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

the demon, three translucent yellow

Bang—!

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

had

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

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

upon it. The demon's face

powerful wave of mana suddenly burst out from

"Huuup!"

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

sword,

using the

"Puchi!"

down from above, creating a

it's not possible. I-…impossible.

Kevin moved back. A look of

How can he still be alive? I-I

the

possible? How could he still

want to believe it. How could he? How could he suddenly accept the fact that his friend, who he thought to be dead,

he accept such a

if he didn't understand who

it

he thought he had lost more than

lips, Kevin tried to calm

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

possible for him to remain cool-headed. The news was

this, perhaps, be a

this could be a possibility. Perhaps what he was seeing was what had

ranked demon was about

"Haa…"

sentence, Kevin knew that it was impossible. He

it was impossible for the

"Ugh..."

was then that Kevin's head started to sting

a groan, Kevin's knees buckled

his body by holding

stinging sensation, the book started to

"Argh..."

his head intensified as the

his hand, it wasn't long before the

"… What just happened?"

couple of times, Kevin's eyes

stared at the

opened widely. That was because the black mist

of his mouth, a subtle green

shot towards

"This…"

back on his chair as

shoes… It really

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

shock and relief of finding out that his best friend was alive,

in the world had happened to him, and why did he

questions flooded

Kevin's eyes landed on

that the answer lay somewhere

Flip—! Flip—!

detail. Now that he knew that Ren was the person in the book, he wanted to know more about what happened to him and how he was

"Hehe…"

pages, Kevin's face would change from time

frown, oftentimes be

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

multiple Baron-ranked demons and was getting along with the

"Hah?"

leaned back

long, his face turned

he tried his best to suppress his

the smile on the headmaster's face slowly started

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

forward, the headmaster's eyes ripples slightly. For a

Bang—!

"What?!"

the table

clenching

"Union!"

hoarse as he glared at the book. For them to do what they did

you sell out

he had helped

"Haa...haaa..."

him, Kevin

Ren's plans regarding