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."

Amanda had to cover her mouth with the brutality

she witnessed his arms

was over after that, but to her

do

Amanda's attention, and

Indeed…

had happened during the time when they hadn't seen each

"Hey, look!"

the air once more, but Amanda didn't

hand against the demon's head, a sudden change happened in

***

"Uhhhh."

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

relaxed at that moment as I absorbed all of that power, and slowly, I started

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

started to feel reinvigorated, and everything became clear once

"Argh!"

face contorted the moment I started to absorb the laws in his body, and his expression was filled with nothing

"H.. how..."

his sentence as I continued to absorb the laws

were revolving around the Prince's body started to increase as the air around

body, my brows creased, but I endured the pain and continued to absorb the

"Stay put."

power of the laws into my own body, the

on his head further and further push the laws toward

and within a few seconds of making contact, I had

just

I quickly let go, and the Prince's body disappeared from

"Ha…haa… You…"

both startled and incensed. Touching his body all over, he

you

"Nothing much."

covered in murky white light. As compared to before, the laws within my body were thicker, and

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

was a consequence of obtaining and

from using the laws as much

I continued to use them, there was a high chance the skill would deactivate, and all would end up

allow that to

able to control the

I raised my head and looked up at him. Seeing the confused look on his face,

to explain it to you, it would take too

eyes, I brought my sword

"Let's finish this."

Boom—!

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

"Arkgh!"

was no longer able to cope with it and displayed a

BANG—!

coming into contact with the sword, his entire body took

"Not bad."

at the

power of my attack had increased, and now I was no

Prince, whose body crashed against one of the distant dunes, I brought my sword forward and pointed

"Crumble."

projections quickly impaled the area where the Prince was, and

"Uakh!"