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.

the first one. That is,

if there was a better time than

That said.

that I could kill. Our rank difference was just

to kill him

to ambush the Greed clan, I

ambushing the Greed clan, and how they could use this opportunity to deal damage to

was a

backstab me from the very

directed in my direction. Without needing to look, I already

my attention toward the opposite side, the southern area. This was

also

I looked in the distance and

my timing?...or

this was going to be

of aura coming from behind

"You..."

shook the air, and the area around me started to twist. Turning around,

'Shit...'

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

of Chronos, I started to assess

throttle as I tried to figure out my next course of

bust. Do I

"You don't."

As usual, it was the other me appearing from out of

"What do you mean?"

a little

slight pause,

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

"...You're right."

I

had only sent a clone to fight me. What if he showed up in his full form?

the thought made me extremely apprehensive about using my

the midst of my thoughts, the other me continued

on, you might need to 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

doesn't really look too

"You worry too much."

the distance. Unlike me, he could freely move in

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

"...Alright."

I raised my

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

time, I activated 'The

more than one rank, it didn't have too much of an effect on Marquis Atheora as it only worked to distract him for a split second.

the effect, I had already

the [Keiki style] :

Click—!

same time my vision started to distort, I saw Marquis

Boooom—!

arrived in the

I ended up crashing against multiple trees, and felt tremendous pain invade every part of my

Bang—!

"Ukhhh..."

That said.

I had survived.

"It hurts..."

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

quickly chugged down

recovered the demons in the distance had already arrived

who we have here. It looks

as another demon that bore striking resemblance to

who he was, but I knew that he was an executive coming from the Gluttony clan. A clan that wasn't on good terms with the Sloth clan, the clan Marquis Atheora came

with an opportunity to deal damage to the Sloth clan, they obviously did

in my plan at first, but

they had to do was check

to them, this could be considered a minor conflict. It

That aside.

that they had set countermeasures in the off-chance that this was also a trap, but it didn't

"Marquis Exion."

said those words. With narrowed