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.

one. That

injured, if there was a better time

That said.

he wasn't someone that I could kill. Our rank

to kill him myself

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

the Greed clan, and how they could use

was a signal for

planned to backstab

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

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

should also

distance and I saw

my timing?...or did they ignore

was going to

suddenly felt a burst of aura coming from behind

"You..."

the area around me started to twist. Turning around,

'Shit...'

terrifying aura that was directed 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

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

"You don't."

voice rang from beside me. As usual, it

"What do you mean?"

a little

pause, his

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

"...You're right."

I

What if he showed up in his full form? Wouldn't I just die

thought made me extremely apprehensive about using my

midst of my thoughts,

to save Amanda's father. It's best if you save it for then. Not only that but

the situation doesn't really look

"You worry too much."

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

If something doesn't happen by then, you can

"...Alright."

Chronos I raised

next set of actions all happened within a fraction of a second. Placing my hand on the sheath of my sword, I activated my sword's

same time, I activated

effect on Marquis Atheora

the time he recovered from the effect, I had already gathered

movement of the [Keiki style] :

Click—!

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

Boooom—!

the area that

unable to come out unscathed as I ended up crashing against multiple trees,

Bang—!

"Ukhhh..."

That said.

I had survived.

"It hurts..."

had trouble moving as some of my

down a

recovered the demons in the distance had

have here. It looks like

voice echoed throughout the air as another demon

coming from the Gluttony clan. A clan that wasn't on good terms

to deal damage to the Sloth clan, they obviously did not

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

they had to do was check for any movement, and

considered a minor conflict.

That aside.

set countermeasures in the off-chance that this was also a trap, but it

"Marquis Exion."

was filled with spite as he said those words. With narrowed