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!"

an

"Octavious!"

sharpened, and the ray gun in his hand

several seconds, and under normal circumstances, it would have

Clank—! Clank—!

Octavious helping him, Gervis had no trouble gathering up the mana required to charge the weapon, and his

the weaker demons around them, leaving behind only the powerful

gathering process, but with Octavious next to him, it was of

"Now!"

Octavious disappeared from where

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

every demon that it had a chance of meeting, and wherever it passed, it left nothing

looked to be a forest with trees that seemed

they were in the minority, as most of them

"Shit."

and reloaded his weapon before hastily pointing it toward

felt something dangerous coming

WHIIING—!

his attack

"Careful!"

gun again, a loud shout echoed behind

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

"Ukh!"

so powerful that Gervis was forced to

managed to stabilize himself, he was surprised to see

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

labored breathing, he appeared to be completely unharmed, which was not the case for the demon, who

waste a single second and pointed his gun toward the

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

Spurt—!

behind the demon, he pressed his hand against the creature's back and directed all of his mana

Wooom—!

terrifying wave of mana swept across the surroundings, and the demon's body vanished into thin air, leaving behind a

had just firmly grasped it in his hand when, all

Swoosh—!

"Uh?!"

dear subordinate of mine. I wouldn't want him to die

with the surroundings suddenly echoed, and Octavious's entire

happened? Why

realized that he couldn't move a single

"I'll be taking this."

his hand lighten up, but at the same time, he was able to catch a glimpse of what the one responsible

'He…'

that hit him was the

his helpless days with the Protectors and how strong

same level as the Protectors was the demon king, but

very eyes was one

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

for my

lowered. One could tell from the tone of their voice that they truly felt remorseful about the

were indeed