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

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

to such an extent that one could

Cr― Crack!

space made several attempts to fix itself, but as soon as the large sword appeared above Ren's head, it was unable to do anything other than continue

'It's that move again.'

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 a massive shield materialized in front of

Ren's cold gaze paused on

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

him continued to take shape and

Shhhh―!

primary sword from its sheath as the second sword began to materialize behind

Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak!

The blade that Ren held in his hand grew in

film covering his main sword, a

all goes bad,

and

'Sounds good.'

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

outer white layer of the sword was obscured by a dark film that emerged from within Ren's body

It was demonic energy.

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

'I,impossible!'

that was taking place with a horrified expression on his

up took only a few seconds

to defend the attack and then launch a counterattack shortly after when he was

for

an

Ren, and the barrier that had been forming in front

not withhold anything. He clenched his fist tightly, gathered

"Don't push your luck."

Crack. Crack.

Everything shattered.

fist, the space around him began to

wall began to tremble, even if only very slightly,

directly at Ren's face, and held nothing back. The sword behind him had only formed halfway,

Waylan held his breath in anticipation,

knew this

had been fixated on the sword, moved away from

and the vacant gray pupils in his eyes concentrated on the punch that was

"Move."

word

as soon as he muttered it, golden runes appeared from the area around the fist and clamped

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

a sudden, everything came to a sudden

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

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

"You fell for it."

disappeared, and so did the two

'H,how.'

so fast that Waylan wasn't even able to react. And in that brief moment, time seemed to have stopped.

"Boom."

far off in

BANG―

"Huak."

out a pained

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

"Fool."

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 extremely