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?"

his hand, hundreds of

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

had to pause mid-sentence and tear his gaze away from the

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

"Haa..."

all that was necessary for him to rid himself of any

and the very air around him started to change to a

felt sad at the thought of his comrades dying, he was quick to cut such emotions off and regain control of

sure of it this

had happened was within

who would stoop to anything to achieve his goal. I'm sure what's happening to him is

the very moment that the fight between the two of them

an idea before, but the more he watched,

planning? What

drive your other self to this point in order to achieve your goals… but looking at you, I can see that you don't particularly care about

the projections for the two of them to see, Ren never showed

if he was waiting for something… and when Jezebeth watched again and saw the current state of

to his death, no…" Jezebeth corrected himself, "You are driving him to his death, aren't

of the two met at

Jezebeth continued.

order to perfect it, you chose to sacrifice one of the people he was close with. I don't know how, but I

It had to be.

to make his goal clearer and rid of all

it, the

other

someone who

after getting a better idea of their power and attempting to stabilize the situation over

it consumed a lot of time, which they

however, was the fact that Ren could absorb

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

you knew that it 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 into a corner so that he'd reach this point,

"That's enough."

spoke, cutting Jezebeth off in the middle of his

quietly stared at him for a good couple of seconds and eventually nodded his

for?

"Partially."

Ren didn't deny it.

true. That being said, not all of them

point

you figured it out a bit later than I thought you would, but you didn't let me down

"Haha."

Jezebeth laughed lightly.

of yours… It used to piss me off a lot in the past. Funny

"That's a pity."

"Mhm. Indeed…"

snake that had been winding