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."

page of the book trembled

demon, three translucent yellow rings appeared, revolving around

Bang—!

attack range, he stomped his foot on the ground and tried to

he had

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 he

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

wave of mana suddenly burst

"Huuup!"

style], ***** opted to apply a simpler

sword, he swung

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 the course of the

"Puchi!"

from above, creating a

it's not

book, Kevin moved back. A look

How can he still be

explosion, the mourning,

possible? How could he still be

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

he accept such a

stupid if he didn't understand who the person in the book

else could it be but

that he thought he had lost more than

trembling lips, Kevin tried

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

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

a

was seeing was what

Baron ranked demon was about to block

"Haa…"

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

for the previous

"Ugh..."

was then that Kevin's head started

out a groan,

head, Kevin supported his body by holding the

the stinging sensation, the book started to

"Argh..."

his head intensified as

it wasn't long before the glow

"… What just happened?"

a couple of times, Kevin's

stared at the book with slight

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

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

after, his body explosively shot towards the demon, like a

"This…"

slumped back on his chair as he absentmindedly stared at

shoes… It really is

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

of finding out that his best friend was alive, there was something else

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

more questions flooded

while, Kevin's eyes landed on

the answer lay

Flip—! Flip—!

that he knew that

"Hehe…"

Kevin's face would change from time

would sometimes frown, oftentimes be taken

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

killed multiple Baron-ranked demons and

"Hah?"

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

face turned

the story, he tried his

headmaster's face slowly started to fade as his brows

the bounty, I was forced to leave the human

headmaster's eyes ripples slightly.

Bang—!

"What?!"

the

sound of his fists clenching tightly resounded in

"Union!"

voice turned hoarse as he glared at the book. For them to do what they did to Ren... The veins on Kevin's forehead

bastards! How could you sell out the one guy

betray Ren like that when he had helped them, those bastards.

"Haa...haaa..."

piece of paper beside him, Kevin tried his best

he read about Ren's plans regarding the Union