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?"

hand, hundreds of projections appeared in

Jezebeth pointed at them.

since, and even now, as broken

had to pause mid-sentence and tear his

alive. In fact,

"Haa..."

necessary for him to rid himself

head, his face turned expressionless, and the very air around him started to change

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

of it this

that had happened

are the type of person who would stoop to anything to achieve his goal. I'm sure what's happening to him is all part of your

moment that the fight between the two of them started, Jezebeth had this unsettling feeling wash over

gotten an idea before, but the more he watched, the

he planning? What

drive your other self to this point in order to achieve your goals… but looking at you, I

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

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

Jezebeth corrected himself, "You

met at that moment,

Jezebeth continued.

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

It had to be.

did in order to make his goal clearer and rid of

he thought about it, the more Jezebeth

the other version of

was someone who

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

method was indeed good, but it consumed

surprised Jezebeth the most, however, was the fact that Ren could

Protectors, and it was at that moment

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

"That's enough."

spoke, cutting Jezebeth off in

stared at him for a good couple of seconds and eventually

you nodding for? Are my words

"Partially."

Ren didn't deny it.

some of the things that Jezebeth had pointed out were indeed true. That being said, not all of them were true, and

was no point in correcting

while. I'm a bit disappointed that you figured it

"Haha."

Jezebeth laughed lightly.

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

"That's a pity."

"Mhm. Indeed…"

had been winding itself around his body suddenly twisted