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

three translucent yellow rings appeared,

Bang—!

he stomped his foot on the ground and tried to force his body to a

had expected

towards his left. What followed the

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

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

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

"Huuup!"

use of the [Keiki style], ***** opted

his sword, he swung

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

"Puchi!"

creating

not possible.

Kevin moved back. A look of complete denial appeared on his

he still be alive? I-I

the

How

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

he accept such a

stupid if he didn't understand

could it be

he thought he had lost

Kevin tried to calm himself

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

attempts to calm down were in vain. It just wasn't possible for him to

perhaps, be a recount of the

was seeing

Baron ranked demon was about to block

"Haa…"

knew that it was impossible. He knew

knew that it was impossible for the previous Ren

"Ugh..."

Kevin's head started to

a groan, Kevin's knees

his head, Kevin supported his body by holding the

the stinging sensation, the

"Argh..."

in his head intensified

his hand, it wasn't long before the glow

"… What just happened?"

of times, Kevin's eyes flashed

up, Kevin stared at

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

of his mouth, a subtle green glow

his body explosively shot towards the demon,

"This…"

chair as he absentmindedly

It really is

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

of finding out that his best friend was alive, there was something else that Kevin was

had happened to him, and why did he fake

and more questions flooded

Kevin's eyes landed on the

the answer lay

Flip—! Flip—!

detail. Now that he knew that Ren was the person in

"Hehe…"

Kevin's face would

would sometimes frown, oftentimes be taken aback, and sometimes

worries for his friend became. Though he was in the

demons and was getting

"Hah?"

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

his face turned

Ren recounted the story, he tried his best to suppress

face slowly started to fade as his

Monolith and put a bounty on me. Because of the bounty, I was forced to leave the

ripples slightly. For a while, he

Bang—!

"What?!"

pounded the table

of his fists clenching tightly

"Union!"

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

sell out the one guy that saved

had helped them, those bastards. Kevin's rage

"Haa...haaa..."

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

plans regarding the Union did Kevin