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―"

face froze into a stone-like expression as his head shot up, and he looked

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

space had deteriorated to such an extent that one could

Cr― Crack!

as the large sword appeared above

'It's that move again.'

longer on his body. His internal laws surged to the surface in the form

time, Ren's cold gaze

of this level. It seems like

to take shape and grow both more distinct and

Shhhh―!

sheath as the second sword began to

Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak!

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

white film covering his main sword, a sudden

risky… If all goes

lasted seconds, and he put them into

'Sounds good.'

died? Wasn't

of the sword was obscured by a dark film that emerged from within Ren's body and covered

It was demonic energy.

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

'I,impossible!'

taking place with a horrified

process of building up took

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

wait for him to

was an obvious

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

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

"Don't push your luck."

Crack. Crack.

Everything shattered.

space around him began to shatter, and the background

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

formed halfway, and he seemed

held his breath

I knew this

had been fixated on the sword, moved away

in his eyes concentrated on the punch that was drawing near. His expression remained unchanged despite the fact that the fist

"Move."

word in

was only one word, 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

the laws, he

of a sudden, everything

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

a ripple spread from the

"You fell for it."

disappeared, and so did

'H,how.'

time seemed to have stopped. Locking his

"Boom."

reemerged far off in the distance, slamming into one of

BANG―

"Huak."

let out a pained

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

"Fool."

he materialized directly in front of Waylan, who was pinned up against the wall of the building. Both