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."

the page of the book trembled

of the demon, three translucent yellow

Bang—!

enter the demon's attack range, he stomped his foot on the ground and tried to

he had expected

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

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

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

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

"Huuup!"

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

sword, he

was no regular swing, however, as 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 again

"Puchi!"

down from above, creating

not possible. I-…impossible.

the book, Kevin moved back. A look

he still be alive? I-I watched

the mourning, the

it possible? How could he

he? How could he suddenly accept

accept such a

didn't understand

it be but

he had lost more than a

lips, Kevin tried

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

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

this, perhaps, be a recount

he was seeing was what had happened to Ren in the

ranked demon was

"Haa…"

Kevin knew that it was

was impossible for the previous Ren to kill

"Ugh..."

Kevin's head

groan,

Kevin supported his body by holding the top of

the book started to

"Argh..."

his head intensified as the

it wasn't long before the glow

"… What just happened?"

couple of times, Kevin's eyes

up, Kevin stared at the book with

because

a subtle green glow enveloped the

shot towards the demon, like a

"This…"

his chair

shoes… It really is

Kevin's mind was a mess. He couldn't make heads or

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

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

more questions

a while, Kevin's eyes landed on the

knew that the

Flip—! Flip—!

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

"Hehe…"

Kevin's face would

oftentimes be taken aback, and

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

had killed multiple Baron-ranked demons and was

"Hah?"

Kevin leaned back

his face turned

recounted the story, he tried his best to suppress his uneven

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

hands with the Monolith and put a bounty on me. Because of the bounty, I was forced to leave the human domain. It is also

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

Bang—!

"What?!"

the table

fists clenching

"Union!"

at the book. For them to do

you sell out the

he had helped them, those bastards.

"Haa...haaa..."

him, Kevin

regarding the Union