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 agonized scream,

"Octavious!"

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

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 this

Clank—! Clank—!

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

around them, leaving behind only the powerful ones who warily stared at Gervis's

tried to interfere with his gathering process, but with

"Now!"

shouted, and Octavious disappeared from

after that, an enormously powerful beam shot out of the gun in the direction of the demon, who was unable to react

unsurprisingly, the attack passed through every demon that it had a chance of

along the path of the beam, finally revealing what looked

dodge, but they were in the

"Shit."

cursed and reloaded his weapon before hastily pointing it toward his

dangerous coming from

WHIIING—!

attack missed

"Careful!"

reload his gun again, a loud shout echoed behind him, and that was when Octavious

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 between the

"Ukh!"

was so powerful that Gervis

finally managed to stabilize himself, he was surprised to see Octavious

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

completely unharmed, which was not the case

the opportunity presented itself, he didn't 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 barely

Spurt—!

did manage to graze the demon, and that was all that Octavious needed. After materializing behind the

Wooom—!

across the surroundings, and the demon's body vanished into thin air, leaving

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?!"

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

the surroundings suddenly echoed, and Octavious's entire

happened? Why can't

much to his horror that Octavious realized that he

"I'll be taking this."

he felt his hand lighten up, but at the same time, he

'He…'

hit him was the overwhelming presence he gave

before him, Octavious was reminded of his helpless days with the Protectors and how

the only one who could ever reach the same level as

demon that stood before his very eyes was one such existence,

of a sudden, a black hue sprouted out from the demon, and the core in its hand

for my incompetence, Prince

the tone of their voice that they truly felt

were indeed quite