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."

many occasions, Amanda had to cover her mouth with the brutality of

she witnessed his arms disappear out

the battle was over after that, but to her surprise, he regrew his arms

did he do

attracted Amanda's attention, and her

Indeed…

the time when they hadn't

"Hey, look!"

words reverberated in the air once more, but Amanda didn't need to be told why

against the demon's head,

***

"Uhhhh."

my hand came into contact with the Prince's head. I felt the pores on my body

I absorbed all of that power, and slowly,

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

reinvigorated, and

"Argh!"

started to absorb the laws in his body,

"H.. how..."

his sentence as I continued to absorb the

that were revolving around the Prince's body

body, my brows creased, but I endured the

"Stay put."

my own body, the space around the

my grip on his head further and further push the laws toward

into me more easily than they ever had before, and within a few seconds of making contact, I had taken

just

let go, and the Prince's

"Ha…haa… You…"

and incensed. Touching

you

"Nothing much."

which were covered in murky white light. As compared to before, the laws within my body were thicker, and I could control them even more

time, but not all was well. Staring at my hands, which were flickering, I knew that

a consequence of obtaining and using such

refrain from using the laws as much

use them, there was a high chance

allow

able to control the same power

my head and looked up at him.

explain it to

eyes, I brought my sword forward and pointed it

"Let's finish this."

Boom—!

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

"Arkgh!"

past, was no longer able to cope with it and displayed a defensive

BANG—!

sword, his entire

"Not bad."

mumbled, staring at the sword

that the power of my attack had increased, and now I was no longer at

brought my sword forward and pointed it once again in his direction. The space

"Crumble."

area where the Prince was, and I heard a

"Uakh!"