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 from above. Swinging his

'bang', the ground beneath him tore apart

of his sword, he prepared to attack, but before he

his broadsword pulsated repeatedly, as a faint destructive force lingered around

Jin suddenly hooked his arms around Ren,

"Do it!"

in Kevin's

his head, Kevin

Ren...this might hurt a

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

TWIIIIING—

attack slowly came at him. However, despite how dire the situation looked, he

and a monumental pressure suddenly bore down on everyone present.

stomping his foot on the ground,

Bang—!

"Kuak!"

and punched out, hitting Jin right in the face. Following this, he quickly elbowed the side of his face,

Buzz Buzz

as he 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 his feet onto the

Rumble—

sword. The surrounding rocks and debris flew at incredible speed

it essentially allowed him to create a black hole that

Crack. Crack.

tree that Ren was gripping bent as the roots

sword, a powerful hue suddenly sprang out from

"Don't forget I'm here."

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

Bang—!

could even react, he felt a powerful force hit him in the stomach and he lost grip of the tree. His body shot

his indifferent eyes locked themself onto Jin, sending chills

with the black hole, Ren slowly pulled out his sword. A torrential amount

Click—!

of the [Keiki style]

of mastery of 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 tore everything within a certain

suddenly

piece of paper, the black hole was suddenly dissected into

Rumble—!

in the air like fast projectiles, and seismic quakes struck the

as they stared at Ren softly land on the

Thud—!

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

heavy breaths, Ren stumbled a couple of steps. Stabbing his sword onto the ground,

"...huh?"

out of Ren's mouth as he

"Where is he?"

all over the place. Panic dying his

he!

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

"Haaaa...no!"

his head, Ren fell to both knees

"No! No! No!"

bled, the screams soon disappeared. Lifting his head, his bloodshot eyes paused

"Where is he?!"

"Wha—"

said where

he walked, he stumbled on his steps. It was clear that he was tired, but despite this,

"Tell me...haaa...haaa...where is h—"

a powerful force came from his right

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

"Khaaa!"

but at the end of the day, his mana reserve was limited. He was already at a numerical disadvantage, and with

Bang—!

impact, Ren skid back a couple of meters

"Haaaa…haaa…."

Raising his

right rib, Kevin stumbled

get back to

as he stared at

did you hide

was rather weak. So weak that it made the others understand just how