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

three translucent yellow rings appeared, revolving

Bang—!

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

had

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

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

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

low cry, a powerful wave of mana suddenly burst out from

"Huuup!"

[Keiki style], ***** opted to apply a

sword, he

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

"Puchi!"

creating a misty rain

not possible.

back. A look of complete denial

not possible. How can he still be

the mourning, the

How could he

he? How could he suddenly accept the fact that his friend, who he thought to be dead,

accept such a sick

stupid if he didn't understand who the

could it be

he had lost

trembling lips, Kevin

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

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

perhaps, be a

was seeing was what had happened to Ren

demon was about to block the

"Haa…"

knew that it was impossible. He knew

was impossible for the previous Ren to

"Ugh..."

that Kevin's head started

groan, Kevin's knees buckled

his head, Kevin supported his body by holding

stinging sensation, the book started to glow

"Argh..."

head intensified

his hand, it wasn't

"… What just happened?"

times, Kevin's eyes flashed with

at

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

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

explosively shot towards the demon,

"This…"

chair as he absentmindedly stared at

It really

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

relief of finding out that his best friend

he fake his death? How did he even survive such

questions flooded

while, Kevin's eyes landed on

that the answer lay

Flip—! Flip—!

knew that Ren was the person in the book, he wanted to

"Hehe…"

through the pages, Kevin's face would change from

would sometimes frown, oftentimes be taken aback, and sometimes

less his worries for his friend became. Though he was in the middle of a war, he seemed

multiple Baron-ranked demons and was getting along with the other

"Hah?"

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

his face turned extremely

recounted the story, he tried his best to

the smile on the headmaster's face slowly

and put a bounty on me. Because of the bounty, I was forced to leave

ripples slightly. For a while, he didn't

Bang—!

"What?!"

the

clenching tightly resounded in

"Union!"

the book. For them to do what they did to

How could you sell out the one guy

that when he had helped

"Haa...haaa..."

of paper beside him, Kevin tried his

plans regarding the Union did Kevin finally manage to