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 page of the book trembled as Kevin had trouble

in front of the demon, three translucent

Bang—!

about to enter the demon's attack range, he stomped his foot on the ground and tried to force his body to

had

appeared towards his left. What followed the first disc was a second

landed on the left ring before he

***** was already upon it. The demon's face finally changed, but it was

powerful wave of

"Huuup!"

[Keiki style], ***** opted to

sword,

the moment the Baron-ranked demon was about to block the attack, using the last ring, ***** used the gravitational effect and changed the

"Puchi!"

down from above, creating a misty

it's not

look of complete

still be alive?

terrifying explosion, the

it possible? How could he still be

believe it. How could he? How could he suddenly accept the fact

accept such

understand who the person

could it be

thought he had lost more

his trembling lips, Kevin tried to calm himself

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

down were in vain. It just wasn't possible for him to

perhaps, be a recount of the

what he was seeing was what

the Baron ranked demon was about to block

"Haa…"

knew that it was impossible. He knew Ren's

knew that it was impossible for the

"Ugh..."

head started to

groan, Kevin's

head, Kevin supported his body by holding

the stinging sensation, the

"Argh..."

in his head

his eyes with his hand, it wasn't long before

"… What just happened?"

a couple of times, Kevin's eyes flashed with

at

because the black mist covering the name of the individual slowly started to

the side of his mouth, a subtle green

explosively shot towards the demon,

"This…"

weakly slumped back on his chair as he absentmindedly stared at

shoes… It really

mind was a mess.

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

why did he

more questions

a while, Kevin's eyes landed

that the

Flip—! Flip—!

book, Kevin quickly read through every part, without missing a single detail. Now that he knew that Ren was the person in the book, he wanted

"Hehe…"

pages, Kevin's face

would sometimes frown, oftentimes be

became. Though he was in the middle of a

multiple Baron-ranked demons and was getting along with the other

"Hah?"

a certain page. Frowning, Kevin leaned back slightly. The

long, his face turned

the story, he tried his

headmaster's face

of the bounty, I was forced to leave the human domain. It

ripples slightly. For a while, he didn't

Bang—!

"What?!"

the table

of his fists clenching

"Union!"

at the book. For them to do what they did to Ren... The veins

you sell out the one guy

when he had helped them, those bastards.

"Haa...haaa..."

of paper beside him,

read about Ren's plans regarding the Union did Kevin finally manage