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!"

demon scattering away with an

"Octavious!"

demon crumbled into dust, Gervis' eyes sharpened, and the ray gun in his hand flickered with a green

several seconds, and under normal circumstances, it would have been difficult to

Clank—! Clank—!

no trouble gathering up the mana required to charge the weapon, and

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

with Octavious next to him,

"Now!"

and Octavious disappeared from

out of the gun in the direction of the demon, who was unable to react in time and

it had a chance of meeting, and wherever it

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

but they were in the minority, as most of them died instantly from

"Shit."

killed all of the demons, Gervis cursed and reloaded his weapon before hastily pointing it toward his

something dangerous coming from

WHIIING—!

his attack

"Careful!"

was getting ready to reload his gun again, a loud shout echoed behind

as Octavious's fist clashed against another first, and

"Ukh!"

so powerful that Gervis was forced to take several steps

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

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

of his labored breathing, he appeared to be completely unharmed, which was not the case for

didn't waste a single second and pointed his gun toward the

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

Spurt—!

was all that Octavious needed. After materializing behind the demon, he pressed his hand against the creature's back and directed all of his

Wooom—!

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

the core. He had just firmly grasped it in his hand when, all of a sudden,

Swoosh—!

"Uh?!"

rather dear subordinate

with the surroundings suddenly echoed, and Octavious's entire body stiffened

happened? Why

Octavious realized that he

"I'll be taking this."

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

'He…'

thing that hit him was the overwhelming presence he

reminded of his helpless days with the Protectors and how

the same level as the Protectors was the demon king, but it seemed like he had made a

was one such existence, and despair filled every inch

of a sudden, a black hue sprouted out from the demon, and the core in its hand started to shake. Shortly thereafter, the core jumped out of

apologize for my

apologized with their head lowered. One could tell from the tone

indeed quite