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

powerful ripple spread across the area they were in, shattering the space

extent that one could actually

Cr― Crack!

attempts to fix itself, but as soon as the large sword

'It's that move again.'

on his body. His internal laws surged

Ren's cold gaze paused

while since I've fought someone of this

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

Shhhh―!

sheath as the second sword began to

Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak!

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

covering his

risky… If all goes bad, I might

lasted seconds, and

'Sounds good.'

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

by a dark film that emerged from within Ren's body and covered

It was demonic energy.

making its appearance, the white film began to wiggle, and a destructive

'I,impossible!'

everything that was taking place with

process of building up took only a few

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

can't wait for him to

an

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

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

"Don't push your luck."

Crack. Crack.

Everything shattered.

soon as he released his grip on his fist, the space around him began to shatter, and the background of his

the wall began to tremble, even if only very

The 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 sword, which was alternating between

of this, Waylan held

knew this

which had been fixated on the sword, moved away

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 fact that the fist was

"Move."

one word in

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

Waylan saw this, his eyes widened, and just as he was about to take control of the laws, he felt something

everything came

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

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

"You fell for it."

behind him disappeared, and so did the two

'H,how.'

have stopped.

"Boom."

far off in the distance, slamming

BANG―

"Huak."

out a

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

"Fool."

up against the wall of the building. Both his hair and the Akashic Laws on his body were a mess, and his face