"Oh... So you're the spy? I always wonder who it was that kept on leading those Tactoa idiots to us" Klaus finally replied seriously.

"Wait... You knew that there was a spy?!" Scrawny asked surprisingly.

Hell, even the others were surprised, since none of them had suspected there was a spy among them.

After all, they had been through too many things together. They were closer than family at that point. Even if there were more than a hundred of them.

They were so close that everyone was well acquainted with everyone, to the point of knowing their likes, dislikes, and even their birthdays.

For that reason, even though they found it weird that Tactoa kept on finding them, they didn't suspect anyone.

They assumed that Tactoa as a mysterious organisation probably had some mysterious method for tracking people.

Which wasn't untrue actually. Just that their target must be stained with the Monarch's energy for the method to work. Like how Jade was stained before.

Interestingly enough, Chris and Scarlett were tainted by it at the start. But Klaus wiped it out with a mysterious method no one knew...

"Yeah. I mean, it was kinda obvious. But I had no suspects since I thought we were all close enough to tell when someone was acting differently. Which was completely wrong since you managed to escape my notice. I really have to commend you for that. You have no idea how hard it is to fool me. I was so confused that I even suspected my brother and sister in-law at one point. But then realised that they are the reason we got into conflict with Tactoa in the first place. So, yeah. And don't look at them like that. We would have gotten into conflict with them sooner or later anyway. After all, it's obvious that they also want world domination. And as we all know, there can never be two alpha's on one mountain" Klaus explained.

"Shut up! Damn! I don't have to listen to you yapping anymore. I'm no longer part of your group after all... Tsk, why are they taking so long? I want to see blood!" Scrawny angrily spoke.

And without warning, the Scrawny man began enlarging and gaining muscle.

Soon he took a form familiar to everyone present. A form which he shouldn't have been able to take so soon.

It was a three metre tall pitch black creature with long dagger-like claws on its hands and nothing but a large mouth full of teeth on its face.

Scrawny was no longer scrawny anymore. Now he was the creature he called Devourer.

The transformation he literally had teammates cover him for over ten minutes in battle while he changed into it.

Yet it only took seconds this time.

Which only meant that he was pretending to be slow back then. It was all premeditated. Probably to cost the group some members. And by the looks of it, it worked as many sacrificed themselves while he transformed.

None died but they lost arms and legs. Which took away a significant portion of their abilities...

And the transformation was even bigger than before. Which meant that he also held back in a hat he used.

His aura was actually stronger than Chris's by a significant amount.

Anyway, the creature didn't waste time as it immediately pounced on Klaus who had come closer to it as they spoke.

It hoped to catch him off guard and get him out of the picture.

Which would definitely bring it a lot of merit from Tactoa. After all, Klaus was obviously the most dangerous individual in his group. Not to mention that he was the leader, so taking him out would make the whole group's momentum plummet.

And most importantly, it would bring an end to its mission which had been going on for over a year.

That's right, Scrawny was a spy from the start.

He pretended to be a victim of a beast attack who was saved by someone from Klaus's group.

The person who saved him died under mysterious circumstances months earlier... But looking back now, he was probably taken care of by Scrawny.

But Scrawny was so good at acting that no one suspected him. It was the reason why no one suspected him of anything was that he was a spy from the start. So every action was calculated from the beginning.

And so, while having happy thoughts but completely focused. The devourer slashed at Klaus's neck a lightning speed.

It could already imagine slicing open Klaus's neck and blood spraying all over its face.

Its mouth began watering because of that...

Speaking of which, Scrawny was actually a serial killer before the apocalypse who ate his victims as well. So he was a cannibalistic serial killer.

He probably ate up the man who saved him. Bones and all. After all, his transformation was perfect for such things...

Which was why he made that comment about the two brothers being tasty... He was definitely not a rainbow man... Well, probably. You never know with serial killers.

Grab!

Unfortunately, things didn't go according to plan for the devourer.

Its claw was suddenly grabbed and held back inches away from Klaus's neck.

It tried its best to free itself but the vice-like grip on its hand was too much for it.

It then looked at the hand and wasn't surprised to see that it was Klaus's hand.

However, the hand looked quite different now. Now it was way larger than the rest of his body.

And there was a faint black line on it heading up from the back of his hand to his shoulder.

Which was clear to see since his robe was ripped open on that part.

"Sigh... Just when I was celebrating bot wrecking my hard-to-come-by robe. You just had to make me do it huh?... Well, at the very least, you got me to use some real effort. Which is quite an achievement really. But I don't know if it was worth it though. After all, it's so expensive that you can only pay for it with your life. Which I guess is okay for the last achievement of your life" Klaus spoke slowly while the devourer and everyone else listened quietly.

It wasn't that the devourer didn't want to do anything. But its instincts warned it that if it dared move, then it would die. And so, it stood still since its instincts had never steered it wrong before.

WRIP!

"ROOOOOOOOAR!!!"

Out of nowhere, Klaus ruthlessly ripped off the hand from the transformed man's body. Black blood sprayed out as the devourer roared in pain. Then...

BANG!

BOOOOOM!

Klaus wasn't in the mood to listen to the loud sound. So he punched the creature in the gut. Which knocked the wind out of it... As well as its blood, guts and organs, leaving a hole in their place.

The devourer who hadn't even done anything yet looked up at Klaus in surprise as it was now on its knees.

It knew that Klaus was strong. But it was only now that it understood how strong he was. The man had actually been holding back in front of them all this time!

"No, no. I wasn't holding back when we fought together. That was really the strength I had then. However, nobody said that the strength I had yesterday should be the same as that of today right? Let alone after months... So you can die with a clear mind n... Oh, he's already dead" Klaus began explaining himself to the creature after seeing the shock in its reformed eyes as the transformation was coming apart.

It was only after he finished speaking that he paid attention to the creature again and noticed that it had returned back to human form and had died while maintaining its kneeling position.

"Idiot" Chris commented from the side.

Everyone else nodded in agreement. Their leader was really an idiot. Like who preaches to someone they just put a hole through??

"Hey, I heard that!... Anyway, you up there, have you seen enough? If not, you can send someone else to test my power until you're satisfied. I promise to give the next one a chance to throw it a few attacks first" Klaus replied to Chris's words then spoke while looking up at the sky.

It was only then that the others looked up and noticed a person floating way high up in the sky looking down on them.

He was so high that one wouldn't be able to notice him unless they looked directly up... Which wasn't something people normally did without a reason.

Chris and the others were surprised by how Klaus noticed the guy when he hadn't looked up before addressing the man.

The more Chris saw his younger brother's abilities, the more he was impressed and awed.

He had no idea how Klaus had gotten so strong. But he has to admit, he felt like an ant next to the guy.

He felt that Klaus might actually be on the same level as those monster girls he met before... This was how he addressed Jade and the others after spending two months with them.

Maybe he was even stronger even... He couldn't help but imagine what a fight between him and any one of them would look like...