The Author's POV

"Why are you still struggling?"

A soft voice echoed, and a fist appeared before Ren. Cocking his head, he just barely dodged the fist and pressed his finger against Jezebeth's abdomen.

It only touched him, but the moment it did so, it sent Jezebeth hurling back and plummeting against the sea beneath.

Splash—!

Calmness returned to the world, and Ren looked around him. He was in the middle of the ocean, and the sun hung in the cloudless blue sky.

He could feel the sunlight gently envelope his body and bathe it in a warm light. He could smell a rather stale, sulfurous smell coming from the sea.

Such vivid sensation made him wonder if he was back on earth or if this was a separate space.

The answer was very hard to find. He couldn't quite tell anymore.

Everything just seemed so realistic, and if not for the fact that he couldn't see any pillars near him, he'd be inclined to believe that he was back on Earth.

"Have you seen enough?"

A soft voice whispered behind him, and Ren turned his head.

There he saw Jezebeth standing not far from him, his gaze focused on a small projection that appeared before him.

His expression was anything but good at the moment.

"You really…"

As a matter of fact, it was getting worse with each second that he spent staring at the projection, and tearing his gaze away from it, he looked at Ren while sweeping his hand through the air.

His gaze was a mix of complicated emotions.

"…didn't hold back, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't pretend like you don't understand."

Frowning, Jezebeth clenched his fist. The water beneath him broke apart, and a significant wave rose high into the air.

"I bet… Everything that has happened to him is not a coincidence. The death of his-no, your dad, was on purpose… it was, wasn't it?"

The water that was surrounding Jezebeth began to wriggle and move around his body as if it were a serpent with its own independent will. A strange power fluctuated inside of the water, and Ren couldn't help but look at it.

At the same time, his mouth parted open, and he spoke.

"What makes you think that I would purposely kill my own father? What reason would I have for doing that?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

hundreds of projections

Jezebeth pointed at them.

he no longer seemed to care about himself or those around him. He's been going on a rampage ever since, and even now, as broken as his body is, he's still trying to kill the last two… It's as if in his mind, the only thing that matters is their

mid-sentence and tear his gaze away from

two of his seven patriarchs were alive. In fact, the

"Haa..."

was necessary for him to rid himself of any of the unfavorable emotions that he

the very air around him started to change to a more tranquil

the thought of his comrades dying, he was quick to cut such

of

happened

stoop to anything to achieve his goal. I'm sure what's happening to

the fight between the two of

but the more he watched, the more confused

what was he planning? What was he

self to this point in order to achieve your goals…

displayed the projections for the two of them to see, Ren never showed any care or concern for what was happening in the other

if he was waiting for something… and when Jezebeth watched again and saw the current state of Ren's other self, he couldn't help but

his death, no…" Jezebeth corrected himself,

of the two met at that moment, and

Jezebeth continued.

aware from the very beginning that his mindset was still not quite there yet… and in order to perfect it, you chose to sacrifice one of the people he

It had to be.

did in order to make his goal clearer and

he thought about it, the more

the other

someone who

with his father hadn't happened, it's likely that he would have started fighting against one of the Patriarchs after getting a better

method was indeed good, but it consumed a lot of time, which they

surprised Jezebeth the most, however, was the fact that Ren could absorb the laws that he had

to the Protectors, and it was at that moment that everything

was impossible for him to kill all of the Seven Patriarchs unless he was this way… Your goal is to absorb everything that he managed to collect? You drove him

"That's enough."

in the middle of

gaze fixed on him, Ren quietly stared at him for a good couple of seconds

nodding for? Are my

"Partially."

Ren didn't deny it.

things that Jezebeth had pointed out were indeed true. That being

point in correcting

you figured it out a bit later than

"Haha."

Jezebeth laughed lightly.

used to piss me off a lot in the past. Funny thing is… it still

"That's a pity."

"Mhm. Indeed…"

been winding itself around his body suddenly