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."

holding onto the page of the book trembled as Kevin had trouble

in front of the demon, three translucent yellow

Bang—!

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

had

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

ring before he propelled himself towards the right one,

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

low cry, a powerful wave of mana suddenly

"Huuup!"

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

his sword, he

the attack, using the last ring, ***** used the gravitational

"Puchi!"

creating

it's not possible.

look of

not possible. How can he still be alive? I-I watched

explosion, the mourning,

was it possible? How could he

could he? How could he suddenly

accept

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

it be but

he thought he had lost

lips, Kevin

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

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

be a recount

Perhaps what he was seeing was what had happened to

Baron ranked demon was about to block the

"Haa…"

it was impossible. He knew Ren's

knew that it was impossible for the previous Ren to

"Ugh..."

then that Kevin's head started to sting out

groan,

his head, Kevin supported his body by holding the

the book started

"Argh..."

head intensified

hand, it wasn't long before the

"… What just happened?"

times, Kevin's eyes flashed

up, Kevin stared at the book with slight

That was because the black mist covering

a subtle green glow enveloped the bottom

shot towards the demon, like a

"This…"

his chair as he absentmindedly stared at

shoes… It really is

a mess. He

his best

in the world had happened to him, and why did he fake his death? How did he

questions flooded

eyes landed

knew that the answer

Flip—! Flip—!

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

"Hehe…"

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

be taken aback,

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

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

"Hah?"

certain page. Frowning, Kevin leaned back

face turned extremely

story, he tried his

conversation, the smile on the headmaster's face slowly started to fade as his

Because of the bounty, I was forced to leave the human

eyes ripples slightly. For a

Bang—!

"What?!"

the table

sound of his fists clenching

"Union!"

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

How could you sell out the one guy

to betray Ren like that when he had helped them, those

"Haa...haaa..."

beside him, Kevin tried

plans regarding the