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 book trembled as Kevin had trouble keeping himself

front of the demon, three translucent

Bang—!

to enter the demon's attack range, he stomped his foot on the ground and tried to force his body to a halt. However, it wasn't enough. His momentum was

had expected

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

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

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

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

"Huuup!"

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

his sword,

to block the attack, using the

"Puchi!"

creating a misty rain

not possible. I-…impossible.

look of complete

can he still be alive?

the

How could he still be

he suddenly accept the fact that his friend, who he

he accept such

understand who the person in the book

it

that he thought he had lost more than

lips, Kevin tried to calm himself

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

wasn't possible for him to remain cool-headed. The

perhaps, be a recount of

he was seeing was what had happened to Ren in the

ranked demon was

"Haa…"

it

impossible for the previous Ren to kill

"Ugh..."

Kevin's head started to sting out

a groan, Kevin's knees buckled

head, Kevin supported his body by holding the

stinging sensation, the

"Argh..."

pain in his head intensified as the

hand, it wasn't long before the

"… What just happened?"

of times, Kevin's

up, Kevin stared at the book

That was because the black

subtle green glow enveloped the bottom

his body explosively shot towards the demon, like a sharp

"This…"

chair as he absentmindedly stared

shoes… It really

mind was a mess. He couldn't

out that his best friend was alive, there was something else

happened to him, and why did he fake his death? How did he even survive such

more questions

while, Kevin's eyes

the answer

Flip—! Flip—!

knew that Ren was the person in the book, he wanted to know more about what happened to

"Hehe…"

the pages, Kevin's face would change from

frown, oftentimes be taken aback,

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

killed multiple Baron-ranked demons and was getting along with

"Hah?"

page. Frowning, Kevin leaned back slightly. The more he

face

he tried his best

face slowly started to fade as his brows knit

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

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

Bang—!

"What?!"

the table

his fists clenching tightly resounded in the

"Union!"

them to do

out

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

"Haa...haaa..."

piece of paper beside him, Kevin tried his best to calm himself

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