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.

first one. That is,

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

That said.

someone that I

didn't need to kill him

to ambush the Greed clan, I presented another

planning on ambushing the Greed clan, and how they could use this opportunity

just threw was a signal for

actually planned to backstab

a malicious and terrifying glare directed in my

opposite side, the

also be

as I looked in the distance and I saw nothing, my forehead started

timing?...or did they

this was going to

suddenly felt a burst of aura coming from

"You..."

area around me started to twist. Turning around,

'Shit...'

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

I started to assess

of my head started to run at full throttle as I tried to

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

"You don't."

beside me. As usual, it was the other

"What do you mean?"

little bit

a slight pause, his voice became

mind that using that power will only serve to alert

"...You're right."

I became

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

extremely apprehensive

the midst of my thoughts, the other

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

but the situation doesn't really look

"You worry too much."

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

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

"...Alright."

of Chronos I raised my head and met

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

time, I

than one rank, it didn't have too much of an effect on Marquis Atheora as it only worked to distract him for a split second. But it was

from the effect, I had already

third movement of the [Keiki style]

Click—!

same time my vision started to distort, I saw Marquis Atheora's attack shoot in the direction of where

Boooom—!

a split second, it arrived in the area that I was

I was unable to come out unscathed as I ended up crashing against multiple trees, and felt tremendous pain invade every

Bang—!

"Ukhhh..."

That said.

I had survived.

"It hurts..."

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

down

the distance

we have here. It

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

knew that he was an executive coming from the Gluttony clan. A clan that

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

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

I told them that the Sloth clan would make a move against the Greed clan, all they had to do was

them, this could be considered a minor conflict.

That aside.

didn't doubt that they had set countermeasures in the off-chance that this was also a trap, but it didn't

"Marquis Exion."

filled with spite as he said those words. With narrowed eyes, demonic energy rose from his