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."

book trembled as Kevin

the demon, three translucent yellow rings appeared, revolving around his

Bang—!

attack range, he stomped his foot on the ground and tried to force his body to a halt. However, it wasn't enough.

had expected

his finger forward, a disc appeared towards his left. What followed the

softly landed on the left ring before he propelled himself towards

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

a powerful wave of mana suddenly burst

"Huuup!"

style], ***** opted to

his sword, he swung

regular swing, however, as the moment the Baron-ranked demon was about to block the attack, using the last ring, ***** used the gravitational effect and changed

"Puchi!"

creating

not possible. I-…impossible.

Kevin moved back. A look of complete denial appeared on

still be

terrifying explosion, the mourning,

How could he still be

he didn't want to believe it. How could he? How could he suddenly accept the

he accept

be stupid if he didn't understand who the

could it be but

friend that he thought he had lost

Kevin tried to

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

down were in vain. It just wasn't possible for him to remain cool-headed. The news

perhaps, be a recount of

was seeing was what had happened

the Baron ranked demon was

"Haa…"

knew that it was impossible. He knew Ren's real

it was impossible for the previous

"Ugh..."

Kevin's head started to

a groan,

his body by holding the top

the

"Argh..."

in his head intensified

eyes with his hand, it wasn't long before the glow

"… What just happened?"

a couple of times,

stared at the book with slight

eyes landed on the book, Kevin's eyes opened widely. That was because the black

the side of his mouth, a subtle green glow enveloped the bottom

towards the demon, like a

"This…"

his chair as he absentmindedly stared at the

It really is

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

finding out that his best friend was

to him, and why did he fake

more questions flooded

a while, Kevin's eyes

knew that the

Flip—! Flip—!

of 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

"Hehe…"

the pages, Kevin's face would change from time to

oftentimes be taken aback, and sometimes

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

demons and

"Hah?"

leaned back slightly. The more he read, the

face turned

recounted the story, he tried his best to suppress

conversation, the smile on the headmaster's face slowly started to fade as his brows

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

headmaster's eyes ripples slightly. For a while, he didn't

Bang—!

"What?!"

pounded the table

sound of his fists clenching tightly

"Union!"

the book. For them to do what they did

sell out the one guy that saved your

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

"Haa...haaa..."

up a piece of paper beside him, Kevin tried his best to

when he read about Ren's plans regarding the