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 from above. Swinging

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

sheath of his sword, he prepared to attack, but before he could do that, he suddenly felt

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

suddenly hooked his

"Do it!"

shouted in Kevin's

his head, Kevin

might hurt

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

TWIIIIING—

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

turned dull gray, and a monumental pressure suddenly bore

on the ground, Ren

Bang—!

"Kuak!"

and punched out, hitting Jin right in

Buzz Buzz

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—

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

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

Crack. Crack.

bent as the roots detached themselves from

the grip of his sword, a powerful hue

"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. His

he flung backward, his indifferent eyes locked

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

Click—!

movement of the [Keiki style] : World

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

sorroundings as a deep silence suddenly descended upon

nowhere, like a piece of paper, the black

Rumble—!

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

as they stared at Ren softly land on the ground with

Thud—!

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

of steps. Stabbing his

"...huh?"

out of Ren's mouth as he turned his

"Where is he?"

over the place. Panic

is he!

shouted out loud. Completely forgetting his surroundings as he

"Haaaa...no!"

Ren fell to

"No! No! No!"

the screams soon disappeared. Lifting his head,

"Where is he?!"

"Wha—"

said where is

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

"Tell me...haaa...haaa...where is h—"

a powerful force came from his right

fell

"Khaaa!"

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 couple

"Haaaa…haaa…."

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

his right rib,

get back

he stared at Ren. But Ren

he?…Where did you hide

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