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."

book trembled as

three translucent yellow

Bang—!

range, he stomped his foot on the ground and tried to force his body to a halt. However, it wasn't enough.

had

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

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

upon it. The demon's face finally changed,

out a low cry, a powerful wave of mana suddenly burst

"Huuup!"

of the [Keiki style], *****

his sword, he swung

about to block the attack, using the last ring, ***** used the gravitational effect and changed the course of the sword, once again catching the

"Puchi!"

poured down from above, creating

it's not possible.

look of complete denial appeared

not possible. How can he still be

the mourning, the

was it possible? How could

he suddenly accept the fact that his friend, who

he accept such a sick

stupid if he didn't understand who the person in

else could it be but

that he thought he

trembling lips, Kevin tried to calm

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

to calm down were in vain. It just wasn't possible for him to remain cool-headed.

be a

Perhaps what he was seeing was what had happened

the Baron ranked demon was about to

"Haa…"

Kevin knew that it was impossible.

was impossible for the

"Ugh..."

then that Kevin's head started

out a groan, Kevin's

head, Kevin supported his body by holding the top of

the book started to

"Argh..."

pain in his head intensified

hand, it wasn't long before

"… What just happened?"

of times, Kevin's

stared at

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

a subtle green glow enveloped

towards the

"This…"

back on his chair as he

It really is

was a mess. He couldn't

of finding out that his best friend

he

more questions

eyes landed

that the answer lay somewhere

Flip—! Flip—!

flipping through the pages of the book, Kevin quickly read through every part, without missing a single detail. Now that he knew that Ren was the person in the book, he wanted to know more about what

"Hehe…"

the pages, Kevin's face would change from

would sometimes frown, oftentimes be taken aback, and sometimes

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

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

"Hah?"

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

long, his face turned

Ren recounted the story, he tried his best

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

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

slightly. For a

Bang—!

"What?!"

pounded the

fists clenching

"Union!"

For them to do what they did

How could you sell out the one guy that saved your

when he had helped them, those bastards. Kevin's rage was reaching a boiling

"Haa...haaa..."

beside him, Kevin tried his best to calm himself

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