The Author's POV

Caissa headquarters.

"Everything is going as Ren has predicted."

Ryan mumbled something under his breath as he bit his nails and studied the monitors that were situated in front of him. Ava was standing next to him at the time, and she gave a slight nod as a bird perched on her arm.

"In approximately one week, the forces of the Monolith will make their way to Ashton city. As Ren had predicted, they began their assault on us by first destroying the four cities at the edge of the human domain. They will almost certainly make a brief stop on the outskirts of the city before attempting to breach the city's defenses."

"I agree…"

Ryan kept gnawing on his fingernails as he moved the pointer of his mouse around the screen and gazed at the deserted streets of Ashton city. In particular, his gaze was drawn toward a few distinct buildings, and he turned his head to inquire about something.

"Have you already set everything up?"

"Yes. Everything has been arranged. All we have to do is wait for Ren to give us the go ahead before moving."

"How long do you think that will take?"

"Probably two more months."

Ava truthfully answered.

"He did mention in advance that he would be extremely busy over the course of the next three months. One month has already passed, and there are still two more months to go. Because Angelica is not here with us either, we are unable to proceed with our plans just yet."

"So are we just going to stay here and do nothing while the Monolith attacks next week?"

Leopold's voice could be heard as he walked into the monitor room with his daughter Sophia following closely behind.

She waved her hand lightly at the two, who waved back at her.

All of the members' families were escorted to the headquarters in order to ensure their own personal safety.

Hein's parents and siblings, Ava's family, Ryan's mom, Leopold's daughter, and so on…

This place had basically become the home of all the members' families. Fortunately, the warehouse was big enough to house everyone without any problems.

"Yes, for now, that is."

Ryan replied to Leopold without looking at him. He had already seen him coming a few seconds ago so he wasn't exactly surprised.

to do in the meantime,

made himself comfortable on one of the sofas at the back of the room. Ava, staring at him, turned to Sophia

your time with your family. Ren did say that after he finishes whatever he's doing, we won't have

his head down to gaze at

you guys put it that way, then I

***

Within a dark void.

Swoosh—! Swooosh—!

of sword moves as his sword danced

Swooosh—! Swoooosh—!

ethereal quality to them, and with each new set of moves he would perform, his

The figure was restrained by a number of chains, and it just stood there and stared expressionlessly at Ren as he worked on the sequence of moves in the

silence enveloped

for a considerable amount of time until finally, Ren stopped what he was doing and looked at the other Ren. Sweat dripped

This is what I've come

"…"

Ren without uttering a word, displaying no facial

sat down on the ground and dropped the sword

hand, a green book appeared in his

sets one executes, the more precise and potent their attacks become. It is said that a person's body would sustain so much damage during the final movements

his eyes continued to move slowly over the

following few passages, he discarded the book

colored book

the muscles of the human body. The harsher the conditions that their bodies

had finished reading the description of the two sword arts, he eventually set that book aside and took out

"The Keiki style…"

even opened the book before he burst out laughing and tossed it to the side of the room. He cocked his head back and looked up at

be such

head to the side and looked at his other

month since I decided to practice over here, and yet, not once did I ever hear

restrained in chains. His feet

obvious that training outside of here would be more efficient

at the space. His face looked completely dead, and Ren's

didn't seem to mind this

to train here

forward and whispered

your help will I be able to create