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

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

to such an extent that one could actually make out Waylan's office

Cr― Crack!

space made several attempts to fix itself, but as soon as the large sword appeared above

'It's that move again.'

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

the same time, Ren's

while since I've fought someone of this

shape and grow both more distinct and more substantial with

Shhhh―!

from its sheath as the second

Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak!

a few meters from each other. The blade that Ren held in his hand grew in size as a thin layer of white

staring at the white film covering his main sword, a sudden thought crossed

all goes bad, I might

and he

'Sounds good.'

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

outer white layer of the sword was obscured by a

It was demonic energy.

minutes of making its appearance, the white film began to wiggle, and a destructive power that was on par with the enormous sword

'I,impossible!'

everything that was taking place

up took only a few seconds

and then launch a counterattack shortly after when he was exhausted;

can't wait for him to

an

of Ren, and the barrier that had been forming in front

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

"Don't push your luck."

Crack. Crack.

Everything shattered.

as he released his grip on his fist, the space around him

began to tremble, even if only very slightly, and the entire

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 white

held his

I knew this would

sword, moved away from it as he

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

"Move."

word in

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

of the laws, he felt something touch his forehead,

a sudden, everything

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

forehead, a ripple spread from the point of contact,

"You fell for it."

so did the

'H,how.'

to have stopped. Locking his eyes against the emotionless looking Ren, Waylan watched as Ren's mouth parted open,

"Boom."

far off in the distance, slamming into one of the

BANG―

"Huak."

out a

distance, the surrounding area

"Fool."

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