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."

hand holding onto the page of the book

three translucent yellow rings appeared,

Bang—!

ground and tried to force his body to a halt. However, it

he had

left. What followed the first disc was

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

already upon it. The demon's

a powerful wave of mana suddenly burst out from his

"Huuup!"

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

sword, he

as the moment the Baron-ranked demon was about to block the attack, using the last ring, ***** used the gravitational effect and changed the course of the sword, once

"Puchi!"

from above, creating a misty

not possible. I-…impossible.

the book, Kevin moved back. A look of complete denial appeared on

he still be alive? I-I watched

terrifying explosion, the

it possible? How could he still

How could he suddenly accept the fact that his

he accept such

understand who

could it be but

that he thought he

lips, Kevin

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

possible for him to remain

this, perhaps, be a recount

what he was seeing was what

ranked demon was about to block

"Haa…"

sentence, Kevin knew that it was impossible. He

that it was impossible for the previous

"Ugh..."

head started

out a groan, Kevin's knees

his head, Kevin supported his body by holding the

stinging sensation, the

"Argh..."

head intensified

with his hand, it wasn't long

"… What just happened?"

a couple of times, Kevin's eyes flashed with

at the book

widely. That was because the black mist covering the name of the

his mouth, a subtle green glow enveloped the bottom of

his body explosively shot towards the demon, like

"This…"

his chair as he absentmindedly

shoes… It really is

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

his best friend was alive, there was something

why did he fake his death? How did he even survive such

questions

a while, Kevin's eyes landed on the

the

Flip—! Flip—!

knew that Ren was the person in the book, he wanted to know more about what happened to him and how he

"Hehe…"

the pages, Kevin's face

would sometimes frown, oftentimes be taken aback, and sometimes

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

killed multiple Baron-ranked demons and was getting along with

"Hah?"

a certain page. Frowning, Kevin leaned

long, his face turned

tried

face

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

slightly. For a while,

Bang—!

"What?!"

the table

fists clenching tightly resounded in

"Union!"

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

bastards! How could you sell out the one

he had helped them, those bastards. Kevin's rage was reaching a boiling

"Haa...haaa..."

beside him, Kevin tried his best to

when he read about Ren's plans regarding the