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."

to cover her mouth with the brutality of what

she witnessed his

but to her surprise,

world did he do during the time we

words attracted Amanda's attention, and

Indeed…

happened during the time when they hadn't seen each

"Hey, look!"

didn't need to

hand against the demon's head, a sudden change

***

"Uhhhh."

Prince's head. I felt the pores on my body

absorbed all of that power, and slowly, I started

with the laws grew stronger, and a sensation that was all too familiar washed over

reinvigorated, and

"Argh!"

to absorb the laws in his body, and his expression was filled

"H.. how..."

let him continue his sentence as

Prince's body started to increase as the

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

"Stay put."

I injected the power of the laws into my own body, the space around the Prince warped and

chance to increase my grip on his head further and further push

touched 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

just about

and the Prince's body disappeared from my vision, reappearing a couple of hundred

"Ha…haa… You…"

Touching his body all over, he glared at

have you

"Nothing much."

head to stare at my hands, which were covered in murky white light. As compared to before, the laws within my body were

well. Staring at my hands, which

a consequence of obtaining

to refrain from using the laws as much

I continued to use them, there was a high chance

couldn't allow

are you able to control

my head and looked up at him. Seeing the confused look

to

eyes, I brought my sword forward and pointed it at

"Let's finish this."

Boom—!

shattered as a sword projection, double the size of what it usually was, appeared

"Arkgh!"

longer able to cope with it and displayed a

BANG—!

into contact with the sword, his entire body took

"Not bad."

mumbled, staring at the sword

my attack had increased, and now I was

the distant dunes, I brought my sword forward and pointed it once again in his direction. The space around him shattered,

"Crumble."

the area where the Prince was,

"Uakh!"