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!"

with an agonized scream, Octavious retrieved his

"Octavious!"

and the ray gun in his hand flickered with a green light as

was a process that took several seconds, and under normal circumstances, it would have been difficult to pull off this move; however, he wasn't alone in

Clank—! Clank—!

helping him, Gervis had no trouble gathering up the mana required to charge the weapon, and his weapon flickered even more wildly as a

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

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

"Now!"

shouted, and Octavious disappeared

out of the gun in the direction of the demon, who was unable to react in time and was struck head-on

it had a chance

included the mist that parted along the path of the beam, finally revealing what looked to be a forest with trees that seemed

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

"Shit."

Gervis cursed and reloaded his weapon before hastily pointing it toward his

something dangerous coming

WHIIING—!

his attack missed

"Careful!"

ready to reload his gun again, a

Gervis as Octavious's fist clashed against another first, and circular

"Ukh!"

wind was so powerful that Gervis was forced to take

was surprised to see Octavious standing before him with

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

be completely unharmed, which was not the

presented itself, he didn't waste a single second and pointed his gun toward the demon in

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

Spurt—!

After materializing behind the demon, he pressed his hand against the creature's back and directed

Wooom—!

body vanished into thin air, leaving behind a dark core

out for the core. He had just firmly grasped it in his hand when,

Swoosh—!

"Uh?!"

to ask you to stop. He's a rather dear subordinate of mine. I wouldn't want him to die such a

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

happened? Why can't

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

"I'll be taking this."

time, he was able

'He…'

hit him was

reminded of his helpless days with the Protectors and how

ever reach the same level as the Protectors was the demon

very eyes was one

the core in its hand started to shake. Shortly thereafter, the core jumped out of its hands, and a

apologize for my incompetence,

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

indeed quite