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 them

there was a better time than to get rid of him, it would

That said.

someone that I could kill. Our rank difference

to kill him myself

to ambush the Greed

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

just threw was a signal for

backstab me

out of it, I felt a malicious and terrifying glare directed in my direction.

didn't care as my direction my attention toward the opposite side, the southern area. This was only half of

also be coming

I looked in the distance and I saw nothing,

mismatch my timing?...or did they ignore my

so, this was going

a burst of aura coming from behind

"You..."

voice shook the air, and the area around me started to twist. Turning around, I realized that Marquis Atheora was preparing

'Shit...'

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

Chronos, I started to assess the

run at full throttle as

Plan A is going to be a bust. Do I have no choice

"You don't."

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

"What do you mean?"

little

a slight pause,

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

"...You're right."

Jezebeth's power, I became extremely

if he showed up

me extremely apprehensive

of my thoughts, the other me

in order to save Amanda's father. It's best if you save it for then. Not

situation doesn't really

"You worry too much."

the distance. Unlike me,

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

"...Alright."

Eyes of Chronos I raised my

sheath of my sword, I activated my sword's effect, and the mana inside of

time, I activated 'The

an effect on Marquis Atheora as it only worked to distract him for a split

he recovered from the effect, I

movement of the [Keiki style]

Click—!

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

Boooom—!

a split second, it arrived in the area that I

up crashing against multiple trees, and felt tremendous pain invade

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 bones were broken,

quickly chugged down a couple of

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

we have here. It looks like

voice echoed throughout the air as another demon that bore

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

clan, they obviously did not refuse

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

that the Sloth clan would make a move against the Greed clan, all they had to do was check for any movement, and from there, they were able to confirm

this could be considered a minor conflict. It

That aside.

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

"Marquis Exion."

with spite as he said those words. With narrowed eyes,