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."

book trembled as Kevin had

in front of the demon, three translucent

Bang—!

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

had

the first disc was a second that

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

it. The demon's face finally changed, but it was too

a powerful wave of mana suddenly burst out from

"Huuup!"

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

sword,

attack, using the last ring, ***** used the gravitational effect and changed the course of the sword, once again catching the

"Puchi!"

poured down from above, creating

not

the book, Kevin moved back. A look of

possible. How can he still be alive? I-I watched him

the mourning, the

was it possible? How could

want to believe it. How could he? How could he suddenly accept the

he accept such a

be stupid if he didn't understand who the person in

it be

that he thought he had lost more than a

his 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

be a

he was seeing was

demon was

"Haa…"

Kevin knew that it was impossible. He knew Ren's real

the previous Ren to kill

"Ugh..."

then that Kevin's head

groan, Kevin's

onto his head, Kevin supported his body by holding the top

the stinging sensation, the book started to glow

"Argh..."

his head intensified as the book

with his hand, it

"… What just happened?"

couple of times, Kevin's eyes flashed

at the

because

his mouth, a subtle green glow enveloped the

after, his body explosively shot towards the demon, like a sharp

"This…"

slumped back on his chair as he

It really is

was a mess. He couldn't make heads

best friend was alive, there was something else that Kevin was curious

what in the world had happened to him, and why did he fake his

questions

eyes landed on

the

Flip—! Flip—!

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

"Hehe…"

the pages, Kevin's face would

oftentimes be taken

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 fact, he seemed

and was

"Hah?"

certain page. Frowning, Kevin leaned back

long, his face turned

he tried his

face slowly

hands with the Monolith and put a bounty on me. Because of the bounty, I was forced to leave the human domain. It is also

slightly. For

Bang—!

"What?!"

pounded the table

clenching

"Union!"

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

out the

Ren like that when he had helped

"Haa...haaa..."

a piece of paper beside him, Kevin tried his

Ren's plans regarding the Union