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

of the demon, three translucent yellow

Bang—!

his foot on the ground and tried to force his body to a halt. However,

had expected

What followed the first disc was

the left ring before he propelled himself towards the right

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

wave of mana suddenly burst out from

"Huuup!"

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

his sword, he swung

block the attack, using the last ring, ***** used the gravitational effect and changed the course of the sword, once again catching

"Puchi!"

down from above, creating a misty rain

it's not

back. A look of complete denial

can he still

explosion, the

it possible? How could

How could he? How could he suddenly accept the fact that his

accept such

be stupid if he didn't understand who the

it be but

best friend that he thought he had

trembling lips, Kevin tried

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

It just wasn't possible for him to remain cool-headed. The news was too shocking

a recount of the

a possibility. Perhaps what he was seeing was

the Baron ranked demon was about to block the

"Haa…"

Kevin knew that it was impossible. He knew Ren's real

knew that it was impossible for the previous Ren to kill a

"Ugh..."

was then that Kevin's head started to sting

a groan, Kevin's knees

body

the stinging sensation, the

"Argh..."

his head intensified

with his hand, it wasn't long before the

"… What just happened?"

times,

stared at the

his eyes landed on the book, Kevin's eyes opened widely. That was because the black mist covering the name of

a subtle

towards the demon, like

"This…"

weakly slumped back on his chair

It really is

mind was a mess. He couldn't make

relief of finding out that his best friend

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

questions flooded Kevin's

Kevin's eyes landed

knew that the answer lay somewhere

Flip—! Flip—!

missing a single detail. Now that he knew that Ren was the person in the book, he wanted to know more about what happened to

"Hehe…"

Kevin's face would

be taken aback, and sometimes

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

and was getting along with the other

"Hah?"

certain page. Frowning, Kevin leaned back slightly. The more he read, the bigger his

his face turned

recounted the story, he tried his best

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

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

forward, the headmaster's eyes ripples slightly. For a while, he didn't

Bang—!

"What?!"

pounded the table

his fists clenching tightly resounded

"Union!"

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

could you sell out the one

helped them, those bastards. Kevin's rage was reaching a

"Haa...haaa..."

beside him, Kevin tried

about Ren's plans regarding