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―"

stone-like expression as his head shot up, and

At this precise instant, a powerful ripple spread across the area they were in, shattering the space around

extent that one could actually make out Waylan's office

Cr― Crack!

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

'It's that move again.'

immediately recognized the move as his eyes moved toward the hand that was no longer on his body. His internal laws surged

same time, Ren's cold gaze

a while since I've fought someone of this level.

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

Shhhh―!

as the second sword began to materialize behind

Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak!

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 broken sword from piece to piece, creating

the white film covering his main

all goes bad,

thoughts lasted seconds, and he put them

'Sounds good.'

if he died? Wasn't that his goal to begin

a dark film that emerged from

It was demonic energy.

the white film began to wiggle, and a destructive power that was on par with the enormous sword in

'I,impossible!'

everything that was taking place with a

up took only a few seconds

attack and then launch a counterattack shortly after when

for him to

an

suddenly materialized in front of Ren, and the barrier that had been forming in front of him vanished. His eyes gave off a dazzling

arched his back, he did not withhold anything. He clenched his fist tightly, gathered all the strength he could muster, and then

"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 his office became

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

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

of this, Waylan held his breath

knew this would

been fixated on the sword, moved away from it

moment, the area around him began to warp, and the vacant gray pupils in his eyes concentrated on the punch that was drawing near. His expression remained unchanged despite the fact that the fist was drawing closer to his

"Move."

word in

it, golden runes appeared from the area around the fist and clamped onto

to take control of the laws, he felt something touch his forehead, and

sudden, everything

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

spread from the point of contact, which

"You fell for it."

sword behind him disappeared, and so did

'H,how.'

to react. And in that brief moment, time seemed to have stopped.

"Boom."

far

BANG―

"Huak."

out a

moment he slammed into the buildings in the distance, the surrounding area began to flicker, and the background of the office became increasingly

"Fool."

directly in front of Waylan, who was pinned up against the wall of the building. Both his hair and the Akashic Laws on his body were