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 book trembled as Kevin had trouble

in front of the demon, three translucent

Bang—!

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

had

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

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

the demon could react, ***** was already upon it. The demon's

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

"Huuup!"

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

his sword, he swung

moment the Baron-ranked demon was about to block the attack, using the last ring,

"Puchi!"

above, creating a misty

it's not possible.

Kevin moved back. A look of complete

can he still be alive? I-I watched him

terrifying explosion, the

How could he still

it. No, he didn't want to believe it. How could he? How could he suddenly accept the fact that his friend,

he accept such a

stupid if he didn't understand who the

could it be but

friend that he thought he had lost more than

lips, Kevin tried

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

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

perhaps, be a recount

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

the Baron ranked demon

"Haa…"

it was impossible. He knew

impossible for the previous Ren to kill a Baron-ranked

"Ugh..."

that Kevin's head started to

a groan, Kevin's knees

supported his body

sensation, the book

"Argh..."

pain in his head

hand, it wasn't long before the

"… What just happened?"

couple of times,

Kevin stared at

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

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

his body explosively shot towards

"This…"

on his chair as he absentmindedly stared at

It

Kevin's mind was a mess.

his best friend was alive, there was something else

happened to him, and why did he fake

more questions flooded Kevin's

a while, Kevin's eyes landed on the

the

Flip—! Flip—!

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

"Hehe…"

Kevin's face would change from time to

frown, oftentimes be taken aback, and sometimes

in the middle of a

had killed multiple Baron-ranked demons and was getting along with the other

"Hah?"

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

long, his face turned

Ren recounted the story, he tried his best to

smile on the headmaster's face slowly started to

on me. Because of the bounty, I was forced to leave the human domain. It is also the reason why

ripples slightly. For a while,

Bang—!

"What?!"

pounded the

of his fists clenching

"Union!"

book. For them to do what they did to

How could you sell out

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

"Haa...haaa..."

paper beside him, Kevin tried his best to calm himself

Ren's plans regarding the Union did Kevin finally