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."

page of the book trembled as Kevin

of the demon, three translucent yellow rings appeared,

Bang—!

and tried to

had

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

left ring before

could react, ***** was already upon it.

out a low cry, a powerful wave

"Huuup!"

than making use of the [Keiki style], ***** opted to

his sword,

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

"Puchi!"

above, creating a misty

it's not possible. I-…impossible.

book, Kevin moved back. A look of complete denial

still be alive?

explosion, the mourning, the

possible? How could he still

it. How could he? How could he suddenly accept the fact that his friend, who he thought to

accept such a sick

be stupid if he didn't understand

it

thought he had lost more than

trembling lips, Kevin tried to calm

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

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

perhaps, be a

could be a possibility. Perhaps what he was seeing was what had happened to Ren

Baron ranked demon was

"Haa…"

knew that it was impossible. He knew Ren's real

it was impossible for the previous Ren

"Ugh..."

Kevin's head started to sting out

out a groan, Kevin's knees

body by

the book

"Argh..."

his head

with his hand, it wasn't long before the

"… What just happened?"

a couple of times, Kevin's eyes flashed with

up, Kevin stared at the book with

because the black mist covering the name of the individual slowly

a subtle green glow enveloped the bottom

explosively shot towards the

"This…"

his chair as he absentmindedly

shoes… It

a mess. He couldn't make heads or

best

he fake

more questions flooded Kevin's

Kevin's eyes

knew that the answer lay

Flip—! Flip—!

again flipping through the pages of the book, Kevin quickly read through every part, without missing a single detail. Now that he knew

"Hehe…"

through the pages, Kevin's face would

be taken

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

and

"Hah?"

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

his face turned extremely

the story, he tried his best

headmaster's face slowly started to

bounty,

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

Bang—!

"What?!"

the table

clenching tightly resounded

"Union!"

them to do what they did to Ren... The veins on

out the one guy that saved

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

"Haa...haaa..."

him, Kevin tried his best to calm

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