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."

holding onto the page of the book trembled as Kevin had trouble keeping himself

demon, three translucent yellow rings appeared,

Bang—!

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 still too

he had

left. What followed the first disc was a

the air, ***** softly landed on the left ring before he

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

a powerful wave of mana

"Huuup!"

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

sword,

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,

"Puchi!"

from above, creating a misty

not

A look of complete

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

explosion, the

possible? How could he still be

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

accept such a sick

be stupid if he didn't understand who the person

it be

thought he had lost more than a year

trembling lips, Kevin tried to calm himself

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

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

be a recount

he was seeing was what had happened to Ren in the past,

Baron ranked demon was

"Haa…"

at the sentence, Kevin knew that it was impossible. He knew Ren's

for the previous Ren to kill

"Ugh..."

was then that Kevin's head started to

out a groan, Kevin's knees

body by holding the top of

the stinging sensation, the book started

"Argh..."

in his head intensified as the book

his eyes with his hand, it wasn't long before the glow

"… What just happened?"

of times, Kevin's eyes

Kevin stared at the book

Kevin's eyes opened widely. That was because

a subtle green glow enveloped the bottom of

shot towards the demon, like

"This…"

his chair as he absentmindedly stared at the

shoes… It really

with both hands, Kevin's mind was a mess.

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

him, and why did he fake his death? How did he even

questions flooded Kevin's

a while, Kevin's eyes landed on

that the

Flip—! Flip—!

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

"Hehe…"

through the pages, Kevin's face would change from time to

would sometimes frown, oftentimes be

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

demons and was getting along

"Hah?"

a certain page. Frowning, Kevin leaned back slightly. The

long, his face turned extremely

recounted the story, he tried his best

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

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

slightly. For

Bang—!

"What?!"

the

fists clenching

"Union!"

turned hoarse as he glared at the book. For them to

you sell out the

them to betray Ren like that when he had helped them, those

"Haa...haaa..."

him, Kevin tried his best to

Ren's plans regarding