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 keeping himself

three translucent

Bang—!

foot on the ground and tried to force his body to a halt.

he had

a disc appeared towards his left. What followed the first disc was a second that stopped a bit further on the

landed on the left ring before he

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

powerful wave of mana suddenly burst

"Huuup!"

of the [Keiki style], ***** opted to apply

his 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

"Puchi!"

poured down from above, creating a

it's not

book, Kevin moved back. A look of complete denial appeared

not possible. How can he still be

terrifying explosion, the mourning, the

it possible? How could

want to believe it. How could he? How could he

could he accept such

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

else could it be

he had

Kevin

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

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

this, perhaps, be a recount of

be a possibility. Perhaps what he was seeing was what had

ranked demon was about

"Haa…"

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

for the previous Ren to kill a Baron-ranked

"Ugh..."

head started to sting out of

groan, Kevin's knees

onto his head, Kevin supported his body by holding the

the stinging sensation, the book started to glow

"Argh..."

pain in his head intensified as the

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

"… What just happened?"

of times, Kevin's eyes flashed with

up, Kevin stared at the

opened widely. That was because the black mist

subtle green glow enveloped

towards

"This…"

back on his chair as he absentmindedly

shoes… It really is

mind was a mess. He couldn't make heads

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

why did he fake his death? How did

more questions

eyes landed on

that the answer

Flip—! Flip—!

book, Kevin quickly read through every part, without missing a single detail. Now that he knew that Ren was

"Hehe…"

through the pages, Kevin's face would change

sometimes frown, oftentimes be taken aback,

more he read, the less his worries for his friend became. Though he was in the

and was getting along with

"Hah?"

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

face turned

the story, he tried

the whole conversation, the smile on the headmaster's face slowly started to

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

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

Bang—!

"What?!"

pounded the

his fists clenching tightly resounded

"Union!"

at the book. For them to do what they did to Ren... The

bastards! How could you sell out the one guy

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

"Haa...haaa..."

paper beside him,

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