-WHOOSH!

Kurtis once again rushed towards Zero. However, this time he was faster and he exuded a much stronger mana aura than before.

[ "Dark Icy Surface" ]

Zero tried to halt his steps by freezing the ground. However, Kurtis's body was covered in his Dark Energy and he destroyed the ice effortlessly. He didn't slow down a bit and still continued to rush toward Zero.

Before anyone could react, Kurtis was already in front of Zero. He raised his spear and attacked Zero. Zero avoided the attack, however, Kurtis' attack was much more destructive than he expected. Even so, he managed to defend against Kurtis' attack.

-CLANG! -CLANK!

The two combatants clashed, their weapons colliding with a metallic clang. The sound echoed through the area as the two exchanged blows. Zero was fighting defensively, blocking Kurtis's attacks with his sword and trying to find an opening to strike back.

Kurtis was relentless, his attacks coming in quick succession. He was using his dark energy to enhance his physical abilities, making him faster and stronger than before. He aimed for Zero's weak spots, trying to find a gap in his defense.

However, Zero who had fought continuously for two years has honed his fighting skills to its maximum potential and left no such gap. He countered precisely and gave Kurtis no advantage.

However, there was a big gap between Kurtis in terms of strength. Kurtis had very powerful attacks with every strike having the power to destroy Zero. However, Zero with his superior fighting skills was able to avoid or deflect those strikes.

Zero tried to counterattack by trying to freeze Kurtis. Despite Zero having powerful skills, he was not able to overcome the defense of Kurtis. Kurtis also knew that being frozen would be dangerous so he was using his mana to always have some kind of barrier on his body.

That's why Zero's plan to slowly freeze Kurtis was not working.

But Kurtis was the same. He has high strength and would sometimes even hit Zero. But Zero has Ice armor which is always protecting him. And even when it is damaged. It would immediately regenerate with Zero's mana.historical

It was a stalemate. But Kurtis was pushing Zero back while Zero maintained his defensive position.

Though Kurtis seemed to have a slight advantage over Zero, it is clear that Kurtis would not be able to defeat Zero anytime soon either. However, Kurtis could take his time to defeat Zero but it was not the same for Zero. The more time he wasted, the more likely Devil Contractors would win this battle.

On his side, Saintess Amelia is almost exhausted. The moment she is out of the battle, Holy Knights would be defeated and Zero would have to fight with other Devil Contractors. At that time, he wouldn't be able to survive.

To avoid such an outcome, he had to defeat Kurtis before the Holy Knights were defeated.

[ "Frozen Shadow Dance" ]

Zero tried to overpower Kurtis with his speed. However, despite hitting Kurtis multiple times with his sword, Zero could hardly deal serious damage to Kurtis.

[ "Diabolic Skewer" ]

[ "Glacier Shadow Slash" ] ..

Zero fought, utilizing every skill possible but Kurtis was not so easy to defeat. Even if he managed to seal him with his Ice, Kurtis could easily break from it. So it was just a waste of mana trying to freeze Kurtis.

After having exchanged blows many times, Zero understood that he didn't have the necessary power to defeat Rank-S Devil Contractor.

Even if he could defeat a Rank-S person, it would take much more time. And that is what he doesn't have right now.

Now, his only choice was to use Dark Energy. However, looking at the surroundings, it doesn't look like a very good situation to use that.

If he did that, there was a 90% chance that he would be seen as the enemy. Using Dark Energy was essentially telling everyone that he/she was a Devil Contractor. He couldn't use it when everybody could see him.

However, Zero planned to use it without having them know about it. Anyway, Saintess Amelia already knew that he could use Dark Energy and if she helped him to deceive others, he could hide the fact that he could use Dark Energy even if others come to know about it.

Anyway, it was important that he took care of Kurtis as soon as possible.

[ "Blizzard Storm" ]

First, Zero used Blizzard Storm to block the sight of others. In a place where so many Devil Contractors are fighting, even if they use Dark Energy, it wouldn't be easy to tell that he is using Dark Energy unless one sees him personally use it.

The only one who might sense and pinpoint the person would be Saintess. With her extraordinary senses, she could even see Dark Energy even when he didn't use it.

The scale of Blizzard Storm was much smaller as it only covered the area where he and Kurtis are fighting. He would only lose more mana if he used it to cover a bigger area.

