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

the demon, three translucent yellow rings appeared, revolving around

Bang—!

ground and tried to

he had expected

his left. What followed the

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

react, ***** was already upon it. The demon's face finally

out a low cry, a powerful wave of mana suddenly

"Huuup!"

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

his sword, he swung

using the last ring, ***** used the gravitational effect and changed

"Puchi!"

creating a

it's not

back. A look of complete denial appeared on his

possible. How can he still be alive? I-I watched him

the mourning,

it possible? How could he still

No, he didn't want to believe it. How could he? How could he suddenly accept the fact that his friend, who he thought to

he accept such a

if he didn't understand

could it be but

that he thought he had lost more

Kevin tried

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

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

this, perhaps, be a recount

he was seeing was what had

ranked demon was about to

"Haa…"

knew that it

the previous Ren to kill a

"Ugh..."

then that Kevin's head started to sting out of

out a groan,

body by holding the top of his

the stinging sensation, the

"Argh..."

head intensified

it wasn't long before the

"… What just happened?"

times, Kevin's eyes flashed

up, Kevin stared at the

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

a subtle green glow

his body explosively shot towards

"This…"

back on his chair as he

It

both hands, Kevin's mind was a mess.

of finding out that his best friend was alive, there was

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

more questions flooded

while, Kevin's eyes

knew that the answer

Flip—! Flip—!

quickly read through every part, without missing a single detail. Now that he knew that Ren was the person in the book,

"Hehe…"

Kevin's face would change from

would sometimes frown, oftentimes be taken aback, and sometimes

in the middle

killed multiple Baron-ranked demons and was

"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 to

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

put a bounty on me. Because of the bounty, I was forced to leave the human domain. It

eyes ripples slightly.

Bang—!

"What?!"

pounded the table

fists clenching tightly resounded in the

"Union!"

to do what they did to Ren...

could you sell out the one guy that saved your

that when he had helped them, those

"Haa...haaa..."

paper beside him, Kevin tried his

Ren's plans regarding the Union did Kevin finally