The Author's POV

'Is he sharper than I let out, or is he just stupid?"

Suriol pondered to himself as he gazed at the human standing not so far from him. In the previous few moments, right when he was morphing his body, he sensed a slight murderous intent coming from the human.

He thought that he would attack him.

If there was a time when he was most vulnerable, it would indeed be during his transformation, so Suriol found it surprising that he didn't attack him.

'Did he sense something?'

In truth, the human would have most likely suffered severe injuries or even died had he chosen to attack.

The fact that he didn't do anything had in itself saved his life.

Suriol was not so dimwitted as to allow the human to take advantage of such a glaring weakness in his defenses.

He was obviously prepared.

'This new body isn't too bad…'

Suriol shifted his attention toward his new body.

He repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fists before raising his head to look at the human who was staring back at him with a look filled with surprise.

The grin that was already on his face grew wider.

"This is the existence you envy?"

He asked while moving around in this new body of his.

Suriol was a member of the Envy clan. A Duke ranked one at that. What made the clan of envy the strongest of the other clans was the unique power a certain part of their members had.

Evny, Lust, Gluttony, Pride, Greed, Wrath, and Sloth; Each clan represented a sin, and with it, they were born with an innate power that was only unique to their clan, and that perfectly matched their sin.

In Suriol's case, his power was that of someone who, by looking through the memories of their adversary, could flawlessly imitate the person that their adversary envied.

In this case, it was the form that he had just copied.

It took a total of ten seconds for Suriol to get used to the new body, and when he did, he felt everything become clear as information started to flood his mind.

They were a bit scattered as there seemed to be something wrong with the person's memories, but they were enough for Suriol to absorb and assimilate with himself.

"…He is indeed a person worth envying."

He extended his hand, at which point a sword composed of tangible demonic energy materialized.

Suriol slowly assumed his position as he locked eyes with the human standing opposite him.

"Let us see the power of the human that you envy, shall we?"

Click—!

***

"Fuck off!"

Hein let out a resounding roar as his shield collided with a nearby demon, knocking the demon to the ground with a loud crash.

The next thing that he did was stomp on the demon's head with his foot.

Crack.

a familiar cracking sound, he dashed forward, where he was followed

Booom—!

were in front of him. The moment their eyes locked, both of them took on more vicious

"Huek!"

"Kuak!"

his hand and

the flame psyons in the air with the flick of his finger, and as a result,

as he stomped on them with

Bang!

"Ukh…"

from his right side and attacked him. He was, fortunately, able to block the

'There's so many.'

after killing five demons,

They seemed endless.

"Fuck this shit."

his shield against the ground with one single large

"Huaaa!"

Boom—!

to fracture, and a powerful shockwave propagated outward, forcing the demons that were around him to spread apart. Hein took advantage of the opportunity that presented itself in that

"Huek!

and the head of a nearby demon detached, falling to the ground. As the

the cores, Hein crushed the head of the demon with his foot and kicked toward his

foot smacked against a demon's neck, sending it crashing against the

shield, head…Hein used everything that he had at his disposal

Han Yufei wasn't that bad of an

a result of Han Yufei

sufficient. He needed to find ways to deal with his opponent, which was why he had asked Han Yufei for assistance; Han Yufei was happy to assist him

that I think of it, this isn't nearly as

memory of his

at first,

point. Hein feared him

to fight against. Not only would the training grounds be left in shambles, but

brace himself and wait for his stamina to run out. However, this never seemed to happen throughout their spars

quite simply, a

him that

and took a deep breath. Eying the demons in front of him, his eyes sharpened

[Steel domain]

it wasn't long before the shield split into five different

in size with the assistance of Hein's mana, which was attached to the shield's side in the form

he had five hovering shields,

'Down.'

a fraction of a second, and with a twist of his hands, the shields began to encircle his body with

his hand forward and the radius

"Heek!"

"Hueak!"

started pouring shortly after as agonized screams

his mana dwindling at an alarming rate. It was depleting so

a lot more exhausting

to grit

he could survive for more than twenty minutes. It sounded like a lot of time, but in reality, it was practically nothing in comparison to a war that would probably last quite

…If that wasn't all.

Boooom—!

a powerful force blast against

"Urkk!"

the ground in a helpless manner as he skidded back several