The Author's POV

Swooosh—

A gentle wind blew past a forest as the leaves rustled.

The gentle moonlight shone from above, creating a tranquil environment.

"Hey, Kevin, hold up, where are you going?"

But the tranquility did not last for long as it was soon broken by multiple individuals who ran through the forest. To be more precise, it was four individuals chasing behind one individual, Kevin.

Halting his steps, Kevin scanned the surroundings. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he had not noticed the others behind him.

'The old man told me to go out this way, but where is he?'

The forest was huge.

So huge that Kevin estimated that it would take him a whole day to explore it. Finding Ren inside of the forest was like finding a needle in a haystack.

"Kevin!"

Suddenly, Kevin heard a voice coming from behind him. What followed after was the sound of rushed footsteps.

Kevin slowly lifted his head.

Coming over from behind a couple of trees were Emma, Amanda, Jin, and Melissa. They were all looking at him with weird faces.

"…huh?"

Caught off-guard by the unexpected sight, Kevin stared at them with a dazed look. Then, quickly recalling what he was here for, he spoke up.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"That's the question we want to ask!"

Emma frustratingly said, walking up to him. Stopping a couple of feet away from him, she looked around the forest.

"You suddenly started acting weird out of nowhere. I called out for you multiple times but you never replied so I followed you here."

"You followed me?"

"Well…hm, yeah. You had a very serious look on your face, I thought that something was up."

Emma turned her head.

"You guys also followed for the same reason, right?"

Everyone silently nodded. Clearly siding with Emma.

Staring at them, Kevin scratched his head. He had been so focused on looking for Ren that he had lost his composure and ended up worrying the others.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you guys like that."

"Whatever."

With a deep sigh, Emma rubbed her face and then looked at the moon in the sky. 'At least she doesn't look too pissed'. Kevin sighed in relief.

But then Emma frowned and glared at Kevin.

"Oy."

"What?"

"You still haven't told me why you're here."

"Oh, right..."

Kevin turned his head before he scratched the back of it.

"Not gonna say anything?"

"…you see, things are kind of complicated."

Not satisfied with the answer, Emma's glare intensified.

"I think we deserve an explanation after you made us worried and caused a whole scene."

"Ugh." Kevin groaned. Lifting his head and staring at the others who were looking back at him, Kevin let out a deep sigh. 'How should I tell them that I was looking for Ren?'

Would they even believe him? Maybe Amanda as she already knew, but what about the others?

"…Ehew."

Eventually, he let out another sigh. He trusted everyone here, and so he didn't mind telling them about his skill, inspection. Whether they believed him or not, it was up to them.

"Haaaa!"

open his mouth, a muffled shout rang

the sound came from. Then, everyone exchanged glances with

"What was—huh? Kevin?"

tried to speak up, but before she could say anything, Kevin had already run off towards

"Kevin, wait up!"

behind. Amanda, Jin, and Melissa followed

***

overlooking the forest from above, with his hands

a solemn and pensive look on his

"Haaaa!"

out, his brows would

"Should we interfere?"

a worried

in the distance, from the way things were going, he could tell that something horrible was about

Douglas did

"Haaa!"

out. Turning his head, Waylan

his rationality. If we don't stop

couldn't let Ren kill Aaron. The

his mental demons, but from the

"Haaaa!"

"I'm going."

Waylan decided to make his move. It would only take him a second to

"Wait."

before Waylan could act, extending his hand towards the

meaning of this?" Waylan asked in

pointed towards a certain spot in the

a look

"…huh?"

of where Douglas had pointed and

at Douglas again,

"You're not telling me…"

what I'm

***

"Haaaaaa!"

rang out. His pained and agonized scream felt like a beautiful piece

I craved for more.

my face revealed, I had to scar my face using this

as I

I ran out of the poison long ago,

Don—

out a small flask and removing the cap, I smeared the liquid inside of it all over my dagger. The liquid was pale yellow in color

I've got the perfect

staring at Aaron who was barely hanging onto life, my head

dagger down, I took out a potion from my dimensional

quite a bit of

on his chin, I opened his mouth and chugged the potion down

"Drink up."

"Ugh…Mhh."

as I shoved the potion down his throat. A horrified look manifested on his face as he flung his arms around. It was clear that he was trying to protest, but I didn't care. I just watched his body slowly start healing right before my

slowly disappeared, pressing Aaron onto the ground

"Khhaaaaa!"

in agony as a long black scar traced down half of his handsome face. Ignoring

the dagger along his face, creating more and

became. It was strange...it felt as though a part of me was slowly losing control. But I couldn't quite grasp what was happening. I was too immersed

"Haaa…stop!…stop!…p-please."

the potion I had given Aaron previously, his voice slowly returned to him, and his words started to once again

hand suddenly came to a halt. I then lifted my

you just say

"Haaa…haaa…"

Standing up and leaning my body forward to take a better look at him,

'He already broke?'

of course, he

I laughed.

was no way he could've broken with just this little

I'll make you return to normal

The injuries in

"Let's continue."

dagger, I traced it along his face once again. Fresh

"Why aren't you screaming."

My face froze.

his face, I got no reaction from Aaron who just looked up toward

My eyes became unfocused.

"Aaron?"