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.

How did you get here? Were you

"No."

the distance. Toward a spot where she

"Are you really fine?"

"…"

to. Was she fine? She didn't feel very much.

She just felt… empty.

didn't know

just did, and found everything hard to

"I… I don't know."

to mutter those words. Taking out her glasses, her vision started to blur, and she found herself unable to see what

her

was rich and was smart enough to produce a potion that could fix her

didn't

stop her from feeling people's gazes

apart from Ren, but even so, she didn't want to keep her

see what

***

'She's surprisingly calm.'

I stared at Melissa beside me. At least, that was what I was able to perceive from her on

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

part of me was

that he made

up and stared at the area above me, I knew that things weren't over yet. Still, the situation was very advantageous for me

no state to properly fight at the

coming here, and that took

Swoosh—!

the sudden blurring of my vision, I appeared before a certain area in the sky and looked around me. That was until my attention was eventually drawn to a dark spot in the sky. It

a second and arrived

looks like I've

moment I made contact with it, I felt a soothing energy spread throughout my entire body from head to

shape again, and

experienced a couple of times already, and my

to comprehend, the more I

able to get into the Pillar without destroying it from the outside. It still

"You… who are you?"

when I looked down,

expression was anything but friendly, and the power that radiated from his body was also nothing to scoff

talking to me

and immediately he froze in place. Golden runes whirled all around the

to keep my composure. In spite of this, I cast my gaze off into the horizon

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

that, but when my sight returned, I found myself standing in the middle of the air with two

to sink in, but pain unlike anything I'd ever felt before started to cover every inch of