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."

of the book trembled as Kevin had trouble keeping

the demon, three translucent yellow rings appeared, revolving around

Bang—!

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 left. What followed the first disc was a second that stopped

left ring before he

was already upon it. The demon's face

powerful wave of mana suddenly burst

"Huuup!"

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

his sword,

was no regular swing, however, as the moment the Baron-ranked demon was about to block the attack, using the last ring, ***** used

"Puchi!"

creating a misty rain

not possible. I-…impossible.

look

not possible. How can he still be alive? I-I

terrifying explosion, the mourning,

was it 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, who

accept

didn't understand

it

friend that he thought he had lost more than

his trembling lips, Kevin

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

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

a recount of

was seeing

Baron ranked demon

"Haa…"

knew that it was impossible. He knew

it was impossible for the previous Ren to kill

"Ugh..."

then that Kevin's head

out a groan,

onto his head, Kevin supported his body by holding the

the book started to glow

"Argh..."

his head intensified

his eyes with his hand, it

"… What just happened?"

times, Kevin's

stared at the book with slight

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

mouth, a subtle green glow enveloped the bottom

towards the demon,

"This…"

his chair

shoes… It

hands, Kevin's mind was a mess. He couldn't make heads or tails of the

that his best friend was alive, there was something else that Kevin was curious

in the world had happened to him, and why did he fake his death? How did he even survive such a strong

questions flooded

a while, Kevin's eyes landed

the answer lay

Flip—! Flip—!

without missing a single detail. Now that he knew

"Hehe…"

Kevin's face would

be taken aback, and

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

had killed multiple Baron-ranked demons and

"Hah?"

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

face turned extremely

recounted the story, he tried his best to suppress his

the whole conversation, the smile on the headmaster's face slowly started to fade as his brows

of the bounty, I was forced to leave the human domain. It is also the reason why I'm

eyes ripples slightly. For a while,

Bang—!

"What?!"

the table

clenching tightly resounded

"Union!"

voice turned hoarse as he glared at the book. For them to do what they did to Ren... The

you sell out the one guy

like that when he had helped them, those bastards.

"Haa...haaa..."

a piece of paper beside him, Kevin tried his best to

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