The Author's POV

"I,is that Ren?"

Overhearing Donna's shocked mutter, Amanda turned her head and stared at the fight that was happening above them.

BOOM—!

Dunes shattered, and the very air the two were in showed signs of cracking. It was clear as day that the two of them were on a completely different level than anybody else present.

"Since when did he become so strong?"

Amanda couldn't blame them for looking so shocked.

She, too, was shocked by Ren's power. She had originally thought she had a grasp of what his power was, but it seemed like she had underestimated him severely.

'…and here I thought I could catch up to him in the past five years.'

She had trained hard.

Extremely hard in the past few years.

It was all with the goal of getting closer to him in strength. She thought that she had somewhat bridged the gap that existed between the two of them, but she had grossly underestimated just how monstrous Ren was.

'But why does he look like that?'

There was something odd about Ren's appearance… he was completely black, and his expression was somewhat dull.

She couldn't quite understand what was going on with him, but seeing how he was handling that monster of a demon, she assumed that he was using some sort of skill.

One that she wasn't aware of.

Boom—!

"Ren!"

Amanda was startled by the sight of him crashing against a nearby dune. With sand spilling in the air, her vision of him became obscured.

She immediately became worried, and just as she was about to rush up to him, she stopped herself and bit her lips.

"No... I can't."

'If I go now, I'll only make things more difficult for him.'

Staring at Donna and Monica, who were about to stop her, she calmed herself down and lowered her head.

"I know; you don't have to stop me. I'm not going."

It quickly became apparent that this was the extent of her powers.

At the moment, she could only watch Ren getting beat up by that monstrous demon, who seemed to have suddenly gotten a lot stronger.

Boom—! Boom—!

The fight continued, and the situation started to deteriorate quickly.

If Amanda had to describe the fight in a few words, it'd be 'one-sided'. Ren… He was getting manhandled by the Prince, who seemed to be toying with him.

'He was just doing fine before... Why did things suddenly change?'

She had witnessed Ren have the upper hand in the beginning, but out of nowhere, things started to turn for the worst suddenly.

It soon became clear to her and everyone else that the Prince was becoming stronger with each moment the two of them fought.

"Hup."

cover her

his arms

over after that, but to

he do during the time we didn't see

Amanda's attention, and her head

Indeed…

the time when they

"Hey, look!"

once more, but Amanda didn't need to be told why she

Ren's hand against the demon's head, a sudden change

***

"Uhhhh."

the Prince's head. I felt the pores on my body open up as an indescribable power started to

all of that power, and slowly, I started to feel an increase

grew stronger, and a sensation that was all

feel reinvigorated, and everything became clear

"Argh!"

laws in his body, and his expression was

"H.. how..."

let him continue his sentence as I continued to

Prince's body started to

heat radiating from his body, my brows creased, but I endured the pain and continued to absorb the akashic laws

"Stay put."

the laws into my own body, the space around the

increase my grip on his

head with my hand, the laws began to flow into me more easily than they ever had before, and within a few seconds of making contact, I had taken in the majority of the laws

should just

go, and the Prince's body disappeared from my vision, reappearing a

"Ha…haa… You…"

startled and incensed. Touching his body all over, he glared at

have you done

"Nothing much."

which were covered in murky white light. As compared to before, the laws within

the same time, but not all was well. Staring at my hands, which were flickering, I knew that the skill [Dark

of obtaining

from using the laws as much

use them, there was a high chance the skill would deactivate, and

couldn't allow that

are you able to control the same power as

I raised my head and looked up at him. Seeing the

explain it to

brought my sword forward and

"Let's finish this."

Boom—!

the Prince shattered as a sword projection, double the size of what it usually was, appeared from within the space itself, hurling

"Arkgh!"

Prince, unlike in the past, was no longer able to cope with it and displayed

BANG—!

the sword, his entire body took

"Not bad."

mumbled, staring at the sword

was clear that the power of my attack had

forward and pointed it once again in his direction. The space around him shattered, and several similar-sized swords appeared

"Crumble."

impaled the area where the Prince was, and I heard

"Uakh!"