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.

as the first one. That is, act as bait and lure

a better time than

That said.

he was injured, he wasn't someone that I could

need to kill

I had convinced him to ambush the Greed clan, I presented another clan with a similar

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

I just threw was a signal for them

actually planned to backstab me from

glare directed in my direction.

as my direction my attention toward the opposite side,

also

I looked in the distance and

I mismatch my timing?...or did they

was going to

burst of aura coming from

"You..."

air, and the area around me started to twist. Turning around, I realized that Marquis

'Shit...'

my direction, I once again turned to look into the distance. Yet again,

of Chronos, I started

to run at full throttle as I tried to figure out my next course

Plan A is going to be a bust. Do

"You don't."

from beside me. As usual, it was the other me appearing

"What do you mean?"

a little bit

slight pause,

power will only serve

"...You're right."

Jezebeth's power, I

clone to fight me. What if he showed up in his

extremely apprehensive about using my

midst of my thoughts,

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

doesn't really

"You worry too much."

into the distance. Unlike me, he could

of more minutes. If something doesn't happen by then, you can go ahead with

"...Alright."

of Chronos I raised my head

within a fraction of a second. Placing my hand on the sheath of my sword, I activated my sword's effect,

time, I activated

bit more than one rank, it didn't have too much of an effect on

from the effect, I had

of the [Keiki

Click—!

the air. At the same time my vision

Boooom—!

arrived in the area that I was

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..."

I had trouble moving as some of my bones were broken, but it was worth the

quickly chugged down a couple

the demons in the distance had already arrived

who we have here. It looks like the information wasn't

voice echoed throughout the air as another demon that bore

Gluttony clan. A clan that wasn't on good terms with the Sloth

damage to the Sloth clan, they obviously did not refuse it and secretly sent an adequate

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

them that the Sloth clan would make a move against the Greed clan, all they had to

considered a minor conflict. It

That aside.

had set countermeasures in the off-chance that this

"Marquis Exion."

with spite as he said those words. With narrowed