The Author's POV

"Had to take him before things got serious."

Thud—!

Placing Aaron's body down on the ground, Waylan turned to face the distance.

Next to him, with his head lowered, Douglas looked at the battered-up Aaron. Thanks to the potion that Ren had given him, the injuries that he had sustained from the torture were slowly healing up.

But that was obviously not enough. His body may be healing, but his mind wasn't. Fortunately, Douglas came prepared. Bending down, he pushed a small pill inside of his mouth.

"How is he?"

"His mind is unstable, but he should be fine now. He'll probably be back to normal by tomorrow."

Douglas stood up. Staring into the distance, he shook his head.

"It looks like Ren was not wrong when he told us that he might lose himself today."

They had already been warned by Ren beforehand that there was a chance that he might end up losing his mind.

In case that happened, he wanted them to stop him.

Everything that was currently happening had been planned out for the past week.

Originally, Ren had been planning on taking care of his issues with Aaron after the conference, but after realizing that he might be unable to hold back whenever he saw him, and potentially compromise his identity, he decided to just handle the situation on the get-go.

Rather than hold up the pent-up feelings boiling inside of him, he wanted to finally let loose.

Of course, this was granted that he wouldn't go too far…

Fortunately, Douglas and Waylan were here.

"For him to go on a rampage like this…he must've been suffering quite a lot."

Douglas deeply sighed.

In the time that Douglas had met Ren, he had only occasionally seen him lose himself. But it was never on the same level as what he was displaying right now.

'Just how much had he been suppressing himself?'

It came as a small shock to him.

"Yeah…"

Waylan replied with a solemn look, his eyes never leaving the area where Ren was.

To be more precise, his eyes were currently locked onto a certain girl in the distance.

'…Emma.'

He muttered inside of his heart. A longing feeling swelled up from deep within it.

"We don't have much time."

Disrupting him out of his thoughts was Douglas who glanced at his watch.

"Gervis said that the elves have agreed to only give Ren thirty minutes…"

"Should we stop them?"

"No…" Douglas shook his head. Interest flashed in his eyes as he looked into the distance. "Not yet. I want to see just how strong Ren has gotten. Of course, I also want to see just how strong the pupils Donna trained are...and I believe that Ren needs this to resolve some of the demons inside of his heart."

Despite his words, he was still planning on keeping his promise to the elves.

If either someone was about to die, or the time was up, Douglas would appear and stop everything. He was strong enough to ensure everyone's safety.

Lifting his head and taking his eyes away from his watch, Douglas softly muttered.

"Now…let me see just how strong you guys are."

***

Clank—!

A powerful wing gale spread apart as two swords intersected against each other. A metal ring lingered in the air for a brief moment of time.

Separating from each other, Ren and Kevin stared at each other. Neither one spoke.

Swooosh—!

head and Jin appeared

With a loud 'bang', the ground beneath him tore apart and Ren shot up. His eyes flickered, and Jin's movements suddenly started to slow

the sheath of his sword, he prepared to attack, but before he could

both hands. The surface of his broadsword pulsated repeatedly, as a faint destructive force lingered around it. The hue looked like a tall

suddenly hooked his arms around Ren,

"Do it!"

shouted in Kevin's

head,

Ren...this might hurt

a step forward, he soon appeared right in front of Ren. With his sword raised, he

TWIIIIING—

Kevin's attack slowly came at him. However,

and a monumental pressure suddenly bore down on everyone present. Jin's grip loosened

advantage of this, stomping his foot on the ground, Ren propelled his body backward. With Jin still

Bang—!

"Kuak!"

turned around and punched out, hitting Jin right in the face. Following this, he quickly elbowed the

Buzz Buzz

was about to follow up on his attack, a low buzz suddenly sounded from behind as Ren felt a frightening suction force. Grabbing onto the tree and pressing

Rumble—

top of Kevin's sword. The surrounding rocks and debris flew at incredible speed towards the black hole. White

four-star sword art, [Everlasting sunset.], it essentially allowed him to create a black hole that sucked everything inside of it and essentially restrained the movements of

Crack. Crack.

as the roots detached

of his sword, a powerful hue suddenly sprang out from his

"Don't forget I'm here."

right as Ren was gathering his mana, he suddenly heard Jin's

Bang—!

force hit him in the stomach and he lost grip of the tree.

flung backward, his indifferent eyes locked themself onto

air, till he came face to face with the black hole, Ren slowly pulled out his sword. A torrential amount

Click—!

fourth movement of the [Keiki style]

the Keiki style, Ren finally managed to grasp the fourth, and second the last movement of the Keiki style. The world splitter, a terrifying move that

sorroundings as a deep silence suddenly descended upon the world

nowhere, like a piece of paper, the black hole

Rumble—!

rock alike in the air like fast projectiles, and seismic

across them as they stared at Ren softly

Thud—!

"Haaaa....haaaa...."

stumbled a couple of steps. Stabbing his sword onto

"...huh?"

of Ren's mouth as he turned

"Where is he?"

all over the

he! Where

loud. Completely forgetting his surroundings as he looked for Aaron's figure

"Haaaa...no!"

fell to

"No! No! No!"

he bled, the screams soon disappeared. Lifting his head, his

"Where is he?!"

"Wha—"

where

Ren's chest moved up and down unevenly. As he walked, he stumbled on his steps. It was clear that he was tired, but

"Tell me...haaa...haaa...where is h—"

could finish speaking, a powerful force came from his

he blocked the attack, his right leg gave out and he fell back. Following Jin's example, Kevin

"Khaaa!"

at the end of the day, his mana reserve was limited. He was already at a numerical disadvantage, and with everyone attacking him from all

Bang—!

Ren skid back a

"Haaaa…haaa…."

forest. Raising his

his right rib, Kevin stumbled

get back to

stared at

he?…Where did you hide

made the others understand just how much pain he was going