The Author's POV

"Tell me why... you have a demon on your finger."

As soon as Douglas's words faded, the atmosphere instantly froze. The echo of his words chilled the very air, creating a palpable tension.

"What's going on?"

Feeling that something was gravely wrong, Waylan looked at Douglas.

Staring at the two for a while, I tapped the ring on my finger after letting out a long sigh.

'This isn't going to be easy.'

"Looks like I can no longer hide it. Come out, Angelica."

SHUU—

At my call, black steam rose from my hand, much to Waylan's surprise. A stunning woman materialized next to me.

Having just canceled her taxing transformation, Angelica's face was extremely pale, and she barely had any strength to defend herself.

"Need a hand?"

Seeing how weak she was, I offered to lend her a hand, but she swiftly refused it.

"——!"

The moment she appeared, Waylan, who was next to Douglas, finally realized what was going on.

He suddenly became wary.

"A demon…"

A threatening aura suddenly sprang out of his body, aiming towards the currently weakened Angelica.

However, just as the pressure was about to crash against Angelica, Douglas waved his hand. The pressure instantly disappeared.

"Stop."

"Douglas?!"

Waylan cried out in surprise, evidently confused by Douglas's actions. Raising his hand, Douglas calmly looked at Waylan.

"Wait."

Turning his head, Douglas scanned Angelica up and down. A frown emerged on his usually calm face.

Opening his mouth, he asked,

"Have the demons advanced so much that their stealth abilities have become nigh undetectable?"

"It's her skill,"

I replied in Angelica's stead.

"She has a special skill that allows her to turn into any object she wants. The downside, as you can see, is her current, weakened state, where for a while she has no demonic energy in her body. However, because of this skill, it becomes extremely easy for her to infiltrate most areas."

"Oh?"

Humming in thought, Douglas took a step forward, walking towards Angelica who fearlessly stared at him from where she stood.

She seemed unafraid and proud while she matched eyes with a seemingly overwhelming opponent. She looked dauntless.

Halting a few meters away from Angelica, Douglas continued to stare at her. She coldly looked back at him, not letting her gaze falter for a moment.

"..."

"..."

Their staredown continued for what felt like forever, till finally, turning his head to face me, Douglas pointed towards the seats.

"I think we still have a bit to talk about."

Slowly closing my eyes, I looked at Angelica before nodding my head and heading back to the seats.

"I understand."

***

At the same time.

[Lock, Leviathan building.]

Flip—! Flip—!

The sound of pages being flipped echoed inside of a room.

Sitting behind a large wooden desk, dimly lit by a small lamp, Kevin's eyes darted between each page of the novel. He carefully read each line twice to make sure he didn't miss a single detail.

Before long, his finger paused in front of a certain page.

Leaning forward to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him, Kevin's face changed from one filled with seriousness to one filled with absolute shock.

"…N-no way."

the book trembled

front of the demon, three translucent yellow

Bang—!

as ***** was about to enter the demon's attack range, he stomped his foot on the ground and tried to

he had

disc appeared towards his left. What followed the

the air, ***** softly landed on the left ring before he propelled himself towards the right one, where

upon it. The demon's face

low cry, a powerful wave of mana suddenly burst

"Huuup!"

than making use of the [Keiki style], ***** opted to apply a simpler

sword, he

the last ring, ***** used the gravitational effect and changed the course of the sword,

"Puchi!"

down from above, creating a misty

it's not possible.

back. A look of

can he still be

the mourning,

was it possible? How

he didn't want to believe it. How could he? How could he suddenly accept the fact that his friend, who

accept such a sick

if he didn't understand who the person in the book

it be

that he thought he had lost

Kevin tried to calm himself

"Haa...haa... Let's calm down."

in vain. It just wasn't possible

a recount of

a possibility. Perhaps what he was seeing was what had happened to Ren in

moment the Baron ranked demon was about to

"Haa…"

at the sentence, Kevin knew that it was impossible. He

for the previous Ren to kill a Baron-ranked

"Ugh..."

then that Kevin's head started to

a groan, Kevin's knees buckled

Kevin supported his body by holding the top of

sensation, the

"Argh..."

head intensified as the

with his hand, it wasn't long before

"… What just happened?"

times, Kevin's eyes flashed

at

landed on the book, Kevin's eyes opened widely. That was because the black mist covering the name of the individual slowly

a subtle green glow enveloped

explosively shot towards

"This…"

chair

It

with both hands, Kevin's mind was a mess. He couldn't make heads or tails of the

relief of finding out that his best friend was alive, there was something else

why did he fake his death? How did he even survive such

questions flooded Kevin's

eyes landed

the answer lay somewhere

Flip—! Flip—!

a single detail. Now that he knew that Ren was the person in the book, he wanted to know more about what happened to him

"Hehe…"

Kevin's face would change from time to

frown, oftentimes be

Though he was in the middle

multiple Baron-ranked demons and was getting along

"Hah?"

hand paused on a certain page. Frowning, Kevin leaned back slightly. The

his face turned

the story, he tried his best to suppress

face slowly started to fade as his

a bounty on me. Because of the bounty, I was forced to leave the human domain. It

headmaster's eyes ripples slightly.

Bang—!

"What?!"

the

fists clenching

"Union!"

voice turned hoarse as he glared at the book. For them to do what they did to Ren...

could you sell out

when he had helped them, those

"Haa...haaa..."

him, Kevin

plans regarding the Union did Kevin finally manage to