The Author's POV

The color blue dominated the world within the Pillar of Pride.

A hazy, dark blue mist covered the entire landscape, with small peaks sprouting from beneath the mist.

The world seemed tranquil, but within the blue mist, all sorts of colorful lights flashed from within.

They carried different hues, and they flashed continuously. It wasn't until the mist suddenly split apart to reveal several figures that the tranquility that lay within the world broke apart.

"Aarrrgh!"

A loud shout reverberated through the air, and a powerful wave of mana burst forth from Octavious's hand.

It directly shot toward a demon in front of him, and shortly after, the demon's figure disintegrated into nothing.

"..."

Silence returned to the world after that, and just as Octavious felt himself relax, an urgent voice rang from behind him.

"Behind you!"

Boom—!

He didn't have enough time to react, and before he knew it, a powerful force blasted past his back, and he found himself hurling forward, eventually crashing against the hard ground beneath.

"Akh."

Octavious groaned in pain, using both hands to help himself up.

SHIIING—! SHIIING—!

He could hear the sound of fighting behind him, and he just barely stopped himself from collapsing again. The force of the impact was a lot stronger than he had anticipated.

'I'm glad Gervis is with me.'

Who would've thought he'd have such thoughts? While he wasn't the same Octavious as in the past, he remembered everything that had happened in the past and didn't think he would work well with Gervis.

He was wrong.

"Oy! Are ya helping me or not?"

Gervis's voice broke him out of his thoughts, and Octavious disappeared from the spot, reappearing right in front of another demon. With his fist clenched, he threw a fist in the demon's direction, and a powerful blast reverberated through the air.

Boom—!

The demon's body hurled back several meters after the contact, and Octavious moved to where Gervis was.

SHIIING—! SHIIING—!

Wearing his armor, Gervis was currently dealing with two Prince ranked demons at once, and even though he seemed to be having a hard time, Octavious could tell he wasn't disadvantaged in the least.

With his large gun like device and powerful shield that activated whenever a demon appeared, he wasn't prone to sneak attacks, making things a lot easier for him.

His maneuverability was a bit questionable, but it wasn't anything to be worried about, considering the defensive mechanism installed in his suit.

Booom—!

Arriving before one of the demons hounding Gervis, Octavious thrust his fist forward, and just by a few inches, he managed to hit the demon in the abdominal area.

"Ueakh!"

away with an agonized scream, Octavious retrieved

"Octavious!"

demon crumbled into dust, Gervis' eyes sharpened, and the ray gun in his

it would have been difficult to pull off this move; however, he wasn't

Clank—! Clank—!

no trouble gathering up the mana required to charge the weapon, and his weapon flickered even more wildly as a large hue enveloped the area they

coming out of the gun killed all the weaker demons around them, leaving behind only the powerful

tried to interfere with his gathering process, but with

"Now!"

disappeared from where

after that, an enormously powerful beam shot out of the gun in the direction

it had a chance of meeting, and wherever it

of the beam, finally revealing what looked to be a forest with trees

some demons that managed to dodge, but they were in the minority, as

"Shit."

Gervis cursed and reloaded his weapon before hastily

something dangerous coming from

WHIIING—!

his attack

"Careful!"

a loud shout echoed behind him, and

powerful force erupted from behind Gervis as Octavious's fist clashed against another first, and circular pressurized wind rings spread from the point of contact

"Ukh!"

was so powerful that Gervis

to stabilize himself, he was surprised to see Octavious standing before him with a rough

"Ha... ha...haa... That..."

unharmed, which was not the case for the

Since the opportunity presented itself, he didn't waste a single second and pointed his gun

movements were swift, and pressing the trigger, a beam composed of mana shot directly toward the demon, who was

Spurt—!

the demon, and that was all that Octavious needed. After materializing behind the demon,

Wooom—!

the demon's body vanished into thin air, leaving

hesitation, Octavious reached out for the core. He had just firmly grasped it in his hand when, all of a sudden, he felt a subtle breeze, and his entire body

Swoosh—!

"Uh?!"

stop. He's a rather dear subordinate of mine. I

suddenly echoed, and Octavious's entire body stiffened

Why

to his horror that Octavious realized that he couldn't move a single finger of

"I'll be taking this."

up, but at the same time, he

'He…'

him was the overwhelming presence he

helpless

level as the Protectors was

demon that stood before his very eyes was one such

the core in its hand started to shake. Shortly thereafter, the

my incompetence,

with their head lowered. One could tell from the

indeed