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

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

That said.

wasn't someone that I could kill. Our

to kill him

him to ambush the Greed clan, I presented another clan

clan was planning on ambushing the Greed clan,

I just threw was a

planned to backstab me

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

my direction my attention toward the opposite

should also

and I

I mismatch my timing?...or

so, this was going to

of aura coming

"You..."

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

'Shit...'

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

Chronos, I started

inside of my head started to run at full throttle as I tried to figure out my next course of

to be a bust. Do I have no choice but to

"You don't."

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

"What do you mean?"

a little bit

pause,

serve to alert Jezebeth of your appearance in the

"...You're right."

power, I became extremely

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

extremely

the midst of my thoughts, the

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 human. If they are made aware

the situation doesn't really look too

"You worry too much."

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

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

"...Alright."

my eyes and deactivating Eyes of Chronos I raised my head and met Marquis Atheora's

hand on the sheath of my sword, I activated my sword's effect, and the mana inside of my body started to circulate at

same time,

a bit more 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

the effect, I

movement of the [Keiki style] :

Click—!

air. At the same time my vision started to distort, I saw Marquis

Boooom—!

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

I ended up crashing against multiple trees, and felt tremendous pain invade every part

Bang—!

"Ukhhh..."

That said.

I had survived.

"It hurts..."

moving as some of my bones were broken,

quickly chugged down a couple of

the demons in the distance had already arrived and

here. It looks

throughout the air as another demon that bore striking resemblance to

didn't know exactly who he was, but I knew that he was an executive coming from the Gluttony clan. A

the Sloth clan, they obviously did

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

all they had to do was check

considered a minor conflict. It

That aside.

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

"Marquis Exion."

with spite as he said those words. With