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

front of the demon, three translucent yellow rings appeared, revolving around

Bang—!

the ground and tried to force his

he had

What followed the first disc was a second that stopped a

the air, ***** softly landed on the left ring before he propelled himself towards the right one, where he repeated

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

cry, a powerful wave of mana suddenly burst

"Huuup!"

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

sword,

no regular swing, however, as the moment the Baron-ranked demon was about to block the attack, using the last ring, ***** used the gravitational effect

"Puchi!"

above, creating a misty rain

not

look of complete denial

possible. How can he still

the mourning,

possible? How could

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

could he accept such

he didn't understand who the

it be but

that he thought he had lost more than a year

Kevin tried

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

just wasn't possible for

a recount of the

Perhaps what he was seeing was what had

moment the Baron ranked demon was about to

"Haa…"

Kevin knew that it was impossible.

impossible for the previous Ren

"Ugh..."

then that Kevin's head started to

a groan, Kevin's knees

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

sensation, the book started to

"Argh..."

head intensified as

his eyes with his hand, it wasn't

"… What just happened?"

couple of times, Kevin's eyes flashed with

Kevin stared at the book

because the black mist covering the name of the individual slowly

a subtle green glow enveloped the bottom

towards the demon, like

"This…"

his chair as he absentmindedly

shoes… It

was a mess. He couldn't make heads or tails of the

shock and relief of finding out that his best friend was alive, there was something else that Kevin was curious

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

questions

while, Kevin's eyes landed

knew that the

Flip—! Flip—!

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

"Hehe…"

Kevin's face would change from

sometimes frown, oftentimes be taken aback, and

his friend became. Though he was in the middle of a war, he seemed

had killed multiple Baron-ranked demons and was

"Hah?"

on a certain page. Frowning, Kevin leaned

long, his face

Ren recounted the story, he tried his best to

smile on the headmaster's face slowly started to

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

slightly. For

Bang—!

"What?!"

pounded the table

of his fists clenching tightly resounded in

"Union!"

turned hoarse as he glared at the book. For them to

bastards! How could you sell out the one guy that saved

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

"Haa...haaa..."

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

about Ren's plans regarding the Union did Kevin finally