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 trouble

the demon, three translucent yellow

Bang—!

his foot on the ground and

he had

a disc appeared towards his left. What followed the

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

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

cry, a powerful wave of mana suddenly burst

"Huuup!"

style], *****

his sword, he

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

"Puchi!"

creating a misty rain

it's not possible. I-…impossible.

back. A look of complete denial appeared on his

he still be alive?

the mourning,

possible? How could he

How could he? How could he suddenly accept

accept

be stupid if he didn't understand

could it be but

that he thought he had lost

trembling lips, Kevin tried to calm himself

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

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

this, perhaps, be a

seeing was what had

moment the Baron ranked demon was about to

"Haa…"

sentence, Kevin knew that it

that it was impossible for the previous

"Ugh..."

then that Kevin's head started to

a groan, Kevin's

head, Kevin supported his body

sensation, the book started

"Argh..."

in his head intensified

hand, it

"… What just happened?"

of times,

at the

widely. That was because the

his mouth, a subtle green glow enveloped the bottom of

shot towards the demon,

"This…"

his chair as he absentmindedly stared at the

shoes… It really

both hands, Kevin's mind was a

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

and why did he fake

and more questions

Kevin's eyes landed on

knew that the answer lay

Flip—! Flip—!

through every part, without missing a single detail. Now that he knew that Ren was the person in the

"Hehe…"

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

be taken aback, and sometimes

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

and was getting along with the

"Hah?"

on a certain page. Frowning, Kevin leaned back slightly. The more he read, the

face turned extremely

he tried his

on the headmaster's face slowly

on me. Because of the bounty, I was forced to leave the human domain. It is also the reason why I'm

headmaster's eyes ripples slightly. For a while,

Bang—!

"What?!"

the table

sound of his fists clenching tightly resounded in the

"Union!"

to do what

out the one guy that

when he had helped them, those bastards.

"Haa...haaa..."

paper beside him,

he read about Ren's plans regarding the Union did Kevin finally