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

in front of the demon, three translucent yellow rings appeared, revolving around

Bang—!

***** was about 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 still too

had expected

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

softly landed on the left ring before he propelled

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

a low cry, a powerful wave of mana suddenly

"Huuup!"

of the [Keiki style],

sword,

demon was about to block the attack, using the last ring, ***** used the gravitational effect and changed the course of the

"Puchi!"

above, creating a misty rain of

not

A look of complete denial appeared on his

still be alive? I-I

the mourning, the

it possible? How could he still be

to believe it. How could he? How could he suddenly accept the

could he accept such

understand who the person

could it be but

friend that he thought he had lost more than a

his trembling lips, Kevin tried to calm

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

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

be a recount of the

a possibility. Perhaps what he was seeing was what had happened to Ren in the

demon

"Haa…"

sentence, Kevin knew that it

it was impossible for the previous

"Ugh..."

was then that Kevin's head started to

a groan, Kevin's knees

supported his body by holding the top of his

the stinging sensation, the

"Argh..."

pain in his head intensified as the

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

"… What just happened?"

couple of times, Kevin's eyes flashed with

Kevin stared at the

because the black mist covering the name of the individual

subtle green glow

shot towards the demon, like

"This…"

weakly slumped back on his chair as he absentmindedly

shoes… It really

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

out that his best friend was alive, there was something

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

and more questions

eyes landed on

that the answer lay somewhere

Flip—! Flip—!

through the pages of the book, Kevin quickly read through every part, without missing a single detail. Now that he knew that Ren was the person in the book, he wanted to know more about

"Hehe…"

face

would sometimes frown, oftentimes be taken aback,

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

had killed multiple Baron-ranked demons and was getting along with

"Hah?"

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

long, his face turned

he tried his best to suppress his

headmaster's face slowly

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 the reason why I'm

eyes ripples slightly.

Bang—!

"What?!"

pounded the

sound of his fists clenching tightly

"Union!"

glared at the book. For them to

How could you sell out the one guy that saved your

helped them, those

"Haa...haaa..."

paper beside him, Kevin tried his best

regarding