The Author's POV

"Yes, I won't let you die even if you wanted to die. I've already made the proper calculations."

"This..."

Hearing his words, I unconsciously took a step back as my eyes opened wide.

'It can't be...'

He had made the proper calculations? ...Didn't that mean that he already knew that I was going to act the way I was going to act?

How was that even possible?!

Furthermore, from what his words suggested, my life had never been in any danger. The only reason why I had passed out was probably him trying to drag me here.

Confirming my doubts was the other Ren's voice as he coldly said.

"Don't think too much. It's exactly what you think."

"...How!?"

I softly muttered, trying to suppress the shock within my body.

The shock didn't last for long. Clenching my teeth, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Then, lifting my head and meeting the other Ren's gaze, I opened my mouth.

"So it really was you who planned this whole thing..."

I already had a hunch before this when I linked up the scenario with Angelica and Amanda's mother.

The clues were there, from how Everblood had tried to manipulate her to come to me, to how she was able to have pictures of her mother back at the Lock.

Everything was a full circle, and it all led to the man in front of me. Of course, everything was just speculation on my part, but the more I looked at the other Ren, the more I was convinced about my conjecture.

As my thoughts paused there, my brows furrowed.

'If this is indeed planned by him, what would his real motive be?'

Could he be trying to separate me from the others? ...That was a plausible scenario, but I don't think it was the right answer.

From what I knew, his goal was to create a 'perfect' version of Kevin. An unfeeling Kevin that had no burdens and only aimed to kill the demon king.

That was the only goal I knew he had. Without a doubt, there were other goals he had, but I had no idea about what they were.

'...Wait.'

It was then that a thought suddenly struck me.

'Wasn't the reason why I was able to see him in the real world because of the damage that my soul took due to the contract breach? ...What if the real purpose in him trying to set this whole scenario up was to damage my soul...'

A cold chill ran down my spine as my thoughts paused there. Lifting my head, my eyes met with the other Ren's.

"Looks like you've figured things out."

The other Ren said as he calmly stood in the void with the chains rotating around his body, binding him down even more tightly.

With both of his hands locked down, he continued.

"My goal was indeed to damage your soul."

Upon hearing his confirmation, I became even warier of him. Taking a step forward, I coldly asked.

made the decision that

"...You can say so."

indifferently nodded his head, admitting to every single thing

wariness even more as my brows

then didn't that mean that he had manipulated my emotions as well? The reason why I chose to forfeit the tournament, and my questionable feelings for Amanda, were also things that he had implanted

when did he do

was back when you activated

to read my thoughts, the other Ren

when I implanted the

upon

he could affect

to confirm this when I met him a while back, but who would've thought that during that time I activated it again he would take advantage of

thought I was one step ahead

It was frustrating.

much had

my fists

was thinking, or at least pretending to not

contract breach. Had you been stronger, the damage

more he spoke, the number my

will of someone else caused

his words

would've taken me nearly four months to

Amanda's mother's situation, I could've easily said that I needed to make some

back

my heart started to

didn't seem to care about what I was thinking,

Amanda, the only reason why I planted them inside of your mind was so that I could create a perfect excuse for you to act the way that you

did for the sake of not hurting Amanda. But taking a look at

the feelings inside of my heart weren't as dominant. If

mouth, the other

her or not, it's for you

his head, the other Ren's eyes once again met with

"Frustrating isn't it?"

"..."

his eyes, I chose to remain silent. Tilting his head, the other

the flow of your life, it's frustrating

"Hm?"

words, my

heard emotions coming from the other Ren's voice. It was faint, very faint, but I could feel a mix of

changed slightly

my mouth I

are you telling me

to me that he had been manipulating me to how he revealed that he could influence my thoughts whenever I

with a hidden agenda would never reveal such things, yet, here he

stupid, or did he have something

could manipulate me through it, why would he ever

'Unless...'

suddenly struck me as my head snapped upwards and I glared

influence my decision-making by telling

sort of setup, it

incident replayed back into my mind, or more specifically, the time when I was manipulating the commander into acting the way that I wanted him to act by acting in a way that made it seem as though

exactly what

was so that I would be forced to

realized this, my glare