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 page of the book trembled as Kevin had trouble keeping

demon, three translucent yellow rings appeared,

Bang—!

was about to enter the demon's attack range, he stomped his foot on the ground and tried to force his body to a halt. However, it

had

appeared towards his left. What followed the first disc was a second that stopped a

before

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

a powerful wave of mana suddenly burst out from his

"Huuup!"

than making use of the [Keiki style], ***** opted to apply a simpler

sword, he swung

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 again catching the

"Puchi!"

above, creating a misty rain

it's not possible. I-…impossible.

A look of complete denial appeared on

still

explosion, the

possible? How could he still

How could he? How could he suddenly

accept such a

understand who the person in

could it be

he thought he had lost more than a

Kevin

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

were in vain. It just wasn't possible

perhaps, be a recount

seeing was what

ranked demon was about

"Haa…"

at the sentence, Kevin knew that it

for the previous Ren to kill a Baron-ranked

"Ugh..."

head started to sting out of

out a groan,

Kevin supported his body by holding the top of

the stinging sensation, the book started to

"Argh..."

his head intensified as the

his hand, it wasn't long

"… What just happened?"

times, Kevin's

at the book with slight

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

side of his mouth, a subtle green glow

his body explosively shot towards

"This…"

back on his chair

shoes… It really

mind was a mess.

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

in the world had happened to him, and why did he fake his

questions flooded Kevin's

eyes

that the answer lay

Flip—! Flip—!

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 about what happened to him

"Hehe…"

through the pages, Kevin's face

sometimes frown, oftentimes be taken aback,

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

and was getting along with the

"Hah?"

paused on a certain page. Frowning, Kevin leaned back slightly. The more

long, his face

story, he tried

whole conversation, the smile on the headmaster's face slowly started to fade

bounty, I was forced to leave the human domain. It is also

eyes ripples slightly. For

Bang—!

"What?!"

the table

of his fists clenching tightly resounded in the

"Union!"

as he glared at the book. For them to do what they did to Ren... The veins on

How could you sell out

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

"Haa...haaa..."

beside him, Kevin

plans regarding the Union did Kevin finally