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!"

to open his mouth,

snapped in the direction of where the sound came from. Then, everyone exchanged glances with

"What was—huh? Kevin?"

but before she could say anything, Kevin had already run off towards where the

"Kevin, wait up!"

from behind. Amanda, Jin, and Melissa followed suit as their figures slowly

***

from above, with his hands behind

a solemn

"Haaaa!"

rang out, his brows would

"Should we interfere?"

Waylan had a worried look on

way things were going,

eyes, Douglas did not

"Haaa!"

rang out. Turning his

lost control of his rationality. If we don't stop him now, he'll end up

they couldn't let Ren kill Aaron. The consequences of such

get over his

"Haaaa!"

"I'm going."

make his move. It would only take him a

"Wait."

before Waylan could act, extending his hand towards the right,

is the meaning of this?" Waylan

pointed towards a certain spot in

a look

"…huh?"

the direction of where Douglas had pointed and

Douglas again, he

"You're not telling me…"

what

***

"Haaaaaa!"

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

I craved for more.

order to not have my face revealed, I had to scar my face using this blade

my eyes as I stared at the

of the

Don—

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 and was quite viscous, which was perfect as

though. I've got the perfect replacement

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

out a potion from my

spent quite a bit of money

my hand on his chin, I opened his mouth

"Drink up."

"Ugh…Mhh."

face as he flung his arms around. It was

ground I brought the knife closer to his face and

"Khhaaaaa!"

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

I asked, tracing the dagger along his face,

felt as though a part of me was

"Haaa…stop!…stop!…p-please."

given Aaron previously, his voice slowly returned to him,

hand suddenly came to a halt. I then

just say

"Haaa…haaa…"

leaning my body forward to take a better look at him, I noticed that Aaron's eyes were not focused.

'He already broke?'

course, he didn't

I laughed.

he could've broken with just this

make you return to normal

my knee, I once again fed Aaron with another potion. The injuries in his body healed at an even faster pace.

"Let's continue."

once again. Fresh

"Why aren't you screaming."

My face froze.

got no reaction from Aaron who just looked up toward the sky

My eyes became unfocused.

"Aaron?"