed internally.
That's a pretty useless feature.
'Wow… I just found out all my enemies are stronger than me, but are they as crazy as me? Well… I don't think they are. No matter how strong they are, no matter if they are far stronger than me… I'm still not going to back down, and honestly it doesn't even matter if I win.'
He slowly started to stand.
Pain shot through his ribs the moment he straightened, but he ignored it. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and rolled his shoulders slightly, testing how much strength was still left in his body.
Across the room, Kai and the others watched him rise again.
A faint smile appeared on Amitesh's bruised face.
Leon suddenly moved.
Without warning, his body blurred as he began sprinting in a tight circle around Amitesh. Sparks burst from his feet as electricity spread across the ground, forming a glowing ring.
Lightning began snapping violently through the air.
"Thunder Cage."
Leon kept running faster and faster, his figure turning into a rotating streak of electricity. Anyone trapped inside the circle would be continuously shocked by the current spreading through the cage.
Electric arcs struck Amitesh again and again as the field tightened around him.
Amitesh clenched his teeth and endured the shocks.
Their coordination is really great.
Leon kept running, but the human body had limits. Spinning at that speed in a tight circle quickly began to affect him.
His face turned pale.
A few seconds later the cage collapsed as Leon stumbled out of the circle and bent forward.
"Ugh—"
He immediately vomited on the ground.
The Thunder Cage disappeared.
That was the signal.
Rex raised his hand as electricity gathered rapidly around his palm. A condensed bolt of lightning formed instantly before shooting forward like a spear of light aimed straight at Amitesh.
"Thunder Bolt."
The lightning tore through the air at terrifying speed.
After all—
Who the hell was faster than lightning?
At the same moment, Kai moved.
Electricity exploded beneath his feet as his body vanished in a flash.
"Thunder Step."
He reappeared several meters closer to Amitesh.
"When I first started developing this ability, my legs would go completely numb. The first time I used it I couldn't walk for five days, but eventually I got better. Still, it has limits. If I use it more than two times in a row, my veins burst and my legs turn blue."
Lightning flickered violently around his legs before slowly fading.
His ability had entered cooldown.
Five minutes.
And he had already used it once earlier.
Which meant the timer was already running.
Meanwhile, Agni sat casually on a broken crate near the wall with one leg crossed over the other. A small flame flickered lazily on the tip of his finger as he watched the fight unfold.
He looked completely relaxed.
"Wow… this show is getting interesting."
Kai's kick landed like a hammer.
The impact lifted Amitesh off his feet and sent him flying across the room.
A moment later—
Boom.
His back slammed hard against the wall.
Dust fell from the cracked surface as his body slid slightly downward before stopping.
"Ahh… damn… that hurts."
Amitesh coughed and tried to straighten himself, but the pain in his ribs immediately protested.
'What should I do now…'
A faint purple glow suddenly flickered in front of his eyes.The familiar translucent screen appeared again.
"Why not use your ability, All Devore?"
Amitesh frowned slightly.
"I don't think it will work in this condition."
"It certainly will not," the voice replied calmly. "However, at Level Two it will work perfectly."
Amitesh blinked.
"Level two?"
The purple screen flickered as new text formed.
"System Alert: Special Technique All Devore. Grade — Infinity. Ability is leveling up to Level Two. New skill unlocked: The All-Sucking Devore."
Amitesh stared at the words for a moment.
"…Ewww."
He made a disgusted face.
"That is a really terrible name. I absolutely hate it."
The screen didn't even flicker.
"No one asked for your opinion."
Across the room, the Thunder Thorns had stopped moving.
For a brief moment, all four of them were just staring at Amitesh.
Leon leaned slightly toward Kai and lowered his voice.
"Hey… do you really think we should keep fighting him?"
Kai frowned.
"Why?"
Leon glanced toward Amitesh, who was still talking to apparently nothing.
"He looks a bit… mentally unstable."
Kai rubbed his temples slowly.
"…I know."
He exhaled.
"Now I'm starting to feel bad that I just kicked someone with a loose screw in his head."
A few steps away, Agni watched the scene with interest, resting his chin on his hand like someone enjoying a strange theater performance.
