The Author's POV

Hearing Edward's brittle voice that was pent up with all his emotions, I smiled softly.

"Sorry, I had to take a little detour."

Clank—! Clank—!

With my sword unsheathed, I hacked at the chains that bound him and freed his arms and legs.

Following the release of the chains, he started to fall down. In response, I lowered my body and pressed my hand on his shoulder, preventing his fall.

"Are you okay?"

"…yeah."

Glancing at me, Edward had a bitter look on his face.

"It's been a while since I've moved, and with my mana sealed for this long, my muscles just gave out."

"It's alright. I'll help you out for now."

Supporting Edward's body up, I helped him out of the room. On our way out, Edward opened his mouth and asked.

"…Did you do it?"

His voice sounded rather weak and frail. Glancing at him from the corner of my eyes, I nodded.

"Yeah."

When I recalled my other self's conversation with the Duke, there were times when I was afraid that the deal would've fallen apart.

Especially during that time, my other self had threatened him.

If there was one thing you learned at the Lock about demons, it was never to threaten a demon belonging to the Pride clan.

If he hadn't been wary of the rumors about my strength, I would've been afraid he would have just attacked me then and there.

Fortunately, my other self knew when to back down, and from there was able to make a deal with the Duke.

Thankfully, I didn't have to give anything up. Initially, the Duke was against the idea of me keeping my stuff, but considering what he would gain, he eventually relented.

It wasn't every day he would get a core belonging to a Duke-ranked demon. Furthermore, with multiple alibis pointing out the fact that I had killed him, he could consume it without worrying.

No Duke would refuse such a tempting offer.

Well, it wasn't like my other self gave him any choice to begin with.

"Took you a while."

While I was carrying Edward on my shoulders, appearing right in front of us was Lightning Dragon.

His appearance shocked Edward as he looked at me.

"What is he doing here?"

Nodding in Lightning Dragon's direction, I glanced at Edward.

"He's our ticket out of the Demon Realm."

"Our ticket out?"

"Yeah. He knows of a portal that can lead us back to earth."

Edward's face relaxed as soon as he heard those words. Staring in Lightning Dragon's direction, he nodded his head.

"I'll be in your care."

"Don't worry about it."

Waving his hand to brush him off, Lightning Dragon took a couple of black robes from his dimensional space and handed them to us.

"For now it's best if you wear this."

"Sure."

"Okay."

Simultaneously nodding our heads, Edward and I took the hoodies and put them on.

This was something that the Duke had ordered.

Since he was planning on consuming the core, he couldn't let it seem as though he was working with me.

If it did, his plans would instantly crumble. Well, that was unless he decided to kill all witnesses, and realistically speaking, that was a bit more of a hassle than doing things this way.

"So…"

In the midst of putting on the robe, I suddenly heard Edward's voice.

I turned my head to look his way. Did he need something?

His next words made my expression harden.

"…I've been meaning to ask this for quite a while, but what's your relationship with my daughter?"

"Ehm…"

Scratching the side of my cheek, I carefully answered.

"The both of us attended the same academy, so we can say we're classmates."

Honestly, it was a bit more complicated than that, but my gut told me to leave it as it was.

"I see.."

As Edward raised the hoodie to cover his face, he nodded his head.

me

curious. No

that, he walked up

to stare at his back,

brief moment, I felt an incredible pressure coming out of his

he wasn't even channeling his mana or

'Overprotective dad…'

him from behind and caught up with Lightning Dragon who looked at me

"What?"

in his

glare, I turned

let's go. We don't

*

"This way…"

Dragon, I, along with Edward and another

current destination was the portal Lightning Dragon used to travel to the

there, and that was through portal devices they created. Not

that dungeon desyncs could be used to access the demon

enter a dungeon was through the portals that

hoodie, I stared at Lightning Dragon who was a little bit

we have left till we

"We're here."

abruptly

dawned on me

my head to glance at Lightning Dragon again, I

is

"Eh…"

embarrassingly

another look at his surroundings, a wry smile

"…I forgot."

"Shit."

his words, I couldn't help but

forgot about his crappy

he is the

were of course directed to my other self who was the one that told me that

"You don't remember?"

throughout the forest. Sharing the

that you knew a way

"I did."

Liam nodded

know that it's somewhere

frown on his face, he turned to look at the other figure

know of a way to sense where the portal

"...I can try."

a look of disdain, the figure lowered his hood and displayed his horns before

can help

as he too started to look for

the

Duke had

coordinates of the two locations in order to set up a portal. And since the Duke had

activate the portal, and since none of us could use it, the Duke had a demon

was part of the deal

"Haaa…"

Although I wanted to help, my body was still aching from the side effect of the skill, and although the pain was a

could only hope

But...

passed, and the

'How useless.'

help out

But upon realizing just how vast

my take a

"I've found it!"

to start searching,

appeared in the distance

"You found it?"

filled with relief and excitement, Edward walked up to

"Can you activate it?"

"Yes."

device from Liam's hand, demonic energy suddenly sprang out from the demon's

Crack. Crack. Crack.

black threads appeared

a black portal started to appear before

on the demon's face while the portal was forming. It was evident that it took him a lot of demonic energy to activate the portal. In the end, he struggled for a couple more minutes before he finally

"Haaa…haa…haa…I'm done."

rough breathing echoed throughout

a

demon, I calmly patted my hand on his

doing

Crack—

the demon in his abdomen area and broke his core before he could finish his

same. I'm also doing this for

want to do this, given the deal I made with the

fact that I struck a deal with the

of the agreement we

took the demon a few seconds to disintegrate after I cracked the core. But once he did,

died, I glanced toward the portal before

It's

***

Duke Adramalech's voice.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

stared at a small

might come soon, give this to

"An acquaintance?"

talking about? Duke Adramalech had no

back at the figure, the Duke decided

feel any strength