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

translucent yellow

Bang—!

stomped his foot on the ground and tried to force

he had

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

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

it. The demon's

a powerful wave of mana suddenly burst out

"Huuup!"

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

sword, he swung

the moment the Baron-ranked demon was about to block the attack, using the last ring, ***** used the gravitational effect and changed the course of the sword, once

"Puchi!"

above, creating a

it's not possible. I-…impossible.

the book, Kevin moved back. A look

not possible. How can he still be alive?

the

How

he suddenly accept the fact that his friend, who he thought to be dead, was still

could he accept such a sick

if he didn't understand who the

could it

thought he had lost more

trembling lips, Kevin

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

calm down were in vain. It just wasn't possible

a recount

could be a possibility. Perhaps what he was seeing was what had happened to Ren in the past,

ranked demon was about to block

"Haa…"

it

that it was impossible for the previous Ren to kill a Baron-ranked

"Ugh..."

was then that Kevin's head started to

groan, Kevin's knees buckled

Kevin supported his body by holding the top of

stinging sensation, the book

"Argh..."

pain in his head intensified as the

his hand, it wasn't long before the

"… What just happened?"

couple of times, Kevin's eyes

up, Kevin stared at the book with

widely. That was because the black mist covering the name of the individual slowly

a subtle green glow enveloped the bottom of Ren's

his body explosively shot towards the demon, like a sharp

"This…"

chair as he absentmindedly stared at

It really

a mess. He couldn't

of finding out that his best friend was alive, there was something else that Kevin

did he fake his death? How did he even survive such a strong

and more questions flooded

a while, Kevin's eyes landed on the

that the answer

Flip—! Flip—!

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

"Hehe…"

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

would sometimes frown, oftentimes be taken aback, and

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

Baron-ranked demons and was getting

"Hah?"

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

face turned

tried his best to

face slowly started to fade as his brows knit

joined hands with the Monolith and put a bounty on me. Because of the bounty, I was forced

forward, the headmaster's eyes ripples slightly. For

Bang—!

"What?!"

pounded the table

of his fists clenching tightly resounded in the

"Union!"

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

out

that when he had helped them, those

"Haa...haaa..."

paper beside him, Kevin tried his

read about Ren's plans regarding the Union did Kevin