"Honestly," he said lazily, "if he starts arguing with the air again, I'm bringing popcorn."
Amitesh slowly stood up again, his movements stiff and unnatural, as if his body had not fully awakened yet. He balanced himself on his toes and began walking toward them in an eerie manner.
His head tilted slightly to the side as he looked at Leon.
"Well… you are weak."
Those simple words were enough to ignite Leon's anger. The provocation worked better than expected, as the humiliation pushed Leon to use his ability again.
"You think I'm weak?!"
Electricity crackled violently around Leon's body as he activated his technique.
"Thunder Cage!"
Leon began running in fast circles around Amitesh, leaving streaks of lightning behind him. The electricity quickly formed a raging cage of thunder that surrounded the entire area, filling the air with loud cracking sounds.
However, Amitesh didn't even bother to dodge.
Instead, he slowly tilted his head upward and stared directly at the ceiling.
Then something disturbing happened.
Amitesh opened his mouth.
At first it looked normal, but it kept stretching wider and wider until it became impossibly large, far beyond what a human jaw should allow.
Inside his mind, Astrea's voice calmly echoed.
"Skill: All Devour ability level 2."
"Sucking All Devour activated."
Just as the raging lightning bolts rushed toward Amitesh, something unexpected occurred.
Instead of striking his body, the electricity suddenly bent in midair as if it had been captured by an invisible suction force.
In the next moment, the lightning was violently pulled forward.
Whoooosh.
Every bolt of electricity was sucked straight into Amitesh's open mouth like a powerful vacuum devouring everything in its path.
The thunder that Leon created didn't explode It disappeared.
Consumed completely by Amitesh.
Leon's eyes widened in disbelief as he watched his Thunder Cage being swallowed.
But before Leon could even understand what had just happened, his body suddenly reacted.
He bent forward and started vomiting again, his stomach twisting violently as if something inside him was being forcefully drained away.
The sudden reaction made his vision blur, and the lightning around his body flickered unstably.
Seeing that moment of weakness, Rex immediately seized the opportunity.
Without wasting a second, he raised his hand and fired a powerful Thunder Bolt straight toward Amitesh.
The bolt shot forward like a spear of lightning, tearing through the air with a loud crack.
However, the result was the same as before.
As soon as the thunder bolt came close, Amitesh's abnormally wide mouth created a powerful suction force.
The lightning twisted in midair, losing its direction as if it had been captured by an invisible vortex.
Then in the next instant—
Whoooosh.
Rex's thunder bolt was dragged forward and swallowed completely.
Just like Leon's attack, it was devoured without leaving even a single spark behind.
Amitesh stood there silently, his mouth still open, calmly consuming the lightning as if it were nothing more than air.
Rex's eyes widened in disbelief.
Even his attack… had been eaten.
Amitesh finally closed his mouth.
For a brief moment, the entire room fell silent.
Then a disturbing sound followed.
It was the faint but unmistakable noise of something chewing lightning.
The crackling sparks echoed from inside his mouth, forcing everyone present to instinctively cover their ears as the sharp electric screech filled the air.
Small sparks of electricity flickered through Amitesh's eyes, flashing like tiny storms trapped behind his pupils.
The last remnants of lightning slowly faded as if they had been completely digested.
Inside his mind, Astrea's calm voice appeared again.
"Congratulations on acquiring your fourth element."
Amitesh slightly tilted his head, a faint smile forming on his face.
"Well… thanks to you."
Rex took an unconscious step backward.
He didn't even realize he had moved until his heel hit the wall behind him.
"That thing… just ate lightning."
Leon's breathing turned heavy as he stared at Amitesh.
"What the hell are you?"
The sparks around Amitesh's eyes flashed brighter as faint traces of lightning flickered across his pupils. A small, unsettling smile slowly appeared on his face.
"Who the hell am I? I am a Human. You know humans, right?
H — Hyperactive.
U — Unpredictable.
M — Mischievous.
E — Evolving.
N — Nightmare.. or ..Nemesis."
Leon clenched his fists as a cold realization slowly ran down his spine.
"If he can eat lightning… then every attack we use is just feeding him."
Rex's face darkened as he stared at Amitesh.
"Then how the hell are we supposed to beat that monster?"