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."

warp, and suddenly, I found myself in a cosmic background filled with stars and planets in

standing on nothing at all. It was like

"Are you surprised?"

me back to reality.

I'm surprised. Where have you

to send me here, I never felt a thing, unlike when I

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

the white glow that emanated from his body

important is your

slowly reached his hand

join

***

Boom―!

shake, and the mountains were pushed down to the ground. The

across the cloudless azure sky, and hordes of dark humanoid creatures rushed

them! Don't spare

"Arkhh!"

toward the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of elves who were standing

the air, impaling many of the demons that

were cut down or impaled, a significant number of them regenerated in the blink of an eye and continued to charge at the humans. Even if they succeeded in killing

gradually became higher pitched, and it wasn't long before the

In the distance.

"What a pitiful sight."

plastered across Jezebeth's face was not consistent with the compassionate words that came out of

shame that so many have to

shook his

far from him were two elven figures. An elderly one and a

stared at Jezebeth

Jezebeth turned his gaze and smiled

you at all. Is

were met with silence, but Jezebeth was unconcerned by this development. He was enjoying the present very

had seen this scene many times in the past... He knew... that this was

reason that he was rather chatty

thinking that the five other Protectors will come to your aid

peered off into the distance. His expression remained one of contentment as his eyes became fixated on a particular scene off in

never mind five… Four, I

the distance, but he eventually shook his

It's still a bit too

both hands behind his back, his hair

Swoosh!

two Guardians started to move, and their silhouettes began to blend in with the surrounding area. They vanished for a moment and then reappeared right in

neck, showed no sign of

everything in the far distance appear to be of insignificant size, and at the same time, the

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