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.

we supposed to do in the

sofas at the back

enjoy your time with your family. Ren did say that after he finishes whatever he's doing, we won't have time to spend with our families for quite some time, so make the most of the time

head down to gaze at

you guys put it that way, then I will do my best to enjoy my time with

***

Within a dark void.

Swoosh—! Swooosh—!

a series of sword moves as his sword danced through

Swooosh—! Swoooosh—!

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

standing not too far away from where he was. The figure was restrained by a number of chains, and it just stood there and stared expressionlessly at Ren as he

silence enveloped the

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

is what I've come

"…"

without uttering a

on the ground and dropped the sword beside

hand, a green book

thrives primarily on style and power increases across multiple moves. The more move sets one executes, the more precise and potent their attacks become. It is

uttered the words out loud while his eyes continued to move slowly

few passages, he discarded the book and picked

new colored book appeared in his

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

finished reading the description of the two sword arts, he eventually set that

"The Keiki style…"

hadn't 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

would be

turned his head to the side and looked at his

now, haven't you? It's been about a month since I decided to practice over

in chains. His feet eventually came to a stop in front of him,

obvious that training outside of here would

other Ren continued to stare emotionlessly at the space. His face looked completely dead, and Ren's words seemingly passed through his head without ever

to mind this as

reason why I decide to train

forward and

help will I be able to create a new sword