The Author's POV

It all happened so quickly, but when she felt 'his' gaze fall on her for just a split second, time seemed to come to an abrupt halt, and so did her world.

His expression was the same as usual—a little aged. Perhaps a little different, but it wasn't so different from how it had always been.

Yet, for some reason, in that moment, it felt as though that simple gaze told her a thousand words.

He nodded at her and said something.

She couldn't quite make out what those words were.

That was because she knew exactly what he was going to do, and in that moment, her mind blanked.

Her usually brilliant mind blanked, and she dully stood on the ground, staring up toward the sky, which was soon enveloped by a brilliant white light that came directly from her father's body. It enveloped the sky in its entirety.

BOOOM—!

That was the last thing she saw before a terrifying explosion covered the sky, and she was hurled a great distance away from the scene.

BANG—!

She collided with a tree, and if it weren't for the protective shield that materialized around her just as she was about to make contact with the tree, she likely would have sustained significant injuries.

"Ugh."

With a groan, she forced herself to look up, and that was when she realized that the mist that had blanketed the sky previously had completely disappeared.

Her mind, which seemed stained with something moments prior, seemed to clear up.

But none of that concerned her at the moment. What she was concerned about was something else, and she hastily looked around in the sky for any signs of 'him'.

But no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find him. In fact, she couldn't see anything, and her legs started to go numb.

That was until a hand pressed against her shoulder and a familiar voice reached her ear.

"…He's gone."

"W..what?"

When she turned her head, she caught sight of a hazy, almost transparent figure.

"Who are you?"

She thought he sounded familiar, but the way he looked… was that really who she thought he was?

"It's me."

His voice was hoarse, almost feeble, but when he turned his head and their eyes met, Melissa understood that it was really him.

here? How did you

"No."

head and stared into the distance. Toward a spot where she couldn't

"Are you really fine?"

"…"

she didn't know the answer to. Was she

She just felt… empty.

didn't know

and found everything hard

"I… I don't know."

her vision started to blur, and she found herself unable

had her eyesight fixed a long time

it a potion or surgery, she could've. She was rich and was smart enough to

just didn't

were times when her blurred vision would stop her from feeling people's

apart from Ren, but even

to see what

***

'She's surprisingly calm.'

stared at Melissa beside me. At least, that was what

calm, I wasn't too sure, but I didn't

every part of me was making it difficult for me to maintain any

made things easier

area above me, I knew that things weren't over yet. Still, the situation

was in no state to properly fight at the

was something that I had to do before coming here, and that took almost everything from me. But it was

Swoosh—!

the sky and looked around me. That was until my attention was eventually drawn to a dark spot in the sky. It was writhing in the air, and the skeleton of a

didn't waste a second and arrived

looks like I've arrived on

it, I felt

and then reappearing, started to take shape again, and the excruciating pain that had

scene that I had experienced a couple of times already, and my comprehension of

able to comprehend, the more I found myself able to use Kevin's

that that I was able to get into the Pillar without destroying it from the outside. It still took

"You… who are you?"

a certain voice, and when I looked down, I saw that the

but friendly, and the power that radiated from his body was

really be talking to me when you're

runes whirled all around the area where the Prince and I were standing

breath left my body, and I found myself struggling to keep my composure. In spite of

and enveloped the entirety of my vision. A powerful force soon enveloped the area that the demon and I were in,

things were like that, but when my sight returned, I found myself standing in the middle of the air

while for it to sink in, but pain unlike anything I'd ever felt before started to cover