"Hehe.. What? Resorting to tricks again. Even if you limit my vision, I would still be able to sense you. It is of no use."

Kurtis said. For Rank-S, their other senses are also good apart from sight. Even if it is fighting in the dark, they could do that by sensing the other party's mana or listening to their movement. Anyway, in a fight at a higher level, relying only on the eye is never an option since they had to use every other sense so that they could figure out what the opponent was going to do.

However, Zero had other plans for him. It was not to limit his vision but to the vision of the other people who were watching them.

Right after having the area covered, he didn't hesitate to unleash Dark Energy and attack Kurtis using his Dark Energy.

[ "Demonic Emperor Sword: Extermination Blast" ]

After Zero had used Blizzard Storm, Christian, Zain, and others couldn't witness the fight anymore. However, Saintess Amelia could with her extraordinary sight which enabled her to see through mana.

However, the moment Zero unleashed his Dark Energy, Saintess Amelia began to tremble. Previously when Zero was dying, she was already terrified of Zero because she sensed a very powerful Dark Energy inside Zero.

Now, Zero had unleashed that Dark Energy. Her trauma was once again acting up even though she knew that Zero is not her enemy. Her body involuntarily trembled as she felt similar to when she met that Devil Princess.

However, she shouldn't be blamed as the Dark Energy that Zero was unleashing was almost the same as a Demon King.

Not only her, even Kurtis who is a Devil Contractor was terrified of the energy that he was sensing. As somebody who could use Dark Energy himself, he knew that the Dark Energy that he was sensing from Zero was no joke.

Even he was trembling as Zero gave a similar aura as that of Lord Aamon. He didn't dare underestimate the attack of Zero.

[ "Demonic Impale" ]

He blocked the attack with his strongest skill. Now, he was sure that Zero was indeed using Dark Energy. Earlier, he thought that it might be just similar to Dark Energy but with his clash with Zero's attack, he knew that it was Dark Energy.

"Y-YOU! You are a Devil Contractor!"

Kurtis said. The only humans who could use Dark Energy were Devil Contractors.

"Tch! Don't bring me to the same level as you. I am not stupid enough to sell my soul to the Devils!"

Zero said irritated. He doesn't really want to be associated with the people who betrayed their own race.

-WHOOSH!

[ "Demonic Force Manipulation" ]

He didn't argue with him the next instant, he attacked Kurtis. He extended the shape of the sword and swung it in his direction like a whip.

[ "Diabolic Skewer" ]

Kurtis tried to block the attack with his technique, however, when he blocked one strike, another two immediately followed. And the speed of the attack just kept on increasing as Zero got nearer to him.

However, he was powerless to do anything. He was already occupied trying to handle his attack and had no way to stop Zero. Furthermore, the power of Zero's strike had increased and it was almost difficult for him to block.

[ "Demonic Emperor Sword: Extermination Blast" ]

When Zero got close enough, he sent another big wave of destructive attack.

[ "Demonic Impale" ]

Kurtis responded with his strongest attack. He could cancel out the attack with his own technique. However, the difference between them was that Kurtis' mana was draining fast while Zero's mana was also draining fast, he had a much larger mana capacity than Kurtis.

Zero had also noticed that. Zero had a larger mana capacity than Rank-S mage, not to mention the fact that Kurtis was a spear user. He knew that if there is one thing that he is superior to Kurtis, then that was his mana capacity.

And Kurtis seemed to have also used quite a bit of mana before he fought with him.

[ "Demonic Emperor Sword: Extermination Blast" ]

[ "Demonic Impale" ]

[ "Demonic Emperor Sword: Extermination Blast" ]

[ "Demonic Impale" ] ..

Zero took advantage of that fact and kept on making Kurtis spend his mana. Kurtis was cursing at Zero as his mana was reaching its limit. He was cursing because though he was struggling to pump out more mana, Zero was using one attack after another without showing any signs of exhaustion.

He didn't know whether Zero was acting or whether he still had more mana, but one thing was pretty sure he couldn't stay there if he wanted to live.

He was thinking of doing something to distract Zero and kill Saintess. As long as he did that, he could retreat and get rewarded by Lord Aamon.

However, Zero had no intention of letting Kurtis go. He felt that Kurtis was running out of mana and decided to use one of his strongest attacks.

[ "Demonic Emperor Sword: Cataclysmic Destruction" ]