The Author's POV

Crash―!

Smallsnake wasn't sure what had happened. Just moments prior, he was under Jezebeth's grasp, and seconds later, he found himself in a large forest.

Blinking his eyes a couple of times, his mind regained some clarity, and he looked around him.

"Where is this?"

Looking at the unfamiliar environment, Smallsnake wasn't sure exactly where he was. The only thing he knew was that he wasn't anywhere near where Ren and Jezebeth were.

'Did he purposely send me here?'

He could still remember his last moments. It happened in an instant, but he understood that the one responsible for all of this was Ren.

…The other Ren.

Where exactly was the Ren he knew?

"Ugh."

With a sigh, he reached into his dimensional space and pulled out a white mask. It had been a while since he had worn it, but he knew that it was necessary if he wanted to blend in with the demons.

As he stared at the mask, he couldn't help but think about the past two years that he had spent with Jezebeth.

It had been a challenging experience, but it had also taught him a lot. Despite the fear and hatred that he had initially felt towards Jezebeth, he had come to understand him better and even found him tolerable.

While he looked terrifying on the outside, he wasn't as scary as Smallsnake originally thought him to be.

He was just… committed.

In his eyes, he only had one goal, and he was the type of person to do anything to achieve that goal, even using underhanded methods.

He seemed rather desperate, and that was when Smallsnake understood he wasn't too different from Ren.

"Haaa… Still, it's been a while since I felt like this…"

Bending down and resting both of his arms on his knees, Smallsnake caught his breath.

After two agonizing years, he was finally free. He felt a mixture of different emotions, and they all came so suddenly that he found himself unable to process them all.

He had a place to return, and that had been his goal since the very beginning.

From the very beginning, his actions had one goal. To get back home. Even if it resulted in him helping out the demons in the process.

At the same time that he helped them, he was also helping himself. Honing his skills and getting a better understanding of how the demons operated.

He made a name for himself, and the mask in his hand represented his status. His achievements.

His capabilities.

It represented who he was now, and it was something he held very dearly.

Slowly, Smallsnake placed the mask over his face, and he took a calm breath. Looking around the forest, he calmly stood up and, without further ado, headed toward the right side.

He could feel a few presences coming from there.

*

'…The problem is that none of us are strong enough to even come close to the Pillar Master. I don't even know if Ren is strong enough… maybe he is, but I'm not sure.'

'So long as the Pillar Master is alive, we are stuck here, and we can only hope for a miracle to happen.'

It was a set of familiar voices. Moving around the forest, Smallsnake's feet came to a sudden halt when he heard a set of familiar words.

was them, but at the moment, he felt his breath

Ba...Thump! Ba...Thump!

quivered at the

Rustle―! Rustle―!

drawn toward a group of three, and his entire body

He recognized them immediately.

looked exactly as they had since he had last seen them. No, upon closer look, he realized they looked more mature

them left him rather

felt a lot

It really is

his body trembled. He had longed for this very moment for a very

He…

replayed this moment

moment, but as he stared at them, he

unable to utter a single thing, and

to his expectations, he was met with Angelica's hostile gaze as her icy words echoed

"Strategist."

***

Hein and Ava, her eyes warily staring

in front of

He reminded her of a certain someone, and the idea

his looks fool

to remind herself several times that he was someone else. Someone

surveyed the surroundings, looking for

him, he was always accompanied by multiple guards. The majority of them were powerful, and

she wasn't arrogant to the

far from reaching the

like everything is

so did her expression. After a thorough check, she was under the impression that

need to engage in a fight with

second she could fool him, she did think she could buy herself some

you here,

her entire body stiffened, as did Hein's and Ava's. Mouths agape, they stared at the strategist, who slowly removed his mask to reveal

soft smile on his face, he

a while,

They were all too familiar

forget it when they had been nagged by that very same voice a thousand times over

'Clean up after yourself!'

on the ground

you think

of bottled up emotions almost burst forth out of Ava and Hein, but they were

"Don't be fooled!"

shouted, her gaze

is a trap! Don't get fooled by

he resembled him visually, sounded like him,

'It's not him!'

boiled inside of her at the moment

able to

teeth, and a terrifying presence burst out of her body, enveloping Smallsnake's body and

Crash―!

ground before crashing against a large tree in the distance. Angelica's

he would've been able to

"Angelica!"

"Angelica, wait!"

actions startled Ava and Hein, who tried to

"Let go."

coldly uttered, her gaze extremely frosty. Avan and Hein were taken aback by Angelica's sudden shift in demeanor as they unconsciously let go