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.

patted me on the

No

he

head to stare at his back, I

moment, I felt an incredible pressure coming out of

wasn't even channeling his mana or anything

'Overprotective dad…'

up with Lightning Dragon who looked at me with a

"What?"

in his

a glare, I turned around and walked

hoodie on and let's go. We don't have much

*

"This way…"

I, along with Edward and another figure, navigated dense

Dragon used to

there was only one way to get there, and that was through portal devices they created. Not only

the fact that dungeon desyncs could be used to access the

way to enter a dungeon was through the portals that were set

Dragon who was a little bit

do we have left

"We're here."

Dragon abruptly

dawned on me

at Lightning Dragon again,

exactly is

"Eh…"

around the place, Lightning Dragon embarrassingly scratched the

his surroundings, a wry

"…I forgot."

"Shit."

his words,

forgot about his crappy

is the key to escaping the

the one that told me that

"You don't remember?"

forest.

say that you knew a way

"I did."

Liam nodded

that it's somewhere

his face, he turned to look at the

of a way to

"...I can try."

the figure lowered his hood and displayed

can help out

to lend a hand as he too started to look

on one of the

Duke had his

up a portal. And since the Duke had never been to earth, we couldn't

was required in order to activate the portal, and since none of us

part of the

"Haaa…"

stared at the sky. Although I wanted to help, my body was still aching from the side effect

hope they

But...

eventually passed, and the results remained the same. My mouth

'How useless.'

help out as

scanned my surroundings. But upon realizing just how vast the place was, my face sank a

take

"I've found it!"

about to start searching,

then appeared in the distance

"You found it?"

relief and excitement, Edward walked up to him before looking at the

"Can you activate it?"

"Yes."

device from Liam's hand, demonic energy suddenly sprang out from the demon's body as he started channeling it toward

Crack. Crack. Crack.

demon channeled his demonic energy, thin black threads appeared in the air, and minuscule tearing sounds

black portal

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

"Haaa…haa…haa…I'm done."

breathing echoed throughout

done a good

demon, I calmly patted my

doing

Crack—

demon in his abdomen area and

same. I'm also doing this for

didn't want to do this, given the deal I made with the

the fact that

part of

a few seconds to disintegrate after I cracked the core. But once he did, a breeze brushed past,

the area where the demon died, I glanced

go. It's time

***

Duke Adramalech's voice.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

stared at

soon, give this to him if

"An acquaintance?"

was he talking about?

at the figure, the

couldn't feel any