The Author's POV

"Huu...huuu..."

My body rose and fell as I breathed in and out. With sweat trickling down my body, I slowly closed my eyes and continued doing the same motion. Alongside it, I made sure to carefully move the mana around my body.

"Are you ready?"

It was then that a voice echoed inside the room.

I promptly ignored the voice.

Lowering my body once more, I flexed my muscles and only stopped once my chest and nose touched the floor before moving.

My movement was very slow.

Slow to the point that my muscles started to sting with each movement.

"Haa..."

It was only after I completed the movement that I finally stood up. Taking a clean towel I cleaned my body.

'Warm's up done.'

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

Detaching four large bracelets from my arms, I put them away.

Knock. Knock.

It was exactly at this moment that I heard a knocking sound coming from the other side of the room.

"Overlord, get ready. Your match is about to begin."

"Okay."

Massaging my shoulders, I leaned and stretched my neck.

"What's your choice?"

The same voice from before spoke. As I glanced in his direction, my eyes paused.

Eventually, I nodded my head and mumbled.

"Okay..."

"Good choice."

A smile began to spread on my other self's face.

'I'm starting to think that this was part of his plans...'

I was honestly still strongly opposed to the idea of having him take over my body, but after taking everything into consideration, and realizing that the Duke could use his true strength at any moment and kill me, I realized that I had no choice but to accept his offer.

'It sucks, but I'm still too inexperienced to face a Duke-ranked demon.'

Clank.

Jolting me out of my thoughts, the door to the room opened up revealing several figures standing behind.

As soon as the door fully opened, one of the demons asked.

"Are you ready?"

"...Yes."

Nodding my head, I took a step forward. Walking shoulder to shoulder with me was my other self.

With the same emotionless expression, he muttered.

"Be sure to pay close attention to everything I do. I will show you the true depth of your strength."

Without saying anything, I opened my mouth and softly mumbled.

"Monarch's indifference."

***

In spite of the fact that he had only been defeated a week ago, Lightning Dragon could not believe what he was seeing.

Duke against

still having a hard time processing the information as he stepped

out how he had been able

the Overlord should still be a bit stronger even if his rank

Lightning Dragon was able to somewhat gauge how strong an

was still a bit

have won that

expected of the person who beat

had many surprises up his sleeve. Particularly with regards to his upcoming battle with the Duke, which

first time in a very long time, the Duke was finally going to make an

been any fuller as it was packed to

at

has already heard of the event

demoness finally made his appearance.

eagerly gazed at the arena below, the

and all the demons wanted to do at the moment was catch a glimpse of the

and city were under the watchful eye

to finally

demons couldn't contain

see him crush the

feelings against him…but he was the Duke. Of course, they would

gazed at the audience. Their

was at

us welcome the

slowly opened, the demoness's crisp

forward, everyone stopped

black hair, two large horns that protruded from the side of his forehead, and a presence that instantly overtook the entire

stepped into the

the attention of

Tok. Tok.

of his footsteps resounded

of the arena. There was a calm look on his face

of silence was followed by loud cheers, which shook the entire

"Duke!"

"Duke Azenoch!"

"Beat him up!"

screaming for him at the top of their lungs sounded borderline fanatical. In spite of this, Duke Azenoch appeared to be enjoying the cheers as he basked

faint curl began to spread across the

the top of

"The device…"

wide as he gazed

his eyes, Lightning

"It's not on."

were special. Not only could they allow him to detect the general flow of mana in the air, but they could also allow him to track down the general flow of energy

was mana, demonic energy, or

to not detect any energy coming out of the Duke's

this, he came

planning on killing

Duke was planning

changed completely once he learned of this as he pressed both

I should've told him

the next Overlord was that he

his all-seeing eyes, this

was too lazy to even consider the idea of fighting over one hundred weak

he wanted to escape, he could do it without the need to defeat

the very moment that he had heard the rules that it was practically impossible to escape from

what kind of Duke would ever put their reputation on the line in front of so

they would ever

short of a miracle. Within a span of a single month, he managed to accomplish something that the contestants had never been able to accomplish in the past,

Clank.

on the other side of the arena slowly opened up revealing a familiar

"hm?"

appeared, Lightning

his mouth multiple times, a cold

"What?"

felt a wet sensation. Unknowingly, his body started to tremble as he

"...Who is he?"

That...

Reaper he

He was someone else.