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―"

a stone-like expression as his head shot up, and he

spread across the area they were in, shattering the space around them into a number of

had deteriorated to such an extent that one could actually make

Cr― Crack!

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

'It's that move again.'

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

time, Ren's cold

been a while since I've fought someone of this level. It seems like I'm still a

sword that was behind him continued to take shape and grow both more distinct and more

Shhhh―!

its sheath as the second sword began to materialize

Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak!

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

the white film covering his main

risky… If all goes bad, I might

and he put

'Sounds good.'

if he died? Wasn't that his goal to

outer white layer of the sword was obscured by a

It was demonic energy.

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

'I,impossible!'

that was taking place with a horrified expression on his

took only a few seconds

a counterattack

for him to

an obvious

that had been forming in front of him vanished. His eyes gave off a dazzling white

he did not withhold anything. He clenched his fist tightly, gathered all the strength

"Don't push your luck."

Crack. Crack.

Everything shattered.

grip on his fist, the space around him began to shatter,

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

formed halfway, and he seemed to still be struggling to control his main sword, which was alternating

Waylan held his breath in anticipation,

knew this

been fixated on the sword, moved

precise 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

"Move."

word

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

sudden, everything came

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

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

"You fell for it."

him disappeared, and so did the two energies

'H,how.'

so fast that Waylan wasn't even able to react. And in that brief moment, time seemed to have stopped. Locking his eyes against the emotionless looking Ren, Waylan

"Boom."

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

BANG―

"Huak."

out a

the distance, the surrounding area began to flicker, and the background

"Fool."

materialized 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 a mess, and his face was