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

the demon, three translucent yellow rings appeared, revolving around his

Bang—!

his foot on the ground and tried to force his body to a halt. However, it wasn't enough. His momentum was

had expected

left. What followed the first disc was a second that stopped a bit further

the left ring before he propelled himself towards the right one, where

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

low cry, a powerful wave of mana suddenly burst out from his

"Huuup!"

the [Keiki style], *****

sword, he swung

was about to block the attack, using the last ring, ***** used the gravitational effect and changed the course

"Puchi!"

creating

it's not

Kevin moved back. A look of complete denial appeared on

can he still

terrifying explosion, the

it possible? How could he

could he suddenly accept the fact that

accept such

understand who the person in the book

could it

that he thought he had lost more than a year

trembling lips, Kevin

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

attempts to calm down were in vain. It just wasn't possible for him to remain cool-headed. The news was too

a recount of

he was seeing was what had happened to Ren in

the Baron ranked demon

"Haa…"

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

for the previous Ren to kill

"Ugh..."

Kevin's head

a groan, Kevin's knees

Kevin supported his body by holding

the book

"Argh..."

in his head intensified as the

eyes with his hand, it wasn't

"… What just happened?"

a couple of times, Kevin's eyes flashed

Kevin stared at the

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

of his mouth, a subtle green glow enveloped the bottom of Ren's

body explosively shot towards the demon, like a

"This…"

his chair as he

shoes… It really

was a

his best friend was alive, there

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

and more questions flooded Kevin's

Kevin's eyes

that the answer

Flip—! Flip—!

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

"Hehe…"

pages, Kevin's face would change

be taken aback, and sometimes

was in the middle of a war, he

had killed multiple Baron-ranked demons and was getting along

"Hah?"

paused on a certain page. Frowning, Kevin leaned

his face turned

Ren recounted the story, he tried his best to

on the headmaster's face slowly started to fade

of the bounty, I was forced to leave

forward, the headmaster's eyes ripples slightly. For

Bang—!

"What?!"

the

clenching

"Union!"

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

bastards! How could you sell out the one guy that saved

that when he had helped them, those bastards. Kevin's rage was

"Haa...haaa..."

piece of paper beside him, Kevin tried his best to

plans regarding