The Author's POV

Bang—!

A powerful blast reverberated through a large room as a figure skidded back.

"Cough…cough…"

What followed after the blasting sound was a series of coughs as the dust in the air settled, revealing a figure with long black hair and yellow eyes.

"Cough...heee.."

Liam smiled as he wiped his mouth and noticed the smudge of blood on his thumb.

"That was pretty strong."

"What is another human doing here?"

An effeminate-looking humanoid with two curly horns floated in the air opposite Liam.

While levitating in the air, the demon licked his lips slowly as he gazed at Liam.

"Now that I'm getting a closer look at you, you're quite the handsome lad..."

"Uh?"

Shivers ran down Liam's body as he felt the gaze of the demon.

'What's going on?'

What prompted the shivers wasn't the demon's weird gaze, but something else...something deeper...it was his sixth sense. Something he had honed over countless battles and struggles.

At the moment, it was telling him that something was wrong with the situation.

His instinct was right as he felt a sharp whistling sound coming from his right cheek. It was there that Liam noticed the demon appearing right beside him.

It had only taken a short second for him to appear next to Liam and attack him.

'Fast…'

Liam thought as his eyes gleamed with a strange yellow hue and lightning began to crackle around his body.

Clang—!

A metallic ring echoed throughout the air as the demon's sharp nails came into contact with the sheath of Liam's sword that was only slightly tilted to the right.

Even then...

"Cough!"

Skidding several meters back, Liam coughed again. This time, blood came out of his mouth as his knee trembled and he was forced to stab his sword to the ground in order to stop himself from crashing against the nearby wall.

'…How powerful.'

Lifting his head up to gaze at the demon, Liam clenched and unclenched his fist as he placed the sheath of the sword next to his waist.

Massaging the side of his neck, he quietly mumbled to himself.

"As I thought, fighting against a Marquis ranked demon while I'm still rank, isn't suitable."

In the meantime, the demon was carefully observing Liam.

"You're pretty strong."

The demon commented.

Raising his head to stare at the demon, Liam lowered his heads

"Thank you."

"Keke."

The demon chuckled as the wings on his back folded together.

He then extended his hand.

"Continuing this fight is pointless. You're weaker than me, and you know that. It would be a pity to let such talent die, so…"

The demon's hand was suddenly enshrouded in a black hue as a scroll unexpectedly materialized on the top of his palm.

"…How about signing a co—"

"I'm good."

before

at the contract, he shook

not sign a contract with a demon belonging to the Lust

an apple

Crunch—!

spilled on the ground as an echoing crunching sound

a contract with a d…munch…emon from the envy clan…munch…of course, that is only on the premise that I'm interested to sign one in the fir..much..st place…munch…but I'm

after having devoured the apple in his hand,

"Good snack."

hand on the sheath of

"Alright, I'm ready."

"Haha…"

a small laugh as he covered his face with the hand that was holding onto

"Hahahahhahahah."

soon turned into a full maniacal laugh as the demon pressed his stomach and hunched over. By the second, his laughter became louder, and

"What's so funny?"

with

stopped laughing and his face

"Your naivety."

Fwap—!

aura suddenly sprang out from the demon's

stupid enough to reject my offer and choose

reached all the way toward Liam who felt his

expanded toward every inch and corner of

what happens when someone rejects

spot before reappearing right in front of

"Di—"

Click—!

echoed throughout

Thump—!

no one was able to react to the sudden changes. After that, with two loud thuds, a dissected body landed on the

"You talk too much."

his breath as he let the sword fall into its sheath. After that, he kicked the demon's body and flipped

"H…how?"

voice as he stared at Liam with eyes wide open. Given that his core had still not been shattered, he was

did I defeat

Liam brushed his hair

a shrug of his shoulder,s

when I was ranked , I just decided

caused the demon's

shoulders once again, Liam's yellow eyes shined and he stabbed toward the

Crack—!

echoed out and the demon's body slowly disintegrated into the

"Alright."

a little, he turned around and headed toward the far end of the room where he was met with another

slowly walked in that direction, his footsteps halted and he

He suddenly recalled something.

the cores of the two

as he deeply thought about the

"Ugh."

to recall anything, he eventually ruffled his hair

more fun this way. It'll help me test my new

felt a lot more powerful and he couldn't wait to

***

"Ehm…"

picked my nose with my pinky.

gone after

been dark, but the small familiar light coming from what

"Leopold?"

I instinctively called out.

"Hey! Hey!"

*Puff*

"!!!"

a reply, I flinched

"What's going o—off."

something soft embrace me. My thought process halted for a short

"…I'm glad you're okay."

near my ear, causing my body to shiver as

happening? I can't see

then that a familiar voice echoed and Amanda distanced

eyes reflexively closed as a bright light flooded the

"Ren."

called out