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 agonized scream, Octavious retrieved

"Octavious!"

ray gun in his hand flickered with a green light as a powerful wave of

and under normal circumstances, it would have been difficult to pull off this move; however, he

Clank—! Clank—!

charge the weapon, and his weapon flickered even more wildly as a large hue enveloped the

around

his gathering process, but with Octavious next to him,

"Now!"

Octavious disappeared from where he

out of the gun in the direction of the demon,

attack passed through every demon that it had a chance

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

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

"Shit."

that he hadn't killed all of the demons, Gervis cursed and reloaded his weapon before hastily pointing it toward his right

felt something dangerous coming

WHIIING—!

attack

"Careful!"

getting ready to reload his gun again, a loud shout

another first,

"Ukh!"

Gervis

finally managed to stabilize himself, he was surprised

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

to be completely unharmed, which was not the case

itself, he didn't waste a

mana shot directly

Spurt—!

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

Wooom—!

body

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?!"

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

suddenly echoed,

Why

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

"I'll be taking this."

heart dropped the moment he felt his hand lighten up, but at the same time, he was able to catch a glimpse of what the one responsible looked like, and his expression

'He…'

hit him was the overwhelming

of his helpless days with the Protectors and

had always thought that the only one who could ever reach the same level as the Protectors was the demon king, but it seemed like

very eyes was one such existence, and despair filled every

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

my incompetence,

from the tone of their voice that they truly felt remorseful

indeed quite