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."

page of the book trembled as Kevin had

demon, three translucent

Bang—!

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

had expected

left. What followed the first disc

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

upon it.

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

"Huuup!"

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

sword, he swung

to block the attack, using the last ring, ***** used the gravitational effect

"Puchi!"

poured down from above, creating a misty rain of

not possible. I-…impossible.

Kevin moved back. A look of

he still

the

possible? How could he still

to believe it. How could he? How could he suddenly accept the fact that his friend, who he thought to be dead,

could he accept such

understand

else could it be

friend that he thought he had lost more than

lips, Kevin tried to calm

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

wasn't possible for him to remain cool-headed. The

perhaps, be a recount of

he was seeing was what had happened to Ren in the past,

demon was about to block the

"Haa…"

Kevin knew that it

that it was impossible for the

"Ugh..."

Kevin's head started to sting out of

a groan, Kevin's knees buckled

onto his head, Kevin supported his body by

sensation, the book started to glow

"Argh..."

head intensified as the

it wasn't long

"… What just happened?"

of times, Kevin's eyes flashed with

stared at the book

eyes opened widely. That was because the black mist covering the

subtle green glow

his body explosively shot towards the demon, like

"This…"

on his chair as he absentmindedly

shoes… It really

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

out that his best friend was alive, there was

to him, and why did he fake his death? How

questions

while, Kevin's eyes landed

knew that 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

"Hehe…"

Kevin's face

be taken

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

killed multiple Baron-ranked demons and was getting along

"Hah?"

a certain page. Frowning, Kevin leaned back slightly. The more he read, the

long, his face turned extremely

Ren recounted the story, he tried his best to

smile on the headmaster's face slowly started to fade as

Monolith and put a bounty on me. Because of the bounty, I was forced to leave the human domain. It is also the reason why I'm

the headmaster's eyes ripples slightly. For

Bang—!

"What?!"

the table

fists clenching tightly resounded

"Union!"

them to do what they did to Ren... The veins

How could you sell out the one guy

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

"Haa...haaa..."

piece of paper beside him, Kevin tried his best to calm

read about Ren's plans regarding the Union