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."

of the book trembled as Kevin had

front of the demon, three translucent yellow rings appeared, revolving around

Bang—!

to enter the demon's attack range, he stomped his foot on the ground and tried to force his body to a halt. However, it wasn't enough. His momentum was still too

had expected

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

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

it. The

cry, a powerful wave of

"Huuup!"

style], *****

his sword, he

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

"Puchi!"

creating a

it's not

back. A look

can he still be alive? I-I

terrifying explosion, the mourning, the

possible? How could he still

How could he? How could he suddenly accept the fact

he accept such a

didn't understand who

could it be but

that he thought he had lost more

his trembling lips, Kevin tried to calm

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

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

this, perhaps, be a recount of

was seeing was what had happened to Ren in the past,

Baron ranked demon was

"Haa…"

the sentence, Kevin knew that it was impossible.

impossible for the previous Ren to kill

"Ugh..."

head started to sting out of

a groan, Kevin's knees buckled

body

stinging sensation, the book started to glow

"Argh..."

pain in his head intensified

with his hand, it wasn't long

"… What just happened?"

a couple of times, Kevin's eyes

up, Kevin stared at the book with slight

eyes landed on the book, Kevin's eyes opened widely. That was because

his mouth, a subtle

his body explosively shot towards the demon,

"This…"

weakly slumped back on his chair

shoes… It

a mess. He couldn't make heads or tails

that his best friend

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

and more questions flooded

a while, Kevin's eyes landed

knew that the

Flip—! Flip—!

a single detail. Now that he knew that Ren was the person

"Hehe…"

face would change from time

would sometimes frown, oftentimes be taken aback, and sometimes

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

demons and

"Hah?"

Kevin leaned back slightly.

long, his face turned extremely

the story, he tried his best to suppress his

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

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

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

Bang—!

"What?!"

pounded the

clenching

"Union!"

the book. For them to do what they did

How could you sell out the

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

"Haa...haaa..."

paper beside him, Kevin tried his best to

about Ren's plans regarding the Union did Kevin