The Author's POV

The tension in the room was palpable, thick enough to cut through with a knife. Waylan's smile vanished in an instant, leaving behind a stoic expression devoid of any emotion.

His clear eyes began to cloud over, and in just a matter of seconds, they turned pitch black. But upon closer inspection, they were much more than just a dark void.

As I gazed into his eyes, I could see the reflection of the entire cosmos staring back at me.

The swirling galaxies, the shining stars, and the infinite expanse of space were all contained within Waylan's eyes.

"Is this your answer?"

Waylan's voice boomed across the room, carrying with it an ancient quality that made the powers within my body tremble.

I felt a sudden pressure crash onto me, and I struggled to keep my footing. Despite the weight bearing down on me, I refused to falter and stood my ground.

"Even after I conceded and allowed you to work with us, you still choose to work against us?"

Waylan's gaze was cold and unforgiving, and I knew that I was in deep trouble.

"Arrogant."

He spat, and the cosmos within his eyes began to expand, slowly creeping up the walls of the room.

I watched in seriousness as the stars and galaxies began to envelop everything around me, slowly but surely.

Even in the face of such overwhelming power, I remained composed/

"Arrogant, huh?"

I managed to gasp out, struggling against the immense pressure that threatened to crush me.

"Would knowing that I'd get disposed of after serving my usefulness count as me being arrogant? …Rather, instead of arrogant, shouldn't you be saying something along the lines of self-aware?"

I was no fool.

The information that Ryan had sent me coincided with everything that I had managed to figure out myself, and I knew that Waylan wasn't someone who'd spare someone that had lived up to their usefulness.

He couldn't fool me, and I knew that he needed to die, regardless of whether he'd eliminate me after.

'He needs to die regardless.'

I thought to myself, my resolve hardening with each passing second. His existence was something that needed to be eliminated to have any chance at the third cataclysm that was soon going to come.

"Self-Aware?"

Waylan looked at me with a calm expression, musing over my words very carefully. It wasn't long before he shook his head.

"You're the last thing from self-aware. If you were self-aware, you'd know which side to join."

began to distort and warp, and suddenly, I found myself in a cosmic background filled with

I felt weightless as if I was standing on nothing at all. It was like nothing I had

"Are you surprised?"

through my reverie, pulling me back to reality. I turned to face him,

Where

had seen how he had managed to send me here, I never felt a thing, unlike when I

can't tell where we are considering that you have 'his' power, but

and the white glow

is

slowly reached his hand toward

you join

***

Boom―!

could be felt all over the world. The ground began to shake, and the mountains were pushed down to the ground. The entire

azure sky, and hordes of dark humanoid creatures rushed out of them as quickly as

Don't spare

"Arkhh!"

those who emerged had a crazed and bloodthirsty look on their faces as they flew toward the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of elves who were

arrows flew in the air, impaling many of the demons that were rushing their way, but that proved

blink of an eye and continued to charge at the humans.

pitched, and

In the distance.

"What a pitiful sight."

was not consistent with the compassionate words that came

have to die

shook his head in

An elderly one and a

at

his gaze and smiled

don't appear to be having much of an effect on the two of you at all. Is this how things normally work with you Protectors?... Do you only care about maintaining balance and disregard those

met with silence, but Jezebeth was unconcerned by this development. He was

scene many times in the

that he was

of you are waiting for reinforcements… thinking that the five other Protectors

peered off into the distance. His expression remained

never mind five… Four,

he kept looking at the scene in the distance, but he eventually shook his head and tore his gaze away

still

his back, his hair was blowing in front

Swoosh!

in with the surrounding area. They vanished for a

his neck, showed no sign of holding back as

force behind that one slash made everything in the far distance appear to be of insignificant size, and at the same time, the carefree expression

with a large magic circle―the size of a car―appearing above her staff. A terrifying fluctuation burst forth from the magic circle, spreading across the nearby areas and shattering everything that was within