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―"

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

they were in, shattering the

that one could actually make out Waylan's office

Cr― Crack!

quickly as it could, the space made several attempts to fix itself, but as soon as the large sword

'It's that move again.'

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

Ren's cold

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

that was behind him continued to take shape and grow both

Shhhh―!

sword from its sheath as the second sword began

Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak!

that Ren held in his

white film covering his main sword, a sudden thought crossed

risky… If all goes bad,

thoughts lasted seconds, and

'Sounds good.'

Wasn't that his

a dark film that emerged from within

It was demonic energy.

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

'I,impossible!'

taking place with a horrified expression on

of building up took only a few seconds

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

for him to

an obvious

front of Ren, and the barrier that had been

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

"Don't push your luck."

Crack. Crack.

Everything shattered.

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

to tremble, even if only very slightly, and

fist was aimed 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 control his main

of this, Waylan held

knew this would

had been fixated on the sword, moved away from it as he changed

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

"Move."

one word

the fist and clamped

saw this, his eyes widened, and just as he was about to take control of the laws, he felt something touch his forehead, and when he looked up he saw two dull gray pupils staring back at

of a sudden, everything came

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

on Waylan's forehead, a ripple spread from the

"You fell for it."

sword behind him disappeared, and so did the two energies

'H,how.'

to react. And in that brief moment, time seemed to have stopped. Locking his eyes against the emotionless looking Ren,

"Boom."

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

BANG―

"Huak."

let out a pained

he slammed into the buildings in the distance, the surrounding area began to flicker, and the background of the

"Fool."

against the wall of the building. Both his hair