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."

demon off before he could

a glance at the

appreciate your offer, but I'd rather not sign a contract with a demon belonging to the Lust

onto his dimensional space, an apple appeared in

Crunch—!

bit into the apple, juice spilled on the ground as an echoing crunching sound

are rather..munch…weak…munch…I would much rather sign 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

apple in his hand, Liam stretched his

"Good snack."

on the sheath of

"Alright, I'm ready."

"Haha…"

Liam finished his words, the demon let out a small laugh as he covered

"Hahahahhahahah."

laugh as the demon pressed his stomach and

"What's so funny?"

asked with a confused

words, the demon stopped

"Your naivety."

Fwap—!

suddenly sprang out from the demon's body as the room started to

someone stupid enough to reject my offer and

reached all the way toward

seconds, the pressure had already expanded toward every inch and corner of the room as the demon's terrifying

exactly what happens

figure vanished from the spot before reappearing right in front

"Di—"

Click—!

echoed

Thump—!

react to the sudden changes. After that, with two loud thuds, a dissected body landed

"You talk too much."

fall into its sheath. After that, he

"H…how?"

eyes

I defeat

Liam brushed his

of his shoulder,s he

couldn't beat you when I was ranked , I just decided

demon's eyes to

yellow eyes shined

Crack—!

echoed out and the

"Alright."

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

he slowly walked in that direction, his footsteps halted and he

He suddenly recalled something.

of the two demons that

frown emerged on his face as he

"Ugh."

his head over the matter and being unable to recall anything, he eventually ruffled his hair and

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

that he had broken through to rank, he felt a lot more powerful and he couldn't wait

***

"Ehm…"

make sure that I was hearing correctly, I picked my nose with my pinky. I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything wrong

that far gone after all that

familiar light coming from what seemed to be a cigarette,

"Leopold?"

I instinctively called out.

"Hey! Hey!"

*Puff*

"!!!"

I flinched and took several

"What's going o—off."

me. My thought process halted for a

"…I'm glad you're okay."

faint whisper sounded near my ear, causing my body to shiver as a

I

that a familiar voice echoed and Amanda distanced

reflexively closed as a bright light flooded the

"Ren."

voice called out for