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 he looked at

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

to such an extent that

Cr― Crack!

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

'It's that move again.'

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

same time, Ren's cold

this level. It seems like I'm still a bit

continued to take shape and grow both more distinct and

Shhhh―!

primary sword from its sheath as the

Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak!

shattered into thousands of pieces, all of which became completely 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 film connected the shards of the broken sword from piece to piece, creating a

the white film covering his main sword,

If all goes bad, I

and he

'Sounds good.'

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

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

It was demonic energy.

and a destructive power that was on par with the enormous sword in the

'I,impossible!'

was taking place with a

up took only a few seconds in

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

can't wait for him to

was an

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

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

"Don't push your luck."

Crack. Crack.

Everything shattered.

grip on his fist, the space around him began to shatter, and the background of his office

on the wall began to tremble,

him had only formed halfway,

held his breath in

knew

on the sword, moved away from it

pupils in his eyes concentrated on the punch that was drawing

"Move."

word in

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

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

of a sudden, everything came

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

ripple spread from the point

"You fell for it."

disappeared, and so did the

'H,how.'

that brief moment, time seemed to have stopped. Locking his eyes against the emotionless looking Ren, Waylan watched as Ren's mouth parted

"Boom."

reemerged far off in the distance, slamming into

BANG―

"Huak."

let out a pained

surrounding area began to flicker, and the

"Fool."

the building. Both his hair and the Akashic Laws on his body were a mess, and his face was