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.

same as the first one. That is, act as bait and lure them into

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

That said.

he wasn't someone that I

to kill him myself

convinced him to ambush the Greed

planning on ambushing the Greed clan, and how

I just threw was a signal for them to

planned to backstab

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

attention toward the opposite

should also

distance and I

my timing?...or did

this was going

suddenly felt a burst of aura

"You..."

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

'Shit...'

that was directed in my direction, I once again turned

Eyes of Chronos, I started to

my head started to run at full throttle as I tried

is going to be a bust. Do I have

"You don't."

it was the other me appearing from out of

"What do you mean?"

a little bit

slight pause, his

power will only serve to alert Jezebeth of

"...You're right."

Jezebeth's power, I

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

thought made me extremely apprehensive

the midst of my thoughts,

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

the situation doesn't

"You worry too much."

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

something doesn't happen by then,

"...Alright."

and deactivating Eyes of Chronos I raised my head and met Marquis

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

the same time, I activated

much of an effect

the

of the [Keiki style]

Click—!

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

Boooom—!

arrived in the area

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

Bang—!

"Ukhhh..."

That said.

I had survived.

"It hurts..."

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

down a couple

the time I recovered the demons in the distance

here. It looks

demon that bore striking resemblance to Marquis Atheora stepped

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

the Sloth clan, they

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

make a move against the Greed clan, all they had to do was check for any movement, and from there,

to them, this could be considered

That aside.

set countermeasures in the off-chance that

"Marquis Exion."

those words. With narrowed