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

translucent yellow rings appeared,

Bang—!

the demon's attack range, he stomped his foot on the ground and tried to force his body to a halt.

he had

forward, a disc appeared towards his left. What followed the first disc was a second that stopped a bit

in the air, ***** softly landed on the left ring before he propelled himself towards

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

low cry, a powerful wave of mana suddenly burst

"Huuup!"

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

sword, he swung

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

"Puchi!"

poured down from above, creating a misty rain of

not possible. I-…impossible.

the book, Kevin moved back. A look of complete denial appeared on his

still

explosion, the mourning, the

it possible? How

it. How could he? How could he suddenly accept

he accept such

didn't understand who the person in

else could it be but

he thought he had lost more

trembling lips, Kevin tried to calm

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

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

this, perhaps, be a recount of

Perhaps what he was seeing was what had happened to Ren in the

the Baron ranked demon was about to

"Haa…"

knew that it was

it was impossible for the previous Ren to kill a Baron-ranked

"Ugh..."

Kevin's head started

groan, Kevin's

his body

the book

"Argh..."

his head intensified as the book

with his hand, it wasn't long before

"… What just happened?"

a couple of times,

Kevin stared at the book with slight

the book, Kevin's eyes opened widely. That was because the black mist covering

a subtle green

after, his body explosively shot towards the

"This…"

back on his chair as he absentmindedly stared at the

It really is

was a mess. He couldn't

the shock and relief of finding out that his best friend was alive, there

the world had happened to him, and why did he fake his death? How did he even survive such a

and more questions flooded Kevin's

a while, Kevin's eyes landed on

the answer

Flip—! Flip—!

of the 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 to know more about what happened to him and how he was

"Hehe…"

face would change from time to

frown, oftentimes be taken aback,

friend became. Though he was in the middle of a war, he seemed to be fine. In

had killed multiple Baron-ranked demons and was

"Hah?"

hand paused on a certain page. Frowning, Kevin leaned back slightly. The more he read, the bigger his

face turned

recounted the story, he tried his

headmaster's face slowly started to fade as

Monolith and put a bounty on me. Because of the bounty, I was forced to leave

eyes ripples slightly. For a while,

Bang—!

"What?!"

pounded the table

of his fists clenching tightly

"Union!"

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

sell out the one

them to betray Ren like that when he had helped them,

"Haa...haaa..."

beside him, Kevin tried his

plans regarding the Union did Kevin finally manage