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—!

lowered his head and Jin appeared from above. Swinging his

him tore apart and Ren shot up. His eyes flickered, and Jin's movements

to attack, but before he could do that, he suddenly felt a powerful

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

this, Jin suddenly hooked his

"Do it!"

in Kevin's

head,

Ren...this might hurt a

appeared right in front of Ren. With his sword raised, he slashed down and terrifying pressure bore down on

TWIIIIING—

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

monumental pressure suddenly bore

the ground,

Bang—!

"Kuak!"

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

Buzz Buzz

felt a frightening suction force. Grabbing onto the tree and pressing his feet onto the ground, till

Rumble—

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 very air started getting sucked

his 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

Crack. Crack.

was gripping bent as the roots detached themselves from

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

"Don't forget I'm here."

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

Bang—!

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

backward, his indifferent eyes locked themself onto Jin, sending chills

hole, Ren slowly pulled out his sword. A torrential amount of mana gathered toward him in

Click—!

of the [Keiki

and second the last movement

click sounded in the sorroundings as a deep silence suddenly descended upon the world

seemingly nowhere, like a piece of paper, the black hole

Rumble—!

tore apart, throwing dust and rock alike in the air like fast projectiles, and seismic quakes struck the place. Everyone lost their balance

they stared at Ren softly land on the ground with

Thud—!

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

breaths, Ren stumbled a couple of steps. Stabbing

"...huh?"

of Ren's mouth as he turned his

"Where is he?"

head darted all over the place. Panic

is he!

shouted out loud. Completely forgetting his surroundings as he

"Haaaa...no!"

Ren fell to both knees

"No! No! No!"

soon disappeared. Lifting his head, his bloodshot eyes

"Where is he?!"

"Wha—"

said where

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

"Tell me...haaa...haaa...where is h—"

a powerful force came from his right side.

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

"Khaaa!"

the end of the day, his mana reserve was limited. He was already at a numerical disadvantage, and with everyone attacking him from all sides, it wasn't

Bang—!

a powerful impact, Ren skid

"Haaaa…haaa…."

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

right rib, Kevin stumbled

get back to

at Ren. But

he?…Where did you

weak that it made the