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—!

and Jin appeared from above. Swinging his

foot on the ground. With a loud 'bang', the ground beneath him tore apart and Ren shot up. His eyes flickered, and Jin's movements

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

the corner of his eyes, Ren saw Kevin hold onto his broadsword with both hands. The surface of his broadsword pulsated repeatedly, as a faint destructive

this, Jin suddenly hooked his

"Do it!"

shouted in Kevin's

head,

Ren...this might hurt

appeared right in front of Ren. With his sword raised, he slashed down

TWIIIIING—

as Kevin's attack slowly came at him. However,

turned dull gray, and a monumental pressure suddenly bore down on

the ground, Ren propelled his body backward. With Jin still

Bang—!

"Kuak!"

Jin right in the face. Following this, he quickly elbowed the side of his face, sending Jin

Buzz Buzz

low buzz suddenly sounded from behind as Ren felt a frightening suction force. Grabbing

Rumble—

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

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 those

Crack. Crack.

as the roots detached themselves from the

grave expression flashed across Ren's face. Grabbing onto the grip of his sword, a powerful hue suddenly sprang out from his body, enveloping the entire

"Don't forget I'm here."

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

Bang—!

powerful force hit him in the stomach

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

the black hole, Ren slowly pulled out his sword. A torrential amount of mana gathered

Click—!

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

deep silence suddenly descended

of paper, the black hole was

Rumble—!

projectiles, and seismic quakes struck the place.

them as they stared at Ren softly land on the ground

Thud—!

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

stumbled a couple of steps. Stabbing

"...huh?"

Ren's mouth as he turned his

"Where is he?"

head darted all over the place.

he!

as he looked for Aaron's

"Haaaa...no!"

his head, Ren fell

"No! No! No!"

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

"Where is he?!"

"Wha—"

said where

chest moved up and down unevenly. As he walked, he stumbled on his steps. It

"Tell me...haaa...haaa...where is h—"

powerful force

and he fell back. Following Jin's example, Kevin dashed forward and attacked. After him

"Khaaa!"

react, but at 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 long before he

Bang—!

back by a powerful impact, Ren

"Haaaa…haaa…."

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

right

get back

as he stared at Ren. But Ren shook

is he?…Where did you

rather weak. So weak that it made the