The Author's POV

My next set of actions was quick.

As I was dealing with a Marquis-ranked demon, every little second mattered.

Taking out a stack of magic cards from my dimensional system, I injected them with my mana before throwing them in the air.

Swiping my hand, three rings formed around the igniting cards.

By the time the cards were about to fully ignite, the rigs turned red and a small ball of fire resembling a sun was contained in the middle of the rings.

"Go."

With a simple wave, the rings flew toward the sky.

"What's this?"

Catching sight of the ball of fire, Marquis Atheora reached his hand out. But it was already too late.

BOOOM—!

A large cloud of fire bloomed in the air and accompanying it was a thunderous explosion.

The fire receded after a couple of seconds, but it served its purpose.

"Anytime now..."

"You."

Feeling Marquis Atheora's gaze land on me, I raised my head and stared back at him.

Slowly descending to the ground, he looked back at the area where I threw my attack.

"What were you trying to do?"

"Testing something."

"...You seriously want me to believe that?"

Raising his head, he smelled the air. His face changed a little.

"This sensation..."

I felt his gaze pause on me, as he carefully scrutinized my body. After a while, his eyes opened up.

"You...You're not a demon."

'Ah, looks like the cat is out of the bag...'

In order to make it seem like I was a demon, I had placed a couple of cores inside of my body. By simply creating a thin coating of mana, I stopped the demons from regenerating, and in the process, created an effect that made it seem as though I had demonic energy inside of my body.

This was a trick that I learned from my other-self.

It was quite a useful one at that as it really helped me out quite a bit. Without it, I would've probably been found out in the first month.

Had it not been for my last attack that left some lingering mana in the air, Marquis Atheora would have never found out.

"A pity..."

I muttered underneath my breath.

"I don't know how you—"

Stopping himself mid-sentence, Marquis Atheora's head snapped toward the distance. It was then that he managed to spot several demons heading his way, coming from the northern side.

His face finally changed.

"This..."

Staring at him from below, I smiled from behind my mask.

"It looks like someone noticed all of the commotions you've caused."

Not quite.

From the moment that I decided to help him out, I knew that he was going to try to silence me. Even if he wasn't, I wasn't still going to go through with my plans.

That is, act as bait and lure them into a

injured, if there was a better time than to get rid

That said.

he wasn't someone that I

need to kill him myself

him to ambush the Greed clan, I presented

Sloth clan was planning on ambushing the Greed clan, and how they could use this opportunity

fireball I just threw was a signal for them

to backstab

terrifying glare directed in

direction my attention toward the opposite side, the southern area. This was only half of my

also be coming

in the distance and I saw nothing, my

timing?...or did they ignore

was

a burst of aura

"You..."

around me started to twist. Turning around, I realized that Marquis

'Shit...'

terrifying aura that was directed in my direction, I once again turned to look into the distance. Yet

Chronos, I

chip inside of my head started to run at full throttle as I tried to

be a bust. Do I have no choice but to go with plan

"You don't."

beside me. As usual, it was the other

"What do you mean?"

little bit

slight pause, his

that power will only serve to alert Jezebeth of your appearance in the

"...You're right."

Jezebeth's power, I

he had only sent a clone to fight me. What if he showed up in

extremely

thoughts, the other me continued

tap into that power in order to save Amanda's father. It's best if you save it for then. Not only that but it's best if fewer demons know about you being a human. If they

but the situation doesn't really look too

"You worry too much."

stared into the distance. Unlike me, he could freely move

something doesn't happen by then, you can

"...Alright."

Chronos I raised my

on the sheath of my

same time,

than one rank, it didn't have too much of an effect on Marquis Atheora as it

the time he recovered from the effect, I

the [Keiki

Click—!

same time my vision started to distort, I saw Marquis Atheora's attack shoot in

Boooom—!

second, it arrived in the area that I was

extreme speed, I was unable to come out unscathed as I ended up crashing against multiple trees, and felt tremendous pain invade every part

Bang—!

"Ukhhh..."

That said.

I had survived.

"It hurts..."

body up a little. I had trouble moving as some of my bones were broken, but it

quickly chugged down a

time I recovered the demons in the distance had already arrived and had

have here. It looks like the information

sadistic voice echoed throughout the air as another demon that bore striking

who he was, but I knew that he was an executive coming from the Gluttony clan. A clan

to the Sloth clan,

believe in my plan at first, but it wasn't exactly hard

clan, all they had to do was check for

to them, this could be considered a minor

That aside.

that they had set countermeasures in the off-chance that this was

"Marquis Exion."

was filled with spite as he said those words. With narrowed eyes, demonic energy rose from his body at