The Author's POV

"You're Ren?"

Waylan's eyes appeared to be squinting.

He examined Ren very carefully from top to bottom, and he had doubts about what he was saying. Even though he did look like Ren, the energy he was putting off was completely different... not to mention the fact that he appeared to be significantly stronger than he was before.

There was definitely something off about him. He just couldn't quite place his finger on it.

"I find that hard to believe."

"That's not something that I care about."

In response to Waylan's display of skepticism, Ren did not show any interest in defending himself.

In fact, he had no real interest in anything.

…He just wanted to get this done with already.

"What an annoying response."

The anger that was building up on Waylan's face manifested itself in the form of a rigid expression, and he rushed over to Ren. To protect himself, Ren quickly drew his sword from its sheath. At the same time, he directed the laws toward the body of the sword, covering it with them.

Only that…

The moment Waylan's hand came into contact with the sword, the laws shattered.

'This?'

Waylan smiled at it.

"Did you think you'd be able to control the laws better than me? Someone who's wielded them for centuries?"

Ren's brows furrowed slightly. This was proving to be more troublesome than he had anticipated.

Bang―!

Ren's body flew several meters back. When his body stabilized, Waylan appeared right behind him and pushed his only hand toward Ren's back. The space where his hand traveled fractured into several pieces.

"Whatever change you've gone through, it's far from enough."

As soon as the palm made contact with Ren's back, his body shot off into the distance once more.

While Ren's body was flailing about like a rag doll, there was no discernible expression on his face; however, there was noticeable blood streaking down the side of his mouth.

'Predictable.'

While in mid-air, Ren suddenly twisted his body and slashed behind him.

Clank―!

Waylan's body appeared as he blocked the attack, and Ren finally stabilized himself.

Extending his finger forward, the space around Waylan cracked apart, and golden streaks of tangible sword energy pierced at him like a porcupine.

They came at him in all directions and at speeds that left one unable to react.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

However, just as they were about to pierce his body, they came to an abrupt halt.

Waylan broke into a grin as he took a closer look at the sword energies that surrounded him.

"How int―"

froze into a stone-like expression as his head shot

a powerful ripple spread across the area they were in, shattering the space around

extent that one could actually

Cr― Crack!

quickly as it could, the space made several attempts to fix itself, but as soon as the large sword appeared above Ren's head,

'It's that move again.'

recognized the move as his eyes moved toward the hand that was no longer on his body. His internal laws surged to the surface in the form of golden runes, and

the same time, Ren's cold

I've fought someone of this level. It seems like I'm

behind him continued to take shape and grow both more distinct and more substantial

Shhhh―!

primary sword from its sheath as the second sword

Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak!

became completely detached from one another as they rose up a few meters from each other. The blade that Ren held in his hand grew in size as a thin layer of white film connected the shards of the

white film covering his

goes bad, I

seconds, and

'Sounds good.'

what if he died? Wasn't that his goal

was obscured by a dark film that emerged from within Ren's

It was demonic energy.

appearance, the white film began to wiggle, and a destructive power that

'I,impossible!'

was taking place with

building up took only a

then launch a counterattack shortly after

for

was an obvious

in front of Ren, and the barrier that had been forming in front of him

he did not withhold anything. He clenched his

"Don't push your luck."

Crack. Crack.

Everything shattered.

he released his grip on his fist, the space around him began to shatter, and the background of

pictures that were hung on the wall began to tremble, even if only very slightly, and the entire

behind him had only formed halfway, and he seemed to still be struggling to control his

of this, Waylan held

knew this

which had been fixated on the sword, moved away from it as he

and the vacant gray pupils in his eyes concentrated on the punch that was drawing near. His expression remained

"Move."

one word in

golden runes appeared from the area around the fist and clamped onto it like a rope that pulled to the left, and the trajectory of the punch altered if

and just as he was about to take control of the laws, he felt something touch his forehead, and when he looked

everything

"A... ah... how?"

right on Waylan's forehead, a ripple spread from the point of contact, which expanded all

"You fell for it."

and so

'H,how.'

time seemed to have stopped.

"Boom."

body vanished from view and then reemerged far off in the distance, slamming into one

BANG―

"Huak."

let out

he slammed into the buildings in the distance, the surrounding area began

"Fool."

pinned up against the wall of the building. Both his hair and the Akashic Laws on his body were a mess, and his