The Author's POV

'As much as you think I didn't, I've always been proud of what you've achieved… even when it looked like I didn't care.'

There was truth in the words he said to her. It may not have looked like it, but he had always been proud of what she had achieved.

He may not have shown it because of his circumstances, but he was proud. He had always been.

The feeling only grew stronger when he could feel himself again. He couldn't have been more pleased with her accomplishments, and the fact that she handled everything on her own made him even prouder.

He was glad she was doing well.

Well… for the most part.

He knew that he couldn't go back in time and undo the harm that his neglect had caused her.

When he thought about her past and how his actions had harmed her, he felt an overwhelming sense of guilt wash over him. She had been through a lot in her life.

Especially for someone her age. Growing up without a family… she must've truly been lonely.

He had never sought forgiveness or expected to receive it.

It stung, and now that he knew how to feel emotions again, his life was filled with nothing but pain.

Strangely enough, he didn't hate it.

Compared to the times when he felt nothing but numbness, this was much better.

He at least… felt something.

It hurt, but at the same time, he felt better than ever. His mind had never been clearer, and staring at the Prince before him, he had already made up his mind.

When he looked down, he could still see her looking up at him from below, and he found himself smiling.

'Yeah… this is how it should be.'

"Hm? Aren't you the human from before? You didn't run away?"

The Prince seemed rather surprised by his sudden appearance. Gervis too, but for another reason.

"You… what are you doing?"

The way Gervis looked at him changed, but Octavious paid him no mind and continued to gaze at Prince Adrian.

"I would like to make a contract with you."

The glare that Gervis was casting became even more intense, but the Prince stopped him from saying anything by waving his hand at him and smacking him toward the ground.

Bang—!

He then proceeded to look at Octavious.

"So you'd like to form a contract with me, huh?"

Prince Adrian studied Octavious from top to bottom. At first glance, he wasn't too bad. A tad bit worse than the dwarf, but overall, he wasn't too bad.

To have reached his rank while being a human was a testament to his talent and his gaze… he quite liked it.

Prince Andrian extended his hand, where a contract appeared.

"Very well, since you're interested in signing a contract, I won't stop you."

offered it without much thought. He was good

"Thank you."

nodded his head, staring at the contract in

"D… don't you dare."

the side, he could hear Gervis's muffled words, but he paid no attention to them

as his hand touched it, engulfing him from

sense the force that emanated from it. It was very powerful. More powerful than he could have ever

"Go on, sign it."

to him, sounding like soft whispers and tempting

a moment

smiled softly at

Riiiiip!

with one swift movement, he tore the contract in half,

Prince's expression froze with the atmosphere, and he

when Octavious chose

wanted to sign the contract because I wanted to sign the contract. I only said it because I wanted to get

emanated from

"Wait… that power…"

Prince's expression changed drastically the moment the

what you

Crack!

the orb that he was holding in his hand, the entire world became white, and golden runes flooded their surroundings, completely enveloping the Prince in their

How is this

runes whirled around him at a speed that was even greater than the one he was starting to produce,

"How da…mhm…mhhhh."

turned quiet from that point on. The golden runes kept wrapping and circling around his body, stopping him from

if one paid close attention, the golden runes around his body dimmed considerably with

that even though the Prince was trapped, his predicament would not last

"Huu."

used the orb, his entire body began to shrink, and he had a hard time maintaining

prime of his life, he slowly turned into a frail and old man. Such was

as he weakly moved toward the Prince. He weakly placed his

gaze paused on a certain

He smiled at her.

is how it

and a terrible father now. Perhaps he was never

wasn't

Still.

overlap with someone he used to know, and something trickled down the

'They… truly are alike…'

her. His vision warped with images of them

Cr… Crack!

thought when he was startled out of his musings by a loud cracking sound. When he looked up, he saw that the golden runes that had encircled the Prince were beginning to disintegrate, which meant that the Prince would soon be free

didn't have much time left, he looked at Melissa once more, engraving her face into his mind before silently nodding at

"Goodbye."

'I love you.'

able to utter the first word. He found himself unable to say the last three. He didn't feel like he had the right to say such words to her, and shortly after that,

before hearing the sound of his own

BOOOOOOOOOOM—!

***

[Earth]

"Kill!"

kill all those

spaces that remained over the broken pillars, the sky darkened, and a sound like thunder rumbled