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.

you doing here? How did you get

"No."

head and stared into the

"Are you really fine?"

"…"

It was a question she didn't know the answer to. Was she fine? She didn't feel very much.

She just felt… empty.

didn't

just did, and found everything hard to

"I… I don't know."

vision started to blur, and she

could've had her eyesight fixed

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

just didn't want

her from feeling people's gazes

the moment apart from Ren, but even so,

see what was above her

***

'She's surprisingly calm.'

least, that was

I wasn't too sure, but

the pain that was permeating every part of me was making it difficult for

good that he made

knew that things weren't over yet. Still, the situation was very advantageous for me at

in no state

that I had to do before coming here, and that took almost

Swoosh—!

attention was eventually drawn to a dark spot in the sky. It was writhing in the air, and the skeleton of a figure was gradually beginning to take shape as it

a second and arrived before

like I've arrived

blob, and the moment I made contact with it, I felt

was briefly disappearing and then reappearing, started to take shape again, and the excruciating

that I had experienced a couple of times already, and my comprehension of the laws started to increase

more I found myself

destroying it from the outside.

"You… who are you?"

voice, and when I

radiated from his body was also

talking to me

placed the palm of my hand against the demon's shoulder, and immediately he froze in place. Golden runes whirled all around the area where

body, and I found myself struggling to keep my composure. In spite of this, I cast

vision. A powerful

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

pain unlike anything I'd ever felt