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.

That is, act as bait and lure them into

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

That said.

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

didn't need to

just like I had convinced him to ambush the Greed

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

just threw was a signal

actually planned to backstab me

me out of it, I felt a malicious and terrifying glare directed in my direction. Without needing to look, I already

I didn't care as my direction my attention toward the opposite side, the

also be coming

looked in the distance and I saw

mismatch my timing?...or

so, this was going to

felt a burst of

"You..."

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

'Shit...'

I once again turned to look into the distance. Yet

Eyes of Chronos, I

head started to run at full throttle as

bust. Do I have no choice but

"You don't."

familiar voice rang from beside me. As usual, it was the other me appearing

"What do you mean?"

little

slight pause, his voice became

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

"...You're right."

I became

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

the thought made me extremely apprehensive

the midst of my thoughts,

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

doesn't really look too

"You worry too much."

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

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

"...Alright."

Eyes of Chronos I raised my head and met Marquis

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

same time, I

rank, it didn't have too much of an effect on Marquis Atheora

from the effect, I had

movement of the [Keiki style] : Void

Click—!

distorted, and a low 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 where

Boooom—!

second, it arrived in the

unscathed as I ended up crashing against multiple trees, and felt tremendous pain invade

Bang—!

"Ukhhh..."

That said.

I had survived.

"It hurts..."

body up a little. I had trouble moving as some of my bones were broken, but it was worth the

chugged down

the distance

It looks like the information

as another demon that bore striking

exactly who he was, but I knew that he was an executive coming from the Gluttony clan. A clan that

them with an opportunity to deal damage to the Sloth clan,

my plan at first, but it

the Greed clan, all they had to do

this could be considered a minor conflict. It wasn't anything

That aside.

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

"Marquis Exion."

said those words. With narrowed eyes, demonic