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—!

something, Ren suddenly lowered his head and

loud 'bang', the ground beneath him

he could do that, he suddenly felt a powerful force

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

Jin suddenly hooked his arms around

"Do it!"

shouted in

head, Kevin

might hurt a

With his sword raised, he slashed down and terrifying pressure bore down

TWIIIIING—

watch as Kevin's attack slowly came at him. However, despite how dire

pressure suddenly bore down on

his foot on the ground, Ren propelled his body backward. With

Bang—!

"Kuak!"

against a tree, Jin spat a mouthful of blood as Ren turned around and punched out, hitting Jin right in the face. Following this, he quickly elbowed

Buzz Buzz

about to follow up on his attack, a low buzz suddenly sounded from behind as Ren felt a frightening

Rumble—

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

allowed him to create a black hole that sucked everything inside of it and

Crack. Crack.

Ren was gripping bent as the roots detached

Grabbing onto the grip of his sword, a powerful hue suddenly sprang out from his body, enveloping the

"Don't forget I'm here."

Ren was gathering his mana, he suddenly

Bang—!

he could even react, he felt a powerful force hit him in the stomach and he lost grip of the

locked themself onto

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

Click—!

the

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

the sorroundings as a deep silence suddenly descended upon the world as the suction force

seemingly nowhere, like a piece of paper, the black hole was suddenly dissected

Rumble—!

the air like fast projectiles, and seismic quakes struck the place. Everyone lost

eyes wide open, horror flashed across them as they stared at Ren softly

Thud—!

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

couple of steps. Stabbing his sword onto the ground, he

"...huh?"

came out of Ren's mouth as he turned

"Where is he?"

darted all over the place. Panic dying his face

is he! Where is

loud. Completely forgetting his surroundings as he looked

"Haaaa...no!"

head, Ren fell to both knees

"No! No! No!"

soon disappeared. Lifting his head, his bloodshot

"Where is he?!"

"Wha—"

where is

up and down unevenly. As he walked, he stumbled on his

"Tell me...haaa...haaa...where is h—"

powerful force came

his hand, Ren blocked the attack, but as he blocked the attack, his right leg gave out and he fell back. Following Jin's example, Kevin dashed forward and attacked. After him was Emma, and soon Ren found himself

"Khaaa!"

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

Bang—!

by a powerful impact, Ren skid back a couple of meters

"Haaaa…haaa…."

throughout the quiet forest. Raising his head, his cold and indifferent blue

right rib, Kevin

back to your

pleaded as he stared at Ren. But

did you hide

was rather weak. So weak that it made the others understand just how much pain he was going