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 same as the first one. That

Marquis Atheora now injured, if there was a better time

That said.

I could kill. Our rank

didn't need to kill

like I had convinced him to ambush the

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

threw was

backstab

felt a malicious and terrifying glare directed in my direction. Without needing to look, I already knew who it belonged

opposite

also be coming

distance and I saw nothing, my forehead

timing?...or did they ignore

this was going to

of aura coming from behind

"You..."

around me started to twist. Turning around, I realized that Marquis Atheora was preparing to attack

'Shit...'

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

Chronos, I started to assess

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

bust. Do I have no choice but

"You don't."

from beside me. As usual, it was the

"What do you mean?"

a little bit

a slight pause, his voice became

that using that power will only serve to alert Jezebeth

"...You're right."

power, I

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

made me extremely

the midst of my thoughts, the other me

Later 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 about you being a human. If they are made aware

the situation doesn't really look

"You worry too much."

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

more minutes. If something doesn't

"...Alright."

and deactivating Eyes of Chronos I raised my head and

of my sword,

the same time,

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

from the effect,

of the [Keiki style]

Click—!

At the same time my vision started

Boooom—!

in the area that I was

up crashing against multiple trees,

Bang—!

"Ukhhh..."

That said.

I had survived.

"It hurts..."

teeth, I lifted my body up a little. I had trouble moving as some of my

chugged down a couple

in the

have here. It looks like the information wasn't

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

was an executive coming from the Gluttony clan. A clan that wasn't on good terms with the Sloth clan, the clan

clan, they obviously did

exactly sure they would believe in my plan at first, but it

clan, all they had to do was

be considered a minor conflict.

That aside.

didn't doubt that they had set countermeasures in the off-chance that

"Marquis Exion."

words. With narrowed eyes, demonic energy rose from his body