The Author's POV

'The situation is not looking good.'

Angelica's expression was one of gloom as she stooped down to examine Hein, who was lying unconscious on the ground at that moment.

'Luckily, he seems fine, but he is completely spent at the moment.'

She sighed in relief when she realized that Hein was fine and slowly stood up and scanned her surroundings.

The area surrounding her was completely empty, as a circle formed in her vicinity as any demons that entered her radius abruptly turned around and charged the other demons in the area with blank looks on their faces.

"What are you doing?! We're on the same si-huak!"

"Traitor!"

This was all thanks to her power that allowed her to control the weaker ranked demons.

"Report to me your situation."

Angelica raised her wrist and whispered something.

It wasn't long before she received several replies.

[Uek, I'm not holding out too well. I've lost eight of my pets already, and I'm being pushed back at the moment!]

The first one to reply was Ava, and it sounded as though she rushed when she spoke. Her manner of speaking made it abundantly clear that the circumstances surrounding her were dismal.

[I'm with Ryan at the moment, and I'm helping out from above, but the demons have already infiltrated a small par-hak!]

Leopold's audio was cut off in the middle, and Angelica's brows furrowed.

'What happened?'

A crisp voice echoed after Liam's voice. It belonged to none other than Amanda who kept shooting her arrows in the sky, killing hundreds of demons at the time.

[I'm fine for now, but I'm slowly running out of mana. I've been targeted by a few demons so my mana is depleting rapidly.]

[I'm also fine...but I'm currently fighting against five Marquis ranked demons, so I don't think I'll be fine for much longer.]

The response from Han Yufei arrived much later than the one from Amanda, and when it did, Angelica lowered her wrist and furrowed her brows.

Raising her head she looked at Liam who was in the sky and her expression turned even grimmer.

'...This is not good.'

It was at this precise moment that she became aware of the fact that the war's equilibrium was on the verge of tipping. If they waited just a few more minutes, they would all be in some very serious trouble.

Her heart unknowingly quickened.

***

Click!

The all too familiar clicking sound echoed inside of Liam's head as he felt something sharp brush past his skin. With just a blink of his eyes, he cocked his head to the right and narrowly avoided the Duke ranked demon's sword.

"You dodged that?"

A look of surprise appeared on the demon's face.

Liam chose not to respond and instead focused his attention on the Duke-ranked demon standing in front of him.

His current appearance was identical to Ren's in every way. From the structure of his body, his hair, and his eyes. He was a carbon copy of Ren in every possible way imaginable. To such an extent that Liam had the impression that he was currently in a fight with Ren.

There was only one problem...

'This...it's not fun.'

He had already fought with Ren dozens of times before. He knew almost everything about Ren's fighting style. It was effortless for him to counter his usual fast movements.

It seemed as though things were getting easier for him, even though he was in a situation that should have been getting harder.

"I don't like this."

voicing out his displeasure

Duke ranked

"You don't like this?"

"I...I don't."

shook his head with a clear look of

the past I've faced off against Ren? It's to the point where I can't even keep

like he forgot,

memory at this point. Do you seriously believe that if you were to become him, it would make

focused his attention on the fake Ren, lightning began to crackle

the furthest thing from the

demon was barely able to parry the attack with a

Liam pursued after him.

what you're doing isn't even that impressive. I can do that

present and witnessed the scene, he would

my sword art

who were using something similar to

have unquestionably begun

and not identical, the fact that they were able

Click!

the lightning crackling around his arm intensified,

Clank!

got,

'Not enough!'

Liam's body became even louder. His form, which had been visible just moments before, disappeared into the background, leaving behind only

him, and it wasn't long before they seemed to take the shape of

the

in the direction of the Duke ranked demon. The force with which the attack came was extremely devastating, and it

of vindication], elemental

when it saw the circles for the first time, and it wasn't

smiled when he saw the

felt the hair on the back of his head standing up. Shortly after that, he began to hear the echo of a chilly

fall

extended his hand in the

but it was enough to startle the demon because the speed at which he was

how fast Liam's movements

demon wasn't just a Duke ranked demon in

precisely the moment when Liam's hand was about to come into contact with the back of his head, the space around Liam began to crack, and what appeared to be the pointed tips of actual swords

"Shit."

cursed to himself as he stopped

to appear in his field of vision. This was immediately

him and was able to skilfully sidestep the white lines that were headed in the direction

lines was simply far too

Spurt! Spurt!

shoulder, and

in those areas. Blinking once, his vision returned to normal and

He was clearly injured.

"Are you bored now?"

heard coming from the direction of his far right. Instead

"Not talking?"

he slowly approached

you thinking

Liam had started to become enveloped by a darkish domain

a calm look on his face, he carefully scrutinized Liam's

"Say..."

to its original form. He no longer looked like Ren. In

established, it was impossible for him

you think about signing a contract

demon's eyes shone once again, and Liam felt his body grow lethargic once more as his head was

appeared in the demon's

"Sign the contract."

swept his eyes

"Sign the contract and-huh?"