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―"

as his head shot up,

area they were in, shattering

that one could actually make out Waylan's office behind

Cr― Crack!

as soon as the large sword appeared above Ren's head, it was unable to do

'It's that move again.'

his body. His internal laws surged to the surface in the form of golden runes, and a massive shield materialized in front

time, Ren's cold gaze paused on

fought someone of this level. It seems like

was behind him continued to take shape and grow

Shhhh―!

its sheath as the second

Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak!

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 broken sword from piece to piece, creating a larger

at the white film covering his main sword, a sudden thought crossed Ren's

all goes bad, I

lasted seconds, and he

'Sounds good.'

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

by a dark film that emerged from within

It was demonic energy.

of making its appearance, the white film began to wiggle, and a destructive power that was on par with the

'I,impossible!'

taking place with a horrified

building up took only a few seconds in

attack and then launch a counterattack shortly after when he was exhausted; however, he immediately abandoned that

can't wait for him to

was an

the barrier that had been forming

back, he did not withhold anything. He clenched his fist tightly, gathered

"Don't push your luck."

Crack. Crack.

Everything shattered.

soon as he released his grip on his fist, the space around him began to shatter, and the

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

directly at Ren's face, and held nothing back. The sword behind him had only formed halfway, and he seemed to still be struggling to

of this, Waylan held his breath in anticipation,

I knew this

been fixated on the sword, moved

eyes concentrated on the punch

"Move."

word in

but as soon as he muttered it, 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

this, his eyes widened, and just as he was about to take control of the laws, he felt something touch

a sudden, everything came to a sudden

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

Waylan's forehead, a ripple spread from the point of contact,

"You fell for it."

and so did the two

'H,how.'

have stopped. Locking his eyes against the emotionless looking Ren, Waylan watched as Ren's

"Boom."

view and then reemerged far off in the distance, slamming into one of the

BANG―

"Huak."

out a pained

into the buildings in the distance, the surrounding area began to flicker,

"Fool."

against the wall of the building. Both his