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—!

Ren suddenly lowered his head and Jin appeared

the ground beneath him tore apart and Ren shot up.

sheath of his sword, he prepared to attack, but before he could do that, he suddenly felt a powerful force coming from Kevin's

onto his broadsword with both hands. The surface of his broadsword pulsated repeatedly, as a faint

hooked his arms around Ren, restraining

"Do it!"

shouted in

head,

might hurt a

front of Ren. With his sword raised, he slashed down and terrifying

TWIIIIING—

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

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

on the ground, Ren propelled his body backward. With

Bang—!

"Kuak!"

spat a mouthful of blood as Ren turned around and punched out, hitting Jin right in the face. Following

Buzz Buzz

from behind as Ren felt a frightening suction force. Grabbing onto

Rumble—

surrounding rocks and debris flew at incredible speed towards the black hole. White light wildly rotated as the very air started getting

after mastering 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 of

Crack. Crack.

bent as the roots detached themselves from the

of his sword, a powerful

"Don't forget I'm here."

Ren was gathering his mana, he suddenly heard

Bang—!

felt a powerful force hit him in the stomach and

he flung backward, his indifferent eyes locked themself onto

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

Click—!

of the [Keiki

fourth, and second the last

sounded in the sorroundings as a deep silence suddenly

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

Rumble—!

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

across them as they stared at

Thud—!

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

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

"...huh?"

Ren's mouth as he turned

"Where is he?"

all over the place. Panic dying

is he! Where is

forgetting his surroundings as

"Haaaa...no!"

head, Ren fell to both

"No! No! No!"

till he bled, the screams soon disappeared. Lifting his head, his bloodshot eyes paused on Kevin and the

"Where is he?!"

"Wha—"

said where

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

"Tell me...haaa...haaa...where is h—"

he could finish speaking, a powerful force came from his right side. It was

as he blocked the attack, his right leg gave out and he fell back. Following

"Khaaa!"

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 long before he could no longer

Bang—!

impact, Ren skid

"Haaaa…haaa…."

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

his right rib, Kevin stumbled

back to your

as he stared at

he?…Where did you

it made the others