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 trembled as Kevin had trouble

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

Bang—!

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

landed on the left ring before he propelled himself towards the right one, where

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

a low cry, a powerful wave of mana suddenly

"Huuup!"

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

sword,

using the last ring, ***** used

"Puchi!"

above, creating a

it's not possible. I-…impossible.

look of complete denial appeared

How can he still be alive? I-I watched him

the mourning, the

How could he still

didn't want to believe it. How could he? How could he suddenly accept the fact that his friend, who

accept such a sick

if he didn't understand who the person

it be but

thought he had lost more than a year

Kevin tried to calm

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

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

this, perhaps, be a recount of

seeing was what had happened to Ren in

the Baron ranked demon was about to block the

"Haa…"

at the sentence, Kevin knew that it was impossible. He knew Ren's

for the previous

"Ugh..."

Kevin's head

a groan, Kevin's knees buckled

head, Kevin supported his body by

the book

"Argh..."

in his head

his hand, it

"… What just happened?"

a couple of times,

at

opened widely. That was because the black mist

a subtle green

explosively shot towards the demon,

"This…"

chair as

It really is

head with both hands, Kevin's mind was a mess. He

that his best friend was alive, there was something else that Kevin

to him, and why did he fake his death? How did he even survive such a strong

and more questions flooded

while, Kevin's eyes landed on

the answer

Flip—! Flip—!

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 and how he

"Hehe…"

face would change from time to

frown, oftentimes be

read, the less his worries for his friend became. Though he was in the middle of a war, he seemed to be fine. In fact,

killed multiple Baron-ranked demons and

"Hah?"

leaned back slightly. The more he read, the bigger his

face turned

the story, he tried his best to suppress

the whole conversation, the smile on the headmaster's face

Because of the bounty, I was forced to leave

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

Bang—!

"What?!"

pounded the

fists clenching tightly

"Union!"

hoarse as he glared at the book. For them to do what they

How could you sell out the one guy that saved

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

"Haa...haaa..."

paper beside him, Kevin tried his best

regarding the Union did