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

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

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

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 force lingered around it. The hue looked like a tall

his arms

"Do it!"

in Kevin's

head,

might

of Ren. With

TWIIIIING—

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

the incoming attack, his eyes suddenly turned dull gray, and a monumental pressure suddenly bore down on

foot on the ground, Ren propelled his

Bang—!

"Kuak!"

blood as Ren turned around and punched out, hitting Jin right in the face. Following this, he quickly elbowed the side of

Buzz Buzz

behind as Ren felt a frightening suction force. Grabbing onto the tree and pressing his feet

Rumble—

flew at incredible speed towards the black

after mastering his four-star sword art, [Everlasting sunset.], it essentially allowed him to create

Crack. Crack.

was gripping bent as

Grabbing onto the grip of his sword, a powerful

"Don't forget I'm here."

right as Ren was gathering his mana, he

Bang—!

force hit him in the stomach and he lost grip of the tree. His body shot towards

locked themself onto Jin, sending chills down his

to face with the black hole, Ren slowly pulled out his

Click—!

the [Keiki

grasp the fourth, and second the last movement of

as a deep silence suddenly

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

Rumble—!

ground tore apart, throwing dust and rock alike in the air like fast projectiles, and seismic quakes struck the place.

horror flashed across them as they stared

Thud—!

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

Ren stumbled a couple of steps. Stabbing his

"...huh?"

of Ren's

"Where is he?"

darted all over the place.

is he! Where

forgetting his surroundings as he looked for Aaron's figure

"Haaaa...no!"

fell

"No! No! No!"

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

"Where is he?!"

"Wha—"

said where is

up, Ren's chest moved up and down unevenly. As 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—"

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

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

"Khaaa!"

limited. He was already at a

Bang—!

powerful impact, Ren skid back a couple

"Haaaa…haaa…."

Raising his head, his cold and indifferent blue

right rib, Kevin stumbled

back

at Ren. But Ren shook

did

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