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,

Atheora now injured, if there was a better time than to

That said.

he wasn't someone that I could kill.

to kill him myself

had convinced him to ambush the Greed clan,

clan, and how they could use

just threw was a

planned to backstab me

of it, I felt a malicious and terrifying glare directed in my direction. Without needing

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

should also be coming

distance and I saw nothing, my forehead started to

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

was going

burst of

"You..."

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

'Shit...'

my direction, I once again turned to look into the

Chronos, I started to assess

started to run at full throttle as I tried to figure out

bust. Do I have no choice but to go with

"You don't."

me. As usual, it was

"What do you mean?"

a little

pause, his voice became

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

"...You're right."

I

a clone to fight me. What if he showed up in his full form? Wouldn't I just die

extremely apprehensive about

thoughts, the other

best if you save it for then. Not only that but it's best if fewer demons know about you being a human.

but the situation doesn't really look too

"You worry too much."

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

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

"...Alright."

deactivating Eyes of Chronos I raised

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

the same time,

much of an effect on Marquis Atheora as it only worked to distract him for a split second. But

recovered from the effect,

movement of the [Keiki

Click—!

clicking sound rang in the air. At the same time my vision started to distort, I saw Marquis Atheora's attack shoot in the direction of

Boooom—!

the area that I was previously

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

Bang—!

"Ukhhh..."

That said.

I had survived.

"It hurts..."

little. I had trouble moving as some of

down a couple

recovered the demons in the distance had already arrived and

It looks like

the air as another demon that bore striking resemblance to Marquis

he was, but I knew that he was an executive coming from the Gluttony clan. A clan that wasn't on

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

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

they had to do was check for any movement, and from there,

be considered a

That aside.

the off-chance that this was also a trap,

"Marquis Exion."

as he said those words. With narrowed eyes, demonic energy