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."

holding onto the page of the book trembled as Kevin had trouble

demon, three translucent yellow rings appeared,

Bang—!

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

he had expected

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

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

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

cry, a powerful wave of mana suddenly

"Huuup!"

style], ***** opted to apply a

sword, he swung

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

"Puchi!"

from above, creating a misty

it's not possible.

Kevin moved back. A look of complete

can he still be

terrifying explosion, the mourning,

How

he didn't want to believe it. How could he? How could he suddenly accept the fact

could he accept such a sick

if he didn't understand who the person in the

could it be

he had

trembling lips, Kevin tried

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

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

perhaps, be a recount

this could be a possibility. Perhaps what he was seeing was what had happened to Ren

ranked demon was about to block

"Haa…"

Kevin knew that it was impossible.

for the previous Ren

"Ugh..."

was then that Kevin's head started

a groan, Kevin's knees

head, Kevin supported his body by holding the

sensation, the book started to glow

"Argh..."

his head

his hand, it wasn't long before the

"… What just happened?"

of times,

up, Kevin stared at the book with slight

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

the side of his mouth, a subtle

explosively shot towards the

"This…"

his chair as he absentmindedly stared at

shoes… It

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

from the shock and relief of finding out that his best

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

questions flooded

a while, Kevin's eyes landed on the

knew that the answer lay somewhere

Flip—! Flip—!

detail. Now that he knew that Ren was the person in the book, he wanted to know more

"Hehe…"

the pages, Kevin's face would

oftentimes be taken aback, and sometimes

he read, the less his worries for his friend became. Though he was in the middle of a war, he seemed to be fine. In

and

"Hah?"

page. Frowning, Kevin leaned back slightly. The

face turned extremely

he tried his best to

the smile on the headmaster's face slowly started

the bounty, I was forced to leave the

the headmaster's eyes ripples slightly. For a while,

Bang—!

"What?!"

pounded the table

fists clenching tightly

"Union!"

them to do what they did to Ren... The veins on Kevin's

you sell out the one guy that

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

"Haa...haaa..."

of paper beside him, Kevin tried his best

read about Ren's plans regarding the Union did